Furusato (故郷)

Red.
Red was all I see around me.
Whether it was from the blood spilled on the ground, or from the bright ember of fire, burning everything to the ground. The color of the sky bleeds red, the first glimpse of night started to chase away the dusk.

I could not even remember what happened before this. One second I was standing alone in the middle of nowhere, the next thing I knew, I was getting swept away in the midst of a stampede. People were running away and pushing each other left and right. Running away from what, exactly, I did not know.

In the midst of chaos, I saw him. He looked around the same age as me, standing motionless right in the middle of the street. He had dark red hair, the color so deep it almost resembled blood a distance. His face was full of soot and grime, but his eyes stayed unblinking, facing towards the sky.

Suddenly, I was overcome with feelings of protectiveness towards this unknown person whom I had never met before. Before I knew it, my body was already acting on an autopilot, escaping the crowd and moving in an opposite direction from them. I just wanted to go to this red-haired boy, to take him away and save him from this place.

When I reached him, the shadows around us seemed to be closing in. The moon and the stars seemed to be hiding themselves as well, turning the night darker than pitch black.

“Hey,” I said, with no response from him. I did not know his name. I had no choice but to grab his hand and tried to call him again. He seemed to be broken out of stupor and finally, finally he looked at me.

“Let’s go,” I said, almost pleadingly.

We ran away, leaving the burned city behind us. The shadows also seemed to stop chasing us after that. But I knew that the darkness would come one day, looking for him.

(CHO-TOKYO - 13 years later)

“So tell me what are we doing here again?” A young man with whitish blonde hair said, his mouth opened with a wide yawn. He just woke up after a long trip from SHIN TOKYO to CHO TOKYO. He was grateful that he got a lot of sleep compared to the other members who stayed up watching over the ship. “Perk of being the one of the youngest,” he mused.

“Like I’ve told you for the 100th time, X, we are going to start selling the energy cores, Atria here. But here in CHO TOKYO, you cannot do as you please without the permission of ROWDY SHOGUN, the guardian of this town. That's the reason why we are going to have a meeting with them at their hideout. Can you start paying attention instead of sleeping all the time?” A man with permed red hair and prominent cheekbones answered, his voice loud and clear even when coming from the back of line. Even when his face was hard with tension, the tone of his voice sounded fond when talking to X.

“EHHHH? Is that right, Future? Does that mean that we need to share our profit with them? Usually these bouncer-like groups will demand us to pay a compensation fee or something right? Like that DOUBT gang in SHIN TOKYO. Ugh I hate them,” Claude said, him being the only one with a black hair in the group. His face has a distinctive feature of a straight line of the left eyebrows shaved off.

“It seems like we do need to prepare to pay if they wanted us to. However, rumor has it that the group is made up of a reasonable bunch of guys, and they would not demand an inappropriate amount of fees if they approve our intention.” A blue-haired man softly spoke, sparing an amused look towards his partner Claude beside him.

“As expected of Yuki, you would always keep an optimistic view even on people you have never met before. That is why you are my favourite!!” A man quipped, his brown hair streaked with blond bouncing with every step he took. His hand toys around the silver chain around his neck.

“Stop teasing Yuki, Floly. Have you scanned the place as I told you just now? Is there any sign of traps or anything? How about you, Libra?”

“Yes Future, I already did the preliminary scan when we were on the ship just now. But the place is clean, with no signs of hidden traps around its perimeter. It gives me the creep instead,” Libra answered, with a face sporting a boyish look, betraying his real age while standing beside Future at the back. Even though they are of the same age, he still respects Future as the leader of their group.

“My scanner showed the same result, Future,” added Floly.

“Maybe your scanner is broken or something? Hahahaha that would not be the first time it happened.” Skeet interjected, both of his hands holding a bat behind his head. Even with the carefree attitude, his eyes never stay in one place as he also looks at his surroundings cautiously.

“One more word from you and you are dead, Skeet,” answered Libra in a monotonous voice.

“Skeet, stop it. You know we trust Floly and his tech's ability. Now everyone keep quiet, we have arrived already.” Future ended their conversation.

They arrived at a very large warehouse, facing the seemingly empty hangar enough to fit in two or three small airplanes. Even in the darkness, they could see there was only one door at the end of the empty hangar, presumably into the Rowdy Shogun’s hideout.

“Okay everyone, cover up your face. I don’t want to hear anyone making a smart remark towards anything inside. Keep your eyes open, and make sure your weapons are always at the ready. Especially you Skeet,” Future said, ending his words with a glare towards Skeet.

“Aye aye cap’n. Everyone, let’s put on our mean faces,” said Skeet in a gleeful voice. He always likes the thrill of these kinds of situations, and he thrives on the feeling of adrenaline flowing through his body every time when preparing for a fight. All of them started to walked cautiously across the empty hangar, their faces half covered with bandanas. Its design was the same as their outfits, with camouflage streak of black, grey, blue and green lining up the piece of clothes.

Claude & Yuki knocked on the door thrice, and waited for any response with bated breath. Both of them were not really the heavy hitters of the group, that will be X & Skeet. But as the oldest of the group they agreed to be the first line of defense to protect their younger members. They were followed by Skeet, the heavy hitter. He could easily help the older two, while standing in his place between Libra & Floly. Libra was one of the youngest, and one of the fastest in their team too. He could land a punch quicker than anything. Floly was in charge of surveillance and information, standing at the other side of Libra. Finally, their formation was completed with Future, the leader and X, their youngest member.

Few minutes passed by before the sound of a lock turning loudly could be heard in the silence. The door slowly opened to reveal a large space inside, just barely visible with the help of brightly lit torches that lined up the wall. “Remember everyone, there are 16 members of Rowdy Shogun. Make sure that all of them are in your sight and do not let them escape your field of view,” Floly mentioned softly, words meant only for the seven of them to hear before entering the door.

Yuki and Claude walked inside, and the first thing that greet their vision was a huge statue of a samurai standing about 5 meters tall at the end of the warehouse. A small gasp and a sharp intake of breath coming from behind Yuki revealed that their youngest X & Skeet were in awe of the view. However, the darkness of the place made Claude feel uneasy as if a fight was to break out between the two groups, it would only play in favor of the Rowdy Shogun. 

Future walked in slowly, his eyes taking note of each of the Rowdy Shogun's members that were seen all over the warehouse. First of all, there were 3 of them, standing at the stairs with the nearest distance from them. The one in the middle had straight blonde hair, swept to the side. He was wearing a black tank top underneath a forest green trench coat. He was smiling towards their direction. To his right stood another man, wearing a cap with a hard expression on his face. Future could not see the color of his hair clearly under the lighting. While on the left, there was a dark skinned man with dark blond hair tied up in a short ponytail, his build was imposing but his face absent from any expression.

Yuki looked to the left side of the warehouse, taking in the appearance of another four members of Rowdy. A blond hair man with tanned skin was looking to the side, his body implied his disinterest towards their presence. Beside him, another tall man with short orangish hair was fastening leather gloves on both of his hands. Another two had slightly smaller built, the first one was wearing a black jacket on top of a black t-shirt with wavy dirty blond hair. The other man was wearing a kind of fishnet undershirt with a sleeveless jacket on top. He had his long black hair braided and tied up.

Slightly further away at the opposite side, another four of the Rowdy Shogun members could be seen. A tall man with short cropped blonde hair was wearing glasses while standing on an old abandoned fire truck. Another man who was also wearing a fishnet undershirt with an army green jacket on top was sitting on a chair. The third man who possessed the smallest build among the four was looking at them in slight interest. He was wearing a fully buttoned up jacket with a design resembling a harness at the front. Finally, a purple haired man was standing in front of the other three, wearing black jacket with green.

All of them had their gaze fixed on Future and his teammates. Even though some of them appear kind, some nonchalant, and some downright menacing, Future did not trust any of them even for a bit. He was thankful for the bandanas covering his group members’ faces, at least they could still kept some sort of control over their own expressions. He was afraid that this meeting would turn out a bit too imposing on his members, especially on the youngest two.

“There are only 11 of them,” noted Future in a jolt. “Where are the other 5?”  In front of him, Floly was busy handling his scanner monitor, his hand frantic with movement. Seems like his scanner too could only detect 11 people. “Is it true that only 11 of them present right now, or the other 5 are keeping their presence hidden? But, how exactly?”  Floly spared a worried glance towards his leader, but Future just shook his head minutely and nodded towards the front. He would think of the missing five people later. Right now he needed to deal with the ‘leader’ in front of him.

“Welcome to CHO TOKYO, Jiggy Boyz. I hope that the journey didn't take too long?” The blonde hair man spoke, his voice light and kind, matching his expression.

“No, in fact the trip was quite uneventful. We usually travelled a lot longer than this,” answered Future. He walked to the front and shook the hands of the blond-haired man. As the leader, he was the one responsible for handling these sort of meetings and transactions.

“So should we cut the talk short then? As previously mentioned in the transponder, your representative said that your team wanted to set up a business here in the city,” continued the blond-haired man.

“Yes, since we got the news that CHO TOKYO was having a power plant crisis, we thought that we could help the citizens by selling Atria,” explained Future.

“We do, indeed. Since the last few weeks, our power plant seemed to be having difficulty in operating. The winter is nearing and I’m afraid our backup generator would not be enough in helping the citizens stay warm throughout the season.”

“That is the reason why we thought selling the cores here is beneficial.”

“At a reasonable price I hope?”

“Of course. We ourselves understand the importance of not differentiating the social status of citizens. So we thought that we should all help each other as best as we can.”

“You are right. There’s one thing I’m curious about. Why would you meet us beforehand? I think if you want to sell these things even without our surveillance, you guys would have a much better chance at gaining maximum profit, as compared of being under our surveillance,” the man quipped. For some reason Future thought this question was a test to him and his team.

“Maybe yes, maybe no. But we are told that your group is the guardian of this city, and we have no intention of harming the poor and weak ones by selling it at a higher price. So with your permission, we hope that you can help us monitor the business and make sure that no one can take advantage of these vulnerable groups under these dire circumstances.”

“I like your explanation. Very well, we agreed to grant you permission. Before we part ways, can we have one of the Atria? Some of our members are curious on how it works.”

“He didn't use I, but instead he used We. Does that mean that they already have a discussion beforehand? Or did he receive some kind of instruction just now? I don’t think he’s wearing any kind of receiver in his ear though?”  Skeet worryingly observed the men in front of him. He could not shake off the feeling that he was being watched by someone, and by the slight body movement of his members, he was not alone in feeling that way. However, none of the eleven members of Rowdy Shogun appeared to be the ones responsible.

“Floly, give two of the cores to him please.” Future instructed Floly, and received murmurs of thanks from the blond-haired man in front of him.

“Would that be all, Lupus?”

The man appeared to be shocked and quite amused by what Future said. Before he got the chance to reply, another voice interjected, “Ohh Bailey, I didn't know that you had changed your name.” 

“Hush, Travis. I’m sorry that I did not introduce myself beforehand. I assume you are Future, the leader? The two standing in front are Claude & Yuki, followed by Skeet, Floly, and Libra. The one beside you upon entering the warehouse is X, right? You can call me Bailey, and no I’m not Lupus.” The one named Bailey answered. He was the only one who did all the talking just now, Yuki observed.

“What the heck? How come he knows all of our names but only introduces himself and not the others?”  Libra thought with some dissatisfaction.

“Since you know all of our names, I think it’s only fair that we are introduced to the rest of your group,” said Future. However his left hand made a halting motion towards his weapon that was strapped to his upper left thigh, a movement so small but noticeable to his members. It indicated a sign of possible confrontation happening. Future always hated fighting, and at every meeting he would try to achieve his goal through diplomatic means. However Bailey, and the rest Rowdy Shogun seemed to found the Jiggy Boyz as untrustworthy.

“I’m sorry, but I don't think it was necessary for you to know the rest of our members' names, as we preferred to keep our identity anonymous to the outsiders,” said the dark skinned man beside Bailey.

“Like what Hades said,” Bailey said with a smile, the tension surrounding them not affecting his mood at all.

The Jiggy Boyz were all now in a fighting stance, waiting for confirmation from their leader. X’s hand was already on his gun. “7 people against 11 people huh?”  Skeet thought, his body filled with adrenaline and poised to fight. Future pointed his left index finger down, and the seven of them started to move.

All of a sudden, a strong but non lethal force hit on their hands, forcing their hands open and releasing their guns and weapons. Another three new members of RS appeared out of nowhere, the first man had short black hair with dark blue highlight, the other man had dark brown hair and the final one had light reddish orange hair. There were twin katanas behind the orange hair man, while the other two appeared unarmed. 

“Everyone, stop. Didn’t Lucas say just now there’s no need for a fight? Stand down A-Not, Joe, Gusk.” The dark brown-haired newcomer said, his face sardonic.

Yuki looked towards the left, and one of the Rowdy Shogun members visibly relaxed hearing those words. Another two members from the right side went back to sitting on the chair. “So they are A-Not, Joe, and Gusk huh? 6 names out of 11 members now. And who is this Lupus person Future is referring to just now?”

“Jiggy Boyz too, you should know better than to lose your calm in this situation. In case you didn’t realize, you are still on our turf.” The other Rowdy Shogun’s member who had short spiky black hair with dark blue highlight said in direction towards Future and the gangs.

“How can we stay calm in a situation like this?” Skeet yelled, his face red with rage.

Out of a sudden, another figure in a black hoodie appeared right in the middle of the Jiggy boyz. His face was, no words come to Floly’s mind except beautiful, his skin flawless and unmarred.  His hair appeared to be wine red under the hoodie, and the red color of his eyes matched his hair. His mouth was closed but somehow all 7 of them could clearly hear his voice in their minds, as if he was talking out loud to them, “Calm down, we are not your enemy.”

The 7 of them felt entranced towards the red-haired man with the red eye. Was it because of his sudden appearance, or was it because of his power that allowed the red-haired man to talk directly into their minds? Skeet quickly shook his head, and his right hand fisted into a punch towards the man. 

“LUCAS!!” Several voices of the Rowdy members were heard out loud. It seemed as if they all were worried for this particular man, noted Claude absently.

“Skeet, stop!” Future said. Even though Skeet was one of their dependable heavy hitters, his young age caused him to easily lose his temper. “15 members out of 16. Where’s the last one?" He had a feeling that the red-haired newcomer was at another level of dangerous as compared to others, but at the same time he felt as if he knew him from somewhere.

“Didn’t he already tell you guys to calm down? Why wouldn’t you listen to him?” Another voice was heard, before another man appeared in front of Lucas, protecting him. His hair was jet black, his bangs were swept to the side and slightly covering his eyes. His voice was not loud at all, but it rang throughout the warehouse clearly, demanding attention of its every occupants. His fist betrayed his strength as he was able to stop Skeet’s punch barehanded. The man spared a glance towards Skeet for a few seconds before redirecting his gaze towards Lucas. It seemed as if they were silently communicating with each other. Lucas smiled towards the newly-appeared and gently shook his head. 

"It's them," Future realized, a dejavu feeling washed over him.

—————

“So... how come we are still alive?” Skeet asked no one in particular, his mind still on the previous encounter even when they were currently en route to another universe.

“Shut up Skeet. All of this happened in the first place because you lost your temper, remember?” replied X.

“All right, I’m sorry. That Lupus & Lucas person though, they are not the leaders of ROWDY right? But it seemed as if all the members listened to those two.”

“I think it’s best if we don't cross them anymore than this. We were lucky that the Rowdy let us go just now, but there is no guarantee for our safety on our next encounter. Right Future?” asked Libra to their leader.

“Yes, you are right, Libra. Apart from Bailey, Hades, Travis, A-Not, Joe, and Gusk, I think the one with the twin katana is Sarutobi. People said that he is extremely fast and flexible, and with his acrobatic ability he is a formidable foe. Travis and Marduk are also extremely fast, albeit being  light hitters. The heavy hitters in the team are Joe, Anot, Marine and Goemon. Bailey, Goemon and Hades are extremely good in front combat, they usually sit at the frontlines and handle meetings with outsiders. With that light voice and mind face, you cannot really expect Bailey to be someone who can punch you in the face while smiling, but it’s true. Gusk, Miya and Judy handle mid-range combat. The final two that appeared nearing the end are Q-B and Kisaragi, not much is known about their ability except that they are extremely skillful in weaponry. They are kind of like sidekicks for Lucas & Lupus. They also almost never leave the duo’s sides.” explained Future.

“Oh wow. Why didn’t you explain this to us before meeting them just now? I think I would at least like to know what kind of people I’m meeting,” Claude said while shuddering.

“Sorry Claude, everyone looked so worn out after the trip that I totally forgot about it. Plus not knowing how they look in person makes it harder for me to explain,” Future apologized to the older man, seeming to regret his decision just now.

“How about the other two?” asked Skeet.

“Regarding Lupus & Lucas, their story goes way back in their childhood. They were from OLD TOKYO when you-know-what-event occurred. As you know many people died at that time, while the survivors said that these two almost died as well from the ‘shadows’, but both of them at the age of about 9 or 10 year old managed to stop the shadows using their powers. No one can really describe how, but the shadows were unable to touch them at all. Then they ran away together to CHO TOKYO. They met the other members a few years after that, and together they founded ROWDY SHOGUN that helps to protect the city.” Yuki shared what he heard from the rumors.

“What exactly is their power actually?” asked Libra.

“No one knows in detail. But some said that Lupus is able to summon a wolf familiar, hence his name Lupus. While Lucas...everyone can hear his voice at that time right? I’m thinking it has something to do with controlling someone’s mind.” Future added.

“Now I want to have Lupus’ power and be able to summon a familiar too. Yuki, do you think I can do it?” asked Skeet in a cheeky voice.

“Skeet, I think you can do it if you are born with the ability, not because of how many times you practice,” chastised Yuki with a smile on his face.

“Floly, why are you so quiet?” Libra asked the tech genius, concerned with the total silence coming from their tech genius.

“Do you guys remember how my scanner was only able to detect 11 persons only?” replied Floly, finally directing his attention towards his members instead of the scanner on his lap.

“Yeah, was it faulty after all? In the end we know that all 16 members were there right?” asked Yuki.

“The scanner was able to detect three more signals after Sarutobi, Q-B and Kisaragi appeared, so that means something is hiding their presence well enough until the end. But...”

“But what Floly?”Future asked, a worried expression etched on his face.

“Even after Lucas and Lupus appeared in front of us, my scanner was still unable to detect those two appearances. It should be able to detect heartbeats, movement, or even slightest body heat but there was absolutely nothing coming from those two.”

“Which means?” X asked, a slight quiver in his normally cheerful voice.

“Those two powers, or maybe Lucas' power, was so strong that it was able to trick Floly scanner. The very same scanner that was powered by BABYLONIUM’s energy core,” Future slowly replied.

All 6 of them stopped talking and looked towards their leader. 

The red-haired leader sighed, his gaze directed towards the screen in front of him as if his thoughts were lost in distant memories. "I have something to tell all of you in regards to Lupus and Lucas, and it involved all of us as well."

The boy with the black hair glanced towards his friend, soundly asleep beside him. After running away from the city centre, they were able to slip in a spaceship just a few minutes before it took off. Their hands were still clasped together, each fingers slotting with each other perfectly. He tightened his grasp for a bit, his chest tight and full of emotions he did not recognize yet. His action caused the red haired boy to stir into awakeness. He watched how his eyelids flutter for a bit before revealing the most beautiful red eyes he had ever seen. The newly-awakened boy glanced to left and right blearily before coming to a halt when his gaze locked onto him.

“Lupus.” The black haired boy knew he was supposed to properly introduce himself, but for some reason his mind came up blank.

The red-haired boy blinked for several times, surprised with the sudden introduction before his lips stretched into a smile, pure and naive. 

“My name is Lucas.”

*

(CHO TOKYO, present time)

“Bailey, do you think it’s safe for us to let those guys go?” asked Travis, both of his hands busy playing with a video game console.

After Lupus stopped Skeet's attack, the other six appeared to be less hostile, managing to keep their calm. Their leader Future especially asked Skeet to back away and apologized to Lucas due to the younger's action. Travis was not sure if it was because Lucas secretly persuaded Future to do that in his mind, or because their leader was afraid of having Lucas and Lupus in front of them. The red-haired man gave a slight shake of his head towards Lupus, and they both left the scene without any delay. Goemon came forward as the representative of Rowdy Shogun, accepting Future's apology and decided to end their meeting with filling up a contract form as the evidence of the two groups' partnership. 

“Well, Lucas said that we could trust them, and they were not our enemy in the first place. So I couldn’t see any reason on why we need to prolong the meeting more than necessary,” replied Bailey, keeping his eye on the cards on his hands and on the table. Even if he did not show it, Bailey felt kind of bad for the boys. Not much was known about them, only that they were relatively a new group of young men that travel across the three universes to gather and sell energy cores. No one knew about their past and their origin, and the fact that the members did not show their full faces towards strangers did not help as well. That was one of the reasons they sought Rowdy Shogun to handle and monitor their business, as they preferred to be the supplier and not as the direct seller of the Atrias to the citizens of Cho Tokyo.

In another note, Rowdy Shogun did not differ much from the Jiggy Boyz in terms of anonymity. Hades and Goemon preferred to appoint trustworthy citizens to handle the business, while the members monitored from the shadows. If any problems occurred, the recon team that was on duty at that time will inform the rest of group.

“Well, if I were one of them I wouldn’t want the meeting to be prolonged as well. Did you see how Lupus looked at them? I don’t want to be at the receiving end of that look, it’s too scary,” said Marine. 

“Heh, you are not wrong. When I came down from the hideout to try to stop them from attacking, I prayed that they would listen to me, as I could feel Lupus slowly losing his temper,” snickered Kisaragi at the side, playing cards with Bailey and Marine.

“How come you are not with Lucas, Kisaragi? Usually you would not leave his side right?” asked Travis.

“Well, Lupus is with him right now so I’m not needed,” said Kisaragi with a grin.

The other members around him just grinned knowingly listening to his explanation.

——————

“How are you feeling, Lucas?”

“For the last time, Lupus, I’m fine. Extremely healthy, peachy even. No, he did not manage to hurt me because you protected me just now, remember?” sighed Lucas, throwing a pointed look towards his dark-haired lover. He’s 110% sure he had answered the exact same question from the same person 5 minutes ago, but Lupus was anything but persistent. He could protect himself just fine in the previous confrontation with the Jiggy Boyz, and Lupus knew it too. In fact, maybe he was the only one who knew the true extent of Lucas’ power. But, that fact did not stop him from being protective towards the slightly younger man.

“I’m just making sure. And I'm not referring that question specifically to what happened just now, and you know it.” replied the black-haired man, his eyes looking deep into the other's red eyes, full of knowing.

“...I’m fine,” replied Lucas in a much slower voice. As expected, nothing can escape Lupus’ watchful eyes. He knew that Lupus was actually worried about his condition after using his power. Their eye contact before was Lupus confirming whether he could continue masking their presence or not. That was the reason why they did not linger and left the site as soon as they could. If it was up to him, Lucas wanted to stay a little longer and observed the Jiggy Boyz. There was something about them that was familiar to him, but he could not put his mind to it.

“Goemon and Hades told me earlier that they don’t need your power to hide our presence anymore. It does not matter even if they can detect us using a scanner, our abilities and skills are enough to launch a counterattack if we ended up being ambush. Goemon was especially worried about your condition,” Lupus relayed the message from their two leaders. The two of them knew that if the message came directly from them, Lucas would just brush off their worries. But since it was coming from Lupus this time, maybe he would actually listened to it. 

Previously, Lucas was in charge of forming a barrier and hiding their presence from appearing on any detectors belonging to the outsiders. This was to prepare for an ambush in case their visitors had an ulterior or sinister motive during any meeting. However, six months ago Lucas shared his worries to Lupus on his inability to use his power without overexerting himself. Lupus wasted no time in discussing the matter to the rest of them, much to Lucas’ dismay. The last thing he wanted was to have 15 members of Rowdy Shogun fussing about him in worries.

Lucas did not reply to Lupus and instead continued to look towards the night sky while sitting on the rooftop. Every night he would sit at the same place, watching the night sky full of stars. It was one of the reasons he liked their hideout very much. The night view that was filled with starlight and moonlight in Cho Tokyo was magnificent, especially with the right weather and season. The rapid and compact civilisation of SHIN TOKYO and BABYLONIUM made their sky brightly lit with lights from their towers and skyscrapers instead, obscuring the moon and the stars from view.

“You know, since we have supply of energy cores from the Jiggy Boyz, perhaps we can also use some of it to slow down the symptoms,” said Lupus, watching the other man carefully. He took a seat beside him, his eyes taking into account every inch of Lucas’ face into his memory. His fair skin, his long eyelashes, his almond-shaped eyes, and his small pink lips. Sometimes Lupus wondered, what were the chances of him meeting Lucas 13 years ago? Being together with Lucas for 13 years made Lupus watched from the front seat on how the years were kind towards his partner, turning him from a small scared boy into the beautiful confident man he was currently. He felt extremely grateful towards whatever deity above there that enabled him to meet Lucas in this life.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Lupus. Since the power plant has been overloaded and failing last week, the people of CHO TOKYO needed to revert back to using fire logs and coals to keep their homes warm. If we deprived even a single one of the citizens from the Atrias, they were only going to turn out sick and not able to survive this winter,” said Lucas, turning his head towards a fading Atria on the table beside them.

After having discussion with all the members six months ago, the two leaders tried to come up with a solution to help Lucas, but to no avail. It was not like they could bring him to the hospital because physically, he was fine. Lucas himself did not know how his power works all this time. Losing his memories before meeting Lupus did not help his case at all. He felt weaker as time passed by, however he kept the fact known to himself only. His usual task of scanning the area surrounding their hideout was passed to Judy & Q-B. The younger two were extremely skillful in technology and have come up with various gadgets and techs to help the groups in their work, thus sparing him from using his power too much. 

Several weeks passed by and he had to resort to rest in his room, with Lupus taking care of him if needed. His condition did not improve at all until A-Not and Joe came back to their base with a bag full of Atria. Initially, the Atrias were intended to be used as a power source for their hideout and gadgets. Somehow, Lucas felt drawn to the glowing orbs like a moth to a flame at at that time. It was a known fact that the Atrias were used in SHIN TOKYO and BABYLONIUM for several years already, each household having their own power source. In comparison, citizens of CHO TOKYO were only given derivatives of the Atria, produced at the power plant located at the border of their city. 

While the others watched those two tinkering with the metals while explaining how the Atrias worked, Lucas took one Atria and held it in his hand. He watched on how the orb glowed and its inside was filled with shining colourful threads that swirled enticingly. “So this is Lyra huh?” he thought. 

The Lyra, also known as ‘lifestream’ is the core element of Atria. In Babylonium, Lyras are gathered from several rivers that flowed from the mountains and transferred into the orbs to be sold and used as power sources at SHIN TOKYO & BABYLONIUM. No one can exactly remember how the Lyra came into existence, but humans have been using it for centuries.

Lucas watched the rapidly-changing colors of Lyra fascinatingly before a voice disrupted his thought. 

“Lucas? You are..glowing.” 

Trust Lupus to suddenly drop an unneeded comment in the middle of the room full of people. With his face red with embarrassment, Lucas turned to him and had a thought to lecture the older man about  knowing the appropriate time and place for his comments. Before he opened his mouth however, he noticed that he was indeed glowing. Literally. Figuratively. The rest of the members looked towards him, some of them jaw-slacked with amazement. Lucas returned his gaze towards the Atria, and he noted that there was a sliver of misty thread connected between him and the orb. 

“You are absorbing the Lyra, Lucas,”said Judy, his voice full of wonder. At the same time Lucas noticed that his body was becoming lighter and he did not feel as weak as before.

“We found the solution, Lucas.” Lupus tearful voice rang in the silence, thick with happiness and gratitude. How could he not feel happy when he had watched the red-haired man suffering in silence all these weeks, with nothing to help him alleviate the pain.

Lucas was snapped back into the present when he saw his lover watching him with an expectant face. “I’m sorry I zoned out just now. What did you say?” 

Lupus let out a sigh and replied, “I’m asking how I can help you instead if you don’t want to use the Atria anymore. There’s no other way, Lucas. We’ve tried other types of energy cores from other universes and travelled across many other places. We should have found at least something by now.”

“I don’t think you are the type to easily give up,” Lucas teasingly replied.

“You are deeply mistaken if you think I already give up. I would never, ever give up on you. I’ll do anything to have you by my side forever. But, love,” Lupus stopped, his right hand cradling his lover’s head gently, and putting their foreheads against each other. “It kills me inside to see you suffer each day. You can deny it all you want. But I can feel your pain, and it only makes me feel more helpless and lost each time. We can always find more suppliers for the Atrias, but please, use some of it for yourself too.”

Listening to the other’s sad voice made Lucas tear up. Is it possible to love someone this deeply? “Okay, I understand,” he replied in a quiet voice.

They stayed in the same position for a while, breathing each other’s presence in and shutting themselves off from the rest of the world. 

“Lupus, Lucas, can you guys come down and—oh I’m sorry, did I come at the wrong time?” Miya who just arrived at the top of the stairs stopped, his face breaking into a grin when he saw the two.

“No, it’s okay Miya. What’s wrong?” replied Lucas, breaking off from Lupus’ embrace. There was a faint pink hue gracing his cheeks, a tell-tale of his embarrassment. While the other man just turned towards Miya, his face a mixture of annoyance and resignation from being interrupted. 

“Judy and Q-B had something to discuss with Lucas regarding the Atrias. Also, the recon team just came back from their round and they wanted to gather everyone up. It sounded urgent,” replied Miya hastily.

The duo just nodded in understanding and followed the older man down to their meeting place.

(CHO TOKYO, present time)

“So everyone’s here already? Let’s start the meeting. Recon team, what’s the important news that you want to share with us tonight?” said Goemon, standing directly in front of the samurai statue. 

Gusk and A-Not stood up and walked to the center of the gathering. Joe had taken a seat in front of the holographic monitor, his hands moving fast to project the reports of their stakeout that night. While Marduk & Sarutobi, the last members on duty remained sitting on their own chairs, both of them quiet and appear to be deep in thought.

“Tonight, there were five of us who were on duty. We started our round as usual, starting from the border and went along the perimeter towards the center of Cho Tokyo. We received news from the power plant workers that they are going to shut down the plants temporarily at the end of this month to make way for the process of repair. At the same time, our informants shared the news that the four generators at each of the border of Cho Tokyo ready to be used as backup at any time. So, the deal of selling the Atrias with the JIGGY BOYZ really could not come at a much better time,” said Gusk.

A-Not inserted his hand on the sling bag he was wearing and brought out an Atria, the contents glowing brightly inside the dim hideout. “The Atrias sold by them were really helpful. One core was presumably strong enough to last a house up to two months. I was thinking maybe it is made up of elements similar to the Atrias sold in SHIN TOKYO. The people that we have appointed to be the seller all reported positive responses from the citizens. They also already made sure that the citizens at the poorer side of the city are able to buy some them at a much affordable price. Hence, at this rate we should be able to supply the Atrias to all the citizens in time before the power plant shuts down, and in preparation for the upcoming winter too. Here’s the complete report. Joe?” 

Upon hearing his cue, Joe pulled up the report from the monitor and projected it in front of all members.

“That’s good to hear. But I don’t see the urgency of reporting this news tonight?” Hades said from the side, raising his eyebrows in question. The report was like their usual ones, and he did not see the reason why the recon team's members being so adamant on holding the meeting right after their return to the base. “Is there something else?”

The four members of the recon team all looked towards Gusk, giving him the signal to continue.

“That’s right Hades, there's another thing. Actually, just before we finished our round, we received a call from the main hospital. Our informant said that the hospital had received multiple cases of mysterious deaths occurring around the city since a few days ago. We called the other three district hospitals as well just in case, and all of them also reported the same thing. So we decided to pay a visit to the main hospital where another case was brought to the hospital a few hours prior to our visit. There, we found...” Gusk suddenly turned silent, stopping his report halfway.

The mood turned gloomy, each member of the Rowdy Shogun paying attention to Gusk and the others. Whatever they expected from the recon team previously, it was certainly not this news. Marduk decided to continue after seeing how Gusk had difficulty in continuing. “Truthfully speaking, I don't think anyone in this room has ever seen something like this before. The dead body, even though it was only after a few hours of his death, already appeared to be in an extreme state of decay. The skin was wrinkled and sunk in as if the dead had no muscle bulk at all when he was alive. All organs looked positively shrunk too, like a wet sponge that had been squeezed completely. The report mentioned that the dead was supposed to be a male in his early 30s. But if we only looked at the body and not the report, we would assume that the dead was someone in his 70s.”

“These are the pictures of that person when he was alive and during the post-mortem. Everyone please brace yourselves for the graphic pictures ahead,” said Joe while projecting the pictures to the members. “Apart from the body, the cause of death is a mystery as well. The deceased had no previous medical condition and he was completely healthy when he went to work that morning. However, his death was quite a peculiar event, indeed. Several eye witnesses claimed that they saw smokes or some kind of shadows appeared out of nowhere and completely engulfed him in the matter of seconds. They also heard him screaming like he was in pain but no one was brave enough to help. Few minutes later, the shadows disappeared, leaving the body on the ground in the exact condition we explained before. He was already dead at that time.”

“It’s happening again. They are coming back.” Lupus realized dreadfully. He turned towards the person beside him, and his heart clenched at the sight. Lucas’ face was ashen white and his eyes filled with untold emotion. The black-haired man noticed the way his lover’s lips quiver, a tell tale sign of his fear that never failed to escape from Lupus' attention. Lucas was completely terrified by the news.

“That wasn’t all.” Sarutobi, who has been quiet all this time, started to speak. His face is uncharacteristically serious, completely contrasting his usual lively and carefree personality. “On the way back to our hideout, we heard a scream at the 9th district. All five of us immediately went to the source of the voice. We saw a huge mass of shadows starting to envelop a lady. Its appearance was exactly the same as in the reports of the eye-witnesses before. We tried to use our weapons to chase it away, but it wasn’t effective. It wasn’t until I used my two katanas that the shadows somehow receded and disappeared from our sight. Fortunately, the lady was not hurt due to the incident. However, we did not actually know the reason on why the shadows disappeared suddenly like that."

“You did not notice anything else, Sarutobi?” asked Hades.

“There’s something else that---,” started Marduk, but he was abruptly stopped by a nudge coming from his left side. Sarutobi, who was sitting beside him, shook his head. “That’s all, Hades.” replied Sarutobi to their leader.

Goemon pinched the spaces between his eyebrows, feeling the impending headache from the shocking news. “This is.. a lot to take in. So basically, there is a series of attacks on the citizen by this thing we could only call 'the shadows', for the lack of better word to describe it. It had attack randomly, and each attack was proven to be fatal judging by the escalating number of deaths at the hospitals. There is also a possibility that the attacks will kept going, unless we found a solution to hunt it down and defeat them. Unfortunately, the previous encounter of the recon team with the shadows did not revealed much, to be honest.”

“I can.” a small voice was heard in the silence.

“Lucas, did you say something?” asked Bailey, his eyes wide.

“The shadows..it can only be defeated by me.” answered Lucas, his eyes downcast.

“How do you know that, Lucas?” It was Q-B’s turn to ask, watching his older friend curiously.

Lucas remained silent, fighting a losing battle against his memories from 13 years ago. He really did not want to relieve that frightening experience again, but his mind refused to heed. He felt as if his tongue was tied and his throat completely dried up, unable to produce any sounds to answer his teammates’ questions.

“He knew, because this wasn’t the first time we encountered something like this,” replied Lupus, sparing him from answering. He proceeded to tell everything that happened to the both of them 13 years ago, their first meeting with each other, the shadows, and their escape from OLD TOKYO.

Marine cocked his head to the side, a confused expression on his face. “But Lucas, at that time you are not using your light to defeat the shadows. How did you know that you can defeat it?” 

“I.. didn't know for sure, and there was no proof to back up my claim as well. But Lupus and I had been thinking about those events 13 years ago. We understood that there was a reason why we met there, together confronting the shadows even when we did not know better about what was happening around us. It was like staring into the abyss, the shadows were so close to me I still could somehow remember the smell of death that wafted around it. Furthermore, the shadows could easily killed us both right there and then, but instead, we survived the whole ordeal and even managed to come to Cho Tokyo," shared Lucas, with the rest of the members fully paying attention to the red-haired man. 

Lucas continued, "Not to mention, since I started using Lyra six months ago to treat my symptoms, I had this recurring dream where I saw myself, the adult me, standing once again in front of the shadows. I didn't understand its meaning before this, but now I can see the relation. My power, which was always associated with light, could be the one thing to counter the shadows just like 13 years ago, ” Lucas explained, almost absent-mindedly.

“That’s enough, Lucas.” Lupus said, noticing how his partner was rapidly losing himself in the memories of his past. He hated seeing how his lover was still haunted by the event from 13 years ago, even when he knew he was in the same condition as the red-haired man. “I’m sorry everyone, but I think that’s enough trip down memory lane for Lucas tonight. As Goemon had mentioned before, this was a lot to take in so I suggested we ended this session early tonight, and tomorrow I will share more about the shadows to everyone. Before I forgot, Q-B, Judy, you guys said that there’s something you wanted to discuss with Lucas?” 

Judy and Q-B seemed to be a bit shocked by the sudden change of topics by the older man before regaining their thoughts. “Yes Lupus, actually from what happened tonight, Q-B and I had several ideas on how to use Lyra to help us defeat the shadows.” 

Even though Kisaragi and Q-B are the members who are known to specialize in weaponry, the specifications and designs are mainly handled by Q-B and Judy. “Originally, both of us were thinking of designing new kinds of weapons that are able to corporate Lyra elements into it. And we managed to find a way to do it. But, we thought that we might need Lucas' help as a backup in case the process went sideways.”

Lupus wanted to refuse and protest, he really did. To be involved in these experiments while Lucas’ health was still unstable had so many unknown risks. However, he knew that the final decision was ultimately not in his hand, and he respected Lucas in knowing what’s best for himself. Few minutes passed by before he heard Lucas agreeing to help the younger two. “Guess I’ll stay and help as well,”  he thought to himself.

“You can’t stay with me, Lupus. You need to help the others.” Lucas’ voice suddenly rang in his mind. He was still talking to Q-B and Judy, but it seemed like their mental link with each other had revealed the black-haired man's plan to his lover. Lupus repressed his sigh. “You know me too well.”

The two leaders and Bailey went straight into a deep discussion, constructing their next plan and assigning team members for the recon team on duty next week. The rest of the members had never question the decision of the oldest three and had put their trust into the trio completely. 

Bailey walked to the centre and pulled up the plan for the next recon team. “For next week, I had decided to be the leader of the recon team and I will be joined by Marine, Sarutobi, Kisaragi and Lupus. Marine and I will be in charge of any heads-on confrontation and Kisaragi will be in charge of weapons. Sorry for asking you to go again, Sarutobi. But we may need your input as you had encountered the shadows tonight.” Sarutobi at the side just shrugs, not minding the fact that he needs to be on duty again at all. “Lupus, I’m pretty sure you know why. You and Lucas have experienced this situation before, so we need your help. Since Lucas’ health condition is still unstable, I think it is safer to let him stay here and help Q-B and Judy instead of joining us next week.” 

“I’ll be replacing Q-B for a while, Lupus,” Kisaragi went to stand beside Lupus, sharing a smile with him. Usually, Lupus will be paired with Q-B while Lucas is with Kisaragi as an extra means of protection. The older two hardly need any help due to their powers, but there are instances where their powers became unstable or they were confronted with enemies that delved straight into a fistfight. In that situation, Q-B and Kisaragi will lend their help in order for them not to be overwhelmed by the large numbers of opponents.

Q-B just grinned at the both of them while holding his holographic tab. He was pretty sure Lupus could not care less with whom he is partnered with as he just wanted to stay with Lucas at their hideout. “Stay safe, everyone. Judy, Lucas and I will try our best to prepare the new weapons during the weekend so that you can use it during the mission.”

“That’s all for today’s meeting. You can spend the rest of the night doing anything you want, as long as you stay in our base. The recon team may retire early to your room if you guys are feeling tired. If there’s anything I’ll alert each of you,” said Goemon, ending the session.

The rest of the members stood up and dispersed to their own locations. Some went to their bedrooms, some went to the training centre located underground. Lupus had joined Marine, Bailey and Travis to the training centre after being asked for a sparing session with Marine. While the tech duo, accompanied by Lucas and Kisaragi went to their tech lab to start their weapon construction.

“Why didn’t you tell them?” Marduk’s voice was heard out of a sudden. Sarutobi who just started to walk halted his steps, looking around before his gaze stopped at Marduk. “Tell them what?” He refuted back, his voice remained low to avoid attracting attention from the others. 

“About what happened to your katanas and its effect on the shadows after that. Don’t play fool with me, I saw what happened just now,” replied Marduk, his voice steely.

During the fight with the shadows, all five of them were just an inch from death as their weapons were ineffective towards the shadows. It was not until Sarutobi tried to use his katanas that he noticed that the twin katanas were glowing. He noticed that the shadows began to gradually disappear after he tried to use the glowing katanas on them. However, only Marduk who was fighting beside him noticed it.

“How can I tell them when I couldn’t explain it myself?” replied Sarutobi. It was not like he wanted to keep it a secret, but until he could find the plausible explanation for it, he did not want to warrant the others’ worries. Besides, he said to himself, what if it was just a one time thing?

Marduk just nodded and accepted the younger man’s reasoning. “All right, I understand. But if you want some help, don’t be shy to ask. Next week you will be going on duty again, and I do not want you to be injured or anything.”

Sarutobi just smiled hearing the concern in the older man’s voice. “Duly noted, Marduk.”

(BABYLONIUM, 2months ago)

“Sir, there’s an emergency call from the control room.”

“Turn on the communication. What’s going on, S192?”

“Sir, we noted an attempt of hacking into our main system 30 minutes ago. Our defense security managed to stop it after 15 minutes, however we lost main power within those 15 minutes. When the system already rebooted, we have found that--*static*--missing--*static*--”

“S192, can you repeat what you said immediately? What was missing?”

“The ‘coordinate’ and the ‘blueprint’, sir.”

“Fuck! Employ our troops immediately to Babylonium, SHIN TOKYO and CHO TOKYO! Both of them cannot fall on the wrong hands or our plan to--*static*--CHO TOKYO--*static*will be made known to the public. And enforce the security for vault 976--*static*--as well to protect Spi*static*--”

“Already done, sir.”

“And recheck the surveillance camera recording in Canopus for this week. Do background checks for each personnel and arrest them at once if you find any suspicious person.”

“Noted sir.”

(BABYLONIUM, present times)

It was a usual Monday morning, and the city was bustling with life. People wearing suits were walking on the streets, hands barely managing to hold their briefcase, newspaper and a cup of hot coffee probably bought at the nearest coffee shop, ready to start their day. The city was never dull, always brimming with life for twenty-four hours. A man arrived at his workplace, his black hair smartly coiffed with gel and swept to the side, his suit immaculate, with a smile gracing his face.

“Good morning, Zero~”

“Good morning, Nina. How is my most favourite receptionist doing today?”

“There's only one receptionist working here, Zero.”

“Hahaha, and that is why you are my favourite.”

Being part of the research & development (R&D) team in the LDH company is a guaranteed busy job. LDH, a company which specializes in managing Atria production and sales throughout the three universes holds the record for being the most sought company, only second to the Canopus, the central tower of Babylonium. Each post in every department has a very rewarding yearly salary, however for someone to be successfully employed there, they need to have very high qualifications. Only a few are chosen for the interview, and the success rate is only 5% every year. The reason why the company is very strict in selecting their workers is because they want to make sure any information on the Atria and Lyra is being kept confidential. 

“Zero, do you want to join us later? The Chief wants to celebrate our new breakthrough in Lyra research, so he decided to hold a celebration feast at The Shore, that newly opened restaurant down the street. I heard the food there tastes exceptional,” asked Rina, his work colleague who is sitting beside him, her face joyful at the mention of food.

“Sorry, I think I’ll pass for today. I have promised Masato from HR to go for a drink together. I don’t want to be rude by cancelling at the last minute,” replied Zero. Rina just nodded in understanding, and promised to share food recommendations to him later.

Zero continued working on his reports, his eyes on the monitor but his mind already drifted out, anticipating the meeting with his friend few hours from now.

----------

“You are late, Chatter.” Parte said, his legs propped up on the table and his face bored due to the wait.

“Sorry sorry, I need to wait until my colleague starts drinking so that I can slip away unnoticed,” replied Chatter, his white hair appeared wild and vivid under the spotlight of the room.

“Huh? So the marketing team also had a get together plan? Why didn’t you just refuse their invites?” a soft voice was heard, coming from the left side of the room. The owner of the voice was a tall with a slim body built, his hair unruly and fell flat on his face, causing his face to have a resemblance of a puppy. 

“I tried to, Sherrock. But since I’m the second executive, they wanted me to be there at least for a while," defended Chatter, his voice whiny in his defiance.

“You should have followed Zero’s example to refuse outright when they wanted to invite him. You are too soft, Chatter.” A man with short cropped black hair and wearing sunglasses spoke. His left hand was twirling a pen between his fingers, while his eyes were fixed on the holographic blueprint spread on the table before them. 

“No one asked for your opinion, Smash,” replied Chatter, rolling his eyes at the other man's interference.

“Zero, it seems like everyone had arrived. Rosso, take a seat already.” A man with black hair and the smallest body in the room spoke to the red-haired man in question, his face remained stoic. The red haired man just shrugged, the seriousness in the other’s tone stopping him from reprimanding the younger man about the lack of respect in his speech.

“Very well, Masato. Let’s begin.” Zero said. 

------

They lived in Babylonium, the central universe where Lyra are gathered and Atrias are made. Babylonium citizens are considered the elite of the elites, each of them with a high level of profession and high security clearance as approved by Canopus, the control tower of Babylonium. 

There were 7 of them, with Parte as the oldest and Masato as the youngest. They were part of the elite circle of Babylonium citizens,dressed in their hard-pressed custom made suits, polished black leather shoes and riding their sleek convertibles to work. Everyone knew them to be casual acquaintances with each other. No one knew the truth that the seven of them were the notorious group of phantom thieves in Babylonium. They were the cause of headaches and frustration of the Babylonium’s police force for every high-level theft that happened in the city. No one had ever seen or caught them in action, no one even knows how many members of the group. Rumor had it that the phantom thieves have super-powers, making them so hard to catch in the first place. The only evidence left at the crime scene was their insignia, a drawing of a Joker inside a sun-like symbol with the words Mad Jesters scrawled underneath. 

“I’m pretty sure all of you still remember what we have discussed in our previous meeting. We will still proceed with our original plan: to protect the citizens of CHO TOKYO from whatever Canopus plan to do. However, we are still waiting for the right time to execute it,” shared Zero to the rest. He was sitting at the table, eyes trained on the holographic blueprint spread on the table. There were also maps of Babylonium, SHIN TOKYO and CHO-TOKYO laid out haphazardly surrounding the blueprints.

“Do you guys think the citizens will believe the story?” Chatter said worryingly. He toyed with the Atria on his hand, while his body kept on changing between being visible and invisible. “I mean, the ridiculous plan aside, to accuse Babylonium government as the evil side when we know the truth is far more complicated than this.” 

Smash just shook his head, his face grave. “We’ve got no choice. At least in this way they would try to protest to Babylonium, and maybe force their hand to provide temporary settlements for CHO TOKYO instead of leaving them to die without help.” He kept on changing his appearance, from as young as a kindergarten child to an old man, his voice also changed accordingly. There was an Atria shell lying beside him, its inside empty of Lyra.

“Stop changing your appearance when you are speaking, Smash, you are going to give me a seizure. Speaking of Babylonium, is there any news of the special operative team that they sent before? They did not managed to find anything that can point towards us, right?” Rosso turned to Masato who was sitting beside him. There were electrical sparks coming off Rosso’s fingertips, but his face was seemingly unaffected by it.

Masato smirked hearing the worries in the other’s question. The black-haired man just continued twirling the pen between his right index and middle fingers, the speed too fast for anyone’s eyes to follow. “Our cover is still safe. They still haven’t managed to recover the CCTV’s recording when we ‘took’ the artifacts. And each of us got a perfect alibi after all.”

Parte yawned widely, his face bored from the discussion. There was a sandbag lying on the floor, its seams burst open wide and its content spread out on the floor. “So that’s it about the ‘blueprint’ right? It’s all up to Zero to decide when we are going to execute the plan. How about the ‘coordinate’? Sherrock?” He directed his question to the puppy-like man, who look as if his mind was anywhere except in the meeting room, his eyes empty and unfocused.

“Sherrock?” repeated Zero, immediately teleporting from his original seat at the head of the table to the sofa in mere seconds. He gently touched the shoulder of the man in question to regain his attention.

The brown-haired man with the puppy-like face finally shook out of his stupor. The small metal device that was hovering in the air few minutes ago dropped to the empty seat beside him. “Sorry about that. About this ‘coordinate’, I was able to understand how it operates and to where it is directing. But I need more time to be able to demonstrate it. And yes, we can use it to escape after the plan.”

“But we need to find him first, right?” Zero added, his face kind and understanding.

Sherrock just nodded, not uttering one word of reply. He didn’t trust himself to be able to control his emotions if he spoke. I promise I’ll find you. Please wait just a little bit longer. His heart ached at the thought of not being able to execute their plan as soon as he could.

Zero watched the other man silently, understanding what’s on his mind at the moment. He redirected his attention to the other members. “Before I forget, we are going to meet with someone next week at Shin Tokyo.”

Chatter stopped making his body invisible upon hearing the statement and turned towards his leader in curiosity and excitement. “Oh? Who are we meeting this time?”

Zero just smirked and replied, "Just wait and see.”

(CHO TOKYO-flashback)

It was raining heavily, the sky was dark and menacing. Distant sound of thunder was heard and flashes of lightning can be seen among the heavy puffs of cloud. 

The shops across the street were already closed for the day, the owners certain no one was going to wander about and visit their premises for the rest of the day.

Two figures were seen, taking cover under the canopy of the closed shop. Their clothes were drenched, the canopy unable to provide enough shelter due to the downpour of the rain.

They were holding each other tightly, each hoping that their body can provide some warmth to the other. Lupus knew that his friend was able to use his power to counter the colds, however seeing the younger boy already on the brink of fever made him retract his thoughts. He rather braced the cold rather than letting the other boy suffer even more.

Too sick and tired to notice the surroundings, the two boys did not notice several figures approaching them. The sounds of rain falling on the roof masked the sounds of footsteps, causing them unable to detect the presence of the person until their feet were directly in front of them. Lupus and Lucas looked up, meeting the eyes of the person.

He was several years older than them, with tanned skin and braided dark blond hair. He was holding an umbrella above both of them, providing extra protection from the heavy rain while leaving himself drenched. His face was kind. 

Few steps behind him was another two figures, his white hair falling over his forehead. He appeared a few years younger than the tanned man, staying a few feet behind to observe them from a distance. Like how a human would do when approaching a scared puppy, thought Lupus absently. Beside the white haired man was another man, his hair blond and semi-parted. He never once stopped smiling when he saw Lupus and Lucas watching him carefully.

“Hey there, do you want to come with us?” asked the tanned man to the boys. His voice carried through the heavy rains, not demanding but instead expectant and laced with kindness. Lupus was unable to detect any hidden or malicious intent behind that voice. He turned towards Lucas, asking for his opinion. The red-haired boy just nodded minutely, his face was red from the fever consuming him. They both accepted the offer.

Both of them later learned that their name was Hades, Goemon and Bailey. And that was the start of their new family.

(CHO TOKYO-present time)

The rest of the week passed by fleetingly. The members of Rowdy Shogun spent the week accordingly to their own appointed tasks, working like a well-oiled machine. Apart from the recon team, the rest of the members mostly spend their times at the warehouse. Their meeting centre was located at ground floor of the warehouse, while their medical bay and tech lab were located at the second floor. The third floor accommodated their bedrooms, with a small spiraling staircase that lead to the rooftop, which was Lucas’ favourite place to spend time at. The basement was where their weapons, explosives and gadgets were stored, apart from the training centre that extended up to the ground floor. 

Apart from the important tasks such as designing weapons and training, some of the members also are in charge of other small tasks such as buying groceries and cooking. Their kitchen and dining area were also at the ground floor, filled up with food and other necessities. After all, there were 16 grown-up men living in the warehouse, so they needed all the food that they could get.

“Guys, the food is ready. Let’s gather up and eat,” said Miya from their kitchen. This week, He and Hades are in charge of cooking and preparing the meals for the members. It’s Friday night, the last night before the weekend arrived. Later on, the members of the recon team would go for final  surveillance for the week around the city.

“Wow, seriously? Curry rice and gyoza for dinner tonight? What are we celebrating?” asked Joe, his mouth nearly drooling from seeing the meals on the table.

“Shut up, Joe. You are the one who bought the groceries and pleaded with me to make some gyoza tonight, you idiot.” replied Miya, rolling his eyes at the younger man’s antics.

Hades grinned knowingly and pointed Lupus towards a small size bowl of curry at the side of the table, the appearance was a bit different compared to the others. “Lupus, I made your curry extra spicy like you preferred.”

Lupus smiled and thanked the leader. Lucas just laughed hearing that. Trust their leader to know what to do to increase Lupus’ spirits. After coming back from the city with the recon team every day, Lupus had been spending his free time in the weapon lab, bothering him, Q-B and Judy. And Kisaragi just had to tag along, his reasoning was he needs to follow Lupus wherever he goes. Instead, he ended up hanging around the lab too, teasing Q-B while Q-B just sighed out loud exasperatedly every time.

Thankfully, the recon team had no more encounter with the shadows for the first four days. However, the number of deaths was still increasing, with a total of five new cases until Thursday. Tonight will be the last round for the week.

Lucas loves this part of the day, having meals with the rest of the members. It’s like having a family, filling this empty part of his life he never knew existed. He was unable to remember his parents and whether he had any siblings or not in OLD TOKYO. Meeting Hades, Goemon and Bailey 13 years ago was like a gift, a spark that started Rowdy Shogun. He was grateful for the fateful encounter that day, sparing him and Lupus from loneliness and isolation.

“Miya, why is this gyoza strongly tasted of garlic? My stomach will hurt during the round tonight,” whined Marine, his attitude showing his real age as compared to his build.

“Just eat it you brat. Stop complaining or I will not give you snacks when you returned later,” threatened Miya. He has had enough of the younger ones teasing his cooking at one moment, asking for second helpings the next. Marine, Joe and A-Not are part of the youngest line, apart from Q-B and Judy. The three of them always eat and demand a lot, but their mouth never stopped from complaining. The only person they did not dare to complain on was Hades, one of their leaders. Hades is not a fearful leader and he seldomly raises his voice. However, he would always demand complete attention and cooperation from all the members to avoid failure during missions. In comparison, Goemon is a playful leader who loves to joke around with the younger members. That is mainly the reason why he was not spared from their teasing.

After dinner, some of them retreated to their rooms while the rest accompanied the recon team to prepare. Lucas, Q-B and Judy stayed to make the final adjustments of the weapon and protective gear they made. The members already tried on the newly upgraded weapons and gears on the first four days, however some things still need to be adjusted after each day.

After they returned, the three of them would adjust according to the members’ reports and comments. Granted, they still do not get the chance of using the new weapons against the shadows yet. But the recon team would still provide feedback on how to make their weapons suit them better for the next day.

Bailey and Marine were donning modified gauntlets and adaptive body shields. Two of them were skillful in hand-to-hand combat. They preferred to use the gauntlet to enhance their punches while still able to protect their hands from being injured. The body shields, which just looked like mesh shirts, were light and did not weigh them down. This is to enable them to become swift and efficient when moving. Bailey also had a sabre while Marine had a hammer strapped to their back. Sarutobi had his two katanas strapped to each end of his waist, making a cross sign. Kisaragi had a katana on his back with two semi-automatic handguns strapped on the holster near his belt line. Lupus, on the other hand, had his own sword at his side.

Judy and Q-B were busy checking and giving explanations on the weapons they designed. During the experiment, the integration of the Lyras as the core of the weapons and protective gears had increased their power and durability. As one of the most stable elements that can be found in the universe, the Lyra is extremely versatile. That is the reason why Babylonium had issued the prohibition of using it for any other usage except as a power source. The Atria is like a protective shell of the Lyra, it is nearly impossible to be cracked open. However, with the help of Lucas’ power to open the Atria’s shells, Q-B and Judy were able to safely extract the Lyra.

“Lupus.”

Lupus turned towards his lover, concern written all over his face. He could hear Lucas calling him, his voice laced with worry, and was it fear? Lucas being worried for him every time he was on duty was not unusual, but this was the first time there was fear present.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, trying to find out the reason why Lucas behaved that way.

“If anything happened, call him out, please. Promise me you will call him. I can’t be there to protect you this time,” replied Lucas. His eyes were distant but all knowing, like watching the future that hasn’t happened yet but inevitable. Lupus raised an eyebrow, his mind processing the request. 

“I promise,” he replied. Even with vague words, he knows exactly what Lucas was talking about and to whom he was referring. And since Lucas was the one who requested it, it was basically a warning signal for all of them that  that night’s round would be significantly more dangerous as compared to before.  The expression on the rest of them turned grim, acknowledging the impending risk of tonight’s encounter. They have learned not to question Lucas’ ability in perceiving the future. He was not like an Oracle who can describe the future event in detail, his ability however was more vague in nature.

Lucas’ main power was that he was able to summon light from his body, whether it was in the form of small light spheres to illuminate the dark night or blinding light beams that can potentially seared and mortally wounded the others mainly due to its sheer heat and intensity. 

Apart from that, the rest of Lucas' ability remains incomprehensible to the others. He can read and enter someone’s mind, he can even control them if he wants. He can also detect and mask someone’s presence. Basically he can do anything if he put his mind to it, but each task takes a great toll on his mind and his body. That is why he needs a long time of rest after using his power. The rest of the members of Rowdy Shogun have no power of their own, their physical ability basically was trained and improved by time through sheer determination and lots of practice. They did not want to put so much pressure on Lucas by entrusting him with so many tasks and instead tried to overcome each other’s flaws by training hard.

It’s finally time to move out. They followed the same routine as the previous night, starting from the border and moving closer to the center of the city. They collected the revenues from the sale of the Atrias and obtained the post mortem reports of the deaths from the main and district hospitals. All in all, everything flowed smoothly and uneventfully. 

However, the five of them were getting restless and paranoid. The night sky appeared darker than usual this night, the moon and the stars hiding themselves from sight. Lupus could not shake off the sinister feelings inside him, with Lucas’ words replaying themselves over and over again. They finished their rounds without delay and went on their way to return to their base, not letting their guard down for even one second. They were about 15 kilometres away from their base with Bailey at the front, leading their formation when it happened.

“Incoming!! Spread out, everyone!” Suddenly the oldest of the group screamed, his voice filled with urgency and panic. They spontaneously halted, each of them spreading out to form a perimeter as instructed. In front of them, there was a massive dark shadows, the size estimated to be nearly the same as a two-story building. Its color was pitch black and menacing, like a black hole ready to consume anything on its way. Lupus and Sarutobi nodded towards the other three, confirming the shadows to be the same as they had encountered before. 

“It’s the same as before. But currently its size is much bigger,” observed Sarutobi, trying to recall the difference between the shadows last week and the one in front of him at the moment. Bailey and Marine fastened up their gauntlets, ready to punch their way through. Sarutobi was holding his twin katanas while Kisaragi chose to use his handguns as a long-range form of attack. The weapons, which were already infused with Lyra, glowed brightly in the dark night. In comparison, Lupus’ sword stayed the same, as he decided previously not to upgrade his weapon like the others. Instead, some kind of black fire emerged from Lupus himself and started to engulf the sword from the hilt to the tip. This power was not from the Atria, instead it had always been part of his own ability. 

They all moved accordingly with Bailey and Marine in the front, punching relentlessly and dispersing the shadows. They did not allow the shadows to even be close to other parts of their bodies as they had seen the consequences of it. The shadows also changed its shapes frequently, forming a spike-like projection when it was on offensive and shield-like appearance when it was defending itself. The agile ability of the shadows forced Bailey and Marine to use their sabre and hammer respectively, the weapons providing extra protection to them. 

Sarutobi cut his way through using his twin katanas, the shadows spreading out and disappeared. His flexibility allowed him to move from site to site at ease, his feet not missing even one step. Kisaragi alternatively shot and replaced the ammo, choosing to stay a bit behind the others to better observe the situation. He preferred to cover a wider radius of offense by using his guns. 

Lupus swung his sword with ease, the black fire covering the sword increasing range of damage to the shadow. He had been using the sword for several years already, the weight of the blade familiar and ingrained in his mind. Lucas was the one who suggested making his own sword several years ago, with Lucas himself choosing to have his own bow and arrows as his weapon of choice. “To protect others, we need to learn how to protect ourselves first, Lupus.”

Suddenly remembering Lucas, he cursed his own forgetfulness and muttered under his own breath, “Kogarashi.” Immediately after, a large black flames bursted out of him and fell on the ground. The fire slowly reassembled into the shape of a large wolf. Its sitting height nearly came up to Lupus’ abdomen. Both of its eyes gleaming yellow, its sharp pointy teeth bare to all. It growled lowly, the sound ominous and menacing. Its body already in the offensive posture, like a tightly strung beast ready to be released from its leash.

Lupus delivered a final blow to the shadows before getting on one knee beside the wolf. His left hand brushed the pitch black fur along its spine while his head softly whispered to its left ear. “Attack them, and keep an eye on the others. Do you understand, Kogarashi?”

The wolf wasted no time before leaping towards the shadow, attacking it viciously. It leapt from place to place, attacking while protecting the members of Rowdy Shogun at the same time. This was not the first time the wolf joined them in a fight. With the help of one more alliance on their side, the recon team was slowly gaining the upper hand in this fight. It was initially hard, like fighting something as intangible and non-particulate as the wind. But the usage of Lyra in their weapons and protective gears enable them to see their destructive effect towards the shadow immediately. 

Sarutobi used his twin katanas efficiently, years of practicing with them portrayed in the way he carried his body during the fight. He was worried at first whether his katanas would be ineffective after the upgrade, but they worked perfectly. Last week, he felt that the power surrounding the glowing blades to be warmer, friendlier even. However, the currently Lyra-infused weapon he was holding was powerful, but the feelings were all wrong and foreign. 

Too lost in his thought about the differences, he did not notice a clump of shadow gathering behind him until too late. “Sarutobi, behind you!” Bailey’s voice rang loudly, trying to warn him. He just had a few seconds to turn around before a figure stood in front of Sarutobi, pushing him to the side. The figure was immediately engulfed by the shadows, unable to defend himself due to the direct attack.

“Lupus!” Sarutobi yelled, horrified with the sight before him. Lupus was screaming in agony, the sound muffled like it was produced underneath the water. The shadows entered his mouth and nose, burning and destroying him from the inside. The black-haired man tried to summon more of his flames out, however the vast amount of the shadows and his pain made it harder for him to put up a fight. His sword was suspended in the air, with the surrounding black fire flickered in response to the shadows. 

Kisaragi shot the shadows at once, emptying his ammo faster than normal. He would not stand seeing his friend being tortured and suffered without help. It was his job to cover for Lupus, and he failed to do so. In his haste of reloading his guns, he could not see the shadows reshaped into several pikes before stabbing him on his right upper arm and abdomen. Kisaragi fell to the side, scream of pain barely escaping his lips. He was unable to continue his attack due to his injury.

Bailey and Marine hurried to the site, trying not to waste more time. Marine used his hammer to destroy the pikes stabbing Kisaragi. Sarutobi used his katana and forming a perimeter around both Kisaragi and Marine, defending them from further attacks. Meanwhile, Bailey unsheathed his sabre and slashed the shadows surrounding Lupus, destroying the makeshift cage that was holding the younger man hostage. The rest of the shadows were defeated by Lupus’ wolf, Kogarashi, for the fight to finally end and their enemy disappeared without trace.

Lupus fell on to the ground, his figure eerily still and body full of  bruises and black markings. With shaking hands and heart beating fast, Bailey approached the younger man to check his condition. Sarutobi went to his childhood friend, his head frantic with worry with Marine hot on his heels. Kisaragi was alive, albeit there was a continuous bleeding from the site he was stabbed. His face was a bit pale, a result from the ongoing blood loss and shock. Marine tied a piece of his jacket on Kisaragi’s arm, acting as temporary bandage.  Sarutobi put his hand and apply pressure on his friend’s abdomen, trying to slow the bleeding. 

Lupus though, Bailey noted with his heart sinking fast, was barely breathing. There was no sign of aging or shriveling on his face and body like the previous corpses. He was not attacked long enough by the shadows to completely kill him, but Bailey was unsure how much damage had already occurred on the inside.

“Kogarashi, you need to send Lupus immediately back to base right now,” he said to the wolf. The wolf growled in affirmation, taking the combined weight of his master and Marine on his back. It sprinted back to their hideout, with Marine tightly holding on to the unconscious Lupus. “We need to hurry back too,” Bailey said towards Kisaragi and Sarutobi. 

Bailey knew it was cruel for him to think like this, but he was unsure of the possibility of Lupus surviving the attack. He hoped that Lucas knew what to do to save his lover. It was a race of time against death.

The night was dark and poorly-lit, the moon barely visible and hid behind the clouds. The sky was empty with not a single star in sight. There was a heavy feeling in his chest that did not abate even after few hours. The thunderous heartbeats that rang in his ears made Lucas felt as if he was running a marathon. He was not a superstitious person, but he knew all these signs did not point towards anything good. That was the reason why he warned Lupus just before the recon team embarked on their round. And when his heart was in immense pain several hours later, he became increasingly worried for his teammates and his lover.

After his free time was spent on cleaning his room, visiting the tech lab and even practicing at their training centre, his heart still remained unsettled. He decided to wait outside their hideout for the recon team’s arrival, trying to search for any star that never fail to calm his heart but to no avail. He kept a fleeting hope inside him that he was just overthinking and everyone was fine. Goemon stayed with him, sitting beside him in silence. The leader did not question anything when he voiced out his worries and instead tried to pacify his emotional turmoil by keeping the red-haired man company. 

Lucas had always been able to sense when their members arrived at their homeground, each of them emitted different colors that were unique to themselves in his mind. Right now, he could sense Lupus’ presence along with Marine and Kogarashii that was getting nearer to their base. However unlike previously, Lupus’ aura was considerably dimmed and weak compared to Marine. Lucas stood up, keeping his eyes trained at where he could detect their presences nearing. A speck of black leapt down from the nearing rooftops on to the ground, the black wolf finally arrived with two people in his tow. But nothing could prepare the red-haired man for the sight of unconscious Lupus upon arrival, held in a tight embrace of Marine. 

Lucas felt as if he was knocked down on his chest, the force so strong and painful it left him breathless. Lupus was alive but his complexion was pale and his body was so, so still. “ Like a corpse.” His mind screamed in agony. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he did not think he could bear to listen to the answers. He remained silent at the side, Goemon firing off questions by questions beside him. He could sense the dread lingering behind their leader’s words even if his voice remained at level. 

Marine tried to explain to the best of his ability, however his loud voice that was nearing hysterics prompted the other members to come out of the warehouse to see the commotion themselves. Someone had gathered Lucas into an embrace, their hands soothing his back.  But his thought was not able to discern who it was even with the lack of distance between them. Another familiar pair of hands covered his cheeks, stroking away the tears that had fallen down. The red-haired man did not even realize that he was crying.

“Lucas.” Goemon’s voice brought him to reality again. “Can you heal him?” The leader asked, his tone urgent but not unkind. All members of Rowdy Shogun were there, watching Lupus with shock and horror on their face. A-Not had him in his embrace, while Marduk was the one who wiped away his tears.

He nodded absently, just realizing that the leader had been waiting for his answer for a while already. “I can. I have to.” His voice was trembling, each word grating and made him feel as if his throat was full of sand. A low whine came from his side, Lucas finally took notice of the black wolf that was staring up at him. It pushed its head towards the red-haired man’s lap, seemingly trying to comfort him while also being worried for his own master. “It’s okay, Kuro. He’s going to be okay.” He patted the black wolf’s head, trying to reassure the wolf, or maybe his own self.

“We’ll help you too.” Q-B and Judy spoke, their face determined. Lucas nodded his head and said, “Judy and Miya can help me. But Q-B, you need to wait for Kisaragi’s arrival for now.” Q-B face was torn between relief and denial, however after a knowing look from Lucas, he heeded the older man’s words. Lucas knew that Q-B was worried for the safety of the other three members who had not arrived yet, especially Kisaragi. Having Q-B to help in the medical bay would not relieve the younger man’s anxiety.

Lucas had healed the members before, as injury was unavoidable in their line of occupation. Lupus had injuries before too, in fact countless times but not this severe. Most of the times they were just small cuts and bruises that healed with time causing Lupus to decline his help. “I don’t want you to strain yourselves too much.” he would say. 

However, this situation was different altogether. Lupus was on this thin line separating between life and death and honestly, Lucas didn't know how to keep himself together. “Joe, Anot, can you guys lend me some help?” The younger two just nodded and followed him to their medical bay, accompanied by Judy, Miya and Kogarashii, the black wolf.

“I need both of you to hold him down during the process. Judy, I need you to find some empty Atria shells from the tech lab. Miya, since you are here can you please gather some Atrias and put them at the side? I may need them later.” The four members did as they were told.

Taking his place at the right side of his lover, Lucas closed his eyes, drew a deep breath and started to focus. He could pinpoint the exact moment when his power responded to his call, coaxed out of the deepest core in his heart. His chest started to feel warm, gradually spreaded throughout his body. His body began to glow, producing misty shining threads of light that swirled around him. Lucas had always loved the feeling that his power brought into him, gentle and delicate like the starlight on a dark, dark night.

With his eyes still closed, he held both of his hands towards Lupus, his power diffusing out of his body into Lupus and enveloping him whole. He could see and feel the resistance from the shadows almost immediately, lashing out at his mind viciously in retaliation. He finally opened his eyes, looking at the way the shadows resurfaced from Lupus' body, not allowing Lucas’ power to take control. 

Lucas directed his power towards the shadows, trying to grip them tight while creating a strong pulling force. At the first attempt of pulling the shadows out, Lupus’ body began to thrash and shake uncontrollably. Joe and A-Not started to hold him down, the unconscious man seemingly stronger than usual.  It was like a tug of war with the red-haired man not giving up for even one second. Lupus groaned and grunted painfully, the sounds making its way to Lucas’ hearing and breaking his heart all over again. Black fire erupted from Lupus' body, evidently the black-haired man was also putting up a fight against the shadows even in his unconscious state.

It was not an easy task as the four men inside the room watched on how the shadows struck  the healer, injuring him in the process. Lucas winced and flinched in pain each time but he persevered throughout the healing. Miya opened his mouth in concern, however a desperate look from the younger stopped him from asking about his condition. He made a note in his mind to check on the younger man after they healed Lupus. 

After a few attempts, they could see that the shadows became weaker and smaller in size. After nearly an hour, Lucas decided to contain the remaining shadows in the empty Atria shells prepared by Judy. He turned towards Lupus, noting the way colour began to fill his cheeks and body. His breaths also had become more stable and normal. He held Lupus’ right hand, feeling grateful with the way it did not feel as cold as before. 

The healer turned towards his four teammates, who collectively released a sigh after seeing the improvement on Lupus' condition. “He’s in stable condition right now. However, I need you guys to stay with him for a while as I need to check on the others,” he asked. A-Not, Joe and Judy just nodded, looking as tired and spent as he was.

“Lucas, you need to rest first. Bailey texted me and said that the other three were fine. Kisaragi was bleeding when they arrived but they had managed to stop the bleeding. Please let me check on your injury first,” replied Miya. He was concerned with the way Lucas barely holding himself up. It was obvious that the process just now took a great toll on his power and his body. He also wanted to determine the severity of the injuries that the younger man sustained during the healing process just now.

But Lucas just smiled and shook his head at Miya’s suggestion. “I’ll just take a few minutes, Miya. If anything happens, just call me as fast as you can.” he answered.

He walked for a few steps before A-Not joined behind him, just in case he needed some help. They arrived at the meeting ground downstairs, observing the way the rest of the members looked at Lucas with worries.

“He’s gonna be fine,” said Lucas, answering the unspoken question that ran through their minds. He walked to Kisaragi who was sitting on the table, bandage wrapped around his torso and right arm. His friend, who was younger than him for a few months, was conscious but his face appeared pale from the blood loss. The initially white bandages were now soaked in blood. It seemed like no vital organs were injured from the stabbed wound.

Sarutobi, Bailey and Q-B who stood beside Kisaragi were surprised to see Lucas there. The red-haired man just raised his hands in greeting and returned his focus on Kisaragi. He once again summoned his power and directed it towards Kisaragi’s abdomen and right arm. The wounds slowly stitched themselves together, only leaving behind a strip of discoloured skin as proof of the injury. Lucas was breathless at the end of the process, finally acknowledging his fatigue upon overusing his power. “I have stopped the bleeding and healed the wound, but you still need to rest and refrain from moving too much, Kisaragi,” he said to his friend, leaving no room for the brown-haired man to protest.

He nearly fell down before A-Not caught him in his arms. “Come on Lucas, you’ve done more than enough for today. I’ll bring you back to him.” He lifted Lucas in a fireman-hold and slowly went up the stairs, back to the medical bay. Joe, Judy and Miya stood up upon their arrival and followed A-Not out, leaving Lucas alone with Lupus. Kogarashii lay beside the bed, already sound asleep while keeping close to its master.

Lucas walked slowly towards the bed, his steps light to not wake the other man. He brushed away his lover’s black hair to the side, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. His eyes began to water and fell down his cheeks, his emotion finally became too overwhelming for him to bear. Small droplets of tear made its way onto Lupus face, as Lucas was unable to stop himself from crying anymore. 

He did not notice how long he was crying beside the bed until he felt a hand placed on top of his head, stopping him. He looked up and saw the black-haired man was awake, his gaze on Lucas was like an abyss that pulled him in. The hand that was on his head moved to his face, caressing his cheeks. The touch was silky soft and pure, and it was effective in consoling the younger man. 

“Come here,” said Lupus, communicating through his mind. Seems like talking out loud would still put his body under a great stress. Lucas obeyed and lied down at the left side of the other man, careful to not accidentally pressing on the injured parts. 

They were facing each other, keeping their eyes’ locked on each other. Lupus’ gaze was tender, like he could not believe the presence of the red-haired man beside him. “Were you crying just now?” he asked towards the other. His red-haired lover just stayed silent and buried his face at the crook of Lupus’ neck, not agreeing but not denying it either. They both knew the answers.

“I’m sorry to have made you worry about me.”

“...It’s okay.”

“It was painful, wasn’t it?”

“Very. You were dying. You were dying and slipping through my grasp. And I was just standing there, hearing your heartbeats becoming slower and slower.”

“But you were able to bring me back, didn’t you? You managed to save me.”

 The sound of muffled sobs through the fabrics was the only answer Lupus got from the other man. He slowly raised his right hand, the movement halted due to him still feeling weak and exhausted. He stroked the other man’s hair, feeling every soft and silky strand on his fingertips. Finally, he put his hand underneath the other’s chin, tipped it up and placed a kiss onto the younger’s soft lips. The kiss was fleeting and innocent, an unspoken apology from the older for everything the other had gone through before.

Slowly but surely, the red haired man began to reciprocate the kiss. He returned back the kiss with fervent, like a rosebud that slowly bloomed when the spring came. The moment was red and passionate, as if each of them were afraid that they would lose the other after this. After all, they knew that nothing was certain in this world of theirs. “I love you.” The words were unspoken but remained lingered in their minds. In the end, they fell asleep while holding each other in a tight embrace.

——

“Ouch ouch ouch! Can you be gentle for a bit, Q-B?!” yelled the brown-haired man to Q-B, his face scrunched up in pain. Sarutobi, Q-B, Miya and Marduk stayed at the meeting ground to keep Kisaragi’s company. The injured man was sitting on the makeshift bed made of bedding and thin blanket taken from his bedroom courtesy of Marduk. Since the wounds were completely healed by Lucas, there was no more bleeding. However, the bandages still need to be changed with new ones. 

“You are 23 years old, not 13. Act like one, will you?” jabbed Q-B while rolling his eyes. He was having enough of the yelling that came from the older man. For someone who was known for being one of the quietest in their group, the brown-haired man sure had a loud voice to betray his reputation. He stabbed a finger in the area near the previously injured abdomen in spite, much to the annoyance of the older man.

Sarutobi just watched the exchange silently, his face betrayed his guilt. “It was my fault that Lupus and Kisaragi were injured in the first place. I’m sorry,” he apologized to his childhood friend. His heart was not in peace since their arrival with Lupus’ and Kisaragi’s injuries haunting his mind.

Kisaragi looked surprised by the sombre tone of his friend who was the mood-maker of their group. “It wasn’t your fault, Sarutobi. Stop beating yourself over it. I’m sure Lupus did not want you to feel guilty as well. Things happened,” he smiled cheekily in response. “Pretty sure I caused you a lot more injuries during our childhood.”

“I’m not putting blame on you, Sarutobi. I just wanted to know what caused you to momentarily lose your concentration? This kind of thing had never happened to you before,” asked Marduk, his face curious. He knew Sarutobi was one of the most-skilled fighters in their group. Miya and Q-B turned towards the said man, wanting to know the reason as well.

“It’s hard for me to explain it. I was distracted by the change in feeling when using my upgraded katanas tonight. They had a friendlier feel to them last week. But this night, there was none of that.” explained Sarutobi.

“What do you mean by last week?” asked Q-B, his eyes wide with the new information.

Marduk shared a look with Sarutobi before the younger man replied, “Actually, the katanas seemed to be powered up by something last week prior to the upgrade with Lyra. That was why they were effective during the first fight. I didn’t know exactly what caused it. But, they reminded me of Lucas’ power actually.”

Kisaragi frowned in confusion. “But as far as we know, Lucas had never done any kind of power transfer to us or our weapons before.” If that was true, he should be among the earliest one to notice as he was close to the said man.

“I know, but that was how the power felt to me last week.” Sarutobi replied, his voice exasperated. He knew it was hard for the other members to imagine what he had felt without them experiencing it themselves.

“Speaking of Lucas, I’m worried about him. When he healed Lupus just now, the shadows lashed out to him and I’m afraid he sustained some kind of injury or side-effects. But he refused to let me see,” interjected Miya. He suddenly recalled the way Lucas’ face contorted in pain, worried about the other man’s condition.

“Let’s discuss again regarding this matter tomorrow. For tonight, we all deserve some rest, especially those two,” said Marduk, making the decision to end their conversation that night. It’s not like they could come up with the answer after such a hectic night.

------

Lupus opened his eyes slowly, adapting to the dark room that was just barely lit by the moonlight filtered through the window. It was not hot, and it was far from being a cold night either. His body was not in pain, in fact he felt very well-rested. He was puzzled on what caused him to wake up in the middle of the night. He deduced everyone was still sleeping at this moment as there were no sounds of movements or voices of the members that can be heard.

A look at the digital clock on the small table beside the bed showed that it was only 3 a.m. Lucas was lying beside him on the bed, still sound asleep. His face was still buried at the crook of Lupus’ neck, his red hair covering his face and tickled Lupus a bit. His hand was fisted around the front of Lupus shirt, his grip tight and anchored. The older man just sighed, adoring and committing the sight into his mind. 

A soft growl coming from the floor disrupted his thoughts. Kogarashii was awake, its yellow eyes shone bright even in the dark. It stood up in its four legs, the claws were out and tearing the soft carpet. Its gaze was directed towards Lupus and Lucas, not threatening but appeared a bit confused instead. “Hush Koga, there’s nothing here. We are fine,” said Lupus in a hushed voice, trying not to wake his lover beside him.

He was confused about his wolf’s reaction. Kogarashii would only act that way when confronting an enemy or when trying to protect something. At that time, the wolf was acting like he wanted to attack both him and Lucas, which is completely uncalled for. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to detect any unseen enemy. Suddenly, black fire erupted out of his fingertips and moved towards the sleeping man beside him. Lupus opened his eyes in shock and hurriedly retracted the fire, not wanting to accidentally burn the red-haired man. 

He sat up and turned towards his lover, still asleep and oblivious to what’s happening beforehand. With his heart beating fast, Lupus brushed away the younger man’s hair from his face. There was nothing. He slowly moved his hand downwards towards the nape of Lucas’ neck. Nothing. His hand continued to move downwards, stopping right on top of his lover’s chest, covered with his thin white shirt. Lupus felt his power reacting towards the site, black fire threatening to erupt again from his fingertips. 

With trembling hands Lupus unbuttoned two buttons of the shirt. The sight that greeted him nearly made him gasp out loud in shock. There were black markings all over Lucas’ left chest, with its starting point just an inch above his heart. The markings were coiled and twisted, resembling tendrils and vines of a plant but more malicious looking. The markings stopped just above his left shoulder and not extending underneath. Lupus’ hands hovered above the markings, trying to understand where it came from. After a few seconds, Lupus retracted his hands and grip the bed sheets beside Lucas, his heart torn between anger and distress. 

The faint power that came from the markings resembled the shadows from earlier.

(OLD TOKYO – flashback)

“We need to go!”

“I can’t!! I can’t leave now!”

“You knew it’s impossible. He is on the other side of the building, where the fire originates from. The hallway had collapsed and there is no other way for you to cross over there and make it out safely.”

“But I promised him, Zero. I promised that I would save him from this place.”

“I’m sorry, Sher. But the others are waiting for us, and it is our responsibility to not let them down. They need our help too.”

(SHIN TOKYO - present time)

SHIN TOKYO has the largest region and populations amongst the three main universes. In terms of development and civilization, it is only second to Babylonium. The universe is built with a high-tech and cybernetic concept, the buildings are mostly skyscrapers with the roads (called as Light Rails) acting as a connection between them. The citizens mainly use portals and teleportation pods to travels between places, while vehicles such as Light Cycle (a two-wheeled bike) and Light Runner (a four-wheeled car) which are equipped with speed of light and shatterproof body frames are mainly used by the security team called as ‘Enforcer’ that patrol the universe.

The distance between Babylonium and Shin Tokyo is comparatively nearer as compared to Cho Tokyo. That is the reason why Shin Tokyo is able to obtain an indefinite supply of Atrias from Babylonium to be used as the universe’ power source. In comparison, the remote Cho Tokyo were only supplied by the derivatives of Lyra, hence the universe is much more underdeveloped and nearly half of its population still being on the poorer side. In contrast, the citizens of Shin Tokyo are living a metropolitan life complete with their entertainment side.

Star of Wish is one of the biggest entertainment companies in SHIN TOKYO. It has many talented artists under it, covering music, acting and modeling acts. Their actors and actresses are casted in popular movies and series and broadcasted throughout the three universes. While their singers which consisted of groups, duo and even solo acts had their songs played and held several concert tours every year. Their models also are sent on international runways and become ambassadors for many brands.  

One of its most well-known entertainer groups is known as Astro9. They were originally founded and based in SHIN-TOKYO, however their fame had extended to BABYLONIUM and CHO-TOKYO as well. There were eight members of the group, consisting of two vocalists and six performers. Their performances which consisted of melodic singing accompanied with smooth and sleek choreography raised them as one of the most popular and most sought artists throughout the three universes

Apart from being known across the universes as artists, they also had another identity hidden from the public eye. Eight of them helped in maintaining the safety and peace of the citizens against any ‘darkness’ that plague the universe. Their public persona helped them to avoid unwarranted suspicion and scrutiny while giving them an alibi in case something went wrong during their mission. 

As for the leader, Itaru, he joined the entertainment company as he had always loved music and dancing. However, due to his power of creating illusion, he had been reluctant to be in the spotlight as he did not want any unwarranted attention. As he experienced memory loss during his childhood, he had kept mum about his own abilities. He was surprised to find another person, two in fact, to possess special powers like himself in his group. Apart from being the vocalist with a soft heavenly voice, Aria has the ability to see the future. However he could not choose whose or which event that he would like to see. The vision, as he called it, came into his mind at no specific time, without prior warning or signs. The other member in Astro 9 is Karasu, who has the ability to compel other people using his voice. It was a dangerous ability to possess, but Karasu had promised that he had never and will never use his voice to harm others, unless for his own protection. After meeting up with both Aria and Karasu, it was like a floodgate had been opened in their minds. They remembered about being in a research facility, being friends with each other and other children and possessing special abilities. However, there were still gaps in their memories, about people with faces that they could not recognize yet. The three had decided to never stop trying to recover their memories in order to understand better about the origins of their power.

The other five members, Teku, Hajime, Dill, Kagura and Kane did not have any powers, but they were skilful and talented enough in dancing. At first, they mainly depended on Karasu, Aria and Itaru’s abilities. And then Kane suggested using the Lyra on their outfits to increase their survival percentage during their missions. Itaru was reluctant at first but after being convinced by Aria, he approved of the method. Now, all of them have their abilities, albeit limited with the amount of Lyra infused in their outfits. Teku was able to attract and repel things like a magnet, Hajime could produce electricity, Dill could produce amplified soundwave, Kagura could produce a binding force to restrain someone, while Kane was the one to tinker and infused their gadgets, weapons and outfits with Lyra.

And that was how Astro9 was formed, both as artists and vigilantes. No one knew about their second jobs, not even their own management as they preferred to keep this matter between themselves only. They as a group wanted to help in maintaining the peace and harmony in the people’s life, not just through their music.

It was Friday in the afternoon, and as usual the company was bustling with the staff and artist preparing their schedules for the weekend. The hallways were packed with people holding cameras, makeup kits, posters and banners, and other things. In one of the dressing rooms with the letters A9 engraved on its door, four young men were preparing for their last schedule of the day.

“Itaru, Aria had some news for us,” said a man upon entering the room. He was wearing an orange suit with a green coat, and a bright blue cap sat on his head. His eyes were wide, and there was a hint of urgency in his voice.

The man who was referred to looked up from the magazine he was reading a while ago. He was wearing blue pants and a coat with a black and white patterned shirt. His brown blonde hair was neatly parted in the middle. His face sketched into worry and confusion. “What is it, Teku?”

“Seems like someone will come and pay us a visit after our performance tonight,” answered Teku, his voice still a bit breathless from the rush.

“Are you serious? There’s only a few hours left until the performance.” Another man interrupted, his gaze directed towards Teku. He was still sitting in front of the vanity mirror, adjusting his neon-green headband for the last time. He was wearing grey pants, a zebra-patterned shirt with a red coat on top. His hair was dirty blonde underneath the headband.

“Kagura, this is much more important than the performance. Was Aria able to recognize them?” another man interjected, standing in front of Teku upon his arrival. He was wearing an emerald green shirt with a pink coat and red pants. His hair was jet black in color and mid-parted.

“No, Hajime. He said something blocked his mind from seeing further. Seems like someone from the other side was powerful enough to build a wall to protect them from Aria’s vision,” said Teku while shaking his head.

Itaru stood up in alarm upon hearing Teku’s answer. His right hand was tightly clutching an Atria, the grasp so tight his hand nearly turned white from the sheer force of it. “That means they could be bad news for us. We need to use these few hours left to practice using Atria, so that we would be prepared when they come.” His eyes strayed to the Atria in his hand, his gaze determined.

“I already informed Karasu. He and Kane will bring the rest of the Atrias from home, and they will arrive in a few minutes along with Aria. We can use them during practice later,” added another man with dirty blonde hair. He was wearing a light blue coat with white pants. His hand was busy texting on his phone to his group-mate.

“Good job, Dill. Okay guys, let’s move out.” said Itaru to the rest of them, leading them to their practice room. 

-

The night was cold but not downright freezing, as there was still a hint of warmth left from the sun that went down just a few hours ago. The trees were bare, already shed off its leaves in preparation for the upcoming winter season. The air was fresh and crisp, like the smell of fresh grass after an episode of heavy rain.

It was the usual Friday night in FANTASTICS club, the most popular club across all of SHIN TOKYO. During weekdays, hundreds of patrons came to the club while reaching thousands on weekend nights. This is made possible due to the club being a three-level dome-like building with a large open ground area in the middle. There was an automatic roof that would cover the ground area if it was rainy. In the center of the open area, a stage was built to accommodate the performer for the particular night. The bass of the music at the club can be heard even from far away, pumping adrenaline and excitement to the visitors and the onlookers.

“And now, it is time for us to welcome our honorable guests for tonight. Make some noises for ASTRO9!!”

A deafening cheer resounded in the open stage, boosted by the final comment from the DJ of the night. Colorful neon lights decorated the entirely white-painted building, matching the color of the drinks being served by the bartenders. Strobe lights flickered and swayed along to the beat of the music. Several spotlights shone at the main stage, highlighting the presence of the much anticipated performers of the night. Male and female guests of youths filled the dance floor, cheering and hollering when they saw a group of male performers making their way up the main stage.

Eight young men stood on the stage, their outfits colorful and vibrant under the spotlights. Their leader who stood at the far left of the stage held a microphone on his hand. He had brownish blonde hair and wore a set of blue suits with black and white shirt underneath. “Are you guys ready?” The leader, Itaru, screamed into the mic, his voice was met with another thunderous cheer. And the performance started.

 The vocalists of the group stood in the middle with microphones taped to their cheeks. The one on the left had ash blonde hair that was neatly styled upwards while wearing his crisp neon green suits. He was wearing a blue shirt underneath the suit and his style was completed with orange sunglasses. “Tonight, we are performing a new song for all of you titled ‘Supersonic’. One, two, three, let’s go!” said Karasu, a smirk forming on his face.

The other vocalist stood beside him, throwing a smile to the crowd before he started to sing. He had a brown hair that covered his forehead while wearing a red turtleneck. His outfit was matched with salmon orange suits on top and white pants. Chants of ‘ARIA’ reverberated at the open space, as he seemed to be one of the crowd’s favorites among the others in the group. Immediately, the stage began to move, several platforms began to rise and descend with each member of Astro9 standing on top of it. This was one of the reasons the FANTASTICS club was a favorite among its patrons, the advanced technology that it used simply delivered a top-notch entertainment for the visitors compared to the other clubs. 

Apart from the two vocalists, the other six members danced smoothly, each movement choreographed to match the beats and the vocals. At the same time, neon lights of various colors were produced from their suits, further enhancing their movements and steps. There were gasps of awe and amazement from the crowd, unable to take their eyes away from the beautiful sight. 

The group performed for a total of five songs that night. In the midst of the gyrating bodies of the patrons on the dance floor and being drunk out of their minds, no one noticed the brown-haired vocalist stopped singing in the middle of their third song. His eyes turned dark and his gaze became blank for a few seconds before he recovered, continuing to sing as if nothing happened. However, his group mates noticed the sudden pause and the change in his expression, their gazes immediately became alert but still not missing a step during their performance. Few minutes later, Karasu directed his gaze to the back of the club towards a newly-arrived group of men wearing black and white outfits. “Look who finally decided to show up,” noted the vocalist, the smirk on his face not receding even a bit. 

---

The seven newcomers stood in a line, facing directly towards the members of Astro9. They were donning black and white leather outfits, each of it not necessarily eye-catching if they wore it at other places. However, seeing as they were currently in a renowned club in Shin Tokyo, wearing monochrome outfits actually brought them the opposite effects as other patrons were wearing flashier and more striking fashions. 

Astro 9’s performance had ended two hours ago, leaving only a group of people who were too drunk and inebriated around the main stage. The bass of the music reverberated across the area, exclusively for the people who were still at the club to have an enjoyable night. But not for these two groups, who were staring at each other at an abandoned parking lot near the main building of FANTASTICS club. It was easier to avoid casualties in an empty area if a fight broke out between them.

After receiving news about Aria’s vision a few hours prior to the performance, Itaru had prepared himself for any possibility that might occur. Aria’s inability to discern the identity of their guest that night was a liability, but as a leader he trusted himself to prepare several plans in case things went south. That was why he asked his members to practice with their powers using Atrias in those limited times that they had.

“Who are you guys and why did you come here?” Asked Itaru, directed towards the group. He decided that just staring at each other was not an effective way of communication. The group appearing before him was strong, insanely so. He could see from the way they carried themselves, and how the energy surrounding them was like static, filled with tension and ready to burst.

“Oh? I thought you guys would know already? After all, one of you did see us coming prior to our arrival.” replied a white-haired man, his tone mocking. The red hair man beside him snickered, seemingly sharing an inside joke between them.

“Cut the crap. You were the one who blocked Aria’s vision, spare us the innocence act.” replied Kagura, his face morphed in to anger and fury. He hated the fact that the group in front of him knew about Aria’s ability but was not deterred at all.

“I’m sorry, but it was necessary. We did not usually expose our identity before meeting possible opponents after all.” a black-haired man replied, his voice polite and soft. He appeared to be their leader, standing in the middle of the group facing Itaru. His face was calm, not affected by the rising tension in the room. The man proceeded to introduce his group members, reciting each of their names clearly followed by the name of their group.

“Plus we were surprised to see someone with an oracle-like ability in your group. It sure came in handy, huh? Perhaps you wanted to join us, Aria?” added the man named Smash, his tone leering. 

After Sherrock informed the rest of the Mad Jesters that someone was anticipating their arrival, he was surprised. The Mad Jesters were renowned with the status of being stealthy, so to have their advantage taken away from them was frowned upon. However, thankfully Sherrock was able to block that person from identifying them. 

As a result of Smash’s taunt towards them, the rest of the Astro 9 members bristled in anger, ticked off by the untrustworthy expression of the tattoo-clad member. They have heard of the infamous reputation of Mad Jesters, the phantom thieves with their crimes exposed to the three universes but not their faces. However, they still could not comprehend the possible reason on why the Mad Jesters decided to meet them. 

After deciding that Smash just wanted to taunt his group mates with the offer, Aria declined the offer with a monotonous voice and a level of calmness they never knew the youngest possessed. Hajime flexed his fingers, covered in gloves sparking with jolts of electricity forming at the tip. Dill also discretely plugged in his ipods, steadily increasing the volume. Teku observed his surroundings, keeping an eye on metals that will come in handy for him to use. Kagura was getting ready to entrap these people, possibly after being subdued or compelled by Karasu or Itaru’s abilities first.

 Karasu and Itaru stayed behind with Aria and Kane, protecting the youngest two. They decided to not use their powers first as they remembered someone in the other group could block Aria’s ability. So there was a high possibility their illusion and compulsion would not work as well. Hence, they need to identify and defeat the said person first before being able to use their powers freely. That was where Kane’s detector played an important role. In the meantime, Itaru hoped that the rest of his members would be able to hold on as long as they could.

“Parte, would you do us the honour?” said Zero, turning towards the said man with a smirk. Parte nodded in understanding, his face devoid of emotion. With a deep breath, he raised both of his hands into fists and slammed them into the ground. The force caused the pavement to crack under their feet and sent the Astro 9 members tumbling to the ground. They had no moment to regain their footings when crushed rocks were sent in their direction by Parte. Teku tried to counter the attacks by pulling an unused car at his side to be used as a shield. At the same time, Dill pulled out his ipods and a very loud sound came out, producing a wave that propelled Parte backwards. 

Kagura took this chance to try holding Parte captive using his enhanced binding thread produced from his suit. However, before he managed to get close to the man, a black portal appeared, taking Parte with it and reappearing at Zero’s side. Teku did not give up, sending more metals taken from the car, lamp post and everything else he could his hand on towards Parte and Zero. Parte just continued to punch everything that was coming in his way, his strength not showing any sign of reducing any time soon. At his side, Zero occasionally teleported the strayed metals at other places to avoid being injured himself.

“So they have super-strength and teleportation powers. What else?” noted Itaru in his mind. He did not manage to wonder for so long before the lights at the parking lot flickered. He looked towards Hajime, wondering what the other man was planning. The older man did not seem to notice his staring, too busy gathering the electrical force at the parking lot before channeling it towards their opponents. The electrical force did not manage to get far as Rosso appeared directly in front of its trajectory and seemingly absorbed all of them. He was left unscathed and uninjured. “Hey there, seems like we share the same power,” the red-haired man chuckled ominously before producing a much larger electrical force towards Hajime. Itaru tried to warn his teammate but to his dismay, the power was too strong and knocked Hajime unconscious in one swoop.

Kagura was running towards Hajime when suddenly an unseen force punched him on the face. A laugh resounded in the empty space in front of him, the tone taunting and mocking. Kagura recognized the voice belonging to Chatter, the white-haired man from earlier. “Shit, so you can be invisible, huh? Stop being a coward and show yourself!” screamed Kagura, losing his temper. No response coming from the other man except the same laugh. 

“Kagura, he’s standing at your left!” Kane yelled, his hand gripping the detector in his hand. Hearing that, Kagura immediately punched in the same direction, noting a very satisfying ‘Ouch’ coming from his invisible opponent. He caught the detector thrown by Kane and used it to identify his location.

“Ahhh, it’s not fun anymore if you use a detector. Masato, it’s your turn now.” The still invisible Chatter yelled into the distance, his voice gradually becoming further away from Kagura. Few seconds was all it took before Kagura was hit by a barrel of attacks, the movements too fast for his eyes to follow. Dill tried to help him, but he himself was barely able to avoid the electrical force thrown by Rosso. 

“Another three had the powers to control electricity, speed and invisibility. We can do this.” Karasu managed to list down another three of their enemies’ powers. With a look from Itaru, he opened his mouth and said, “Rosso, stop fighting and stand still.” The said man halted in his attack, his eyes widened in surprise. He tried to break free from the spell he was under, but to no avail.

The rest of the Mad Jesters turned towards their red-haired man, confused by his sudden halt. Smash wasted no time before standing in front of his teammate, the tattoo on his body spreading out before enveloping his whole body. Karasu was surprised to see his appearance changing into Rosso, and sparks of electricity forming at his hands. “Shit, he has metamorphosis-like ability. Not to mention he can produce the same power as the one he is imitating. There is no point even if I compel them to stop.” noted Karasu, irritation bleeding into him. He could compel Smash too, but his ability is very limited. The more people he compelled, the more concentration he needed to exert and more power he needed to use. Furthermore, he could only control them for a much shorter time as well. Using the powers on mere humans was easy, but on humans with superpower like them was much, much harder. Karasu shared a look with Itaru, the latter nodded towards him knowingly.

Before their opponents managed to regroup, white mist began to form and cover the whole area. “There are few seconds left before the illusion in effect. Kagura, get ready to use your binding spells to gather them around and hold them down. Hurry up, I couldn’t use the illusion for a long time. They are too strong,” said Itaru, his hands on either side of his head. Likewise Karasu, his illusion was controlled by his mind and the time constraint is affected by his concentration only and not the number of people.

Kagura hurried to stand in front of the Mad Jesters members, all of them seemingly entranced with their eyes blank after being put under Itaru’s illusion. However, before he managed to do so, a strong invisible force hit all of Astro 9 members, their bodies thrown backwards several feet. The temporary lapse of distraction caused Itaru to lose his concentration, dispelling the effect of his illusion on their opponents. 

The mist cleared out, revealing Sherrock standing in the middle of the clearing, his face alert with no signs of being entranced like before. His hands were raised in front him, the palms facing towards the Astro 9. The rest of the Mad Jesters stood around in the same manner, some with grins and smirks decorating their face.

“Sorry guys, but that cheap illusionary tricks & compulsion would not work on us. Sherrock’s ability was in detecting any sort of mind distortion, so these kinds of attacks were useless against him. Nice try though,” Smash said, his voice mocking. None of his teammates were surprised by the brief illusion episode just now, trusting Sherrock to be able to save them.

“This fight was fun and all, but I think it’s time for it to end. You guys have nothing left up your sleeve, so how about you guys cooperate for once and listen to us?” Zero said, his tone was full of patience despite the fight that broke out in the past one hour. 

It was true that they were being completely overpowered right now. Hajime was still unconscious, and even the rest of Astro 9 were relatively unharmed, their ability had no lasting effect on the Mad Jesters. Realizing that they had no other choices, Teku stepped in front of Zero, looking to the black-haired man in disdain. “What do you guys want?”

(SHIN TOKYO - present time)

“Let’s find a suitable place to settle down first, okay?” Zero said before snapping his fingers. Grey smoke enveloped all of them before the Astro 9 members found themselves in an empty room inside the Fantastics club. 

All eight of them felt dizzy and needed another moment to regain their balances, their bodies not at all accustomed to the effect of teleportation. Dill and Kane excused themselves out of the room, their hands covering their mouth to quell the nauseous feeling they felt and to stop from vomiting in the room. Kagura and Aria were holding Hajime, trying to wake him up, with Karasu watching from a distance. Smash and Chatter just snickered at the side, their bodies already used to teleportation. In fact, all the members of Mad Jesters generally appeared unaffected and already took their seats around the room. Teku and Itaru took their seat at the table in the middle of the room with Sherrock, Masato and Zero directly in front of them. 

“We had heard of your group, both as entertainers and for your other more discreet activities. Your extra occupation as vigilantes in Shin Tokyo all these years only served to spread the rumor quickly in the underground. Your reputation was basically like us, except we were never part of media darling, so to say. Even though no one knows your identities for your works behind the scenes, we managed to find out by the help of Sherrock’s ability” Zero started, keeping his gaze focused on Itaru. There was no beating around the bush as he directly explained how they recognized Astro 9 for their other ‘job’.

“That still did not explain why you guys chose to come meet us tonight? I doubt that it was to report us to the authorities, because I think they would be more eager to arrest the infamous Mad Jesters members instead of not-well-known vigilantes like us,” replied Itaru, voicing out his opinion. He was sure the rest of his members shared the same opinion as him. He honestly could not think of a reason on why the other group chose to expose themselves like this. They were proud of themselves for being one of the most famous and hardest to catch ‘criminals’ in the whole three universes. Compared to the Mad Jesters, Astro 9 was still ‘green’ in their line of work.

“Simply put, we came here because we need your help,” answered Masato, who prior to this was just sitting silently beside Zero. His face was serious, with no hint of jest or humor on his voice. The entire occupants of the room fell into silence upon Masato’s admission. For a moment, Itaru and Teku seemingly lost at words, Masato’s words rendered them speechless. What could possibly the renown Mad Jesters, who just beat the Astro 9 senseless a few hours ago needed help for?

“Are you freaking kidding me? You guys are probably hundreds, or maybe thousands times more powerful than us judging from the fight just now. What on earth do you guys want our help for?” The silence was broken by Karasu, his voice cold like ice. He was livid, his eyes were full with anger. He was still mad at himself for losing in the fight just now, and his anger made him unable to trust anything from the other group. A slam of the door was heard indicating the arrival of Kane and Dill from the restroom, likely to have heard what had been said by Masato as well.

Parte, Smash, Rosso and Chatter who were just minding their own business stood up, sensing the underlying threat and tension from the vocalist of Astro 9. However, after sharing a look with Zero, they began to relax and reclined to their seats. Sherrock stood up, redirecting everyone’s attention towards him. “I’ll explain everything. Please listen carefully.” He walked to the centre of the room, his hands in his pockets before bringing out a small holographic tab. 

“I’m sure you guys had known about the red alert issued from Canopus a few months ago. Truth to be told, we were the ones responsible for that incident. Initially, we only planned to obtain this one particular artifact that was important to us. But upon entering the Canopus, we stumbled upon this blueprint by chance, enlightening us on what the Babylonium authorities had planned for the rest of humanity. So we decided to expose their plan to every citizen in the three universes to trigger an uprising or a riot that will stop them,” explained Sherrock. At the same time, Masato projected the blueprint to the Astro 9 members.

“This blueprint showed us that the authorities from Babylonium, and possibly some from Shin Tokyo purposely stopped the supplies of Lyra to Cho Tokyo, forcing their power plant to shut off prematurely. This in turn forced their citizens to be cut off from the Lyra, leaving them vulnerable and exposed in this impending winter. We have several ideas on the reason why the authorities resorted to this, but we believed that every citizen in the three universes deserved an equal chance of living, regardless of their social standing.”

“That’s totally inhumane on their part. How could they just totally cut off the Cho Tokyo citizens from Lyra? Cho Tokyo has the largest number of citizens compared to the Babylonium and Shin Tokyo combined, and they were totally okay in letting all of them die?” outraged Dill, absorbing the information from the Mad Jester member and blueprint in front of him. His hands were balled into a fist at his side, his body shaking with anger. 

“Actually, we have some ideas on why they decided to do this. But we need more time to gather some evidence to back up our claims and to ensure that the people would believe in us when we expose the plan,” answered Sherrock, keeping his calm in contrast to the harsh tone used by Dill in his question.

“There’s no solid reason in this world that could justify mass genocide. None at all.” Kagura interjected, refusing to believe in any justification that could be given by the Mad Jesters member. If they did not do anything to help the people of Cho-Tokyo, it’s possible that there are going to be more than hundred thousands of casualties.

Sherrock just looked him in the eye for a second before moving his gaze towards a figure beside Kagura. “I’m sorry, but it seemed that your own teammates might have some ideas on their own too,” he said to the youngest member of Astro 9 who had been silent all this time.

“I understand by what you meant just now,” replied Aria, his answer short but so vague that it left his own teammates into confusion. Kagura, Hajime, Dill and Kane all turned towards Aria, their faces incredulous and confused as they felt as if they were missing something important from the conversation. However, Itaru and Karasu stayed collected, looking as if they were able to understand what Sherrock meant as well.

Zero smiled and walked towards the Astro 9 members, stopping in between Itaru at one side, and Karasu and Aria on the other side. “It’s been more than 10 years ago, so I don’t blame you guys for forgetting. But Itaru, Karasu, Aria, the three of you were originally from Old Tokyo, right?” asked the black-haired leader of Mad Jesters, his voice soft. His face was expectant, waiting for confirmation from the three said members.

Itaru nodded, not bothering to deny the question. Parte, Rosso, Smash and Chatter who had been observing the whole exchange silently all this time stood up. “Initially, we came here just to ask for help from your group. However, after investigating further, we had suspicion that some of you may come from the same place as we are. So we decided to meet you guys so that we could determine it ourselves. From the fight earlier, we saw that the five of you had their powers come from your suits or weapons, except for those three whose powers come from within themselves.” Chatter explained to the members of Astro 9, directing the last bit towards the three people.

“The seven of us, the Mad Jesters, also came from Old Tokyo, specifically survivors from ‘that’ facility. So you could understand why we had powers as well,” added Rosso, his red hair was such a stark contrast compared to the stark white color of the room they occupied.

“That did not explain why you guys were so damn strong,” Karasu interrupted, his figure losing some of the tension after hearing the origin of the other group. His mind was recalling his long forgotten memories at that place, refreshing all the bad experiences that caused nightmares to him, Aria and Itaru every night. Anyone who came from a similar place like them expectantly would be stronger than a normal human, but not to the level of the nine people he was facing at the moment. He himself had tried to improve his own power all these years, determined to use them to protect his own teammates in the face of danger.

Parte inserted his hand into his pocket, bringing out an empty Atria shell. “To answer your question, we are stronger because we had consumed Lyra regularly for about 13 years now since we escaped that place. The first try was purely incidental, but after we noticed that our power became stronger, we started to consume it regularly after that. That was why we chose to stay in Babylonium among the three universes, where sources of Lyra and Atria were abundant. It was all to prepare us for this moment.” 

“However, even with the combined powers of all of us, it still cannot tantamount to even a quarter of that person’s power. After all, he is the star-born child,” said Sherrock, his voice brimmed with sadness and longing. His eyes turned distant, like remembering someone from his distant past. Masato who was standing beside the taller man hugged him from the side, acting as a brief and silent act of comfort. 

“Very well, we agreed to help with your plan. But before that, the three of us owed our members some explanations first.” Itaru concluded, grinning towards his members who were clueless about their past. There will be a long discussion to be held, and lots of questions to be answered. After all, they had the whole night to spare, and surely the Mad Jesters could wait for a little while longer to explain about their plan.

---

The talk between the Astro 9 members and the discussion about the blueprint with the Mad Jesters lasted the whole night. They walked out of the room with the sun just peaking across the horizon. All of them were tired, especially after spending their energy on the fight the previous night. However, the sheer importance of the blueprint plan and the rediscoveries of their past helped them persevere through their exhaustion and fatigue.

The Mad Jesters members were tidying up, getting ready to be teleported back to Babylonium using Zero’s power. They could easily use the public portals or the teleportation pods as a means of transportation. However, to keep their identities and relationship with each other safe and secure, they refused to be seen together as a group by any of their work colleagues in Babylonium. They chose to teleport back to their base before later dispersing separately to their own living quarters. 

Smash and Chatter were busy sharing contact info with Kane and Hajime, so that it would be easier for each group to discuss anything regarding the plan. Rosso had apologized for his electrical attack earlier, with Hajime quick to forgive the older man. Hajime chalked it off to himself being not strong enough and instead asking for tips to improve his power from Rosso. Teku, Dill, and Kagura were seen doing the same towards the other Mad Jesters members. Itaru at the side just smiled knowingly at his teammates. He was glad to see his members took the news of their past so well, even though he knew they still had so many questions to ask. 

While waiting for the rest of his members, Sherrock sat with Karasu and Aria in silence. The youngest of the three had asked him regarding his telekinetic ability. He demonstrated his ability nearly to the fullest, lifting up a huge truck near the parking lot without breaking a sweat. He also shared how he performed the mental shield that he put on Aria earlier. The mental shield was originally not part of his own ability, instead they were a result of him practicing to enhance his own power using the Lyra. 

“You, kinda reminded me of him, Aria,” said Sherrock, looking towards Aria fondly. He still did not tell the identity of the person he was referring to all this time, but the younger two could see that the person was important to him.

“Sherrock, about that person… I myself was barely able to remember about him during that time in that facility. What I could remember was how he was always separated from us due to his overwhelming power, and those tests...that they had done on him. Who was him to you, really?” asked Karasu, his curiosity increasing. He noticed that there seemed to be a connection between this ‘artifact’ that the Mad Jesters seek and the person Sherrock was talking about. But, no matter how many times he asked, the older man refused to answer.

“I’m sorry, Karasu. But I cannot answer that question,” answered Sherrock, avoiding eye-contact with the ash blond-haired man.

“After I escaped from the facility, I had this recurring dream. And every time, a person with red hair appeared in it without fail. Was he the same person as the one you were referring to?” Aria interjected out of a sudden. He was unsure on why he was telling his visions towards a stranger that he just met less than 24 hours ago, but he had this nagging feeling that he would regret it if he chose not to.

Sherrock turned towards the younger two in surprise, his eyes widened upon registering Aria’s words. “What did you see in those dreams? What would happen to him?” he asked. Both of his hands were on Aria’s shoulders, gripping them tight that surely would leave some marks after this.

“Those dreams were not like the usual vision that I had all these years. They kept on changing, like they were made up of different possibilities that could happen in the future based on his decision. I could not tell you for sure, forgive me. The only thing that I am certain about was that each time, his eyes were seen to be pitch black, like the abyss. Apart from that, the end of the dream was the only thing that remained the same,” added Aria, suddenly halted from talking. His throat felt constricted, the next word that he wanted to say just would not come out. Remembering all those dreams was never a favourite thing for him to do, every event that occurred in them were so bleak and hopeless, like there was no salvation at all for the red-haired man.

“Which was?” prompted Sherrock, not liking the pause. He had a feeling that he would not like the next bit, but he needed to hear it until the end to keep his sanity.

Karasu shared a look towards Aria, understanding the younger man’s misery. After all, he was the only one Aria shared the details of his dreams with, frequently seeking his companion in the middle of the night with his face streaked with tears and anguish. He looked towards Sherrock with a grave expression on his face, answering the older man after the long wait. “Death.” 

(CHO-TOKYO - flashback)

“Good morning, sleepyhead.” 

It was already 10 am, but the red-headed figure on the bed did not even stir upon the morning greeting. Lucas was never a morning person, but he usually would wake up early to water his small potted plants he kept on the windowsill. 17-year old Lupus, who had just greeted his partner from the doorway just sighed, making his way further into their shared bedroom. He walked to the bed and sat beside Lucas, watching how the other was still deep in his sleep. 

The black-haired teen raised his hand and ruffled the soft red locks on top of Lucas’ head, trying to gently wake him up. The still-sleeping teen just groaned slowly, weakly pushing Lupus’ hand away from his head. Few seconds passed before he noticed that there was something wrong with the red-haired teen. His hand made its way to the forehead where he realized that it was a bit warm. It wasn’t a full-blown fever yet, but his temperature would expectedly become worse by time. With a fleeting kiss to Lucas’ forehead, Lupus exited the room to ask Hades or Miya to cook some warm porridge for his boyfriend while he prepared some wet towels for Lucas.

The days went by slowly, with Lucas mostly spending his day in bed, fully taken care of by his older-by-two-months lover. The red-haired teen was only allowed out of bed to go to the restroom or to take in some fresh air at the balcony, a feat he felt ridiculous to follow but too weak to protest. Sometimes, Kisaragi, Travis, or Judy would come in the room to keep him company while Lupus went out for some errands. The black-haired teen begrudgingly obeyed the order of his leader after being threatened by Goemon to throw away his favourite video game if he refused to leave Lucas for a few hours.

Three days passed by for Lucas’ fever to subside completely. The following morning, Lupus woke up to find the red-haired teen’s bed empty. He did not feel panicked, and instead made his way slowly to the rooftop, where he knew his lover was. He found him, watering his potted plants that were kept there and talking to them in soft voices.

“Lupus.”

Lupus looked up, looking at the other who was smiling at him while holding a bunch of baby breath flowers in his hands.

“Thank you for taking care of them.” Of me, Lupus heard in his head. Lupus just shrugged and looked towards the sky above them, a smile etched on his face.

I will always take care of you.

(CHO-TOKYO – present time)

 He knew it was morning before he even opened his eyes. There was a distant sound of bird chirping near the window of the room, halting its flight in favor of landing on the branches of the trees that surrounded the building. Minimal sunlight filtered in through the window, basking the room in much needed warmth in the otherwise a cold early winter morning. Lucas blearily blinked his eyes open, chasing away the last remnants of his deep sleep. 

There was an added body heat on his back, the figure familiar to him but unexpected in a way. The very soft black fur that greeted his vision when he turned around confirmed his suspicion. He let out a giggle, watching the black wolf sleep soundly beside him, its body raising up and down with every breath. Somehow, the wolf had taken Lupus’ place beside him on bed after its master woke up this morning. Lucas was quite surprised that the black-haired man had left the room so early in the morning as they both usually preferred to linger in bed together during the weekend. 

The red-haired man let out a sigh, managing to gather the big wolf into his embrace and slowly stroking its fur. Anyone who saw the sight would have thought that Kogarashi, or Kuro as Lucas endearingly called the wolf, was the most lovable pet in the whole world instead of the menacing predator he usually was.

Kogarashi had been with Lupus for all his life, being a trustworthy companion that provided protection and warmth during his childhood in Old Tokyo. And when the 10-year old boy met Lucas, the wolf needed no persuasion to treat the red-haired boy similarly to its master. In fact, the wolf would act like a spoiled, albeit massive, dog that followed both of them anywhere. Due to Lupus’ limitation on controlling his own power when he was younger, he was not able to summon the wolf as frequently as he preferred. After meeting the rest of the Rowdy Shogun’s members, the wolf also ended up becoming close to the rest of them.

A sudden sharp pain on his left chest snapped Lucas out of his reverie, the sensation unknown and foreign to him. He immediately sat up on the bed, his right hand gripping his white shirt tightly to somehow will the pain away. Each throb of his heartbeats was painful, feeling like hot liquid was forcefully being pumped throughout his system. The pain became too severe until he doubled over, trying to relieve the pain to no avail. Beads of sweats formed on his forehead and his body shook from the effort of not screaming out loud. 

He could feel Kogarashi waking up beside him, probably sensing his power going haywire in the room. The black wolf whined slowly when seeing its other master in distress. The wolf however did not approach closer as if deciding that the man was hostile in nature. Lucas later realized there was something vicious brewing inside him, its nature and power so similar to the shadows he encountered when healing Lupus the previous night. That was probably the reason why the wolf avoided approaching him in the first place.

Equipped with nothing but sheer perseverance, Lucas waited until the pain receded bit by bit. He did not realize how long he had stayed in the same position, his consciousness was on the brink of collapsing. There was a thin layer of sweat formed on his body, causing his shirt to stick to it uncomfortably. His breaths came out short and disjointed, as if the oxygen in the room was simply not enough for him.

“Lucas!” As if somehow hearing his prayer, Lupus appeared at the doorway of the medical bay, Marduk and Travis followed right behind him. His lover’s face was in full-blown panic, his eyes wide and appearing slightly out of breath due to his haste. The other two’s conditions were not far from black-haired man. Lucas fleetingly realized that Lupus predictably was able to perceive his agony the same way Kogarashi could, the wolf was a manifestation of Lupus’ power after all. He could only guess the thoughts that ran through his lover’s mind when he saw Lucas’ condition. 

The black-haired man wasted no time before striding up to the bed, hugging the slightly younger man from the front. Both of his hands were wrapped around Lucas’ torso, holding the slightly shivering man firmly. They stayed in the same position for a while, chasing away the final remnants of the pain until it disappeared with no trace. Marduk and Travis, who already entered the room upon their arrival, just watched the two of them in silence. 

“What’s wrong? What happened to you just now?” asked Lupus, words coming out of his mouth faster than he could process. He had let go of the red-haired man from his embrace, looking at Lucas directly with his voice overwhelmed with worry. 

“I.. I felt a bit of pain near my chest area just now. It’s okay, it’s gone already. What are you doing here?” answered Lucas after a few seconds, trying to catch his breath. He tried not to linger on the reason why he was found in that condition, his body exhausted to deal with the stress.

“I thought I could feel Kuro’s power, lashing out towards something I could not discern. I remembered that I left him sleeping beside you this morning. So I guessed it must have something to do with you so I rushed up here from the kitchen,” explained Lupus, sticking close to his lover as a source of comfort. Lucas just listened to the black-haired man’s explanations absent-mindedly.

Travis who was watching the whole ordeal walked to the side of the bed, a frown etched on his face. “Lucas, you need to take some of the Atrias and use the Lyra to heal yourself immediately,” said Travis suddenly, his voice stern with no room for arguments. His words were uttered between gritted teeth and bitten lips as the brown-haired man was overwhelmed with worry for his red-haired friend.

To say that Lucas was shocked would be an understatement. Travis was not usually a demanding person, in fact he was one of the most optimistic people he ever knew, acting cheerful no matter how dire the situation was. He had an inkling on the reason why his friend acted that way, but he chose to be ignorant to it. “There was no need for haste. It is not an emergency,” he countered.

“See for yourself and tell me that this is not an emergency,” snapped Lupus, his statement followed by him lifting up Lucas’ white shirt up to his chest. The first thing the red-haired man saw were the angry marks that mapped all over his own left chest with the veins prominent and black in color. Marduk gasped from the side, approaching them both with a hand covering his mouth. He appeared truly horrified by the sight of the younger’s body. Travis brushed his hair back using his hand, muttering curses slowly under his breath. Lucas noted absently that was the first time he saw his friend cursed throughout their years of friendship. 

Lucas slowly moved his right hand towards his left chest, holding it over the area of where his heart is supposed to be. He could picture the tendrils of the black marks winding all over his heart inside his body, encasing the organ like a makeshift cage. It seemed as though the shadows ended up choosing his body as its host, acting like a parasite instead of attacking him directly like yesterday. It would be a tedious and consuming task to cut each tendril from his heart later, but he needed to do it by himself without causing more worry and burden towards his teammates. 

He decided to reduce the marks on his body first. He gathered his power into his palm, forming a sphere-like shape and placed it directly over his heart. The glowing sphere was absorbed directly onto the skin into his body. He could feel his heart responding immediately to his power, pumping a bit stronger as if to shake off the negative power surrounding it. As a result, the black veins and marks all over his body regressed bit by bit, leaving only some of it near his heart. 

“See? It was not that serious. Though I needed to remove the rest of them later, after breakfast maybe?” Lucas said, a grin decorating his face as he attempted to change the topic. All the healing and using his power since last night had left him starving. His stomach decided to be on his side and rumbled slowly, as if proving his point. Without leaving any chance for the three men to object, he stood up and walked towards the door. The three men just shared a glance towards each other, knowing that they could not refuse the statement and followed Lucas downstairs, with Lupus ended up beside the red-haired man.

They walked to the dining area located at the ground floor which was directly connected to the kitchen. Delicious smell of food wafted throughout the space, accompanied by the sound of the spatula hitting on the pans. Plates and cutleries lined up the three long tables at the dining area, courtesy of A-Not and Joe who were in charge of setting the table that morning. Some of the Rowdy Shogun members were already sitting at the dining area, chatting and joking around with each other while waiting for the food. 

Kisaragi and Q-B were also there, the latter teasing the older by poking around the bandage still wrapped around the older man’s torso. Lucas was relieved to see Kisaragi was well after his injury last night. He was afraid that his power was not enough to heal the man completely. He directed his gaze towards Bailey, Marine and Sarutobi, mentally scanning them for injury and decided to ask them later. He was too tired to check up on them yesterday after healing Lupus and Kisaragi, making him feel a bit guilty for forgetting about the other three members. 

Lupus made his way to the kitchen, probably to continue cooking after being disrupted by Lucas earlier. Seeing his lover at the kitchen made the red-haired man realise that it was actually his turn to prepare breakfast, which meant Lupus already covered for him due to him waking up late this morning.

He went to the kitchen, greeting Goemon and Gusk who were in the midst of frying some fish and making miso soup with a big pot of cooked rice ready to be served at the side. The purple-haired man greeted him back in return, turning around to smile at him in the process while the leader passed the spatula to Lupus and asked the black-haired man to take over.

Lucas barely opened his mouth to apologize for his tardiness before Goemon held him by the shoulders and manoeuvred him out towards the dining area. “Today, just take it easy and rest, you don’t have to cook. In fact, please take Lupus with you, he’s a nuisance in the kitchen,” said Goemon, his voice was fond and filled with mirth.

“I can hear you very well, Goemon! Just to let you know that I can handle being in the kitchen without burning it, unlike Kisaragi,” replied Lupus, spatula still at hand with his head poking out from the kitchen. 

“Stop bringing that matter from years ago, it was just one time, I swear to God,” said Kisaragi, his head on the table due to embarrassment. 

“It actually occurred more than once, but you were smart enough to call me or Miya to cover for you during the other episodes,” added Sarutobi sitting in front of him, with Q-B snickering at the last part of his statement. There was a distant sound of laughter, likely coming from Miya who was making his way to the dining area from his bedroom upstairs. 

Among 16 of them, the members who were trusted with their cooking were mainly Hades, Miya and Lucas, so their meals were usually prepared by one of them with another three members to assist. All of them were usually allowed to be in the kitchen, but the younger members especially Joe, A-Not and Marine usually brought disastrous effects whenever they helped in the kitchen. Once, Kisaragi nearly burned down their kitchen, causing the rest of them to tease him about it whenever they could. 

“I’ll help Goemon and Gusk, so Lupus, you can take a break too,” said Bailey, raising his voice at the last part so the said man could hear it from the kitchen. He appeared fine, only having some scratches on his cheek and bandages covering his knuckles.

Lupus came out of the kitchen a few minutes after that, his face a bit disgruntled after their leader and Bailey chased him out, leaving him no chance to argue. He sat beside Sarutobi, avoiding Lucas who sat at another table altogether.

It seemed like that particular fact did not go unnoticed. The rest of the Rowdy Shogun looked at both of them in confusion, as the two of them usually preferred to sit near each other or at least at the same table. Lucas just smiled while sitting at his seat beside Judy and A-Not, knowing and able to sense that his lover was still mad at him due to that morning’s incident. He took that chance to ask Marine whether there was any injury he wanted Lucas to heal, to which the younger man just grinned and refused his offer.

The breakfast was uneventful, as smoothly as it could be with 16 grown up men and food at one place. There was the usual clattering of chopsticks used against the plates and bowls, the sound of drinking glasses that were put on the table, and conversation that flowed across the tables. Shouts of “Put that back, the last part of the fish is mine!” usually coming from Marine or Kisaragi, with the reply “It didn’t have your name on it, so the fish wasn’t yours, loser!” usually coming from Sarutobi or Joe were heard, part of their routine during meal times. The older members just sighed and did not give any attention to the childish arguments, feeling content to just eat peacefully and had proper conversations with each other.

Throughout the meal, Lucas could feel someone staring at him, the said person not giving any considerations to be discreet at all. He knew it was Lupus, as he was accustomed with the man’s quirk and behaviours since a long time ago. He continued eating, certain that the black-haired man would bring up the matter regarding his condition at any given chance in the next meeting. But right now Lucas allowed himself some peace of his mind before the storm that the news would bring. He hoped the members did not fuss over him much, like the last time they knew his power weakened.

-

After the meal, Lucas helped Bailey to wash the dishes alongside Travis and Gusk. The other 12 members lingered at their meeting area, preparing for the upcoming meeting while waiting for the four men to finish their task. Hades and Goemon were hunched over a map that spreaded out on the table, appearing deep in a conversation. Judy, A-Not and Marduk were on the sofa, the latter two were holding their weapons, probably to ask Judy on how their weapons worked after the Lyra upgrade.

Each of the Rowdy Shogun members had their weapon of choice. The leaders, Hades had his double-pointed spear while Goemon had his halberd. Bailey had his sabre, Miya had a crossbow, Gusk with a tanto knife, and Marduk with a set of throwing knives. Travis had twin daggers, Sarutobi with twin katanas, and Kisaragi and Q-B also possess a katana each. Marine chose a hammer, Joe had an axe, while A-Not had a glave. Judy chose to equip himself with 'sai' and explosives such as grenades. Then there were Lupus with his own sword and Lucas with his longbow, though they rarely use their designated weapons due to their powers. The members also occasionally brought handguns, rifles or shotguns with them during recon.

With them acting as some sort of the guardian of Cho-Tokyo, the weapons were necessary means of protection during their mission. They encountered new faces every day during their round, some who might already had notorious schemes to compromise the citizens or their group. Hands-on fights were unavoidable, hence the reason why the two leaders insisted for each of them to polish their skills in combat. In regards to the matter of the shadows and the new danger that it might bring, they also need to familiarize themselves with the newly-upgraded weapons to be able to use them efficiently during missions.

Normally, the members of the Rowdy Shogun were allowed to spend their free times in the weekend by themselves, in which some of them would go for a little shopping trip at the nearest town as preferred by Gusk and Judy, went for a fishing trip like Hades, or even just stayed in their base to catch up with their reading or gardening like Lupus and Lucas. However, due to the incident with the shadows during the previous night, the two leaders decided it will be best to hold a meeting to share their intel and to plan for their next course of action.

After the four men finished cleaning the dishes, the meeting started with the report from the members of the recon team. The details of the fight with the shadows were shared as comprehensive as possible to determine its possible weaknesses and to prepare for the next fight. Worried glances were thrown towards Lupus when his turn came, the image of him being unconscious and beaten up still fresh in everyone’s minds. He did not pay any heed to their concerns and just reassured them, choosing to play with Kogarashi beside him after that. Gone were the growls and instead there was a low rumble coming from the black wolf, feeling content with the attention and petting given by his master. 

Lucas was asked to share his own input too, describing the nature of the injury inflicted by the shadows and how he managed to heal them. In the midst of his explanation however, he was abruptly cut off due to a sudden stab of pain on his chest and he broke into a bout of cough. Seeing that, his black-haired lover stood up immediately, arriving beside him after a few short strides. “Lucas, what’s wrong? Did the pain return?” he asked with some members of the Rowdy Shogun crowded around them both. The younger man just shook his head, denying the question while covering his mouth using a red handkerchief.

Bailey turned towards Travis and Marduk, waiting for an explanation as the two of them were with Lucas that morning. Travis glanced towards the red-haired man exasperatedly, mouthing a silent apology for telling a secret that was not his own. “This morning, we found out that there was a residue effect of the shadows yesterday on Lucas’ body, in the form of black markings. He managed to reduce them all but some, near his heart. Those markings were possibly the cause of Lucas’ pain and the cough just now.”

On cue, the red-haired man held his shirt tighter, not wanting the markings to be seen by the rest of them. Lupus slowly put his own hand above Lucas’, maintaining eye contact with the other until the younger man relented with a sigh, showing the marks on his chest to the others. Most of the members were shocked, as compared to Lupus, Travis and Marduk who instead had a grave expression on their faces.

“I told you to take this time to rest and heal yourself properly instead of pushing yourself too hard,” said Lupus, looking pointedly towards his red-haired lover.

“I said that I can handle it, didn’t I?” Lucas inadvertently raised his voice, at the same time unconsciously releasing his power in the form of a whip. He nearly struck Lupus in the face if not for the black-haired man to reflexively summon his own power, cancelling Lucas’ power out. 

The area turned silent, the members of Rowdy Shogun with the exception of the pair watched the scene unfolding in front of them with a bated breath. This was the first time the duo had a fight and the first time Lucas had raised his voice. Judy slowly approached the red-haired man, trying to calm him. Q-B and Sarutobi grabbed each of Lupus’ arms and dragged him back to his seat near them. 

“Lupus, Lucas, please calm down. The last thing we want is for you guys to fight and injure others,” Miya interjected, standing at the centre while looking at the two of them pleadingly. Goemon and Hades shared a look before taking Miya’s place, eager to change the subject to avoid further confrontation between their two strongest members. 

Hades pulled up the hologram of Shin Tokyo and projected the image in the middle of the meeting centre. “Let’s move on. We had received some new intel from our informants in Shin Tokyo that several mysterious deaths also occurred there, and the conditions of the corpses were very similar to the ones being attacked by the shadows here. However these deaths were being kept in secret by their authorities, probably because the deaths mostly occurred at their shadiest and poorest side of the city,” said Hades, pinpointing at the map of where it was located.

“Apart from that, there was also a rumor that said that the shutdown of our power plant here could be due to foul play by the authorities at Shin Tokyo or Babylonium. That’s why I think it’s good for us to investigate more into this matter when we are at Shin Tokyo this week,” added Goemon, this particular news shared by him caused some members of Rowdy Shogun to become more alert, their faces were full of suspicion.

“Huh, I knew there was something wrong with the shutdown of the power plant. They had been functioning perfectly for years, and routine repair and auditing processes also were done every six months. There was no reason for them to stop operating out of a sudden,” said A-Not, sharing his thoughts. 

“How do you plan for us to investigate the rumors? We need to be extremely careful or else they will send us to jail, or worse accuse us for treason.” Bailey frowned upon hearing Goemon’s words. Suspecting foul play was one thing, but to say that the authorities might play a part in it was another. Due to Babylonium being the sole supplier for the Atria and Lyra, there was an unspoken agreement that their authority was held in a much higher position compared to Cho Tokyo due to the large gap between the rich to poor. To accuse Babylonium and Shin Tokyo of a foul play was like signing a death sentence for themselves.

“When we arrive there, we will go straight to the Amethyst Ward to search for our informants there. There will be two groups, the first one will look up for the cases of mysterious deaths, and the other group will investigate about power plant. The first group will have Goemon, Bailey, Gusk, Marduk, Sarutobi, Kisaragi, Joe, and A-Not. The rest will be in the other group,” explained Hades while showing the location for specific group on the holographic map.

“Amethyst Ward? Wasn’t that area famous for its shady businesses and suspicious people running them?” Joe turned to Hades in alarm, remembering the tales surrounding the said place. Since Shin-Tokyo was a very advanced and urbanized universe with very strict law enforcement, it was uncommon to have any part of the city that still harbored these so-called black markets. That was the reason why Amethyst Ward is infamous in its own way.

“Yes, that is why apart from ensuring our own safety, we need to secure the safety of our informants too. The higher-ups in Shin Tokyo did not want those information regarding the deaths to be widefully spread as they want to avoid panic of their citizens, so the identities of our informants needed to be kept in secret,” added Judy. He helped to project the images of their two informants on the hologram upon Goemon’s signal.

“For these two days, I want all of you to put more hours in your training, both for weapons handling and combat skills. Our mission in Amethyst Ward this time may predispose us to possible battles with the ‘outlaws’ there, so we need to prepare to go into battle at any given time.” Several groans were heard across the area, some members dreading the fact that their long-awaited free times needed to be sacrificed for training. Goemon looked pointedly towards his teammates, as if he was expecting them to start training immediately.

Marine just grinned from his place, already starting to warm up his body. He was not known to have the best body build in Rowdy Shogun just for show. “Alright, so, who wants to spar with me first today?” he said, flexing his muscles.

“Me.” A voice cut through the silence, making everyone turn towards its owner in surprise. Lucas was fixing his black leather gloves, the one he specifically used during fighting and while using his longbow. “I will be your first opponent, Marine,” the red-haired man said. The younger man just grinned and ran to the training centre while shouting “Hurry and come over here then, Lucas!”

On the other side of the room, Lupus quietly walked out of the meeting area, his gloves were already put on. He looked positively livid, his eyes dark and stormy. His mind was still preoccupied with his previous fight with Lucas. Kogarashi, his wolf seemed to be able to sense its master mood, following Lupus from a distance to the training ground along with Q-B and Sarutobi. Every member was too busy racing each other to the training ground that no one noticed Lucas lagging a bit behind them, tossing his handkerchief full of reddish-black blood into the litter bin.

(CHO-TOKYO - flashback)

“Hurry up, Kisaragi! We’re almost there.”

“Easy for you to say, Sarutobi. You’re not the one holding all those food while running for your life.”

It was near dusk already, some of the izakayas lining up the street starting to pack up while the rest were only just getting started, putting the menu for the evening in front of their stores. The patrons for the night usually made up of businessmen who preferred a quick bite and drinks after they had finished their work, and not the heavy meals that the morning stores usually had to offer. 

Kisaragi and Sarutobi, the orphans from the street had to do everything they could to survive, from grabbing bread from the display or snatching a coin or two from the pocket of a wealthy man who never noticed he was missing some changes. And after meeting Joe and A-Not a few days ago, they had to steal more than usual to feed the extra mouths in their hideout. The youngest two could always join them, however they were inexperienced so there was a higher possibility that they would get caught.

That night supposed to be like the usual,  running from shopkeepers after stealing a bag of stale bread from the leftover piles for the day. Honestly speaking, Kisaragi did not understand why the shopkeeper was mad at them as it was not like the bread going to be sold anyway. Still, humans are a fickle creature by nature, and they refused to show compassion towards anything that would not benefit them in any way.

They were turning around a corner when Sarutobi bumped into a solid wall, halting his run instantaneously. Kisaragi, who was following closely behind him, stopped as well. There was a man standing in front of them, his posture indicated that he was trying to block their path. Further behind him stood Joe and A-Not, held by the collar of their shirt by another two men, their faces each donning a smirk after managing to catch the two young thieves.

“Let’s see whether your little feet can outrun us anymore. Just try, and we won’t show your two new accomplices any mercy,” said the first man, satisfaction showing on his face. His two underlings brought out pocket knives and pointed them at the neck of the youngest two boys.

However, before Sarutobi could even think of a response, a large black shadow suddenly fell onto the man and pinned him to the ground. It slowly formed into a silhouette of a wolf, albeit a very large one. 

“Let them go,” said a young male, his voice not that deep and still harbouring the hint of his teenage years in it. The two best friends looked up and saw three figures on the roof above them. Two of them had black hair, silently observing the scene. While the third one was sitting at the very edge of the roof, looking down interestedly while his wine-red hair slowly blowing in the wind. The three men nodded in understanding, their eyes wide and frightened and released the four boys without further delay.

‘It’s funny how these teenagers managed to scare them even without doing anything, except, well, releasing their pet wolf,’ noted Sarutobi, amused by the sudden turn of events. The three newcomers, who introduced themselves as Lupus, Lucas and Q-B, invited them to their group's hideout as they were convinced their leaders would accept the four of them.

“I’m not saying no to the offer, but could you summon back your wolf first? He’s scaring me,” said Joe, asking Lupus' help after knowing the majestic beast was a derivation of his power. The seven of them were walking back to Rowdy Shogun’s base, not minding the fact that people were throwing glances at them. After all, not every day you could see a jet black dire wolf walking down the street as leisurely as Kogarashi.

“What do you mean by scary? Kuro-chan is just like your average pet dog, very friendly and lovable, if you ignore his massive size,” Lucas chuckled, running his fingers through the black fur and scratching under the neck of the wolf. Sarutobi swore that he heard the wolf whine, appearing very content with the action.

“Cats are lovable. Wolves are not lovable, at all,” muttered Kisaragi under his breath, not meant for the rest of them to hear it as well.

“If you joined us, you’ll certainly get used to Kogarashi by time,” Q-B interjected, making eye contact with the brown-haired teen for a second before looking away. 

“The only time that you need to be afraid of Kuro-chan is when he is summoned when Lupus is angry, in rage or feeling threatened, as he is a direct manifestation of his own feelings and emotion. He will act accordingly as his sole purpose is to protect Lupus from harm,” explained Lucas, looking towards the wolf in adoration.

“And to protect you as well, Lucas,” added Lupus, his voice exasperated, like he had replayed this fact so many times before the red-haired teen.

Kisaragi, Sarutobi, Joe and A-Not shared a look, something clicking in their mind by Lupus’ recent admission. They looked away, trying to hide knowing grins that were forming on their face. “I see,” replied Sarutobi, projecting everyone’s thoughts at that time. 

In the end, the four of them did join Rowdy Shogun that day, finally having a ‘home’ to return back to.

-

(SHIN-TOKYO/AMETHYST WARD - present times) 

 [Whoa, look who just arrived here in Shin Tokyo.]

[Hmm, I wonder what they are doing here. All 16 of them being in the same place at the same time, that is rare indeed.]

[Anyhow, let’s report to Future first.]

*

After arriving at Shin Tokyo just a few hours before the sun set, Gusk suggested for them to change their outfits to blend in with the people there. Their red-and-black outfits were not that bad, in fact they were easy on the eye. However, as Judy helpfully pointed out, they looked like a team of bouncers that were on their way of beating someone for money, which was not the kind of attention they wanted to attract in the first place. 

After spending nearly two hours searching for shops with decent prices, they managed to found one. Unfortunately, there were not enough outfits with the same theme, so they had to mix and match the shirts, jackets, and pants. The shopkeeper claimed that the leopard print and tiger stripes were ‘outdated’, hence the prices were actually quite low to the relief of Miya, who usually took care of the group’s financial budget.

“Leopard print and tiger stripes, seriously?”

“At least you got sunglasses to cover your face. My outfits looked like what a 50 year old obaa-san would wear.”

“Bwahahaha Travis, that was priceless!”

“And why did Q-B get one of the cooler-looking outfits? He was wearing black jacket and his tiger stripes shirt was not that bad actually.”

“For god’s sake, Kisaragi, shut your trap. We are ALL wearing more or less the same kind of outfits, just accept it already.” 

A glare from Hades was all it took to silence the younger members from spouting out grumblings and complaints. Sarutobi on the other hand continued to protest, saying that the design was too obnoxious and all. But after seeing a man wearing a suit with all the colors of the rainbow in it, the orange-haired man begrudgingly admitted that his outfit looked much, much better. It’s safe to say that their group was traumatized by the sight of the rainbow man. A-Not also voiced his worry of them being ambushed as a group due to them wearing same design, to which Marine just scoffed and said, “Let them try then.”

Finally they arrived in Amethyst Ward, which was located in the very centre of Shin Tokyo. Logically, its location was supposed to be one of the most non-secure areas for black market or underground business, however rumors had it that some prominential figures in Shin Tokyo used bribes and favors for the local enforcers to turn a blind eye to any kind of illegal transactions that occurred there. 

There were a small number of enforcers located at the entrances of the area, wearing white get-ups, black bulletproof vests, and complete with head gears. They were tasked to prevent normal citizens from entering and only those who had business were allowed in the area. A logo that symbolized the identity of the patrons needed to be shown to the enforcers to be allowed entry. Prior to coming to Shin Tokyo, Q-B had already designed a new logo for their group, consisting of a fist pointing forward with four electric signs to be used as a faux symbol. Goemon decided to hide their Rowdy Shogun’s symbol so that their real identities would not be compromised. 

Amethyst Ward was just like any other district, filled with patrons and visitors from various places. A variety of shops lined up the streets, appearing dark and ominous as no one knows the actual transactions that occurred inside it. Kisaragi was just walking behind the others disinterestedly before he was stopped by a firm grip on his arm. Lucas was looking around the area with wide eyes, still not aware of the strength of his grip on Kisaragi's arm. “Lucas, what’s wrong?” he asked his red-haired friend. After being his partner for so many years, Kisaragi always knew whenever the other man was troubled by something, albeit not as good as Lupus. 

“That enforcer over there, I think he was following us since the entrance,” replied Lucas in a hushed voice, his head briefly flicked towards an enforcer standing behind them. 

Kisaragi honestly could not tell the difference between the enforcers as they all nearly had the same build and their faces could not be seen. “Are you sure you are not being paranoid or something? If our cover was blown, I’m pretty sure they would chase us out already.” He tried to reassure his friend, noticing how the said enforcer had left them and went into a nearby shop. Lucas did not seem entirely convinced by that, however he did loosen up his grip on Kisaragi’s arm a bit. While the two were talking, the rest of the Rowdy Shogun started to split up into two groups with eight members each as assigned by Hades earlier. Each of the members had already been briefed thoroughly at their base so that they could avoid discussing their missions in the area and risked being overheard. 

Before separating from the other eight members, Lucas once again grabbed Kisaragi and dragged him to the side. “I still couldn’t shake off the feeling that we are being monitored by someone right now. Just be careful, and tell the others to avoid confronting any enforcer before or after your meeting with the informants. Got it?” The brown-haired man just nodded in understanding, acknowledging Lucas’s suspicion as a form of a warning. Lucas spared him another look before rejoining his team, jogging up a bit to catch up with Lupus who was walking ahead of him.

Kisaragi followed the other seven members and continued walking down the streets until they reached an old building, its previous dark brown paints already chipped off with molds growing at the lower wall. There was a banner showing a picture of a snake curling around a sword, a universal sign of a healer or someone who practiced the art of healing. 

The sound of a bell that hanged over the door announced their entrance to the occupants of the clinic, smells of herbs and chemicals quickly enveloping their senses. There were lots of potted herb plants in the makeshift clinic, with Joe recognizing some of them to be the same plants that Lucas kept in their hideouts. Vials, beakers, syringes and needles were seen scattered all over the table, appearing to have been used just recently. There were two beds separated by a thin white curtain, empty and ready for any patient that might walk into the clinic. 

“Dr. Hann?” Goemon asked, his voice reverberated across the empty clinic. Few minutes passed by before the door behind the two beds opened, revealing a person behind it. Their informant was a middle-aged man who claimed to be the unofficial healer of the Amethyst Ward, his face rugged and unshaven. He was wearing round-rimmed reading glasses that were perched on the bridge of his nose. A white laboratory coat was draped over his shoulder with a washed-out blue shirt underneath and black trousers that had seen better days. 

The man, who was known as Dr Hann, claimed to be one of the unofficial doctors of the Amethyst Ward. The people there, who were cut off by the government from accessing healthcare benefits, had no choice but to depend on these backdoor doctors when seeking treatment. This was the price that was imposed on them by the authority to allow their business running as usual in Amethyst Ward.

The arrival of Rowdy Shogun at his clinic had caused the doctor to be skeptical at first, however after Bailey introduced themselves, the doctor slowly opened up. Gusk and Sarutobi also shared his previous encounters with the shadows and the corpses at various Cho Tokyo’s hospitals.

The meeting lasted for about an hour and a half as the doctor recalled every patient, or in this case, corpses that were sent to him for post-mortem investigations. They managed to find out that there were bodies being sent by the main hospitals as well to Amethyst Ward as the government method of keeping this situation under wraps. With the right payments and benefits to be offered, these ‘doctors’ were willing to do anything and to keep mum of their discoveries to secure their jobs and places in the area. If they refused, they might face a possibility of being evicted out.

After obtaining the records and information of the post mortem investigations, the background of the victims, the places affected by the attacks, and the authorities' approach on handling these cases, the eight members of Rowdy Shogun thanked their informants and left the clinic. They made their way to a restaurant, a place they already decided on before as their rendezvous place. Throughout the ordeal, Kisaragi kept his senses on alert as his mind was stuck on Lucas’ warning. He had told the others about it, trusting Lucas’ intuition no matter how far-fetched it sounded like.

They went to a restaurant, previously designated by Hades as their gathering place if they managed to finish their task early and to wait for the second group. They did not order anything except for bottled water, already familiarizing themselves on ways to avoid and detect poison. Goemon and Bailey opted from drinking, choosing to spend the time observing the patrons of the restaurant and the passer-by outside it. 

“Goemon, did you notice?” uttered Bailey out of a sudden, breaking the silence that enveloped their table since they came in the restaurant. His eyes were on Goemon who was sitting at the seat in front of him, but his head was tilted to the side towards the windows beside them indirectly pointing towards something outside the restaurant.

The other six turned to both of them, intrigued on what Bailey was referring to. Kisaragi threw caution to the wind and looked outside, noticing that there was an enforcer standing at the sidewalks opposite of them. There was no way of knowing for sure, but somehow he felt as if the enforcer was the same as the one Lucas pointed out hours ago. He mentioned it to their leader, his face turning grim upon hearing that.

“We need to go and tell the other that we decided to change our rendezvous point. Use the communicator provided by Judy earlier,” said Goemon while standing up, gesturing and ushering the other seven to follow him. However, they only managed to take a few steps from their table before their exit was blocked by a large, burly man with a mean expression on his face. Sarutobi, Kisaragi and Marduk nearly brought out their weapons before the group found themselves being held at a gunpoint by every patrons of the restaurant. Seeing how their numbers were overwhelmed in the ratio of three to one, Bailey quickly asked the younger members to stand down.

The large man that blocked their exit earlier nodded in approval of Bailey’s decision. His eyes were manic, like a child who was given their favourite toy to play with. “Sorry for that, Rowdy Shogun. Our boss insisted on not allowing you to leave without paying him a visit first. I hope you have heard of him, he was known as ‘The Judge’ around this area. And do not bother asking help from the authorities, as that enforcer out there is loyal to us,” said the man, his yellow teeth peeking out from his lips as he grinned at the eight of them.

The last bit of his statement was met with glares from Joe and A-Not, who had a mind to just sock the man in the face. Gusk, on another hand, just hoped that the other group could escape unnoticed and maybe plan a rescue mission for them later. Lady luck however, decided to torment them further as they heard the burly man utter, “All that was left was to find that red-haired lad from earlier or Boss wouldn’t be happy if he managed to escape.” Kisaragi gritted his teeth in resentment and prayed to whatever deity out there to protect the other eight members.

*

Hades, Lupus, Lucas, Miya, Travis, Q-B, Marine, and Judy took the time to finish their task much longer than they preferred. Due to the sensitivity of the matter regarding Babylonium and Shin Tokyo’s authorities, finding their informant proved to be harder than expected. Tens of shops and stores they managed to visit, and even after finding the man, he decided to back out from their agreement at the last minute. Lupus was just one step away from setting Kogarashi on the man to pry the information out of the man, both of his hands were enveloped in black fire threatening to erupt at a moment’s notice. The informant, who was a young man in his 30s and the owner of an antique store turned into a bumbling, incompetent heap of mess after seeing the glares directed at him by Lupus and the fire surrounding him. 

Hades, whose stern face was usually able to pry the information out of anyone, just chuckled when seeing Lupus’ agitated state. Marine took delight in the poor informant’s suffering, sharing overexaggerated tales of pain and destruction that Lupus’ fire could cause. Q-B and Judy opted out of the interrogation, deciding to tinker with their transponder to detect any suspicious presence near them, be it from an enforcer or a seemingly innocent bystander that walks along the road outside the store. While Miya and Travis kept close to Lucas, worrying about the state of the red-haired man. After separating from the other eight, Lucas had warned them regarding the possibility of them being monitored, however he was unable to pinpoint the source. 

It did not escape the attention of the seven members that Lucas’ condition seemed to have worsened the longer they were there, his face pale and his eyes unfocused. Lupus shared that there was a possibility that someone was tampering Lucas’ power from a distance, probably  a power user like them both. Hearing that, Hades decided to find their informant as quickly as possible to escape this place without delay.

After a good 30 minutes passed by, their informant finally relented and shared the information albeit in a string of incomprehensible words and stuttering, making the veins on Lupus’ forehead nearly burst in anger. There was some new, helpful information among the things that the man shared, all of it were recorded and stored by Judy into his communicator. Lupus’ mind drifted out of the conversation, letting the other members continue asking questions to the man while he refocused on Lucas. The red-haired man was sitting on a stool with his body leaning on Travis for support. He looked worse for the wear and the sight made Lupus worry even more. 

They were gathering the hardcopy records of the power plant project when Lucas suddenly stood up with shaking legs, saying he wanted to wait outside for some fresh air. Miya and Travis excused themselves and followed the red-haired man out as a precaution. The remaining five in the store including Lupus finished gathering the materials. They release the man with some threats for him to conceal their group’s arrival to Shin Tokyo, to which the man just nodded vehemently in understanding. They exited the store only to be greeted with the sight of unconscious Lucas, thrown over the shoulder of an enforcer in a fireman’s carry. Beside him, Travis and Miya were kneeling on the floor with their hands behind their head, guns pointed towards them by two enforcers. There were another two enforcers and four thugs, all holding guns and pistols that were redirected to the five. Lupus was fuming, his hands thrown outwards to summon his fire, with Hades, Q-B, Judy and Marine grabbing their weapons and getting ready to attack. 

“Whoa, hold it. Don’t you guys care what would happen to your teammates if you decided to attack us?” said one of the enforcers, choosing to point his gun towards the knocked-out cold Lucas. A closer look to the red-haired man showed Lupus the presence of a metal collar around Lucas’s neck and a thick, metal handcuff around his thin wrists, probably used to prevent Lucas from using his own power earlier and to subdue him.

The five of them halted, eyes straying towards their three teammates who were being held hostages. That one moment of hesitation was enough for their enemies to throw the handcuffs towards them, the device automatically securing itself around their wrists. As a result, Lupus could feel his power dampened and reduced, rendering him empty and powerless.

“Don’t you worry your pretty head about the handcuff. It is a temporary measure to control your immense power. We don’t want your fire to attack us and burn us down before we meet the others, do we?” said the same enforcer, acting like a spokesperson for his group. A prick in the neck was all Lupus felt before he felt his consciousness fading, losing to the effects of the sedatives that were injected into his system.

*

[Future, we received intel that the Rowdy Shogun were captured by them, about 20 minutes ago.]

[This is bad, Future. Even with 16 of them, it’s hard to escape out of their lair without knowing its layout.]

[I understand, Skeet. I know that we are not exactly their friends, however we are the only one right now who can help them.]

[This is also one of the ways for us to repay him for that incident.]

[Gear up. We are going to pay ‘The Judge’ a visit.]

*

When Lucas came to, the first thing he noticed was that he was floating, or was he flying? There was a distinct sound of machinery whirring and wind blowing in the distance, telling him that he was probably in an aircraft heading towards an unknown destination. There was still a possibility that he was still in Amethyst Ward as the region actually encompassed a vast amount of lands. 

He looked around him and felt relief when he saw the rest of his members lay scattered around him, some of them still unconscious including Lupus. A movement across him gathered his attention, causing him to make eye contact with Kisaragi. His brown-haired friend looked worried, his forehead furrowed in concern as he mouthed the words, “Are you okay?” towards Lucas. Lucas nodded, still feeling a bit weakened but unharmed.

He tried to summon his power but to no avail, as the handcuff around his wrist was acting like some sort of power restraint. He put his hand on his neck, feeling the cold and smooth sensation of the metal collar that was wrapped around it. It seemed like the collar had a different function altogether, although he was still unable to ascertain what it is as he was the only one wearing it. The custom-made handcuff and collar told him that their enemies knew of their abilities, and were already prepared to subdue him and Lupus. 

They travelled for about an hour, all 16 members of Rowdy Shogun were already awake by the time they reached their destination. They were pushed out of the hovercraft right after the landing, with several enforcers escorting them into a building. Bailey led the way, with Lucas and Lupus on his trails and the rest of the members following behind them. Without turning behind, he knew that his friends were giving the enforcers hell by purposely shoving and pushing them around with excuses falling out their mouth. Lucas barely contained his smile, while Bailey and Lupus just outright smirking due to the commotion.

They arrived at a vast open area that was built like a court, with a bald middle-age man sitting at a pedestal at the end of it. He was wearing fur long coats, the materials looking as if its total worth could feed the entire poorest section of Cho Tokyo. Gold jewelleries decorated his fingers, earlobes and neck, enough to convince Lucas that the man was the one-in-charge.

There were four black, large Rottweilers beside his seat, their eyes gleaming yellow in the dark area and sharp canines peeking out of their salivating mouth. There was a circular stage in front of him with two cages at opposite poles, making Lucas wonder what they were for. Spotlights that lined up the path towards the stage were turned on, and only then he noticed there were people sitting on the stands, wearing masks to keep their identities anonymous.

“Welcome to the ultimate bouncers that came all the way from Cho Tokyo to Shin Tokyo to spend their first time in The Court, Rowdy Shogun! It’s not often that we are able to host such a powerful contender to fight on the stage, and that is why we must thank you for being here tonight!” The voice of a man reverberated in the open arena, his enthusiastic remark was met with deafening cheers from the spectators. Behind Lucas, he could hear curses coming from his friends, sharing sentiments of resentment and anger of being brought here forcefully. 

“Usually, the contenders will have a fight with one of our champions. However, for today we will have our two guests groups battle each other to death instead. Give it up for the heard but never seen travellers, Jiggy Boyz!” 

The Rowdy Shogun looked around in shock, not believing their ears. At the same time, seven young men made their way to the stage, wearing bandanas that covered up half of their faces and army-patterned outfits. They too were seen wearing handcuffs around their wrists. Their leader, Future nodded his head in acknowledgement when he looked in their direction. Skeet and X waved, and even with their faces half-covered it was obvious that they were grinning.

“Without wasting time, let the first match start with the battle of Marine versus X!” Marine’s handcuff started to light up before he found himself in a cage on the stage, being teleported out of his consent. The same thing occurred to X on the opposite side. Whereas the rest of them found themselves in two separate empty rooms equipped with clear glass walls that showed the stage. The match started with the two of them circling around the stage, their eyes fixed on each other.

“Open your eyes and watch everything. Listen closely to the sound of their footsteps and every breath that they took. Commemorate all of these into your mind, and plan carefully as all of them will reflect the way your opponent fights.”

Lucas reminisced about his practice session with Marine a few days before, the younger man’s voice replaying the words in his mind. He could see Marine’s mind following his own advice, the gear in his mind turning and processing X’s movements. He is one of the tallest members in Rowdy Shogun, however his feet remained agile as he took small strides in circling X.

“Unless you are planning a surprise attack, wait for the enemy to attack first as it will give you the upper hand in the fight.”

Marine was not one who likes surprise attacks. He always prefers full heads-on battle, the muscle of his body primed and trained to endure large numbers of hits at once. After a few minutes, X instantaneously stepped closer, his right hand was pulled into a fist as he tried to land the first hit. It was futile, as Marine seemingly able to guess his move and dodged to the site, his right hand moved lower and landed an uppercut. The sheer force of his punch knocked X a few steps back, losing his balance in the process. His jaw appeared red, a tell-tale of a blooming bruise that surely will last for a few days. There was also speckled of red appearing on his lower lips as he incidentally bit it when he was hit. Bailey grimaced, feeling sorry for the young Jiggy Boyz member.

“Watch the way your opponent raised their fist. If they raised it above your chest level, you need to protect your face. If it came from below, then they were aiming for your side.”

Every attack of X’s appeared to be in slow motion to Lucas, as he recalled every tip and advice given to him by Marine. The blond-haired man might be younger by one year, but he is a good fighter and a good teacher too. The rest of the first match went on brilliantly, with X giving Marine a hard time despite his younger age. He managed to land a few solid punches and kicks on Marine, while the older man took it all up in a stride even as his body felt the sting of the hits. However, experiences played a pivotal role as the member of the Rowdy Shogun relentlessly delivered countless hits, not severely injuring him but not allowing the younger man to retaliate either. 

Their match had X knocked to the ground, the sound of a gavel marking the end of the time. A holographic screen above the stage showed X and Marine’s face, with the latter declared as the winner. At the same time, the screen also showed the biddings that were allotted by the viewers into this match, with some of them groaning and lamenting the loss of their money. That was how the man called The Judge generated his income, by organising matches and battles between the strongest fighters that he came across in Amethyst Road. ‘The Court’ was primarily built with him as its sole image of the judge, being absolute in his decision that no one dares to question.

The second battle was held between Miya and Claude, their nearly similar body type made the game progressing with equal chances for them both. In fact, Claude actually gave quite a fight towards Miya, having countless tricks up his sleeves to corner the quiet and collected member of Rowdy Shogun. His stamina however, could not hold a candle towards Miya as the older man managed to dispel his tricks while attacking tirelessly. The game, once again, in Rowdy Shogun’s favor.

They were given a 20 minutes break after that, and the two leaders of Rowdy Shogun gathered the rest of the team into a discussion. Each of them gave input on what they saw throughout the time in the foreign territory, trying to prepare a comprehensible and coherent map of the place. Judy brought out his holographic tab, inserting specs for the schematic diagram of ‘The Court’. Marine and Miya’s inputs were sought out as they had more time to observe the surroundings during their fights. 

Lucas was paying attention to the discussion, before he felt a sting coming from inside his head. He startled, his eyes going wide before immediately looking down to avoid anyone’s notice. His head however, continued to throb and pulsating, feeling like a severe episode of headache. The red-haired man inconspicuously threaded his fingers through his hair, masking his act of trying to massage his own head. The headache episode continued until he heard the sound of a gavel going off in the distance, signalling the end of their break. Lucas was just standing up from his seat before he thought he heard an unknown voice in the room, calling his name.

[Hey there, Lucas.]

“Did you hear that?” he asked Judy who was sitting beside him. The younger man just looked at him in surprise before answering in the negative.

“Hear what, Lucas?” Lupus, who was sitting opposite him asked in turn.

“There was a voice, calling my name just now.”

“No one’s calling you, Lucas,” answered Kisaragi, coming to his partner’s side in an instant. 

[I’m gonna play with you for a bit.]

“Wha—What is he talking about? Stop it!” Lucas asked no one in particular, holding his head tightly. He tried to stop the voice from talking but it was futile. Kisaragi and Travis were in the middle of trying to calm the red-haired man before the MC started to talk again, introducing the next match.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Our next battle is going to be one of the most highlighted battles yet as it will have not ONE, but TWO power users to fight each other.”

The arena was filled with the loudest cheer yet, as it seemed that the patrons were all hyped up with the prospect of seeing the match.

“Huh? What are they saying? One of the Jiggy Boyz members is a power user too?” Sarutobi’s voice was heard in the room, full of disbelief. The rest of Rowdy Shogun portrayed the same emotion as they were certain that Lucas or Lupus would be aware of that fact and informed them earlier. The red-haired man was still in a kneeling position, trying to stop his headache while his lover hovered nearby in worry.

“And since power users are rare contenders in The Court, we couldn’t help but to put them in this special match, even when they belong to the same group.”

“Oh my god.”

“No.”

“He’s joking, right? Someone tells me that this is a joke!”

“Lucas!”

“Lupus!”

Murmurs and shouts brimmed with outrage and disbelief filled the room as the Rowdy Shogun watched the two said members in surprise. Lupus just zoned them out, as if his senses were turned off. The sound of his heartbeats was loud in his ear and pounding, as if there was a bird trying to escape from his chest. He refocused his attention on Lucas, who seemed to be in a standstill after the announcement. Before he got the chance to call the younger man, Lucas looked up, his eyes seemed dark and empty. The metal collar on his neck seemed tighter than ever, lighting up intensely. A blink of the eye and Lupus found himself on the stage, his lover standing opposite to him.

“Let the match, begin!”

The MC barely stopped talking before a beam of white light shot across the stage towards Lupus, scorching brightly that the spotlights seemed pale in comparison. Lupus barely managed to avoid the attack, side-stepping to the side and turned towards the source with an incredulous expression on his face. He was just trying to ask the younger man about why he was attacking before another beam of light was thrown into his path. Lucas looked unperturbed by the fact that he nearly seared off his boyfriend’s limbs with his power. The arena was filled with shouts of encouragement from the viewers, that short display of power was enough to launch them into bidding more and more money into the two contenders.

On another hand, the remaining 14 members of Rowdy Shogun watched the fight between the two helplessly from their room. “What’s wrong with Lucas? Why was he attacking Lupus so aggressively?” asked Joe, his eyes fixed on the stage. It was not like Lucas to harm other people, let alone his own lover.

“He wasn’t..his own self. He was being controlled,” replied Kisaragi, anger and frustration bleeding into his voice while pacing to and fro in the room. He remembered the sight of the dark, empty eyes on Lucas before the man being teleported out to the stage along with Lupus.

“Who was controlling him and how they did it? Lucas was with us this whole time,” Bailey interjected, confused by the sudden revelation from Kisaragi. 

“I think the source probably came from that metal collar on his neck as he was the only one they put it on. The rest of us were only given handcuffs, even Lupus who was a power user himself,” answered Q-B helpfully, as it was the only plausible explanation he could think of.

While on stage, Lupus seemed to have come with the same conclusion as well. It was hard to come up with a plan while trying to avoid being cauterized alive by Lucas’ light. His own power is fire, albeit the color is black, the effects of his attacks are still pure heat and nothing else, same as Lucas. Never he had wish so hard to have another kind of power, such as reflection or maybe water manipulation to be able to counterattack Lucas’ hits effectively. He always had perfect control over his flames, able to project the black fire into any form as he desired. However in a battle, their powers work well together instead of being used against each other, their natures acting like sparks and fire rather than oil and water. He dodged hit after hit, the red-haired man’s not acting like he was slowing anytime soon. However, he knew his lover’s body would soon reach his limit, as his health condition was still unstable.

Having no other choice, he summoned his fire and let it build up inside him until it shot out of his fingertips, the black flames blazing and scorching hot. He pushed his palms outwards and pirouetted, the flames following his movements and forming a large perimeter around him. The black-haired fire wielder just let his power gradually increasing, making the flames lit up brighter and higher until it nearly reached the ceiling. At the same time, a nearly invisible force field was formed, surrounding the stage like a dome to protect the spectators and The Judge from being harmed by their fight. Lupus’ lips moved into a snarl, having a mind to burn them all off after this for putting him and Lucas into this situation.

Lucas on the other hand, was clearly unperturbed by the show of power. With his eyes black like the abyss instead of their usual wine red, he struck with his light forming into a whip-like form and nearly slicing Lupus’ arm if not for the huge fire surrounding him. The black-haired man returned the hit, his own fire spread outwards in a jerky manner but still well-controlled, trying to weaken the man long enough for him to try to pry the collar off his neck. The plan was a simple one, but to successfully execute it was hard enough.

It was hard fighting Lucas because even when Lupus could guess the true extent of his power all these years, the red-haired man never demonstrated to him. He had proposed the idea of training with their powers countless times before, and the younger man never refused the offer. But their training was never to the extent of actually hurting each other, as the time spent more on learning how to control their own power and how to stop each other from going berserk on other members if they were attacked during a mission. In another word, there were still lots of untapped potential being kept inside themselves, and losing their memories prior to meeting each other 13 years ago in Old Tokyo certainly did not help.

The time dragged by slowly, and the sign of exhaustion finally making their way on Lucas’ body. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and he appeared to be slightly short in breath. In comparison, Lupus still appeared fine as he had higher stamina compared to his lover. That short lapse of concentration on Lucas’ side caused the mind control imposed on him to waver, and his black eyes suddenly returned back to its red color.

“Lucas! Can you hear me?” Lupus shouted, dispelling some of his flames to run to the red-haired man’s side. Lucas shook his head a bit, his eyes focusing on the older man with his hand stretched outward as if asking for the other to hold it.

“You need to attack me more seriously than that, Lupus. You need to act like you are seriously trying to kill me, or this collar would not come off easily. If I was on the brink of death, only then the collar would unlock as it did not have a purpose on controlling a half-dead person anyway,” muttered Lucas, his words coming out stunted and disjointed as he tried to catch his breath. His face appeared paler than usual, as his body was pushed against his limit by producing endless attacks from the beginning. 

“I can’t do that. You know I would not be able to do that to you,” replied Lupus, shaking his head in refusal. He had lived throughout this life trying to protect the other, and to think that he needed to go against what his mind and body believed in was an impossible feat to begin with. His mind tried to plan another strategy to save the red-haired man, but he came up short due to their time constraint. Any minutes now and Lucas’ mind would be under the influence of the metal collar again.

“You know there is no other way, Lupus. Hey, listen to me,” Lucas brought up a hand towards the other man’s cheek, caressing for a bit to try to redirect his gaze to himself, “We need to get out of here and save the others too. Will you do it for me?” Lucas smiled towards the black-haired man, his gaze full of unwavering trust towards the other. The black-haired man stared deeply into the glistening red eyes that he loves so much, seemingly lost in a trance before he finally nodded in understanding. 

Lucas’ eyes turned black again, indicating that his mind was back under the control of the metal collar. He gathered more of his powers into his open palms, the light so bright and blinding it turned the whole arena white. Rivulets of blood flowed out of his nose and ears, dripping onto the floor and staining them dark red. The sight of a beaten up Lucas on the stage invited the fury and wrath of the Rowdy Shogun’s members from the viewing room, causing them to attack and punch on the glass to try to escape.

On the other hand, Lupus had summoned more of his power, causing black fire to erupt from his whole body. The spectators began to shift restlessly from their seats, complaining about the heat getting unbearable by the seconds while their faces turned worried as they were half convinced the force shield would not be able to protect them from the next bouts of attacks from the two. The black-haired man did not intend to correct them, nor he intended to save them from his next attacks, civilians be damned. He could feel Kogarashi bristling in rage, and decided to finally release the beast from inside him. The wolf appeared bigger and more menacing than usual, his growls bringing shivers to anyone who was listening.

Lupus released a huge jet of fire and let it spread everywhere, his previous attacks appearing like smaller whips in comparison. The force field surrounding the stage finally shattered, the fire falling on the patrons like a firestorm. Some of them burned while the other ran to save their lives. The fire was redirected towards Lucas, acting like a harbinger of death and destruction that leaves nothing but ashes and dust in its wake. The red-haired man retaliated, beam of light not only coming out of his palm but all over his body too. 

Kogarashi on the other hand kept on disappearing and reappearing everywhere the black fire touches, getting closer to Lucas by the seconds until he finally succeeded in pinning the man’s down on the ground, his teeth lightly biting on his neck. The fire also fully enveloped the red-haired man, burning and searing into him as he thrashed about. Lupus ran to his lover’s side and quickly put his hand on the metal collar, letting his power do the work and burned the device down to the crisp. 

The rest of the Rowdy Shogun’s members arrived on the stage, appearing to be unharmed by Lupus’ fire. The Jiggy Boyz’s members were there too, their faces appeared to be slightly awestruck and overwhelmed by the sight of the two power users. Lupus briefly wondered how they all managed to escape from the room before he felt the person inside his arm stirred, his consciousness slowly returning. At the same time, a large number of enforcers began to surround the two groups, threateningly pointing their guns while the man called The Judge looming behind them. It seemed like the man still wanted to keep both Lucas and Lupus as his prizes even with the destruction caused by their powers. Lupus started to gather himself up before being stopped by his two leaders.

“Leave them to us, Lupus. You just wait here with Lucas until this ends. I assure you, they won’t be able to take us hostage for the second time. Right, Lucas?” said Bailey, turning his back towards the two power users. His sabre seemed to light up even brighter than usual. In fact, the rest of the weapons held by each of the members appeared brighter as well.

Lucas stayed silent, his body was too weak and his thoughts in a disarray to formulate a response. A slow stroke of his red hair caused him to look at his lover, who was looking down on him with a relief expression. “Just close your eyes and rest, Lucas. It will be over soon,” said Lupus. Lucas slowly blinked his eyes, letting his fatigue wash over his senses. The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was the sight of Kogarashi, leaping towards The Judge and viciously bitten down his body, a blood-curdling scream reverberated throughout the vast arena.

(SHIN-TOKYO / EMERALD WARD - present times) 

“It’s not much, but please make yourself at home,” Skeet gleefully said as a greeting, opening the door to their hideout in the process. 

After escaping from The Court, the Rowdy Shogun found themselves following Jiggy Boyz to their hideout. Initially they wanted to return back to Cho Tokyo, however after deeming Lucas’ and Lupus’ condition unfit for long travel after their battle, Goemon decided to follow the Jiggy Boyz to rest and heal their wounds. Plus, it was better for them to avoid public places especially the teleportation pods for the time being.

Jiggy Boyz’s hideout was located at the outskirts of Emerald Ward, where factories and power plants were found scattered throughout the area. It was easier for them to avoid any unwanted eyes and to escape if they found themselves being ambushed. As their job required them to travel most of the time, the hideout was just a place for them to rest before going off to another place.

The hideout was inside an abandoned building, the paints chipped off revealing brick-red walls underneath. Moss and ivy had grown on the walls, coloring them black and green instead. Upon entering, the Rowdy Shogun’s members were greeted by the sight of holographic monitors of various sizes that displayed every region of Shin Tokyo. One of them showed The Court, burnt to ashes with firefighters at the site trying to find any burnt victim. Journalists and reporters were also seen loitering around the place, curious about the incident. Marduk grimaced and turned his head away, unable to believe his luck of being able to escape from the place unscathed. The destruction caused by Lupus’ fire was nonpareil, Marduk’s own skin was still unable to chase away the remnant of the heat. To the left of the table, Travis could also see about two or three monitors that showed Cho Tokyo and Babylonium too. Judy shared a look with the older man, making a note to ask the Jiggy Boyz about the monitors. 

Joe walked into the medical bay while holding Marine, the latter’s body still a bit weakened due to his battle earlier. X on the other hand, appeared to have recovered almost completely even when he had been completely beaten by Marine earlier, laughing when he saw the amazement painted on the older man’s face. Hades followed behind them, holding the still unconscious Lucas in a firefighter hold and lowering him onto one of the beds. Kisaragi and Q-B entered the area last, with Lupus holding onto both of them, his face pale and streaked with dust and soot. In fact, all of them looked worse for wear, the smell of smoke still clinging to their clothes while their sleeves singed and marred by the fire.

“Skeet and Floly are out looking for some medicinal supplies to treat everyone’s injuries since we ran out of ours few days ago. There’s some water in the fridge if you want. The three of you can rest for now, if anything just holler for any of us,” said Future, making his way to the doorway with Claude on his tail. The four of Rowdy Shogun members lingered behind, tending to the injured three for a while. About 30 minutes into their arrival, Marine finally fell asleep, his exhaustion catching up to his body. Their leader and Joe also excused themselves, deciding to join the others in the common room. 

“Q-B, can you come here and help me?” asked Lupus, his voice barely heard in the room with his eyes barely opened. The youngest of the quintet nodded, helping the older man without question.

“You should stay in bed, Lupus, doctor’s order,” Kisaragi crossed his arms in front of him, shaking his head indignantly when he saw the fire wielder struggling to even lift up his head. He was sitting beside Lucas’ bed, watching his two friends at the other side of the room.

“I just want to stay close to him,” replied the black-haired man, walking to Lucas’ bed with Q-B supporting him. He sat on the bed beside the still sleeping man, his features peaceful and calm with no trace of the hostile persona he was in previously. The soot that clung to the red hair stained the pristine pillow black, no doubt it will be hard for the Jiggy Boyz to clean it after this. Lupus ran his hair through the silky smooth strands, brushing away a few stray strands that fell on his lover’s forehead.

“Before the sleep took over him, he did mention to me that he was feeling better. So there was no need for you to worry, Lupus,” said Kisaragi, trying to pacify the emotional turmoil in the older man.

“This is the first time this kind of thing happened, so I couldn’t say for sure. But I’m glad that both of you survived that whole ordeal. Watching you guys fight with your powers like that, I, no, WE, were terrified that we would end up watching both of you destroy each other in the process. Hands-on combat and gadgets, we could handle them. But, when it comes to power and special ability, the rest of us are just normal humans. There’s nothing we could do to help both of you if anything like this happened again in the future,” said Q-B, his voice betraying the regret and sorrow that he felt at the moment. He could picture the fight so vividly in his mind, being on the other side of the thick glass partition that separated the Rowdy Shogun from their two extremely talented power users. They had tried everything to break the glass in order to stop the fight, however their efforts were rendered useless. It wasn’t until the peak of the fight where Lucas lit up like a lighthouse that somehow, the glass finally broke after being punched relentlessly by their two leaders and Bailey. They were surprised, but the situation at hand demanded their full attention instead of spending time wondering why the glass finally broke.

Lupus listened to the tirade of one of his closest friends in silence, his gaze never straying from the still sleeping red-haired male on the bed. He knew it was rare for Q-B to speak his thoughts out loud like that, preferring to observe from the side in all these years they spent together. “I understand, Q-B. I couldn’t promise to any of you that these things won’t happen again in the future, because they will. All I could say is that when that time comes, the two of us would be on the same side, with all of you,” he finally replied, his low voice carried throughout the small area.

“Do you perhaps know any way for us to, I don’t know, gained some superpower maybe? Were you guys born with it or did you gain it from something?” Kisaragi jests, his sentences would come across as a joke if not for his absolutely serious face. The two black-haired men stopped and turned to the brown-haired man with a matching incredulous expression on their faces, before finally breaking into a laugh. They seemed to have been completely taken by surprise by Kisaragi’s question.

“I’m sorry, Kisaragi, but I don’t know. If Lucas and I regained our lost memories before we met each other that time in Old Tokyo, only then maybe we can give you some tips. For now, I’m afraid we are in the same situation as you as we couldn’t remember how we obtained this power,” Lupus answered, with glistening eyes that teared up after his laughing episode just now. Some of the tension finally left his body, causing his face to appear as tired and lacking sleep instead of looking like a tightly-coiled string waiting to snap. His friend just nodded in understanding, the fact was not a secret among the Rowdy Shogun members. The said two had tried everything they could to regain their memories, even using Lyra in these recent weeks, but to no avail. 

“Lucas, don’t you want to remember who your parents or siblings are? Don’t you want to know whether you had any friend or life before you met Lupus 13 years ago? Aren’t you curious?” Kisaragi asked his friend, who was scrubbing Kogarashi in a big tub after giving the black wolf a bath. It wasn’t like the wolf was dirty or something, as he always appeared as clean as ever everytime he was summoned by Lupus. But Lucas insisted to do so as he was bored waiting for his lover to return from a mission since early dawn. 

The two of them were on the rooftop, spending the evening under the sky tainted in orange and pink dye, the sun bidding goodbye for the day. As usual, Q-B had accompanied Lupus for the mission, along with Hades, Gusk, and A-not. The black wolf was left at the compound upon Lucas’ request, as the mission was not a risky one and Lupus could manage without the help of his loyal companion.

“I was curious, and I still am. But even without those memories, I was still able to get to know him, and to meet the rest of Rowdy Shogun. Maybe one day I would remember the parents that brought me into this world or whether I had an older brother or a younger sister. But I wanted to live in the present, and to appreciate everything that this life had offered to me. So I am going to stay alive, using this power that I was blessed with for the benefit of the others, and continued to live on with the people that I hold dear,” replied Lucas, stopping from drying the massive black ball of fur and turned to look at his brown-haired friend, smiling all the same. 

The two of them ended up playing with the not-so-dirty water before being joined by the rest of the Rowdy Shogun at the base. The final five members returned from their mission only to find their teammates drenched and soaked with water and soap bubbles on the rooftop, with Lucas using his power to lighten up the place with glowing balls of lights. Lupus was greeted by the ever enthusiastic black wolf before the red-haired male pulled him towards the centre, surrounding him with floating lights and water.

Several knocks on the door shook Kisaragi out of his reverie, making him turn to look at the newcomers instead. Yuki and Claude peered into the room cautiously, a bit apprehensive to disrupt the three conscious Rowdy Shogun members from their conversation. “We’re sorry to disrupt you, but we brought some warm soups and medicines for the injuries,” Yuki looked at Lupus, his right hand rubbing the back of his neck while his face a bit red as he explained their arrival there.

“It’s okay, you guys did disturb us or anything. And thank you for the food and medicines,” answered Lupus, his face relaxed into a kind expression as to not scare the two Jiggy Boyz members. He accepted the bowl of soup offered to him and took in some small sips of the still hot concoction, the taste of spices and chicken in the clear broth making him feel rejuvenated after the fight. Q-B and Kisaragi did the same, except they were more expressive in their thanks as they finished the food in record’s time, patting their full tummies at the end.

“How is he?” asked Claude after the silence while standing at the end of Lucas’ bed. His face looked worried, and his partner donned the same expression after he finished leaving some pills on Marine’s bed stand. 

“He’s going to be fine, as he had sustained no bodily injury from the fight, as insane as it sounds like. But he needs some time to recover from exhaustion from pushing his body to the limit when using his power, same goes to Lupus right there,” answered Q-B, pointing towards the said man sitting on Lucas’ bed. 

“I’m sorry if this comes out as being rude, but why did your group help us at The Court? Why did you worry about him in the first place?” interjected Lupus, staring straight at the two Jiggy Boyz members standing in front of him. 

They did not look offended or surprised by the not-so-hostile question, instead they appeared as if they had already anticipated the outburst. “Lucas probably didn’t know about this himself, but without him, we wouldn’t be alive right now,” answered Yuki smoothly, sparing a glance towards the red-haired male. 

*

The so-called common room was actually an empty space in the building that looked more like a garage rather than a room, with a light blue 1965 Ford Mustang parked right in the middle of it. Three metal shelves filled with engine oils, grease, tools, and even empty Atria shells surrounded the vintage car, filled with dust and cobwebs. Miya, a self-proclaimed convertibles enthusiast grimaced, his previous excitement of seeing the car quickly depleted out. He lamented the fact that the car seemingly was left stranded in the garage without being used, judging by its condition. 

The remaining eleven members of Rowdy Shogun scattered around the room, taking a seat everywhere possible and making themselves comfortable. Some of them found a stack of cards and started a new game while the others chose to play the video games with Skeet and Floly who had returned from their errands. Even with the entertainment, they all listened to the discussion of their two leaders and Bailey with the leader of the Jiggy Boyz, adding their own remarks and opinions whenever they deemed necessary. 

The oldest three started to discuss the various exit routes from Shin Tokyo to Cho Tokyo, choosing to avoid the main portals to prevent unwanted eyes from tracking their movement. Future reassured them that the commotion from The Court will die down in a few days time, as the government of Shin Tokyo did not want their citizens to be involved in the matter of Amethyst Ward. Even if somehow the remaining lackeys of The Judge choose to ambush them, the Rowdy Shogun are more than enough to handle the lowlife thugs. Floly helpfully added that he will help in monitoring any potential move against the Rowdy Shogun and to delete the videos from the surveillance cameras when the group made their escape from Shin Tokyo.

“How did you guys even manage to figure out all these loopholes in the system and the backdoor exits in Cho-Tokyo, Shin-Tokyo and Babylonium? If I’m not mistaken, your group is fairly new in this business,” asked Travis with his eyes still trained on the deck of cards held in his hands. 

“Actually, we’ve been active for a few years already, but only recently we’re coming out in the open instead of lurking behind the scenes. And on how we came to gain all this information, let’s just say we have a reliable, but not really trustable informant throughout these years,” answered Libra, a frown unconsciously decorated his face when talking about the said informant.

Gusk turned to Libra in confusion, wondering what made the group change their mind. He asked the said question to the group in general, to which Skeet answered, “Since Babylonium issued a red alert a few months ago, we realized that the thing that we feared the most since our childhood is coming back. We decided that we couldn’t afford to stay in the dark forever and instead come out into the light to possibly slow it down or stop it altogether.”

“What is that ‘thing’ that you guys feared so much?” Kisaragi asked, suddenly appearing in the doorway with Q-B and Marine beside him, Claude and Yuki following closely behind. Sarutobi mouthed a question asking where Lupus and Lucas were to his best friend, and Marine made gestures of ‘sleeping’ and ‘together’ to the older man.

“Before that, have you guys heard of BARRAL? It is said that when a huge amount of powers surge from a particular source in response to the ‘darkness’, BARRAL will be invoked to control the eruption from destroying the city and its people. But, if it fails, then the power will be circulated or latched onto any living beings near the incident. The seven of us were some of the survivors after BARRAL was invoked in Old Tokyo 13 years ago,” explained Claude, taking a seat beside X. 

“So the leakage of power didn’t kill, and instead it kept all of you alive?” Marduk asked. As someone who was born in Cho Tokyo, he was well aware of what happened to Old Tokyo. In fact, all children of Cho Tokyo, Shin Tokyo and Babylonium were told of the phenomenon, regardless of whether they belonged to high-class families or even orphans. However, the details of the ‘darkness’ and the source of the ‘power’ were kept secret, so he never paid any extra attention to the tale. He also knew that only small numbers of citizens were successfully transported to the other places, Lupus and Lucas included. The rest succumbed to the darkness or killed in the crossfire.

“The seven of us were just little kids who had been abandoned by their parents and the society, being left to die in a narrow street at Old Tokyo near where BARRAL was invoked. After the incident, the power infused into us made us become more resilient and tough, being able to withstand diseases and heal faster, like myself after the fight in The Court,” replied X, grinning at the look of epiphany crossing on Marine’s face.

“And what’s that got to do with Lucas?” Q-B interrupted, remembering their interrupted conversation at the medical bay earlier due to Lupus being too tired to continue. The black-haired man ended up falling asleep beside Lucas, having no mind to return to his bed. Marine, who was finally awake, joined the other two and left the medical bay to have more food.

Future replied, “It wasn’t our place to tell you the whole story, even more so when Lucas and Lupus did not remember about the incident in the first place. I’m sure that you guys will be enlightened on the truth in the near future. But right now, please believe us when we say that we, the Jiggy Boyz, would lay down our lives to help your group.” The red-haired leader slightly lowered his head, with his members following right after that.

The members of Rowdy Shogun were stunned into silence upon seeing the gesture from the seven men, not expecting such display of trust from one of their newest acquaintances. Goemon, upon remembering Lucas’ words of trusting the Jiggy Boyz after their first meeting with the group, decided to do the same. “We’ll put our trust on you. As one of the leaders of Rowdy Shogun, I want to thank you for all your help,” said the greyish white-haired man kindly. The rest of the Rowdy Shogun relaxed upon hearing their leader’s statement, sharing the same sentiment.

“Before we forgot, there’s something that we wanted to discuss with you. After arriving at Shin Tokyo, my scanner was able to detect the presence of the sixteen of you, including Lucas and Lupus when it wasn’t able to do so when we first visit your hideout in Cho Tokyo. Do any of you perhaps know the reason why?” asked Floly, showing the said scanner to the other group.

Bailey, who had stopped playing with the cards along with Travis, Judy and A-Not, decided to reply. “Lucas’ health had been unstable for a while now, but he’s getting better after using Lyra in the Atrias sold by your group. Few days ago, there was also an incident that forced him to use his power in an obscene amount. In order to make him recover faster, we decided to not use his powers to hide our presence anymore, whether at our homeground or during mission.”

Yuki jolted in shock upon hearing Bailey’s explanation, his eyes opening widely. “So are you telling me that Lucas during that fight was not at his top form?” 

“I think so, but we had never seen or needed him to use that much of his power before, so we couldn’t tell for sure. What’s wrong?” A-Not asked, slightly creeped out by the sudden silence that enveloped the seven men.

“That means Lucas at his full capability will be much, much stronger than the one we saw at The Court. If he were controlled by an evil force by then, no one would be able to stop him,” Skeet replied, the quiver in his voice  did not escape everyone’s notice.

*

“Kogarashi, come back here.”

The wolf slowly backed away from the doorway of the common room when he heard his master’s call, making his way to the medical bay where his master was resting. The soft patter of his paws did not alert anyone in the common room of his presence, allowing it to observe everything that occurred in the room inconspicuously. Lupus was lying on his back, staring at the white ceiling above his head absently when the wolf finally arrived at him. It was not an uncommon practice of the black-haired man to ask the wolf to snoop around, especially during missions. 

It was not like he did not trust the other group, as he had learned about Lucas’ conviction about the group’s status previously. He was just getting to have some sleep when the wolf inside him bristled and stirred, demanding to be released. After being a loyal companion for Lupus since his childhood, Lupus knew that the wolf would not act rashly without reasons. So he summoned the wolf, letting him do as he pleases while he tried to get some sleep in between. His current physical condition still did not allow him to move around leisurely, thus he ended up sleeping beside Lucas.

When the wolf arrived beside him, he leapt onto the bed and tried to squeeze in between the couple. This was not an easy feat as the wolf was massive enough that the bed, originally meant for one adult, had to take in the combined weight of nearly three adult men on it. Lupus dragged the wolf onto his own body and scratched underneath Kogarashi’s nuzzle, soft growl coming out of the wolf’s mouth. The movement and sound was not that loud, but it was enough to make the only sleeping occupant in the room to stir awake as well. Lucas slowly blinked, adjusting his eyes to the environment he was in. With one hand rubbing his left eye, the red-haired man sat up, taking in the sight of Lupus and Kogarashi beside him, likely the main reason why he was awake.

Lupus ruffled the red locks on top of his lover’s hair before explaining what had happened from their escape up until that moment. “What happened out there? What did you see?”  asked Lucas to the wolf, curious on what the wolf had seen as well. The yellow eyes of the wolf glowed, sharing his vision to his master while Lucas had to use his power to look into Lupus’ mind. After they finished, the two of them lapsed into a silence.

“Did you know that I’m not using my full power at that time?” asked Lucas, breaking the silence.

“Maybe, I don’t know. I realized that there was something different in your power, they felt harsher and more malicious. But there was nothing I could do at that time but to try to match the degree of my fire to your light in order to not hurt you,” answered Lupus, remembering the fight between them a few hours later.

“I used to not mind the fact that I lost my memories before I met you that day. But right now the only thing I wish for is to regain those memories in order to let me understand better about everything that has been happening,” said Lucas, his expression downcast.

“You will, both of us will try to remember,” replied Lupus in return, letting the younger man lean on him, hiding his face at the crook of Lupus’ neck. They spend the day resting on the bed, trying to ignore the growing sense of doom looming in the future.

(SHIN-TOKYO / CITRINE WARD - present times) 

“They are late,” Karasu grumbled, his hands toying with the ends of his spiky dirty blond hair while looking into a mirror. Feeling satisfied with his appearance, he looked around the room, watching his members settling around the bunker.

They had just finished performing at one of their concerts at Almandine Ward a few hours ago, which had been attended by a large number of their fans as usual. After their bodies had settled down from the high of the adrenaline rush and their faces cleaned from makeup, Aria reminded his group mates that they needed to go to Citrine Ward for a meeting. They chose to disregard their usual mode of transportation, a sleek black limousine which was highly unsuitable for covert operations, and instead using the underground tunnels to lead them to their destination. Itaru had used his ability in advance, creating body doubles that were seen leaving the concert area in their limousine to prevent anyone from asking of their presence, including their managers. 

After their encounter with the Mad Jesters, the three power users in the group had trained relentlessly to improve their abilities, while the remaining five did the same albeit using their Atria-enhanced body suits. Now, Itaru was able to use his illusion without even being in the vicinity of the intended people. Karasu also was able to compel people to do things beyond their normal human capability without mortally-wounding them. 

Their destination, Citrine Ward was initially a district which had one of the lowest income per-capita amongst all the districts in Shin Tokyo, due to the arid and sandy type of soil covering the vast land. However, even with the supposedly barren wasteland, the people who lived there had successfully utilized the landscape to harbour some of the most prominent water irrigation system, successfully providing jobs and source of income for the rest of them. 

The eight members of Astro 9 were currently at one of their secret bunkers, situated dead in the middle of the desert andwas built with a fortified security system that managed to hide the location from any high-tech scanner. The only people who knew about it were the ones who had built the bunker from scratch, which was Astro 9 themselves, and those who were given its coordination by the members personally, in other words those who had been invited by Astro 9. In fact, only one group managed to do so, which their arrival was currently being anticipated for.

“They were having difficulty landing at the teleportation pods due to the sandstorm. There’s no helping it, so let’s just wait patiently,” replied Aria, playing with some stainless steel marble scattered across a transparent tabletop with metal gears seen underneath it. The youngest Astro 9 was donning a bored expression, no doubt from having to listen to Karasu’s grumbles and whines of frustration since 15 minutes ago. The promised time of meeting was not due for another 30 minutes, so Aria could not understand Karasu’s frustration.

Kane, who was playing with a deck of cards, snickered amusedly hearing Aria’s reply. Standing opposite to him was Dill with matching expressions, the two of them already accustomed to Karasu’s bad habits of hating to wait for someone. Teku just shook his head in exasperation, playing with an Atria outside a small room with clear glass partitions as its wall. Hajime and Itaru were seen playing a chess match against each other in the room, being too absorbed in thinking about their next moves to bother about their members outside the cell. Hajime was just moving his next piece before his opponent suddenly stood up from his seat, his face serious and turned to look at Aria outside the room. Kagura, who was waiting at the neon-light entrance of the bunker, stood a little straighter and stared into the distance. 

“They have arrived,” nodded Aria, confirming their thoughts. On cue, seven figures appeared on the entrance of their bunkers with their signature camouflage-designed outfits and bandanas covering their faces, this time their apparel were painted in light blue and white. Future stepped forward while removing his bandana, addressing everyone in the room with a slight nod of his head.

“Sorry for the wait,” said the red-haired leader to Teku and Itaru, his face calm as usual. The six members behind him waved their hands in greetings.

*

It was an unknown fact to everyone but the members themselves that the two groups had been acquainted since their teen years. Aria, being the Oracle, had several dreams revolving around the seven young men, even before they had officially established their group’s name and identity. At first, Aria was perplexed on why he kept on dreaming about them, each dream was vivid and specific with their faces clearly could be seen in it, unlike the dream involving a certain red-haired male. He decided to visit them one day after practice ended, with the rest of Astro 9 accompanying him to Shin Tokyo.

Meeting the Jiggy Boyz up close unravelled a memory from the past about the seven boys, telling Aria all about the BARRAL incident 13 years ago.The Oracle had deduced that the said incident had caused the people involved in it to lose their memories, and it can only be regained by meeting another person that was involved or experiencing a specific trigger. Aria also had lost his memories, waking up in a foreign hovercraft full of unfamiliar faces en route to Shin Tokyo 13 years ago, and discovered that he had a powerful ‘gift’ unlike other children around him.

When preparing for his debut as an artist, he met up with Karasu and Itaru, causing him to unlock the memories from his childhood in a certain white-painted facility. He had initially thought that he was the only one who had this special ability, living alone all those years with a huge burden on his shoulders due to his recurring dreams and nightmares. When he met the other two and regained his memories, he finally did not feel as alone as before. Karasu and Itaru helped a lot, sharing their own recovered memories with each other to further understand what happened in their childhood. There were still some blank spaces that needed to be filled, to which Aria decided it was because they have not met the right person or experienced the ‘right’ trigger yet.

After meeting with the Jiggy Boyz a few years ago, Aria act as an informant for them, sharing hidden locations and confidential coordinations to retrieve Atrias and sell them somewhere else without the permission of Shin Tokyo or Babylonium’s government. In turn, they were to act as a personal Atria supplier for Astro 9. The group wanted to use them to train their power and empower their suits, as normal citizens were not allowed to gain possession of a large number of Atrias at one time. The Jiggy Boyz had agreed to the deal, claiming that they too wanted to keep an eye on the three universes and its people, just in case their help was needed. Itaru did not understand what the group meant at that time, causing him to just brush it off.

The two groups were chatting and lounging around the compound, playing cards and games with each other. Teku decided to hold an impromptu dance battle, extracting Lyra from an Atria shell and holding it in his palm. The orb of light pulsated and changed its colour by seconds, before being thrown and moved around Teku’s body, followed by Kane and Dill, the three of them moving in a mesmerizing sequence of movements. The Jiggy Boyz grinned seeing the three men, before deciding to join in and pulled off some amazing choreography, topped with acrobatic moves as well. The two groups had a good dance match, each of them had their own dance moves up their sleeve.

“So, we’ve heard that you guys were involved in some strange incident several days ago in Shin Tokyo. Care to elaborate?” asked Kagura, after they had decided to take a break from their dance match, taking a sip of water from the glass in his hand. His face was donning a curious expression, no doubt questioning the legibility of the rumor.

“As far as I know, your group hated to be in the spotlight, so what happened that caused all of you to change your mind?” added Dill while showing off his upgraded body suit to X.

“It’s true that we preferred to act behind the scenes, but that day we..couldn’t help but to interfere, even at the cost of our cover and identity,” replied Libra from his seat, his face maintaining its calm demeanor.

“And to be involved in The Judge and his cronies of all people.. It’s safe to say that you guys should avoid visiting Amethyst Road for the time being. The Judge may be dead, but there is always a person who is next-to-the-throne who will be glad to have your head on a platter along with the other group, who was it? Rowdy Shogun?” Karasu leered, finding the whole situation to be amusing. He was sitting on a bar stool, holding a glass of colored drinks in his hand.

“Yes, have you guys heard of them?” asked Yuki cautiously, his eyes discreetly assessing the reaction of the Astro 9 members. He was playing with Lyra in his palm, the light orb floating  slowly around his torso. Hajime had always wondered why the Lyra seemed to be so in tune with the Jiggy Boyz’s members, even when none of them had special abilities like Aria, Karasu and Itaru.

“Well, we knew that they are one of the strongest groups in Cho Tokyo, maybe in all the three universes. But what we didn’t understand was why did you guys choose to rescue them,” Kane said, hoping the other group would explain more about their recent endeavor. 

“We have our own reason to do so. If you guys met them, maybe you guys too, will understand,” replied Future, choosing not to disclose the matter further. It was not like he did not trust Astro 9, but he wanted to keep any information on Rowdy Shogun to be as contained as possible. 

Itaru raised an eyebrow after hearing Future’s statement. He never expected to hear the aloof leader vehemently standing up for someone, much less against Astro 9 of all people. He was surprised to see the group chose to put their trust on someone else rather than them even after all these years of working together. His members mirrored his expression, with Karasu’s face looking a bit ticked off as he did not manage to obtain more information about Rowdy Shogun.

Teku snickered and said, “Seems like they’ve got all of you properly wrapped around their fingers. Should we go and properly give our greetings to them?” He shrugged, suddenly deciding that it might be interesting to visit the infamous guardians of Cho-Tokyo.

“Or should I ask you to meet them in our place?” Karasu’s voice suddenly resonated in the bunker, sounding like it was coming from a distant place and not at where he was standing. His control over his ability had greatly improved after meeting the Mad Jesters, and he was able to control a much larger number of people and not limited by distance or his own concentration. 

Skeet just laughed out loud on the blond-haired man’s attempt to compel them. With a grin still etched on his face, he said, “You know that your ability won’t work on us, just like before. So you better save your energy and use it for something useful.” Aria was reminded of their first meeting with each other, when Karasu tried to compel one of the Jiggy Boyz, only to fail miserably. Until this day he did not understand the reason behind it, and the Jiggy Boyz seemed content to keep their secrets.

The rest of the meeting went on uneventfully, with Aria sharing locations of the newly-founded Lyra mining centres for the Jiggy Boyz to infiltrate. After training with more Lyras, the youngest member of Astro 9 now able to enter any worker’s mind to see the loopholes in the security measures of the mining centres. However, he still could not control his visions and premonitions dreams as much as he wanted too. The dreams still haunted his night without fail, the image of an unknown red-haired male was seared into the back of his mind.

The two groups also use the remaining time to practice using their abilities and enhanced body suits with each other. The Jiggy Boyz members, whose body could withstand forces and hits beyond the normal human capabilities, were examples of excellent sparring partners for the eight artists. They separated into pairs and smaller groups, using the rooms and basement to train. 

After spending half a day in the bunker, the Jiggy Boyz finally left on their quest to obtain the Atrias. The Astro 9 gathered in their meeting room, decided to discuss the recent behaviour of their acquaintances.

“Itaru, do you want me to look into Rowdy Shogun?” asked Aria, looking at the leader for confirmation. Karasu was sitting beside him, his face distorted into a frown after losing an argument with his fellow vocalist earlier.

Dill was surprised with his teammate’s suggestion. “Is it possible? I thought you need to meet the said person first before entering their mind?” 

“In his current condition, he could do it albeit only for a limited time. But the question is whether you want him to do it or not,” Kagura directed the question to Itaru. If possible, Itaru did not want the youngest vocalist to do anything that might compromise his identity, but they needed to have some information about the group if they wanted to set up a meeting with the Rowdy Shogun later. Rumors, as frightening as it sounded, would only remained as rumors without a proof to back it up.

“Very well, but only on one of the members. I did not want to warrant any hostility from them when we meet them later,” the Astro 9’s leader decided, while looking at his members for any disagreement. He also trusted Karasu to monitor the youngest man from straining himself. Aria nodded and finally closed his eyes, summoning his power.

*

(CHO-TOKYO - present time) 

“Lucas~ can you please leave your plants for a while and help me?”

Bailey was standing in the centre of the rooftop, a big basket of freshly-laundered clothes was seen beside him. He was hanging the clothes along the clothing line while struggling with the wind blowing in his direction. Travis, who was playing catch with Kogarashi, chuckled seeing the man get positively ignored by his same-age friend. The said person was watering his potted plants, his face set in a deep concentration and not focusing on Bailey’s request. 

It was supposed to be Lucas’ turn to do the laundry with Bailey, Sarutobi and Judy, but the youngest two among the four had disappeared 10 minutes into the chore with a pitiful excuse of ‘nature’s calling’. It had been 30 minutes and their figures were still nowhere to be seen. In comparison, Lucas had done his part of washing the clothes, but he got distracted with his plants after arriving on the rooftop. 

“Bailey, you need to be louder and firmer than that. Lucas won’t hear you like that, you know,” advised Travis while still playing with the black wolf. He did not have to look at the red-haired man to confirm his suspicion as he was already accustomed to Lucas’ bad habit after so many years. He was not on that day’s laundry duty, and had chosen to spend his time playing with Kogarashi.

“...I know, but I kinda hope that it would work,” Bailey sighed, face-palming himself after so many futile attempts of attracting Lucas’ attention. He put down the clothes that he was holding and made his way to the ‘plant whisperer’, jokingly dubbed by Sarutobi after catching Lucas talking to his potted plants affectionately that one time. Since then. the nickname stuck and had been used by any of the members to tease Lucas. The blond-haired man poked Lucas’ cheek, his action finally attracting the other man’s attention, his deep red eyes staring back into Bailey.

“Oh, did you call me just now, Bailey? I’m sorry, I got distracted,” said Lucas, his face and voice turning apologetic from his own action. Bailey smiled, knowing that he did not mean to leave his own task.

“It’s okay. Perhaps you wanted to take a break? Your body is still recuperating after all,” replied Bailey, his voice taking a turn into worry and concern. He ignored the indignant shouts of ‘Bailey, that’s unfair! I want to take a break too!’ coming from the newly-returned Sarutobi, and rolled his eyes in return. 

It had been a few days since their escape from Shin Tokyo, and Bailey was still worried about the light wielder’s condition. The red-haired man seemed to be recovering well after returning to their base, his face had regained its normal complexion and his appetite slowly returning as well. But he noticed that there seemed to be a lingering ‘darkness’, for the lack of a better word, surrounding the man’s presence. He had talked to Hades and Goemon about the matter, and the two leaders along with some of their members had agreed with him. But the said man had shown no other symptoms, so they decided to just observe for the time being to avoid a dispute between them. Lupus also was spared from the discussion, as they did not want him to worry as well.

Apart from that, they also noticed that Lucas had not used his power at all since their return. The man, who previously had summoned his light at any smallest chance he could even when he was sick, had not attempted even once. He, who also had a strange affinity for watching the starlights during the night, had closed the curtain and kept his own room dark. Maybe he was overthinking it, but Bailey hoped that it was because of change of habit and nothing else. 

The four of them finally decided to return to their task, with the addition of Travis who decided to help. An hour had passed before they finished hanging all the clothes for the 16 people living in the building. They were joined at the rooftop by Lupus and Miya who had just returned from buying groceries. Sarutobi perked up after seeing the group’s arrival, his eyes lighting up in mischief. 

“Lupus? Where’s Kisaragi?” asked Sarutobi, questioning his best friend’s whereabouts with his eyes straying left and right of the black-haired man. Miya just laughed seeing the younger’s enthusiastic self, his previous tired figure nowhere to be seen.

“He’s downstairs, at his room probably,” Lupus answered, bending down to greet Kogarashi who had appeared at his side. The black wolf pushed his head towards his master’s hand, trying to ask for a petting. Upon hearing the answer, Sarutobi turned towards Bailey with a hopeful expression etched on his face, silently asking for permission to be released from his chores early. The older man just sighed and acquiesced, knowing he would not be able to rest unless he allowed the mood maker of their group to do as he please. 

“Are you guys done with your tasks?” asked Miya, taking a seat beside Lucas. He looked at the clothes hanging on their makeshift clothing lines made with metal wires strewn across the space and tied to several wooden posts on the rooftop, nodding approvingly of their efforts. Their leopard-printed outfits were there too, and he was silently thankful that the chance for their group to reuse those outfits was very low. He hated those outfits, thank you very much.

“Yup, we are done here. But I was thinking about staying here for a while longer to look after my plants, and Bailey and Travis agreed to help me,” replied Lucas, while the two said-men just nodded in agreement. 

“How are you feeling today?” Lupus asked while taking a seat beside his lover, his tone was filled with half worry, half curiosity. Bailey, Travis and even Kogarashi stood still, noticing the strange tension between the two whenever Lucas’ health was being questioned. 

“I didn’t feel tired that much today, even after doing all those chores. Maybe the fresh air also helped a bit,” replied the red-haired man, his right hand was seen slowly massaging his right temple. A small smile decorated his face, a meek attempt to relieve his partner's worry.

“What about the black mark?” 

“It didn’t cause me any trouble for now. In fact, I couldn’t feel anything from it. If it wasn’t from the black mark still etched on my chest,” replied Lucas while slowly lifting up his shirt, showing the black tendrils-like ink on his left chest to the other four, “I would have thought that they had completely disappeared from my body.”

“Have you tried to remove it?” asked Miya, the sight of the black ink still making him queasy. He could not help but to reminisce the fateful night when Lucas healed Lupus after his mission. The very fact that the ‘shadow’, which had caused multiple deaths in the three universes, was currently residing quietly in the red-haired man’s body did not sit well with him.

“Not yet. Even though only a small amount of it was left inside, as it was near my heart it will cause me to use at least the same amount of power like before. I’m afraid.. at this moment, I’m not strong enough to do it.” Lucas’ eyes were downcasted, a significant act that showed how much the fact bothered him. He had discussed the matter with Lupus in these few days after returning to their base, telling how afraid he was when he could feel his own power slowly draining away from him. It was not like any other times where he used a significant amount of his power to protect and heal Rowdy Shogun after their missions. Those days, he did feel drained after each time, but his power would gradually return after taking a rest for a few days. About six months ago, he had a suspicion that something was wrong with his power, but the Atrias supplied by the Jiggy Boyz actually really helped him to build up  his power again. The fight at The Court was possibly the last straw as it pushed his body beyond his limit and rendered the Atrias useless.

He had never hated himself more for losing his memories as this current moment, as he felt they could help him in understanding the nature of his own power better. Lupus had stayed by his side as the red-haired man poured out all his concern and uncertainties, staying in silence until the end. He, who experienced the same thing as Lucas, had shared the same burden and frustration. However, he was not the one currently living with a personification of death in his body, as the shadows moved in tandem with Lucas’ heartbeat while spending each second to further paint the beating heart in its own viscous black ink. The black-haired male absently wondered, if black is the color of death and destruction, then did it mean his own black fire possessed the same nature?

“Lupus, can you use your fire to remove it?” asked Travis. He knew he was grasping at straws, but Lupus was the only power user they had in their group apart from Lucas, hence he was their only hope for now.

“I can’t, my fire doesn’t work that way. I’m sure you had seen what it could do during that fight. It is offensive in nature, and more suited to be used for attacks and destruction. It was nothing like Lucas’ light. If I use it, I’ll end up hurting Lucas in the process,” replied Lupus, his voice full of frustration. His own fists were clenched tightly at his side, his fingernails leaving marks on his palm and nearly bled them out before Lucas stopped it, gathering both of his lover’s hands into his own grasps. 

Bailey, who had been watching the exchanges between the younger four, interjected, “Is there a possibility that your power was transferred into something else? I mean you had transferred Lyra from the Atria into yourself to heal before, so maybe your power could do the same without you noticing it?” ‘Or into other people.’ he wanted to add, but chose not to. Travis and Miya shared a look, understanding Bailey’s point at once. The two leaders had discussed the possibility between the members with the exception of their two power users. They gathered each other’s opinions about their powered up weapons and increased durability of their bodies as what they had experienced during their recon missions and at The Court. The fourteen of them had chosen not to disclose the matter as they wanted to gather more evidence to prove it.

“I don’t know, the thought had never crossed my mind,” replied Lucas. All these talks about his power were making his head spin and ached more than ever, resorting to him lowering his own head between his two hands, his fingers massaging both sides of his temple with more force than before. Lupus, who noticed the strange gesture, stood up and gathered the younger man’s face into his hands.

“Lucas, you have been massaging your head since I came back. Does it hurt?” he asked.

“Yeah, it kind of feels similar to that day when my mind was being controlled, albeit this time it is less invasive and more subtle. Like someone was sneaking into my mind without wanting me to notice it,” answered Lucas with a grimace. 

“Huh? Is that even possible?” Travis asked, his tone bordering on disbelief and amazement. No one answered, as for all they know there could be hundreds of power users out there like Lupus and Lucas. Miya noticed that something was off with Lucas. He moved closer to the younger man, staring into the other’s eyes. 

“Lucas.. Your eyes are changing their colour,” said Miya, his own eyes widened in shock. Lupus noted in dismay, watching several brown speckles slowly painted over Lucas’ own dark red eyes but not fullycovering it. It seems like Lucas’ power was enough to prevent the perpetrator from completely taking over his mind.

“I don’t know what their aim was, but we need to stop them from doing further damage to you. Lucas, can you try and push them out?” asked Bailey. He realized that there was a possibility that the perpetrator had been listening throughout their conversation without them realizing it, so they need to put a stop to it before they lose any more precious information.

The said man nodded, summoning his own power in response to Bailey’s suggestion. Lupus was still holding his face in a gentle hold, a smile on his face to calm the younger man’s nerves. With his eyes slowly returning to its red color, Lucas said with the utmost viciousness that he could conjure at the time, “Get out of me.”

*

(SHIN-TOKYO /CITRINE WARD- present time)

Aria jolted awake, a gasp dying on his lips upon his return to his own body. The other seven members of Astro 9 were gathered around him in a semi-circle, some of them had worried expressions while the other remained calm during his absence. Karasu put his hands on the Oracle’s shoulder, slowly easing the knot of tension strung tight in the younger man's posture. 

“What happened back there? What did you see?” Itaru’s calm voice broke the silence, asking the question that had been plaguing everyone’s mind during Aria’s absence.

“I finally remembered,” Aria’s voice was shaky, like he could not believe what he had seen previously.

“About what?” asked Karasu.

“Everything.”

-

(OLD TOKYO - flashback)

The creaking sound of a door opening echoed in the empty hallway, followed by several pit-patters of footsteps. Each step was light and barely making a sound on the cold cemented floor. Soft whispers were added into the cacophony of sounds, indicating that there was more than one person walking down the hallway. The only two residents of the side of the building were not expecting visitors at this late hour of night, as visiting time was restricted to daytime.

Lucas was lying on his bed, his body too weak and exhausted after the power trial ended barely one hour ago. At the sound of the footsteps, he moved his body until he was facing the metal bar that was lining up his cell, anticipating the two figures that would surely pass by his cell in a few minutes. Even with his beaten up form, a smile made its way onto his face due to his amusement. He sent a mental nudge to his black-haired friend in the cell beside him, and received a returning nudge almost immediately. It seemed like his friend was awake, and already knew what he was referring to.

A few minutes later, two small figures appeared on the barely-lit hallways in front of Lucas’ cell. The darkness of the hallways was maintained even during the day, to make sure that the red-haired child would strive to use his own light to counter it. It was such a cruel form of torture for the red-haired child, as the darkness did nothing but to cause him nightmare and fear. There were some days when Lucas might actually succumb to the darkness after a particularly harsh time in the lab, if not for his black-haired friend at the cell beside him, chasing away his nightmare with his kind words and encouragement. 

The two figures stopped in front of Lucas’ cell, wearing the same white outfits like Lucas. However, their outfits remained pristine and untainted, while Lucas was sure there was blood, sweat and dirt on his shirt due to his recent lab trial. The smaller figure out of the two turned to look at him, maintaining an eye-contact for a few seconds before glancing away. Lucas managed a glimpse of a mop of light brown hair on the boy’s head before he scurried away, no doubt to the cell beside Lucas’. The boy’s companion, on the other hand, had dirty ash blond hair and was staring at him guilelessly, leaving his smaller friend to go on without him.

About 10 minutes passed before the two boys left, with Lucas no longer paying attention to the boy standing in front of his cell in the meantime. After he was certain that they were out of earsight, Lucas whispered, “Look who’s popular.” He did not bother to raise his voice, as he knew his friend could hear him just fine.

Lupus groaned, able to detect the mirth and laughter hiding in Lucas’ voice. “Maybe he came to visit you this time?” he replied, trying to brush off the other’s teasing. Even with his body weakened, Lucas would tease about Lupus’ admirer to no ends at any chance he had.

“Lupus, every time he was here, he speed walked past my cell and later slowed down considerably in front of yours. He left you yet another flower, right? Of course you’re the one he had a crush on,” said the red-haired boy, soft laughter finally making its way out of his lips.

Lupus just rolled his eyes in turn, choosing to remain silent while allowing his friend to get his fair share of laughter in. He did not care even if he became the point of the joke or mockery, as he hoped that Lucas’ happiness would be able to tamp down even the slightest amount of pain and hurt that the younger had gone through a few hours ago. The two of them were not the only power users in the facility, as the two boys just now also possessed some powers of their own. But, there were reasons why only Lupus and Lucas were put in this isolated wing of the building. They each made up one side of the coin and were subjected to the same amount of tests every hour of the day, Lucas maybe more than him.

‘I would get us out of here, Lucas. I promise.’

*

(CHO TOKYO - present time)

“Lucas, are you up?” said Miya, walking slowly into the room and towards the figure underneath the thick blanket. It  was not unusual for the man to be still sleeping as it was still early in the morning. Due to Lucas’ health, Miya absently thought that they could just fill in the details to the man when he woke up later. But, Hades decided to include the red-haired man in the emergency meeting, as it was about Lucas himself.

Approaching the still figure on the bed, Miya could somehow ‘sense’ Lucas’ power swirling around him in a protective manner. A closer look showed Lucas’ face to be unnaturally pale, his eyes scrunched tight with a frown etched deep on his forehead. Whatever he was currently dreaming of, it was causing him a severe distress, judging by the short halting breaths that the younger man took. 

Miya slowly put his hand on top of Lucas’ head, streaking his fingers through the soft strands of red hair while calling his name. He remembered several years ago, when the younger man confided to him that he liked the feeling of Miya’s hand on his hair, ‘like being spoiled by an older brother’ Lucas would say. That was why whenever any of the older members came to wake Lucas up, this trick had never failed to do its job. Miya could see the seconds the action did its job, judging by Lucas’ breaths becoming more controlled while his face wiped off of its previous misery.

“Miya?” said the younger man, his voice a bit confused when seeing Miya in front of him. His irises appeared dark red and unfocused, with his long eyelashes fluttered slowly with every blink. Previously, whenever he was woken up, Lucas would always become oriented to his surroundings almost immediately, his gaze turning sharp and alert in an instant. However, the recent events had caused a great toll on his mind and body, causing him to become sluggish and disoriented each time after waking up from a deep slumber. 

Miya just smiled in apology, mouthing the word ‘meeting’ while gesturing to the door. Fortunately, the red-haired man understood at once and pushed himself up and out of the bed, his body swaying a bit due to the sudden movement. Miya stood beside him at one, steadying the younger man and guiding him out of the room. 

“What were you dreaming of just now, Lucas? Your face looked so distressed,” ask Miya, curious to know what had been bothering the man beside him. He slowed his pace a bit after nearing the staircase, one hand gripping the railing while the other hand still supporting half of the weight of Lucas’ body. He decided to ask the younger man before they reached the meeting area.

Lucas, whose steps were becoming steadier by the seconds, reached out to hold on to the other side of the staircase’s railing. He frowned unconsciously, trying to remember the content of his dream, even though it had been only a few minutes since he woke up. “I.. can’t remember much, Miya. All i know is that there were children wearing some white outfits, and..a cell, I think? It doesn’t really make sense.” 

Miya just hummed in acknowledgment, trying to picture the dream that Lucas told him. A few more steps and they would arrive at the meeting area. “Could it be that those were events from your past? Both you and Lupus had been trying to recover your memories right?” Lucas did not answer the older man's question, thinking about the possibility. 

After a while, Lucas noticed that they had finally stopped walking. He lifted up his head and saw the rest of Rowdy Shogun members had all arrived, even the younger ones such as Judy and A-Not who always came late. Lupus was sitting at the end of the table, with their two leaders and Bailey were sitting near him. From a distance Lucas could tell that the black-haired man was angry even with his face turned away from Lucas, both of his hands were closed into fists on the table. Kogarashi was sitting beside the table, turning to look at Lucas after noticing his arrival. Being blessed with an exceptional perceptive mind, Lucas braced himself for the worst after taking in the heavy atmosphere surrounding his lover and his group mates.

Goemon spared him a glance and nodded before turning to face the other members around the table. “Since Lucas had arrived, I shall start again from the beginning. This morning, we received a letter from an anonymous source. Hades and I decided to consult with all of you before we decided on our next course of action. In the letter it said, and I quote, “Shall we meet, Rowdy Shogun? We have several valuable informations that you would love to get your hands on. Below we have included the appointed place and time for our meeting. See you guys there~ P.S. If you choose not to come, who knows what would happen to Lucas and that abomination inside him. It would be a shame to let him die in vain, wouldn’t you guys agree?”

The white-haired leader just barely finished reading the last few words before black fire erupted beside him, coming out of Lupus’ fingertips in waves of anger and fury. It seemed like the black-haired man had known about the content of the letters prior to the meeting, along with the two leaders and Bailey, who was trying to calm the younger man from producing more fire. The fire was only becoming bigger and bigger before Hades slammed his hand on the table, shooting a glare to Lupus. The fire disappeared instantaneously, leaving only the smell of burnt and singed wood.

“This is a trap, isn’t it? Was the letter sent from one of the Judge’s goons?” asked Joe, looking around to no one in particular.

“There is a high possibility that it is a trap. However, I don’t think it came from The Judge and his minions. No one knows about the shadow inside Lucas, apart from us. The Jiggy Boyz probably have some suspicion about Lucas’ condition, but they don’t have the motive to threaten us like this. Plus, they swore that they would become our ally since that day,” replied A-Not, shaking his head at his childhood friend’s suggestion. 

“Bailey, who sent the letter to our base this morning?” Marine asked, his body leaning forward in curiosity.

Bailey nodded, understanding the younger man's concern. “He was one of our informants, a citizen of Cho-Tokyo and proved loyal to our cause. We knew him, and had done a thorough background check on him before appointing him as our informant. So I don’t think he had any relation to the Judge.”

“But this morning, he looked weird somehow, like he was drugged or brainwashed. He brought several reports for the Atria’s sales, but he could not remember how and when he got the letter in his possession. He claimed that all he knew was that someone told him to send the letter to us today,” added Marduk, remembering the state of the man. He and Bailey were the one who had received the reports and letters earlier this morning.

“Should I recheck the video from the surveillance cameras around Cho-Tokyo? We might find something or someone that gave him the letter,” asked Judy in turn. Being the one in charge of the tech, he could look into the recordings of any surveillance cameras in this place even with the multiple layers of security built into them by the Babylonium’s government.

“Yes Judy, you can, though it was doubtful that they would leave their trace in the videos so easily. What’s more important is for us to discuss regarding the content of the letter. We know now that there is someone out there who knows about our group, especially about Lucas' condition. We don’t know the extent of their knowledge, but we couldn’t leave them be or else there is a risk of them spreading that information,” said Goemon.

Travis perked up, a look of epiphany came across him. “Are they the ones responsible behind that day’s attempt into Lucas’ mind? When we were at the rooftop?” Bailey and Miya looked at each other, acknowledging the possibility.

“If yes, then that just meant that they have at least one power user on their side, and they are powerful enough to attempt a dangerous task like that. We still could not rule out the possibility that they want to ambush us during the meeting,” added Q-B, still unable to chase off the worry growing inside him. A trap is one thing, but to have a power user behind it is another. As they did not have any information regarding the power user's ability, Rowdy Shogun would be in a vulnerable position as compared to the enemy. Lupus’ power could probably help them, but not for long. And Lucas was still not in his best condition to use his power recklessly.

“We couldn’t deny the possibility. But this matter involved you, Lucas, so whatever the decision that you will make, we’ll follow you,” said Hades, not unkindly. He did not want to pressure the younger man into deciding something that he would only regret later.

Lucas, only realizing all the eyes in the room were trained on him, fidgeted a bit under the attention. He had decided the moment Goemon read the letter, and he only hoped that he was not making a mistake. “I.. want to meet them. I couldn’t live with this ‘thing’ inside me any longer, Goemon, so I want to know what solution they can offer me. I hope everyone understands,” he said, ending his words with his head bowed down a bit in apology. He hated to be the one putting his teammates’ in the line of danger, but there was no helping it. Hades pat his back, nodding his head in support.

From his seat, Lupus just watched the entire ordeal silently. He understood the rationale behind his lover’s decision, as he would do the same. It was eating him from the inside that he too was desperate in searching for a solution to help Lucas. The letter was like a deal from the devil, allowing him to give him what he wanted, but at a cost unknown to him. Rowdy Shogun had never obtained this kind of letters before, as their reputation and their strength were enough to chase off any enemy. The sender of this letter must be confident enough in their ability to go against their group. 

The black-haired man looked at his lover at the end of the table, who by this time had noticed his staring, and had turned his head towards his direction. ‘I’m sorry Lupus, for making you worry, for deciding to bring all of us into danger,’ said Lucas in his mind. Lupus shook his head in response, replying with, ‘It’s okay.’

The rest of the members had scattered about the area, already making plans to practice their combat skills among themselves. Sarutobi, who had read about the location of the proposed meeting, suddenly shouted out in surprise, “Hey, I know that place! Isn’t that where Astro 9 were filming their new CM? You know, that deserted mansion at the border of Cho Tokyo?” he asked Kisaragi, who just rolled his eyes in turn at his best friend’s enthusiasm.

“No, we don’t, Sarutobi. Not everyone is a huge fan of idol groups like you,” Q-B deadpanned, the mere word of ‘idol’ was enough to make him squirm. He could never understand the obsession of the citizens towards these idols from the entertainment companies. He acknowledged their talents in singing and dancing, but to become a fan was something else, he shuddered in disgust.

His sentiment apparently was not shared by A-Not and Gusk, the latter already reaching for their remote control and punching some buttons on it. A few seconds later, their screen was playing a commercial advertisement showing the eight members of the idol group Astro9 from Shin Tokyo, walking in a seemingly large, dark mansion with moonlights shining down on them. Lucas had only managed to watch for a few seconds before the screen flickered off. Marduk was holding the remote control, being the one responsible to turn off the screen just now. “We are going to discuss battle plans right now, not to watch some people singing or dancing on the screen. Get back to work,” he said. The three avid fans of Astro 9 scampered away, wanting to avoid the wrath of Marduk and possibly, their two leaders as well.

*

(SHIN TOKYO - present time)

Astro 9’s members were hanging out in their penthouse, with some of them donning their Atria-powered suits to practice. Itaru and Karasu were in their own rooms, practicing with their powers in solitary. The walls of their room were already fortified with Lyra, to prevent the rest of the members from being affected by their powers. Aria was lying on the couch, trying to use his power to gain any other vision from the citizens of Cho Tokyo about Rowdy Shogun, especially on their two power users.

“I don’t understand. With the exception of Lupus and Lucas, the rest of them are just normal, right? Human. So why do we need to use our suits and everything? If we use the power from the Lyra, we might accidentally kill the Rowdy Shogun’s members.” Kane’s voice broke through Aria's concentration, his previous attempt of another mind transfer coming into a halt. Aria looked to his left, where Kane was seen discussing with Hajime and Kagura in their suits. The latter noticed him, and just raised his hand in apology for disrupting him.

Hajime nodded in agreement, electrical sparks coming off his body haphazardly as he was still in the middle of practice. He replied, “Indeed, they are human. But, Aria said…”

Hearing that his friend played a part in this, Kane turned towards the Oracle. “Aria?”

The youngest man had sat up, forgetting his initial intention to have another attempt on mind transfer. “Judging from the rumors about their members, I don’t think it’s that simple. They are human, but their abilities exceed beyond human’s capabilities.”

Kagura raised an eyebrow, “That wasn’t normal, at all. What were the reasons behind it?”

Aria sighed, “I need to meet them directly first to confirm my theory. For now, we still need to prepare with our best effort, as even without the two power users in their group, the other fourteen members still possess the best fighting skills across the three universes. To top it off, I’m not exaggerating when I said that Lupus and Lucas are the strongest power users, as not even the combined power of Mad Jesters could defeat them. Of course, the two of them were still not aware of this fact, and let’s hope it remained that way until our meeting later.” Kane, Hajime and Kagura just listened to the Oracle in silence, the comparison against Mad Jesters making them feel a bit overwhelmed.

A 'ding' sound echoed in their living room before the main door opened, revealing Dill and Teku who had just returned back home. Oblivious to the tension in the group, the two newcomers made their way straight to Aria. Teku brought out a glowing orb from his bag. The orb resembled an Atria, with layers of Lyra contained inside it albeit having a much bigger size. Aria slowly held the orb between his hands and leaned his forehead on the smooth, rounded surface of the still-glowing sphere.

He whispered under his breath, “Petra.” The orb seemed to be responding to the call of its name, its light burning brighter than ever. Aria noted in halting breath, that he was currently holding one of the star cores in his hand. He knew that the power brimming in it was enough to destroy Shin Tokyo if released all at once, and the fact was enough to turn him heady. ‘I wonder how it feels to hold that ONE core, which power triumphs all the other star cores. I guess, only he would know.’

-

(CHO TOKYO - flashback)

“What are you doing, still up at this hour?” 

Lucas slowly tore away his gaze from the vast night sky above him, and turned to the source of the voice from the bed. He grinned unapologetically, his dark red eyes turning into crinkles at both ends. “I could ask you the same, you know.”

“It’s not my fault that my bed became cold due to someone leaving them at 3am in the morning.” Lupus just fixed a pointed glare towards his lover, his voice contained a bare hint of grumpiness and resentment for being kept awake in the wee hours of night. There was a pout threatening to form on his face, reminding the red-haired man that his lover was only two months older than him.

“I am not your personal body heater, Lupus. Why don’t you just allow Kuro-chan to sleep beside you? Maybe then you wouldn’t feel as cold anymore,” replied Lucas, determined to not allow the feeling of guilt to consume him. He had opened the door to the balcony of the room, letting in the frosty winds into the room to look at the stars above. He had completely forgotten the fact that Lupus was prone to wake up whenever he left the bed that they shared.

Still being adhement on himself being right, the fire user shrugged, “I know, but then he’s not you.” It was a lie, as sleeping with the black wolf had been proven by their group mates as being enveloped by the softest and warmest blanket in the world, in other words, comfortable enough.

The red-haired man just sighed, knowing when he was beaten in their argument as his lover could be really persistent. He just patted the seat beside him, a silent invitation for the black-haired man to join him. Lupus settled down, wrapping a huge blanket around them both and letting out a triumphant shout of satisfaction when he could their body warmth intermingling at a moment’s notice. Lucas just shook his head in amusement, observing the whole antics in silence. Under the night sky, his lover’s hair appeared almost jet black, with several streaks that shone under the moonlight that Lucas knew from experiences that they were soft to touch.

“I..couldn’t sleep well tonight, thinking about the incoming meeting in a few days’ time,” the light wielder opened up, sharing the reason why he was still awake at that time. There was a hint of wistfulness on his face, like he had spent hours thinking about the matter. There were speckles of light reflected on his dark red orbs, the bright shine of the moonlight making the sight seemed almost magical to Lupus.

Lupus nodded, already figured as much. Unknown to the red-haired man, he too was worried about the many possibility that the meeting would bring. It could be an ambush or a trap, but the thing that Lupus feared the most would be knowing that there was no cure available for Lucas. That was why he had spent most of his time at the training arena, practicing until his body was completely beaten up so that he could protect him and everyone else. "Are you regretting your decision to meet them?” he asked, to which the man beside him shook his head in negative, his bangs falling over his eyes in turn. Lucas remained silent, throwing his right hand forward with the palm facing upwards, a glowing sphere of light started to form above it. It was as beautiful as always, but Lupus could not help but notice that there were several wisps of grey smoke in the orb as well.

The light wielder let out a shaky breath, taking a few seconds to recompose himself and rearranged his words carefully. “It wasn’t like that. I’m just apprehensive of what their revelations would cause me. I.. am not afraid of dying, Lupus, even when the letter indicated that there is a possibility that I might die soon. I’m more fearful that even when we had done everything they told us and more, this ‘thing’ would still continue to live within me and turn me into something I don’t want to be. A beacon of destruction. A monster.” It could be a trick of the lights, but Lupus could see that the pair of red eyes that he loved so much started to glistened with unshed tears.

Lupus just hummed under his breath in acknowledgement, before replying, “ Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly, to be fearful of the night .” His voice was low and lingered in the still air, the words as cryptic as it could be. Lucas turned to look at him, head tilted to the side in question to the unknown string of words. “It’s a quote from a book that I’ve read some time ago. It means,” Lupus halted, sparing a glance to the person beside him, “even when the darkness had taken over you, myself and this world, I will not be worried, nor will I be in despair. I’m certain that the light that you, and only you, possess, would shine the brightest in the darkest time, and it will save us all.”

A surprise bout of laughter escaped Lucas, the sound tinkling in the night. A few stray tears escaped his eyes, leaving all the pretenses of a collected person he had previously. His lips quivered and bitten red underneath his teeth, not due to the coldness of the air surrounding them, but from the warmth that had overfilled his whole being after hearing Lupus’ words. Lupus pulled him into an embrace, stopping the mild shivers that escaped the lithe body. It was still a few more hours before dawn, but they chose to stay at the balcony until Lucas finally fell back asleep, succumbing to the stress that was bothering him. Slowly wiping off the tear streaks on the red-haired man’s face, Lupus whispered into the nothingness, “Sleep well, my starlight.”

*

(CHO TOKYO - present time)

“This is the place,” said Goemon, standing in front of a driveway that led to a massive white mansion. There were moulds and vines creeping up on the once-pristine white wall, coloring it dark green and black. There was a huge fountain at the middle of driveway with no water in it, replaced by more ivies and wild shrubs.

Sarutobi shuddered, chasing off the goosebumps littering all over his exposed arms. “Wow, it looked worse than what I expected. On the television they made it look like a grand mansion instead of this haunted mansion in front of us," he grimaced, feeling mildly offended by the sight in front of him compared to the beautiful visuals in the CM on the television.

Hades scoffed, understanding at once the reason of Sarutobi's disappointment. “No one asked you to believe in those CMs that you love so much, Sarutobi. Q-B, Judy, is there any trap seen on the detectors?”

“None so far, Hades. We can proceed to the main living area where the letter told us to," confirmed Judy, wearing a holographic glasses with detector programmed into it. In front of him, Q-B echoed Judy's statement with his eyes still stuck on the scanner in his right hand.

It looked like they were the first one to arrive, as the mansion appeared to be devoid of any other living presence. As the mansion's internal was mostly built on woods, it caused their footsteps to sound thunderous as it echoed in the vast area, giving the illusion that there were more people in the mansion. Even with the abandoned appearances from the outside, the inside of the mansion was fortunately well-kept, having only a small amount of cobwebs and dust collected at the corners. 

The 16 of them, all donning white outfits made their way to the living area, where a long mahogany table was placed right in the middle of it. Two huge chandeliers were located at both sides, the moonlight hitting on the hanging crystals helped in illuminating the semi-dark room. There already seemed to be a number of chairs located at both ends of the table, a feat that made Goemon raise his eyebrow in surprise. Sharing a look between themselves, they ended up choosing the side facing the entrance and waited for the arrival of their invitor.

In contrast to their usual routine, Lupus took the middle seat with Lucas and Bailey beside him. Their two leaders agreed when the black-haired man asked their permission to lead the meeting along with Lucas, as it would be most likely that the two power users would be the main focus of the meeting that day. Bailey agreed to stay close to the younger two as a support in case anything went haywire. Q-B stayed in between the two, holding a detector in his hand to detect any invisible interference coming from the power user of their host. Kisaragi was sitting on the table beside Bailey, ready to protect his partner Lucas at any moment. The rest of the members scattered around, already accustomed to each of their skills and ability to come up with the most comprehensive defense and offense formation for this meeting, covering both short and long range combat. 

Lucas was among the last to be seated, with Travis and A-Not on his tails. That morning, his condition seemed to take a turn for the worse, as his face was getting paler and his gaze becoming more and more unfocused. They were this close in calling the meeting off as his condition did not progress as the day passed by, but the red-haired man persuaded the leaders to continue with their plan. They were supposed to attend the meeting at 9 pm that night, causing Lucas to use some Atrias in hope of giving his body some strength. 

He did look a bit better now, noted Lupus, a light pink color dusting his lover’s cheeks and lips, with no sign of frailness and sickness from earlier. They had to put up a front on their ‘enemies’, to not allow them the satisfaction of being right about Lucas’ deteriorating health. He was pretty sure his members would not allow him to use his power for offense this time, as they made a line on killing other people, even if they were enemies of Rowdy Shogun. The casualties at The Court was another story, as they needed to escape from the place at any cost.

“Everyone, I’m going to assess the communication web that I’ve built before inside our mind, so that we can discuss between ourselves during the meeting. Will that be alright?” asked Lucas, looking Hades and Goemon alternatingly for confirmation. Lucas had built an invisible network inside their mind a few years ago using his own power, where they can discuss in private without the opposite side knowing. It really came in handy, as it was impossible for 16 people to talk out loud discreetly. They also had used this method in their first meeting with the Jiggy Boyz, with Lucas sharing information about the group before deciding to appear directly in front of the group.

“Are you strong enough to do it, Lucas? If this meeting took a longer time than we expected, it would only put you in a vulnerable position in case a fight breaks out,” asked Bailey instead, his face contorted due to worry. The method would require the said man to use his power to access everyone’s mind, draining him from the already small amount of power he had left. Lucas just smiled and brushed off the older man’s worry, saying that he would try not to overexert himself. It only took Lucas a few minutes to do it, with the 15 of them feeling a slight headache before they were able to hear their teammate’s thoughts. 

“I forgot how nerve-wrecking that feels.” Kisaragi was the first to speak in their link, his voice trembled a bit but thankfully, no one pointed it out.

“There’s nothing more nerve-wracking than hearing your voice inside my head, Kisaragi,” snickered Marine, amused by the other's reaction. He did share the same sentiment, as one will never get used to having other people's voices in their head even after so many times.

The two friends continued to bicker, causing the rest of them to either try to reprimand them or to join in the bickering. From the view of an outsider, the sixteen of them would come across as being creepy, smiling to themselves with no words heard out loud. A beep from a scanner held by Q-B put a stop to the carefree moments, each of their faces turned serious at once.

“Hades, Goemon, my scanner pad detected some movement from outside of the mansion just now. I guess it’s safe to say our host had arrived.” said Q-B, confirming everyone’s thoughts.

As if on queue, they heard several footsteps just outside the room, the sound gradually becoming clearer and louder as the newest visitors of the mansion were approaching closer to the room. A sole figure appeared on the doorway, wearing black suit while holding a case in his hand. He turned and finally faced the direction of the 16 occupants of the room, thus revealing his face simultaneously. 

“Huh? Isn’t he…” said Gusk, his voice in their mind link coming across as confused and perplexed, as if not being able to believe his own eyes. Lucas was glad that his teammates were still able to keep a poker face on, as Sarutobi and A-Not also made several noises of confusion in their link after seeing the unknown man who started to walk into the room by himself.

“For goodness’ sake, what’s wrong with the three of you? Did you know him personally? Thank god we are using this link or I would smack your heads for losing your composure just now,” said Goemon, a bit ticked off by his teammates’ reaction. He could not think of a reason to justify their odd behaviours.

“This would sound weird, but he..is Itaru, the leader of the famous idol group Astro 9,” replied Sarutobi, struggling to not let his emotion appear on his face. His eyes were still fixed on Itaru, wondering whether he was really the real person or some impersonator. Immediately after that, seven men also entered the room, joining Itaru who had stopped at the other end of the long table. All of them were wearing black suits, well-tailored and fitting on each of their bodies. 

“They are all members of Astro 9. The first member from the left side is Hajime, the one sitting on the table next to him is Karasu, Itaru is one of the leaders who’s standing right in the middle, with Dill, Kagura and Teku, the other leader, standing behind him, the only one sitting on the chair is Aria, and Kane is the last member on the table,” explained A-Not, recognizing each of the members from his memory. His gaze turned cold when he registered that these people were the one who sent the threatening letter  directed towards Lucas. The fact that they were one of his favourite entertainers was completely removed from his mind.

Lupus was silently observing the eight men when he noticed one of them, the one A-Not named as Aria, was staring at him from behind Kane. Like playing peek-a-boo, he mused, curious on why the seemingly youngest member was looking at himself so intently. Some of his teammates also seemed to share the same opinion as him. Marine and Joe actually said that it looked as if he had a hidden crush on Lupus, with the way his eyes never strayed far from the fire wielder.

“Eh?” Lucas suddenly quipped, stopping the hilarious banter between the younger two. They immediately apologized to the red-haired man, wondering if they accidentally struck a nerve. “It’s not like that. It felt like I had a dejavu just now."  He looked up at Lupus, to find the other man already looking at him, wondering what he meant by that. He did not realize there was another pair of eyes watching the two of them, his ash-blonde hair that was coiffed to the side was a stark contrast to his dark outfit.

The moment finally broke down by the sound of the briefcase hitting the table, its content seemed heavy enough. “Thank you for accepting our invitation, Rowdy Shogun. I say, it’s an honour to finally meet the members of one of the most renowned groups in these three universes. Your reputation precedes and travels across the border, that we cannot help but decided to meet you face to face,” he said, with his eyes slowly observing the occupants that sit across the room.

Lucas chose to look to the side, Itaru’s eyes made him uncomfortable for reasons unknown to him. In fact, he felt suffocated and a bit claustrophobic, like the room was getting smaller and smaller by the seconds since Astro 9 walked into the room. There was a nagging feeling like he had missed something important, causing him to try to use his power to detect anything unusual. He decided to warn the others through their mental link, so that they too can keep an eye on the meeting. 

“Spare us the niceties, please. You sent a letter to our hideout using a barely-lucid informant, containing information about one of our members with barely-concealed threats. Do you expect us to come here being nice and have a talk with you over tea?” Bailey said, sitting on the table beside Lupus. The tone of his voice was light and kind as it has always been, but anyone could hear the ill-hidden contempt behind his words. As one of the oldest in the group, Bailey was often very protective over the younger members, and he seldom showed any mercy to people who he had deemed as a threat to his teammates.

“Ouch, this is the first time we have a very harsh reply. I mean, most of the people that we met would fight tooth and nails to meet us in person you know?” Karasu interjected, holding his hand over his heart in a mock sadness. Maybe it was his mannerism or the way the man was mocking them, but Travis could not help but to dislike the man tremendously. Not to mention that he could see him trying to attract Lucas’ attention, with the way he was looking at the red-haired man every so often. Thank god that A-Not had decided to sit in front of Lucas earlier, his large build at least hindering the man’s sight at least for a bit. 

“Who would have known that the infamous idol group from Shin Tokyo actually had a hidden side to them. The press would have a field day if they caught wind of this. So I suggest you start talking, or we won’t let you escape this place alive, artist or not,” said Gusk. His statements sent the rest of his teammates into a frenzy in their mental link, some of them surprised that the purple-haired man was able to get over himself so quickly.

Hades, who was sitting closer to the Astro 9 compared to the others calmly added, “First of all, we want to know how your group came across the rumor about our member in the first place.” Karasu, Dill and Kagura snickered hearing the question, as if sharing an inside joke between them. Lupus gritted his teeth in anger, certain that they did not understand the gravity of the situation as they still found Lucas’ suffering amusing.

“It’s not a rumor if it is true, isn’t it? We already confirmed its legibility by ourselves, so you don’t have to keep up your pretense. We know that Lucas, who is sitting there beside Lupus, is not in his best condition right now due to the ‘cień’, also known as 'the shadow' lingering in his body. The 'cień' also had been plaguing the three universes and had caused many deaths already. His first mistake was to extract it using his own power that day, when in fact it can be done with the proper Lyra-infused equipment, though they are not available in Cho Tokyo. Well I can’t blame you, seeing that he didn’t have a choice back then, with Lupus nearly on the death door himself,” said Itaru, each word breaking the composure of the members of Rowdy Shogun in front of him. Q-B and Kisaragi already had their hands on the guns that were strapped behind their back. Marine, who was standing beside Lupus nearly lunging across the table if not for Joe barely stopping him in time.

“How did you know that?” A voice rang, laced with anger and malicious edge to it. Lupus had inched forward, his eyes dark and fathomless. He was still wearing his gloves, initially designed to keep his fire from reacting to his emotion. However the rest of Rowdy Shogun knew that the black-haired man was just a few seconds from discarding the gloves and summoning his fire. "No one else about it except our members. So, tell me, how did you know that?"

Teku, the other leader of Astro 9 stepped forward, his voice calm when he replied, “From one of our members, who is also an Oracle.” 

Kane, who was originally sitting on the table, moved a bit forward, revealing Aria behind him. “My name is Aria, and I am the Oracle,” the brown-haired man spoke, his voice clearly revealed his status as one of the youngest in the room. Even with the attention redirected to him, his expression remained calm and unperturbed. 

Lucas turned to look at him, his curiosity on meeting an Oracle was increasing by time. An Oracle was another type of power wielder altogether, their visions of the past and the future was a double edge sword. It could act as a weapon that could help them achieve something in the future faster, or it could destroy the Oracle himself as sometimes the guilt of knowing too much will overpower the Oracle, causing them to go mad or die. A throb on the temple of his head came out of nowhere, disrupting his concentration on the mental link where his members were currently discussing over Aria. Lucas put his hand over his eyes as he attempted to ward the pain away, however the images of children wearing white outfits were seared behind his eyelids. He could also hear distant voices of children, calling both of his name and Lupus’. 

“Lucas, what’s wrong?”

“The link is getting weaker.”

“Is your head hurting again?”

“Lucas?”

The red-haired man minutely shook his head, chasing away the previous pain. He was now certain that those children belonged in the memories of his past, and meeting Aria somehow had triggered his memories. “I'm fine, just had several flashbacks just now. I think there is a link between him and our past. For now, let's just focus on the information about the ‘shadow’, or ‘ cień ’ as they called it,"  he replied to the members in their link.

“Let’s say that your Oracle here had figured out about Lucas’ situation. That still didn’t explain how you guys knew the way to treat or remove it, and why you wanted to share that information to us in the first place,” Travis interjected.

“First of all, we would like you to know that our group has the same objective as yours. All this time, we protected those who needed our protection, and fought against others who caused chaos and destruction in their actions. The only difference is that we preferred to work behind the scenes. We knew about the shadows for a while now, as it had killed many others in Shin Tokyo as well, even when the government had done a good job hiding it from the public. We are initially clueless on how to fight against them, however Aria’s vision a few days ago may shine a light on the matter. Thus we decided to meet you as well, to share the information.” This time it was Kagura’s turn to speak, the explanation coming out of his mouth so fast as if he had rehearsed every word prior to the meeting.

“Then what’s with the threatening letter that you sent to us? You spoke of the possibility of Lucas being dead so easily, like you guys didn’t care about what’s going to happen to him in the first place,” added Miya, his mind still stuck on the content of the letter that they received.

“If we didn’t write it as such, will you guys come today? I believe that there’s a higher possibility that you will disregard the letter as a bogus or a joke. Aria had visions about him, and thus we decided to use the information to convince all of you to come.” The rest of Rowdy Shogun relented, unable to refute Teku’s accusation. It was true that they would not even consider coming to the meeting if the letter was not convincing enough, especially with Lucas’ current condition. 

Sarutobi nodded in agreement. Remembering Lucas’ intention to know more about the shadows in their mental link just now, he said, “Point taken. So how can we remove the 'cień' from Lucas' body?”

“All of you are familiar with Atria and Lyra right? They were gathered from the rivers in Shin Tokyo and Babylonium, but not many know their exact origin. Long time ago, there was a phenomenon they called ‘Vallende Ster’, where there were massive shooting stars sightings at Shin Tokyo and Babylonium. Soon after that, the citizens claimed the waters at rivers and all other water sources began to glow at night, producing several kinds of colors in it. They suspected there were sources of pollution into them, but curiously enough the ecosystem in the huge body of water survived with no mutation detected in them. So the governments decided to channel the water into their research facility, where they conducted research upon research on the water. Thus, they discovered the Lyra inside the water, which they believed the products of the meteorites that fall into or near the water sources. They started to mine the Lyra and produced Atria as its shell to be used widely by the citizens. So the Lyra that you used right now, for example, in healing Lucas, was just a derivative of the power of the falling star,” Hajime explained, pointing towards the red-haired man at the last part.

Dill shared a look with Hajime, before continuing, “The thing was, not all of them fall directly into a water source. Some of them remained deep in the grounds, acting like a landmine and were just waiting to be discovered. However, due to its deep and scattered locations, it was hard to locate them even when using an Atria-powered detector and scanner. However, Aria, as the Oracle, had no problem finding them. We managed to find one, and brought it with us today,” he paused, pointing to the briefcase in Itaru’s possession, “but you need to understand not all star cores hold the same power in them. Some have a much higher power compared to the others. The most powerful star core of all, named as Spica, we believed it was kept in Canopus, or the tower at least had data on its location.”

“Back to the matter at hand, we believe that the star cores can be used to heal Lucas. Lucas, you had used Lyra before, and it did relieve the symptoms for a bit. But over time, your body developed resistance to it, and the Lyra turned out to be not enough anymore. You need a stronger, more powerful alternative of the Lyra, and the answer is the star cores. The only problem is that, due to its volatile nature, there will be some side effects when you use them to heal, as the human body was not equipped enough to withstand its force. That was the reason why we use them on our suits only, and not directly on our bodies as compared to the Lyra,” finished Kane.

“Basically you are saying that we need to experiment with Lucas’ body and see if it works without killing him?” asked Kisaragi, his face a bit ticked off. He hated the fact that there was nothing else they could do to help Lucas, except by putting his own body in procedures with unknown risk.

“He would be fine. After all, he is the star-born child,” Aria’s voice echoed in the room, his words were met with silence. The Rowdy Shogun seemed to be confused hearing the term, while the Astro 9 stared knowingly at the red-haired man. 

[“Baby, I’m sorry, but I have to leave you here.”

“You are the star-born child, and that is why the world needs you more than us.”

“We love you, honey, and we’re sorry for everything.”]

Another flashbacks came into Lucas' mind, the voices in it were unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. Lucas felt as if he had heard of the term before, but he could not recall exactly when. He could see Lupus beside him with his eyes wide and knowing, like stumbling upon his old but precious collection of books. Lucas was pretty sure his own expression mirrored Lupus’ at the time, as he could now confirmed that the Astro 9, or maybe Aria alone, could help them recover their memories. The thoughts caused his heart to beat a little bit faster, excitement and trepidation both bled into him at the thought of finally having answers to his questions.

Karasu clapped his hand twice, a grin fully etched on his face. “Now that’s out of the way, what do you say to us continuing our talk over dinner or something. At your base, maybe?” His voice sounded a bit odd, Lupus noted, like coming from a far away when in fact the man did not budge from his seat on the table even a bit.

“Yes, I’m starving!”

“Let’s go now.”

“No.” “No.”

The Rowdy Shogun turned to each other, each of them looking confused with their own reactions, apart from Lucas and Lupus who straight out denied the invitation. 

“What the heck, A-Not, Judy? Are you guys so hungry that you immediately accept an offer from a possible enemy for food? Even agreeing to share the location to our hideout?” Hades asked, angry with the younger members.

“I’m sorry, Hades. I don’t know what came over me. My brain just decided to reply on its own before I got to properly think about it.”

“This is weird, but I myself nearly agreed to it, before hearing Lucas and Lupus’ answers. What’s gotten into me?”

“As expected from Lucas and Lupus. Even when both of you are not in full power, you still managed to deflect my ability,” Karasu said, his voice held a mocking edge to it. The Rowdy Shogun stood up and reached for their weapons at once. Their weapons started to glow in their hands, each of them pointed towards the Astro 9. Karasu raised an eyebrow at that, his face turned into pure curiosity, “Interesting. I guess what Aria said about your group was true.”

“There’s a reason why we chose this place, and especially this room to be our meeting place. This room, having no windows in it, would not be able to alert all of you regarding the changes that occurred outside this place,” Itaru said, his hand fumbling the clasp of the briefcase in his hand, “There are two power users in your group, them being Lupus and Lucas. But for us, Aria is not the only one. Karasu here, has the power of compulsion, as he briefly demonstrated it to all of you. Please don’t underestimate his ability, as what he had shown just now just barely scratched the surface.”

Lucas immediately tried to summon more of his power, trying to form a stronger and protective barrier around himself and his teammates. His teammates reacting to Karasu’s voice just now should alert him that the barrier was not enough. And he had a feeling that he was not going to like what was coming out of Itaru’s mouth next. He looked at his lover beside him, his heart falling into despair at the sight. Lupus was quiet, not a single fire coming off of him. He was staring into a distance, his eyes colored brown with no sight of the black irises he had come to know and love. With a sweeping glance across the room confirmed his thought that Aria was behind it, and possibly being the one who entered his mind that day too.

“And I’m the last power user in Astro 9, having the power of illusion and mirage in me,” Itaru continued, watching Lucas struggling on his own, “Sleep now, Lucas. There was nothing else you could do.”

Lucas gritted his teeth, his head throbbing painfully. “LUPUS!” he screamed, trying to hold on to the black-haired man as a final resort, before the darkness took over his sight.

-

(CHO TOKYO - flashback)

“Come on, everyone, gather up.”

The fourteen of them, minus Lupus and Lucas, stood up from their seats and huddled around the table, where various kinds of weapons could be seen lying on it. A hologram was showing the specification for each of them, as well as the materials, the weight, the length, the pros and cons. They were in the lab, where some of the members, mainly Judy, Q-B, and occasionally A-Not used to spend their time there on improving their hideout’s protective measures and surveillance. 

“Lupus and Lucas are not here yet?” Travis asked no one in particular, eyeing a particular twin set of daggers on the table. He held one of them in his hand, weighting it and lifting to his eye level to further appreciate the dragon motif on its holder. The blade itself was thin and of medium length, having a slight curve in the middle before tapering to its pointy end. Beside him, Gusk was looking at a tanto, unsheathing the blade from its wooden sheath, its sharp edges reflecting the light coming from the ceiling.

Goemon was sitting at the side, his halberd stood tall with its blades glinting with sharpness. Joe used to tease the leader a lot, calling the weapon to be outdated and impractical in combat. However, after watching the older man in action, he had nothing but awe and admiration for the way the blades hit with the utmost precision, his muscles rippling with practice. Hades, who always preferred hand-to-hand combat, sometimes spent his free time practicing with Goemon in their training area. The sound of metals hitting metals was omnipresent, with the younger members watching in the background as they were not allowed to have their own weapons yet. Sometimes, the three eldest allowed some of them to wield a wooden sword or dagger, and practiced with each other.

Bailey smiled, acknowledging the concern of the younger teen about his two friends. “As some of you probably noticed, the two of them had their own weapons for  a while now. Same goes to Marduk, who I believed had his preferred throwing knives. Now, it’s your turn to choose.” He remembered that particular day when Lupus came to him, asking his help on ways to wield a sword as the older man already had his sabre for quite a while then. It was a bit alarming at that time, seeing that level of determination in such a young face. He had asked the black-haired teen on what his reason was, to which he replied, ‘I need to learn how to protect myself first, so that I can become stronger and protect Lucas.’ 

Bailey had wondered then, what was the thing the two teens protecting themselves from? The world that he had known so far was indeed cruel and harsh, full of deceitment and web of lies that spun around innocent people to make them hurt each other. That was why Goemon founded Rowdy Shogun, to act as a means of protection to those who were unable to do so themselves. Bailey had come from a quite well-off family, living at the center of Cho Tokyo that was always hectic with life. Goemon, who was also his best friend and only friend at that time, came from a middle-class family, with his mom as a single mother and acting as the breadwinner of the family, each day living their life to the fullest. 

However, lady luck turned her back on him when Bailey found his friend standing outside his house one day, drenched from the heavy downpour of rain. Goemon’s face was completely shut off from the world, his eyes dark and bleak. Was it tears that decorated his face, or was it only raindrops? He did not say anything or questioned on why his friend was there at the late hours of night. He held an umbrella above them both, sheltering themselves from the still ongoing rains and waited. A solid hour passed before Goemon started to talk, telling Bailey that his family was massacred just a few hours prior. Bailey had remained muted, no, he was too shocked to say anything. What were the proper words to say to your friend who just had their world completely destroyed beyond repair? What could he say to relieve their pain? He came up with nothing plausible, thus decided to crouched on the dirty sidewalk beside his own house, joining his friend who by then had collapsed on himself. A scream echoed in the quiet neighbourhood, the sound raw and guttural, anguish and despair disseminated to everyone who heard it.

That night caused their lives to turn 180 degrees, their vision on the world had changed completely. Bailey had invited Goemon to stay overnight at his house, even though he knew sleep was the last thing on their mind. He wondered whether he was going to lose his only friend that time to the dark side. The next morning he found himself accompanying the other back to his house, the image of a quaint wooden house full of warmth had been replaced with bleakness, the entrance had been covered with yellow tapes set up by the enforcers previously. Goemon had spent the whole morning just sitting in the living room, still keeping mum of his intention and thoughts. When he came out of the door to meet Bailey outside, he disclosed his intention of finding the person who was behind the murder, to which Bailey chose to follow without question. 

They had searched at every corner, through high and low when they found the perpetrator. There was no conspiracy or hidden motives, as they found a man, whose face was smeared with dirt and grimes and body only held together by bones and a patch of fabrics as a meek excuse of shirt and pants. The man, whose mind deranged from starvation and substance abuse, had known nothing but to find money and food to survive, and Goemon’s house was just the unfortunate one he stumbled upon when he was at his lowest point. Goemon, who was holding the man by his throat, spent nearly half an hour staring down the other’s face, his breaths initially fast and unstable, turned calm and steady at the end. He let go of the man, and left the place with Bailey on his tails. 

‘I wanted to end him, Bailey. From the moment I laid my eyes on him, I wanted to put my hand around his neck until his last breaths, just like how he did to my mother and little sister. But I couldn’t, because I knew it was not his fault. It was not his fault that life gave him so much hardship that he acted that way. Do you think my mom and sister will forgive me for not being able to avenge their death?’ Goemon had asked, but Bailey could not think of a reply. That day marked the beginning of Rowdy Shogun, with him leaving his family to follow his friend’s footsteps. They met Hades after that, only a few years older than the two of them but his eyes had matured in the face of hardship and life experiences. Bailey chose to let the two of them lead their rag-tag group, with him observing and lending support in the background. 

“Bailey, why do we need to have our own weapons? Wouldn’t it be dangerous if we accidentally hurt people around us?” A voice stopped the blond man’s thought.

Goemon and Hades stopped their discussion and turned to the voice. Q-B stood still, his eyes staring defiantly to Bailey. There was no hidden jest in his voice, just plain curiosity for the answer to the question that he just gave. Sometimes, Bailey forgot how young the rest of the members were, their eyes wide with wonder when looking at the world and still lacking the distinct sharpness that only life experiences could give. Their bodies still popped and cracked uncomfortably, the bones catching up to the growth spurt while still harbouring the awkward gangly movements that comes with puberty. Even when their heights nearly towering above the oldest three as seen in Joe, A-Not and Marine, they still flinched at the sight of blood and violence happening around them. And being in this line of work, those two things were unavoidable. 

“It’s true that our job as the guardian of Cho Tokyo is to protect our people. However, there will always be those who oppose our sentiments, who want to hurt the people that we hold dear just for the sake of it. What would you do if someone with a knife came rushing at Judy, or maybe Travis, while the rest of you stood there, defenseless and weaponless?” replied Bailey, his voice still carrying the kind tones that it always has.

Hades nodded, observing the way Bailey’s words made its implications on the rest of them. He knew, for people like him, Goemon, or Marduk, whose life had already experienced some of the harshest things one could imagine, this kind of matter was trivial. But to the rest of them who had not experienced that kind of hardship, it was his job as a leader to protect and guide them properly. “Always keep in your mind that these weapons are only to protect, and not to hurt the others. There is a fine line separating them, so I hope each one of you understands your responsibility when you choose your own weapon, and never let your own emotions overpower your rationale when wielding them.”

-

(CHO TOKYO - present time)

“There’s a reason why we chose this place, and especially this room to be our meeting place. This room, having no windows in it, would not be able to alert all of you regarding the changes that occurred outside this place.” 

Kisaragi remembered the distinct feeling of wrongness that immediately surrounded him the exact moment those words escaped Itaru’s mouth. Goosebumps started to spread from his arm throughout his whole body, leaving an unpleasant sensation in its wake that he started to shiver a bit. It was true that the door being the only exit out of this room made it a perfect trap for the Rowdy Shogun. ‘What exactly happened outside the mansion?’ he asked his teammates, a question no one was able to answer at the moment.

He still had one hand on his katana, gripping and unwrapping the handle until his palm started to itch. Even after listening to the Astro 9’s explanations about the Lyra and ‘cien’, he did not let down his guard at all. He could see his teammates doing the same, hands on their respective weapons with their body bracing for attack from the opposing group. Their weapons started to glow, its pulsating light attracted the attention of the eight Astro 9’s members. Grins and smirks decorated their faces, with their eyes slightly widened in excitement as if they already predicted the upcoming fight.

He could see Judy and A-Not shaking their heads a bit, probably an attempt to dispel Karasu’s compulsion effect from earlier. Fighting a power user with a compulsion ability is troublesome indeed, who knew what his voices would ask them to do. Give the location of their hideout? Fight against each other? Kill each other? Even if the group initially claimed that they wanted to help Lucas, Karasu’s previous act had completely betrayed their trust in the group. 

Lucas was trying to reinforce his barrier around them, his face getting more desperate by the seconds. Kisaragi wished fervently that there was something that he could do at the moment to help his friend. He could feel his katana start to heat up on his back, the increasing power strangely in tangent with Lucas’ attempt to summon more of his powers into the barrier. Q-B, who was standing beside Lupus, was looking at the black-haired man in concern and confusion. The fire user had been quiet for a while now, his eyes unblinking. 

“And I’m the last power user in Astro 9, having the power of illusion and mirage in me.”  

On cue, Q-B could feel as if there was a shift in the background, the air turning still as if waiting for something. Illusion? Mirage? He knew those two words meant nothing but trouble. Five out of eight members of Astro 9 stood in a line, leaving Karasu, Itaru and Aria at the table. Their black suits seemed to lighten up, with spirals and swirling patterns began to spread all over their body. “Huh, so that’s what they meant by using the star cores on their suits.” 

He did not have enough time to ponder about the sight before him as dark grey and purplish smokes began to fill up the room, obscuring their vision. Aria was silent, his brown eyes empty and fathomless while Lucas was still trying to snap Lupus out of the mind control thing he was under. Kisaragi barely started to walk to the red-haired man before he saw Karasu turned around, his gazes fixed on the light wielder. Both his and Q-B’s hearts sank, knowing for certain now that they would be in a completely different fight altogether, leaving their two power users on their own. 

“Once again, we aren’t able to stand by your side and protect both of you. Please, do whatever you can to survive this. Please.”

Lucas’ scream was the last thing they could hear before the smoke took over.

*

“Welcome, Rowdy Shogun, to Itaru’s alternate realm.”

Marine blinked his eyes open, uncertain on when and why he closed them in the first place. He found himself standing in a huge room, the structure similar to the one he was in previously, but not quite. Gone were the long table and chairs, and the room was left bare. There were metal bars behind the six members of Astro 9, with the ‘moonlight’ colouring the room in a black and blue ambience. Itaru was seen sitting  on a chair far behind the others, holding the star core from before. The core shone bright, the Lyras in it clashing with each other in an impressive display of colours. His face was set in a deep concentration, his eyes strewn shut with the occasional flicker of eyelids. He seemed to be completely unaware of the surroundings, even though Marine was sure he was actually monitoring each of their actions in his mind while maintaining his illusions. In fact, he did not actually think that the Itaru in front of them was the ‘real’ one.

Holding his hammer in a tight grip and close to his body, he glanced around and saw that his teammates were doing the same with their own weapons. He did not know what to expect from the other group, but certainly not a huge blast of electric current sent in his direction out of nowhere. He was left with no choice but to try to deflect it with his hammer, expecting his own body to be electrocuted at the end of it. Surprising enough, his hammer was able to disperse the electric force, with the remaining electrostatic sending his body backwards. If only his hair was not styled upwards already, Marine was sure that blast would spike his hair as a result. He could hear A-Not sounding confused as well, his naginata making a clean slice across the blast. A laughter was heard, coming from Hajime who seemed to find the situation amusing even if his electric blast was dispelled completely by the two of them. Bailey joined his side, telling him to not let his guard down. 

“I’m surprised you guys still haven’t figured it out when the obvious fact was glaring at your face all these years. Aria was right when he said all of you are helpless, including those two power users you love so much,” said Hajime, his voice was quivering from the laughter that still escaped him.

A-Not lounged at the man, his naginata pointed outwards threateningly before a loud boom came from his side, the soundwave propelling him backwards. His naginata was expelled from his grip, lying on the floor. Miya and Marduk came to his side at one, pulling the youngest of the three to his feet at once. The three of them stood in a line, facing Dill who produced the huge soundwave from before. Judy had come to Bailey’s side, holding his two sai in front of him to prepare for the next bouts of electric bolts. 

Q-B and Kisaragi were holding their katanas, their faces devoid of emotion, with Goemon standing a little bit behind the two with his halberd beside him. Teku was standing in front of them, showing no sign to use his suits’ ability just yet and remained content to just observe his younger teammates. Kagura was holding nearly translucent-looking threads, watching Hades, Gusk and Joe closely near him. Kane remained at a close distance with Itaru, seemingly trying to protect Itaru from the rest. Sarutobi and Travis shared a look, understanding at once that they needed to stop Itaru to escape from the illusion.

Hajime drew in a breath, his cheeks puffed out in response before the air gushed out all at once. At the same time, electric bolts came out of his suits in a haphazard pattern, unlike the huge ball of charge from earlier. This time, the force field was like an intricate web designed as a trap to capture anything it reached. It was hard to discern the extent of the field, as electricity was actually invisible to naked eye until they hit you right in the face. Judy barely had time to whip out his scanner to estimate the range of the attack before Hajime crossed both of his hands across his chest and threw them out. 

A faint crackling sound was the only hint the members of Rowdy Shogun had before the electricity hit each and every one of them. Goemon, Hades, Bailey, Gusk, A-Not, and Sarutobi were fortunate enough to be able to guess the trajectory of the attack, coming out unscathed. The others were not lucky enough as their body fully bore the brunt of the electric charge with their weapons thrown to the side. There was a huge burnt mark on Marine’s chest, extending from his right shoulder down to his left waist. Travis’ left leg was bearing the same mark from being too late in escaping the attack. Kisaragi was holding his right hand gingerly, the skin on the inside of his wrist slowly coloring itself red and blue. Joe, whose weapon was an axe, was shaking his hands fervently. There was no burnt mark on him, however as the handle of his axe was made of metals, the electric bolts had electrocuted his hands instead, turning them numb for a while.  Marduk, Miya, Judy and Q-B were unharmed as they had stood behind the first six during the attack.

“Are your weapons just for show? I thought I saw them lighting it up a while ago, was it just a trick of light?” Kagura taunted, his hands still holding on to the threads. Marduk had no idea what it was used for, but he had a feeling he would not like the answer. 

“Shut your trap,” replied Kisaragi, gritted his teeth in frustration. The hit from before had caused his grip to be weakened considerably, and he could no longer hold his katana without his hand trembling a bit. His katana started to  feel warm in his hand, the light flickering for a few times before it became steady. In fact, all of the weapons in the hands of the Rowdy Shogun’s members did the same, the glow slowly lighting up the room.

“More like you guys were the one who knew nothing on why your weapons light up in the first place, am I right? Did you guys think that the power in your weapons came from the Lyra? Have you ever wondered about the plausibility of any other theory that can easily explain everything?” added Hajime, sparks of electricity still coming off his body. His voice was mocking, as if he was laughing at an inside joke only he and his teammates were aware of.

A set of throwing knives was thrown in the electric user’s direction, the speed was so fast that they nearly hit him before a loud sound was produced beside him, rendering them useless. Dill whistled, his face appearing impressed with the sudden attack. Marduk, who had thrown the knives, grunted in annoyance. “Phew! That was dangerous. It’s rude to attack someone when they haven’t finished talking, you know?” said Hajime, wiping his forehead for effect.

“Since you guys are still oblivious, we decided to not give you the answer until you guys managed to defeat all of us,” interjected Dill, before two loud booming sounds followed the end of his sentences. The sheer force knocked the Rowdy Shogun backwards, as if a huge blast of wind had hit them instead. The sounds also disrupted their hearing, causing them to lose their footing due to vertigo. Miya and Q-B shook their heads, trying to dispel the ringing sound in their ear.

The fight continued on, with Hajime sending continuous bouts of lightning bolt in the fourteen men’s direction, with the heavy hitter of the group using their weapon to fend them off. Miya and Marduk had used their crossbow and throwing knives in between the attack, only to have their arrows and knives to be blasted away by Dill’s soundwave. Judy had remained in the background, using his detector to estimate the range of the attack and coordinate their attacks. Sarutobi, Kisaragi and Q-B tried to close their distance to Kane and Itaru as their main aim was to stop Itaru’s illusion. However, Kane had used Atria-infused techs and stopped their advances. Kagura had used his binding threads to hold the three captive, but Goemon and Bailey had managed to cut through them. However, the former was nothing but persistent as he used the thread to wind around Q-B and Kisaragi’s leg, gripping them tight and throwing them into the wall.

Their body hit the wall with a sickening crunch. Q-B was pretty sure there was at least one bone broken in his body due to that throw. He did not know how long it has been since they were trapped there and how time works in an alternate dimension or illusion or whatever this is. But he knew that nothing good would come out the longer they spend their time here. He initially thought that an illusion was something done to mess up with someone’s mind, and they were not supposed to feel any pain, weren’t they? But his body currently felt like it was hit by a truck, with bruises colouring his fair skin red and blue.

Glancing towards Kisaragi, who was already watching him from the other side, they knew instantaneously what to do without any verbal confirmation. Squaring up their form, they marched to Kagura for another round of attack, sheathing their katanas for a change and went into the battle bare-handed. Goemon and Bailey were a few steps in front of them, swinging their halberd and sabre respectively to the swinging whip of Kagura and cutting across the Lyra-infused threads. The four of them barrelled through, gradually closing the distance between them and Kagura, before the younger two managed to land two punches across Kagura’s face. The force was enough to send him backwards, hitting Kane in the process.

There was a faint ripple in the background, the faint shimmer that they were surrounded in flickered for a while. Bailey deduced that hitting Kane had played a role in it. True enough, Teku, who had been observing the scene in silence all this time decided to answer their unspoken question. “Kane was in charge of reinforcing this room so that we wouldn’t accidentally destroy this mansion in the midst of fighting. Itaru could only lend some of his powers in creating this alternate realm, as he is currently juggling his power into two places, the most of them being used for your renowned wolf tamer instead.”

“I don’t understand. You said that this is an alternate realm created under Itaru’s illusion. From what I understand, an illusion isn’t supposed to hurt you and cause you pain. But it hurts like hell when the electric bolt from Hajime or Kagura’s whip hit us,” Joe grimaced, both of his hands still tingling from the electric bolts coursing through his vein from the previous attack. 

“That’s right. But Itaru’s power had improved after using the star core from earlier, Petra,” replied Kane.

“And you guys kept going on and on about how our groups share the same goals, instead you guys fought us incessantly after that. Make it make sense, Astro 9!” A-Not shouted from a distance, his face irritated from having to defend himself against so many lightning bolts. His naginata was glowing brighter than ever, the power in it pulsing and showing no sign of slowing down. 

“I’m sorry, but Itaru said that this was necessary, so that you guys would understand how dire the situation in your group is,”  Dill’s voice was apologetic, like he truly felt bad about having to fight the Rowdy Shogun.

The fourteen of them had no time to ponder upon the sentence before they found themselves once again at the receiving end of the lightning bolts. However, they were faring better this time, coordinating the swing of their weapons in accordance to Judy’s instructions. Their weapons were stronger than ever, slashing through the electric bolts without breaking a sweat. Dill’s soundwave was losing its effect, as Judy was able to direct his friends from bearing the brunt of it. Goemon, Hades and Bailey relentlessly deflect Kagura’s whip and threads. 

Travis, Gusk, Sarutobi, Kisaragi and Q-B followed through the end, with Travis throwing his daggers to pin Hajime to the wall, and Sarutobi holding his katanas close to the electric user’s neck. Kisaragi and Q-B did the same to Dill, while Gusk found himself pinning Kagura to the ground, Marduk and Miya behind him. The power coursing through the weapons was curiously enough to stop their suits from producing any more electric charge, soundwave or the whips. 

Too busy focusing on the three, no one noticed Teku’s suit lighting up. Immediately after, all of their weapons flew to the quiet leader of Astro 9, leaving none to be used to stop the previously immobile Astro 9’s members. Hades cursed loudly, realizing that Teku’s suit has the magnetic ability that took their weapons away. Hajime grinned, before slamming both of his hands in the ground, palms facing downwards. Loud sound of thunder resounded in the room, before several lightning bolts shot out from the floor, hitting the Rowdy Shogun members all at once. 

A particular lightning bolt had hit Q-B spot on the chest, leaving him gasping for breath. His heartbeat seemed to become irregular, the beats stuttering and pounding at the same time. Kisaragi was at his side at once, screaming out his name loudly. There were tears brimming in his eyes, as he seemed to be lost on what to do to help the black-haired man. Bailey arrived there too, putting his right hand over Q-B’s chest. 

Several commotions in the background confirmed that that attack had hit some of them badly, with Marine and Marduk were found lying on the ground unconscious. Hades was trying to wake the former with Travis and Joe beside him, and Goemon looking after Marduk with the help of A-Not and Sarutobi. Q-B, however, could not focus on his friends as his chest seemed to be in excruciating pain, just a few seconds away from losing his consciousness as well.

“Breathe in, breathe out, Q-B. You’re going to be fine,” Bailey had said. Strangely enough, those words seemed to be true as Q-B’s heart gradually recovered its normal pace, no longer pounding as previously. Warmth overfilled his body, coursing through his veins and recovering his strength. Q-B felt like he should somehow recognize the familiar feelings, but he could not place his hand on it. He threw his hand out, reaching for  Kisaragi’s hand and holding them close. The action managed to calm the older man, his face recovering his normal color and no longer pale from worry. The brown-haired man returned the grip, trying to give some form of support to Q-B.

Watching Marine slowly regained his consciousness, Hades felt like he was missing something. He was grateful to whatever deity above that had saved his members from the grip of death. But...he turned towards Goemon, to find the other leader was already looking at him with an unreadable expression on his face. He understood at once the peculiarity of this situation. That last attack.. they weren’t supposed to survive that blast. Even if somehow they did, there should be a repercussion, or some kind of after effects to their body after receiving that high amount of electricity directly onto their body. Burn, heart problems, or even paralysis were some of the expected side effects. Q-B, Marduk and Marine’s heart had received the worst of the attack, causing them to nearly lose their life as well. Instead, they have recovered, almost completely, with no leftover signs. 

Unlike Lupus and Lucas, they were just human, a mere human with not even an ounce of power inside them. Hades could imagine those two surviving the attacks, their powers acting as impenetrable shields to protect their hosts. But the fourteen of them..had lived their lives surviving on stabbing, slashing, scratching, burn, corrosive, any kind of injuries you could possibly imagine only with the help of Lucas. Not without.

When did they stop being normal? 

Marine and Marduk, who had regained consciousness, remained silent. Their hands were placed on the left side of their chest,  slowly breathing in and out in tandem with their heartbeats. They seemed to share the same sentiments as well, being grateful and perplexed at the same time. Q-B was half-leaning on Kisaragi, watching his friends’ reaction one by one. 

The moment was broken by the sound of Teku clearing his throat. The Rowdy Shogun watched  the other group apprehensively, waiting for another round of attack. However, none came. In fact, the five men had lost their fighting stance altogether. “Do you understand now?” Teku had asked.

No further elaboration was needed for that question as the Rowdy Shogun understood fully well its implication. 

Do you understand that you are not normal?

Do you understand that an attack of that scale should have killed you without mercy?

Do you understand why?

“How did this happen?” Asked Goemon.

Teku sighed, his heart feeling heavy for what he was going to say next. He had a feeling that the Rowdy Shogun would not take the news lightly. “All of us in this room, minus Itaru, are just human with no special ability. For us Astro 9, we decided to build suits powered by Lyra so that we could be better and more powerful guardians for the people in Shin Tokyo. However, Rowdy Shogun, you guys are different. You have no special suits to give you power. Logically speaking, you shouldn’t be able to endure most of the attacks just now. But you could, and it was all because of Lucas.”

“You mean..” gasped Travis, his hand shooting up to cover his mouth. 

“Yes. All of you had been receiving Lucas’ power since all these years you have spent together.”

“But why? Why did Lucas give his power to us?” Asked Gusk, his face still in a state of disbelief.

“To say that he gave you his power is a wrong concept. Lucas probably didn’t know about this himself, but all this time his body contained only the remnants of his original power. These power remnants were volatile in nature, and tended to latch on people that have no other abilities just for the sake of it. I’m sure you guys have noticed that Lucas’ health has been declining in the past one year. Because most of his power had been gradually transferred to all of you, protecting all of you instead,” replied Hajime.

“He won’t die because of it, but his condition will only become weaker as the time passes by. And that is where the star core plays a role. Lucas’ body wouldn’t be satisfied with just the Lyras contained in Atrias, as the amount of power that they contained was abysmal. He needed much more powerful star cores to replenish his health and to recover his original state,” added Kagura.

“Like the one you showed to us before?” Sarutobi asked, to which Kagura nodded. “Does that mean that Lupus’ power  was transferred to us as well?” 

Dill shook his head, completely negating the question. “No, from what Aria had informed us, Lupus’ power has a completely opposite nature than Lucas. It is extremely loyal to its host, choosing to remain in the same body no matter how many years. That is why Lupus is able to summon his wolf, because his power had developed a bond with him and able to manifest itself in a form of a familiar. So that means he had been harbouring all those massive powers inside him since his childhood, just biding its time until it was fully released.”

“We have been searching all these time for the cause of Lucas’ power disappearing, when in fact it was because of us?”

Kagura sighed, “It’s no use beating yourself over it. Lucas probably had known this for a while, as he was supposed to be able to sense his power better than everyone. There should be a reason why he did not tell you.”

A loud sound rang out of nowhere. Kisaragi, in his frustration, had punched the wall of the room and left a large hole in its place. His face was livid, lips bitten red underneath a set of teeth. Q-B who was still sitting on the floor, now supported by Bailey, just stared into a distance. He understood Kisaragi’s anger too well. The brown-haired man, who had been Lucas’ partner all these years, is likely blaming himself for not noticing it sooner. In fact, Q-B was sure that all of them thought the same. Even if they could not sense the presence of Lucas' power, they should have noticed that their body had been different. He understood now that their weapons also had been powered by Lucas’ power residing in their body.

“Teku, Itaru said that he could not keep the illusion much longer than this,” Kane interjected, still standing in front of Itaru's figure. 

Teku nodded, “It’s okay. Tell him that we’re done here and that he can release his illusion. Aria needs his help more.”

Judy turned off his scanner, acknowledging that they were no longer in a dangerous situation. “So you had prepared all these attacks to make us realize everything?”

“Yes, Itaru and Aria told us to make sure that none of you bore any ill motives like it was your intention to have Lucas’ power in the first place,” replied Hajime.

The room started to flickered as Itaru’s illusion started to wear off. It was slowly peeling itself away bit by bit until the two groups found themselves in the living area they were in previously. However, Itaru, Aria, and Karasu along with Lupus and Lucas were absent. Miya turned to the opposite group’s leader, trying to ask their whereabouts before the sound of an explosion was heard, causing the mansion to shake a bit. 

“What was that?” Miya asked, to no answer. 

“Teku, Itaru told us to get out of this mansion at once,” said Kane. There were beads of sweat forming on his forehead, betraying his nervousness from the information that he had just received from Itaru.

“What’s wrong?” the leader asked.

"I don't know. I think one of them lose control of their power.”

-

“We met, 

at the end of the world,

And sat, hand in hand, 

As the stars went out.”

(OLD TOKYO - 13 years ago)

He had woken up in an alleyway in Old Tokyo that day 13 years ago, wearing a battered and tainted piece of outfit that he recognized used to be white in color. There was nothing else around him to indicate the presence of another living being around him. His jet black hair was a bit singed at the end, frizzy and coarse to the touch. He wiped at his back using the back of his palm, with soot and a small amount of moisture covering the surface. Was that tears? He was crying, and for what? For his unknown parents who had left him there? For getting his toys stolen by other kids? Why was he crying in the first place? He could not remember a single thing. There was a tinkling sound of laughter in his mind, the sound so bright and cheerful that he was puzzled from where it had come from. ‘Lupus.’ The voice kept saying, the tone fond and tender. He guessed that Lupus was his name. 

He walked out from the alley, searching for another living being, preferably human who can answer questions from a 10 year old kid who appeared as if he had survived an apocalypse. It took quite a distance until he found a group of people, who was lying on a cardboard box as a makeshift bed. Their faces were dirty, cheeks hollowed and eyes bleak. Their clothes looked as if they had not been washed for years, a poor excuse to shield themselves from the cold of the winter winds. Lupus did not think approaching them was a good idea to begin with, but he had no choice. Maybe one of them had seen him, or the people who had left him there in the first place. Before he even got a chance to open his mouth to ask, they spared him a glance, or rather his outfit, before their faces turned into horror, hastily getting up from the cardboard bed and leaving him alone. ‘Huh? Why did they look so frightened?’ He had half a mind to chase after them, but then a loud rumbling sound came out from his stomach.

He turned in the same direction as the group that had fled before, figuring that the probability for him to find some sort of food would be higher there. As he walked, he could hear voices and the sound of sirens loud in the otherwise dim and quiet alley. There was a nagging feeling in him that he needed to go to the source of the commotion, to see what it was all about, to do something to ‘stop’ it. It was weird, being an amnesiac 10 year old with a huge sense of justice and responsibility. His hands, which had delved deep into the first dumpster he found, stopped on its own. The black-haired boy decided to forego his hunger for now, choosing to follow his instinct and went to the site of the commotion. Along his way, he noticed that people generally ran opposite to him, their urgency caused them to not spare the lost boy a thought. Lupus braved himself across the stampede, his small body was hurting a bit from the force. 

The first thing he saw was the color red from the blazing fire that had razed the buildings; it even lightened up the night sky. The second red thing he saw was from the blood spilled on the ground and even splashing the wall of some of the buildings that had not been burned yet. His heart picked up the pace, hammering in his small chest cavity and caused his breathing to be laboured as well. Lupus continued on, his mind unable to think of anything else but to push himself forwards, in search for something he did not know yet. Then, he saw him. The third appearance of the color red. From a distance he thought that the boy was bleeding badly at first, but he quickly acknowledged that he was wrong. The boy was standing still in the center of the city, bare-foot while wearing a once white t-shirt with burnt holes and black pants. He appeared to be of the same age as Lupus.

For a moment, the black-haired boy was mesmerized at the sight of the deep red haired boy. Even with his face full of soot and grimes and his bangs were plastered to his forehead from his sweat, Lupus could see that the boy’s eyes were the same shade with his hair. Those eyes were fixed towards something in front of him, as if the boy could see the thing that all these people were running from. ‘Wasn’t he afraid of the thing that he sees, even when they all fled from it?’ Lupus thought to himself. 

It seemed like someone above decided to answer his question, as suddenly the place seemed to be enveloped in the darkness out of a sudden. Lupus looked up, and saw a massive mass of pitch-black shadows, or was it smoke? He could not discern its nature properly, but he knew that it meant nothing but trouble. The red-haired boy seemed to respond to the shadows that were getting closer by the seconds, his pupil dilated leaving almost none of the previous deep red color. The shadows were just a few feet away before the black-haired boy decided to intervene, calling the other to no response. He turned to look at the shadows at the meantime, which seemed to have stopped its advances as well. There was nothing else the 10 year old boy could do besides to wish and will the shadows away, hoping it would not come any closer to them both. Curiously enough, his willpower seemed to be enough as the shadows remained at a distance from them, while it burned every other thing it touched. He knew they could not linger any longer than that, the few minutes was all he could spare. He decided to grab the other boy's hand, and it worked in gaining his attention. “Let’s go,” he pleaded.

When he saw the red-haired boy in the middle of the ruined city a few minutes before, he certainly did not expect that he would spend most of his life together with the then scrawny boy. His first instinct to protect the other did not change even once, in fact they only grew when getting to know each other in the near future. They had run, in the midst of chaos and blazing fire, trying to get somewhere safe. Lupus, at the time was just a mere boy, had tried to guide the nearly lucid red haired boy with him. He did not know exactly where to go, but the cold hand that was in his grasp made him brave enough to trust his feelings. Never once did the other boy question their destination, or even put a fight against the unknown ‘friend’. The red haired boy had stayed by his side, matching every step that the black-haired boy took.

They had found a nearly full hovercraft, waiting near the portside for the last batch of passengers. They were too small at that time, their height making them non visible from an adult point of vision and body too thin to give them the extra strength needed to push their way to the front of the line. The huge mass of people kept pushing each other to the front to be granted a ride to escape from Old Tokyo. Children had been separated from their parents, as mothers cried for their young ones to be allowed into the hovercraft and not themselves. The sound of crying was heartbreaking to be heard, however nobody had stopped long enough to actually listen. 

Lupus had nearly given up, body too tired from the running he had done earlier. He was sure there would be bruises formed all over his body due to the stampede. He wanted to be saved, to get out of that place and to never encounter the terrifying ‘shadows’ again in this life. Most of all, he did not want to disappoint the owner of the hand that he was still holding onto, as he had promised to himself that he would save the red-haired boy. The boy who still had not spoken a word to him, who had not shared his own name, and who was looking around with his deep red eyes in silence. A pair of eyes that held remnants of pain and misery, much similar like his own. How could they both possess the eyes of the tortured souls when they themselves were only still a child? Lupus did not know the answer. 

Taking a deep breath in, he pulled the other boy into his arm, tucking his face into the crook of his own neck. Any moment and the last hovercraft would be full already, leaving thousands to die in this place. He braced himself and pushed his way through the crowd, with the red-haired boy still safely tucked in his arm. They had no choice but to try, and they decided to try their hardest. The pain from being stomped on the foot, punched on the stomach or to be decked from someone’s elbow was not enough to deter their joy when they finally managed to get to the front of the lines. He could see how children were being passed by their parents willingly into the hovercraft, as they had no choice but to be left behind like most of the adults. In fact, Lupus could see how the officers had allowed most of the children into the ship, and he nearly sighed out loud from relief. 

Both of them were finally allowed into the ship when they were stopped by an officer, who looked as if he was one of the seniors judging by the way the other officers acted around him. The black-haired boy noticed, with a sinking feeling, how the officer had stared at his outfits longer than necessary. The very same outfits that caused the homeless people to run away from him before this. The senior officer put his hand on Lupus’ shoulder, causing him to quake with fear of being separated from the red-haired boy and being left alone at that place. To Lupus’ surprise however, there was no such threat. In fcat, the said officer had bent down, looked straight into his eyes, and said, “Maybe it is too late for you to save us now, but you still could save the others in the future. Please, you are our only hope.”

Those words were replayed in Lupus’ mind over and over again throughout their journey to Cho Tokyo. He could not understand what the older man had meant by that. His thoughts were disrupted by the stirring of the body beside him, who had fallen asleep a few hours ago. Lupus looked how their fingers were still laced together, as the other boy seemed content to not letting go even in his sleep.  He tightened his hold, and watched how sleep slowly escaped the other boy and caused him to slowly awaken, his eyelashes fluttering with every blink. The black-haired boy watched how the pupils in the red eyes seemed to refocus at the sight of him, the gaze was unnervingly deep. Lupus introduced himself in a short, stuttered way, sharing his own name but nothing else due to his amnesiac condition. ‘Lucas.’ Lupus replayed the name over and over again after the other boy had introduced himself. ‘The name suited him.’  

*

After they arrived in Cho-Tokyo, the authority had provided some food and prepared a temporary shelter for the passengers. However, there was only so much food that they could provide before it finally depleted. Some of the adults were told to find jobs to provide for their family, while some children who had been separated from their parents were adopted into the original residents of Cho-Tokyo. Lucas was one step of being adopted as well, as he also apparently had lost his own memories just like Lupus, causing him to be unable to track his own family members. The enforcers had told them that there were still a few couples from Shin Tokyo that were still searching for children to be adopted into their family.  Lupus knew that those parents would love to call Lucas their child, his beautiful red hair and deep red eyes stood out the most among the remaining children. In fact, the black haired boy knew that the only reason the red-haired boy was still with him because he had refused the offer of so many families before this. He himself had no say in the matter, as he knew that it all depended on the other boy. Lucas had no obligation to stay with him, even when he had helped in ‘rescuing’ the red-haired boy back in Old Tokyo. 

One night, Lupus had already fallen deeply into sleep when he was awakened by Lucas. The red haired boy had whispered his plan for the two of them to leave that place immediately that night. He eavesdropped on the conversation held between the enforcers, on how he was to be adopted into his new family the next morning. So they left, two young boys stranded in a new foreign place with their outfits being the only belonging they have at the moment. That night was the first time Lupus found out that the red-haired boy had a power of his own. It was a cold night, thick clouds hiding the stars and moon from showing themselves. The two boys’ outfits certainly had not enough layers in it to protect the two boys from the chills of the night winds. 

They had walked quite a distance from the shelter, and finally decided to take a break to rest their legs. “It’s cold, isn’t it?” Lucas had asked. The black-haired boy just had the bare minimum of energy left in him to nod, his teeth chattering and lips turning pale from the cold. He did not regret his decision to leave with Lucas that night, but he wished the weather was kinder to them. Too busy trying to huddle closer to his friend, he did not notice the warm glowing spheres of light surrounding them out of nowhere. He turned to look at the boy beside him, only to see the same shocked expression on the other’s face. It seemed like the other boy did not know about his own ability as well. The two of them later learn to survive on their own by scavenging dumpsters for food and sleeping under any empty buildings they could find for the night. They never stay in one place for a long time, as Lupus felt that it would only make them easier to be targeted by the others especially if words get out about Lucas’ ability.

A few months passed by, with the two boys adapting themselves to their new life. The food was scarce, but they chose to accept it for what it was considering their situation. One day Lucas had come down with a fever, his body warm and face flushed red. Lupus hated to leave the other alone as they always stick with each other especially when searching for food. It was easier that way, so that they could run away together at any moment’s notice. But this time it could not be helped, as the black-haired boy was afraid that his friend’s condition would worsen if he decided to tag along. He made a mind to cut his trip short, and to come back early to keep the other boy’s company. 

Later, he came back only to find his friend surrounded by four to five men, one of them was holding Lucas by the wrist and demanding the sick boy to show his power to the rest of them. He noticed how there were still the remnants of the light spheres surrounding the boy, probably used to keep himself warm. This was the reason why the two of them always moved around, as the black-haired boy knew that there were people who wanted to have Lucas’ power for themselves, even when the owner himself did not know how to properly use them due to his lost memories. The man started to tighten his hold on Lucas’ wrist, causing the boy to scrunch up his face due to pain. Lupus’ mind turned blank, and later it was completely overcome with rage and fury. Immediately after that, a huge black fire sprouted out from his palms, getting bigger by the seconds before taking the shape of a big wolf. When he came to, he realized that all that was left of the men were some blood that was splayed on the ground and some burnt pieces of clothes. Curiously enough, Lucas remained unharmed, with the wolf sticking close to the sick boy as some sort of comfort. That day was the first time the two of them discovered Lupus’ power.

The rumors about the two of them quickly spreaded out, as some passerby that witnessed that scene shared the news. They both made quite a reputation for themselves, being two boys from the ruined Old Tokyo that possessed some sort of terrifying powers of their own. No one dared to come close or hurt either one of the pair, as they were certain they would lose their lives as a result. A solid three years passed by, with the duo cementing their places in the society. They had become the unofficial protector of the young ones, helping the children of the street against any shady people or organization and teaching them basic survival skills. However, they chose not to take anyone under their wings, as they felt being 13 years old was not enough for them to shoulder the responsibility. 

They had met Goemon, Bailey and Likiya later in the year, when the cold weather had hit the city the hardest, the rain drenching the city day and night. The older three had found them huddling together against the cold, no floating spheres of light or black fire seen due to their weak condition. Lupus did not know why he chose to follow the three that day, but he had never regretted his decision. Their little group became larger and merrier with the addition of the rest of the members throughout the years, starting from Gusk and Miya who were best friends from the same hometown, Marduk who left his former profession, Q-B and Judy who were caught by Goemon when trying to sneak into the hideouts using their own makeshift tools, Marine who helped Lucas during one of his mission, Travis who decided to follow Bailey from the streets, and finally the quartet Kisaragi, Sarutobi, Joe and A-Not who were saved by Lupus, Lucas and Q-B during their outing at the town.

*

(CHO TOKYO - flashback)

“Hey Lupus?”

“Yeah?”

“What is Lucas to you?”

Lupus turned towards his partner beside him, his face blank and unreadable. An outsider would think that the fire wielder was an emotionless person, but not Q-B. After he was appointed as the teen’s partner for mission purposes, he had managed to learn bit by bit of every miniscule changes in expression on that handsome face. It was not an easy task, as the fire wielder always kept a tight control of his emotions due to several reasons that every member of Rowdy Shogun later learned throughout the years, Lucas excluded. His previous question had seemed to have shocked the other to a degree, judging by the way his gaze turned sharp in turn.

“What’s with the random question?” Lupus retorted, not answering the question at all. He returned his gaze towards a group of people below the rooftop, trying to ascertain any illegal transactions going on. A-Not and Gusk were stationed on the ground, close to the meeting place. Hades was waiting at the end of the alley as he would bring down any of them that tried to escape. Q-B and him were observing from the rooftop, as Q-B decided to use his guns in case the three needed their help. Heck, the two of them could always jump down from the rooftop at a moments’ notice with Kogarashi’s help. The said wolf was waiting patiently beside his master, his yellow eyes alert and growling once in a while.

“Nothing. I was just wondering about the nature of your relationship,” replied Q-B defensively. ‘ Everyone’s wondering the same thing, you know,’ he thought to himself. 

For a moment Lupus wondered whether the other boy harboured a hidden feeling towards him. After the black-haired boy joined the group, Lupus had taken him under his wing, treating him like a younger brother he never had. They were really close, with Lupus making it an obligation to give the younger lots of gifts during his birthdays. Lucas loved to tease the happy expression that Q-B was sporting, while the red-haired boy decided to sulk as he demanded more gifts from the fire wielder as well. However, Lupus knew that the younger teen had a crush on Kisaragi, the sparks on his eyes were ever present since the moment the cat lover joined Rowdy Shogun.

The fire wielder had no time to answer as the sound of gunshots rang in the otherwise a quiet night, indicating the two groups decided to turn their meeting into a bloodbath. Lupus jumped onto Kogarashi’s back with Q-B immediately following suit. The Rowdy Shogun decided to intervene before any more blood was spilled that day.

They had returned to the hideout the next morning with their faces and bodies sporting fresh cuts and bruises from the brawl. It was easy for Lupus to end everything with his fire, but he never used them until it was absolutely necessary and would just end up using his fists.  Upon entering their bases, he was greeted by the voices of his teammates all over the places, with some of them welcoming them back. A boisterous laugh caught his attention, as later Sarutobi was seen running down the stairs while holding two small potted succulents in his hands. Curiously enough, Kisaragi was also on his tails holding another two succulents in his hands, pausing in his tracks to grin cheekily at the newly-arrived group (which Lupus suspected, was actually directed to Q-B).

Shortly after, there was a mop of red hair appearing above the stairs, framing a small face that was flushed with exasperation and frustration. His skin was a little sun-kissed with small hints of sweats peppering his forehead, most likely due to spending his time under the sun at the rooftop. His red hair was slightly tousled and disheveled due to the winds. There were several floating spheres of light surrounding him, causing him to appear more ethereal-looking rather than menacing. It seemed like whatever the two best friends had done to him was enough to cause the red-haired boy to lose control of his power, the glowing spheres were flickering every now and then in response to his agitated mood. “Sarutobi, Kisaragi, return them back to their places at once or I will set these light balls on both of you!” Lucas yelled, only to be answered with  more laughter from Kisaragi and Sarutobi’s loud reply, “Come here then, plant whisperer!”

Lucas ran down the stairs, skipping a few steps along the way in his haste. The spheres were still floating around him, as the owner was still keen on the idea of using them on his two mischievous friends. Upon reaching the ground floor however, he seemed to just notice the arrival of the recon team from their mission. Feeling bashful due to him being seen in losing his temper just now, the red-haired boy’s face turned a bit redder, if it was possible. He nodded his head towards the group, and when his eyes fell on the sight of Lupus, they crinkled in pure happiness. “Welcome back!” he  greeted, losing his previous countenance all at once.

What is Lucas to me?

A smile slowly broke on his face. Lupus, who had just turned 17 that year, finally discovered the answer to it.

*

(CHO TOKYO - present time)

“I was made to rule the darkness.” [Rae Hachton, Evermore ]

Lupus had sensed something was amiss the moment he noticed the youngest members of Astro 9 staring at him across the table, like a child with a crush that was hiding behind his mother’s back. Marine and Joe also seemed to notice his behaviour, and even mentioned it in their mental link. It somehow made him feel a bit nostalgic, though he did not understand why. Other than that, he also felt the gaze was not just an empty gaze, as he could see the younger man had something in his mind while doing so. 

Lupus also did not hide his contempt towards the other group when they took lightly of his lover’s deteriorating condition. As the meeting progressed, he tried to concentrate on the other group’s explanation while ignoring an impending headache coming his way. The words ‘Vallende Ster’, ‘cien’, and ‘starborn child’, made his head throbbed painfully, the last word particularly resonated the most in him.

“It’s okay, Lupus, it wasn't that painful anymore. After all, I am the starborn child, I can handle it.”

There was a child's voice in his head, saying the same sentence over and over again. He could not stand being in the dark anymore, and resolved to regain his memories from the Astro 9, especially their oracle. He knew Lucas, who was sitting beside him, shared the same sentiment. However, after hearing Karasu’s voice, he could sense a shift in their surroundings, his ears could not hear anything except the words that came out of the other man’s mouth. He could somehow resist it, while the same thing could not be said for A-Not and Judy who agreed with the blond man’s suggestion, totally acting out of their characters. He jolted suddenly in realization, understanding the other man’s ability. Before he could warn the others, a voice rang in his mind. 

[ I’m sorry. ]

*

Lupus knew it was an illusion. He was perfectly aware of the strength of Astro 9’s leader to create an illusion that resembled the reality a bit too much that can cause lesser men to fall for his trick. But Lupus was not a lesser man, he was, is actually, a powerful person himself. There is liquid fire running through his veins that comes out from his fingertips at a moment’s notice, burning everything in its wake. He has a wolf, whose name bears a meaning that can even make their opponent tremble. He knew he could survive whatever his opponents were putting him up to, the power in him was singing to be released from its bind. He could sense Kogarashi waking up inside him, its yellow eyes becoming alert and fangs bared to whatever threat he would face after this.

He had found himself standing at the centre of a city, with the buildings around him up in flames. The color of the flames was surprisingly black, almost like his own. The roads were full of ashes, coloring everything in gray and white. The air was full of them, causing him to cough with nearly every breath he took. There were distant sounds of shouts, screams and explosions, not far enough as his ears were ringing from the sheer volume. His head throbbed in pain as he was unable to mute the cacophony of sounds from his mind. He walked forward aimlessly, trying to find anything that can anchor him back to his reality. After a while, he found several corpses scattered on the ground, their skin wrinkled and hollowed while being in different stages of decay. The rotten and putrid smell surrounding the corpse nearly made him gag, causing him to immediately turn his head away from the sight. He recognized signature signs of deaths due to the ‘cien’ attack, belatedly remembering that some of it was still present inside Lucas.

“Lupus.”

A soft voice coming from behind him stopped the black-haired man from walking ahead. He turned around, facing the one member of Astro 9 that had been staring at him from the beginning of their meeting. He was surprised to find the younger man there, as he was certain that they were going to leave him alone in the illusion.

Lupus nodded, “You are Aria, right? The Oracle. What are you doing here?”

“I need to show you something. Please, come with me,” the Oracle replied, still not answering the question. His face was expectant, his gaze never strayed far from the black-haired man like he was certain that Lupus would follow him immediately.

“Why would I trust you? I don’t even know you,” said Lupus, still not budging from where he stood. Even if the Oracle had envisioned him to follow, the fire wielder refused to do so without a valid reason. The Oracle had done nothing during the meeting that caused him to be wary as compared to the ash blond member of theirs, Karasu, but they as a group was still considered a possible threat. He watched how the expression on Aria’s face became crestfallen, his eyes downcasted and losing their previously determined sparks in it. 

“You knew me, Lupus. In fact, the five of us have known each other for a long time. The three of us had lost our memories too, and only recently we managed to remember everything after I entered Lucas’ mind to know more about your group. However, both you and Lucas were not able to remember yet as you haven’t found all the pieces needed to recover your memories. You had several flashbacks just now from some of the repressed memories from your childhood, but the triggers were not enough to release them all.”

“And how would you suggest for us to find them all?” Lupus retorted.

“You have to be patient, Lupus, that’s all I could say," Aria glanced towards his wristwatch, "Enough of that, we are running out of time. I need you to follow me, please, if you care about Lucas at all,” continued Aria, his body already started to walk away from the dark-haired man.

Hearing the name of his lover coming out of Aria, Lupus had no choice but to follow the younger man, cursing his own weakness. They continued to walk in silence, with Aria leading the way at the front and Lupus staying a few steps behind just in case the younger man decided to plan a surprise attack. He did not know whether an Oracle had other abilities besides having vision and getting into other people’s mind, but he was not in a rush to find out. They arrived near an empty space, with a tall, singular white tower standing in front of them. The place looked very familiar, but Lupus could not put his mind to it. The sight of the pristine white tower in the middle of the destroyed city was bizarre, like seeing an object that did not fit in a piece of drawing.

The fire wielder hated the sight before him. He did not understand why they were there in the first place, but he knew there was something sinister going on around him. The air around him became more acrid and ashen, as the fire around them spread and got larger by the seconds. The Aria increased his pace, as if he had found the thing he was initially looking for, before suddenly coming to a halt. Before Lupus got a chance to ask, he saw a very familiar figure lying still on the ground several feet from him. Even with the distance, he could recognized the red locks of hair anywhere, its color was like a beacon that beckoned him to come near. 

“Lucas?” said Lupus to no one. His voice was shaky, as he just acknowledged the pool of red liquid that was forming underneath the still body. Aria, who was standing beside him all this time, flinched at the sound as he was able to detect the sheer pain and disbelief in it. The youngest Astro 9 member braced himself, as he knew the man in front of him was gradually losing his composure. Sparks of black fire were dancing on his fingertips and underneath his feet, the smell of burnt fabrics from Lupus’ sleeves getting stronger.

Lupus knew it was just an illusion, fabricated down to every tiny detail by the two Astro 9 members. However, knowing and comprehending was two different things altogether, as he could felt an immense pain on his chest, deep and slowly crushing him. He approached the figure, not knowing how to prepare himself for the sight that greeted his vision. It was none other than Lucas, red bangs falling over his closed eyes. His face was still beautiful, even with soot streaking his right cheek and a trickle of blood that flowed out of his nose. His complexion was pale, eerily so.  Lupus would have thought that the other man was deep in sleep, if not for the massive amount of blood pooling underneath his body, coming out of several holes littering all over Lucas’ torso.

His hands were cold to touch, absent from the usual warmth that the fire user was so used to.  Lupus shook his lover’s body vigorously, trying to wake him up. ‘ It was just an illusion. It was not real,’ he chanted over and over again, trying to knock some sense into his own self. The Lucas in his arm was just an illusion, he was not the real Lucas whose body currently was brimming in life, fighting whichever member of Astro 9 that foolishly might try to hurt the light wielder outside this realm. ‘Then why did it hurt so much?’ He ended up screaming his lover’s name out loud, trying to gauge some sort of reaction from the unmoving body. Several teardrops fell onto Lucas’ cheeks, as the black-haired man started to cry incessantly. Black fire sprouted out from his palms and body, lashing towards anything on its path with hostility.

Aria, who had not taken a single step from his previous spot continued to watch everything in silence. It was purely his own choice to show his vision to the black-haired man, for reasons unknown even to him. It was possible that deep in his heart, he had hoped that this vision could alter the destiny of these two people, even when he knew that his vision was absolute. Thus, he had consulted with Itaru, asking for his help to recreate his vision using Itaru’s illusion ability. Karasu had retaliated in anger, asking him why he would risk his own life fighting against the two strongest power users in the whole universe. Aria had tried to reason with the fellow vocalist, only to be refuted by the ash blond-haired man who had said then, “Are your crush, or rather, love, towards Lupus that strong that you would put your life on the line just to help him?” before leaving him with Itaru.

Aria was speechless, as the vocalist had brought up his crush in front of Itaru of all people. The said leader however did not look surprised by the revelation, instead saying that he was aware of the fact during their childhood. It made Aria wonder whether everyone else at that place knew about it, but chose to stay silent. He scoffed, remembering him being a small child that would bring flowers to Lupus at his own cell, accompanied by Karasu, who was a small child as well at that time. He wondered why he did even try, as the object of his affection never returned the act. Was there still a lingering affection for his childhood crush, or was he just trying to play martyr? 

Seeing Lupus through Lucas’ eyes that day had indeed caused some feelings that were locked deep inside him to resurface, but it was just for a brief moment. Watching the man at the meeting just now as discreetly as he could be, made him relate the sight of the ineffable man in front of him with the black-haired boy from his childhood. Lupus had matured considerably, losing the chubby cheeks he once had with sharp edges of his jawline and cheekbones. His dark eyes, which once held the childish innocence to it even after all the torture and pain he was put under, now had turned wise and knowing from his life experiences. The boy back then had no other friends except for his red-haired best friend who was in the cell beside his. The boy back then had no other interest except playing with his fire, summoning his wolf familiar, and talking to his best friend. The Lupus in front of him now had 15 other comrades that he hold dear along with the citizens of Cho-Tokyo that he swore to protect. But as Aria watched Lupus losing his calm even at the slight mention of Lucas in the meeting, made him realize that some things will never change. There was no other person who was able to reside in the fire user’s heart, except for Lucas.

[ARIA!]

Aria barely heard the warning from Itaru before he found a blast of black fire sent in his way. Too shocked from the sudden display of power, the blond-haired man was not fast enough to dodge the attack. Fortunately, the ground underneath him shifted and risen up, immediately forming a barrier in front of him to deflect the fire. He felt grateful for his leader who had been monitoring the two of them outside of this realm. Being the one responsible for creating the illusion, Itaru was able to conjure anything he desired to to protect Aria. However, another blasts of fire was sent towards the youngest man, followed by several others. Before long, the wall in front of Aria collapsed, as Itaru was unable to withstand the degree of the attack. 

The smokes around him had not fully cleared out yet before Aria found himself in a chokehold. Lupus was standing in front of him, face streaked with tears. His eyes were staring straight at Aria, looking as if he had lost all hopes in the world. Judging from what he saw just now, the fact did not seem so far-fetched. The grip of the dark-haired man around his neck began to tighten, as if Lupus was releasing his anger and frustration all at once onto the younger man. His face was so pale, lips quivering from holding back his tears as the previous illusion had shocked him down to the core of his being. The mere possibility of losing Lucas had caused him to feel like his heart being ripped into pieces. It felt so real, like there was still a tell tale of a cold body being held in his arm at the moment.

[-Aria, one word from you and I’ll  release both of you from the illusion. Do you hear me, Aria?]

[Not yet, Itaru. Just a little while longer.]

“You may not believe this, Lupus. But what you saw just now was not a mere illusion, it was your destiny. It was my first prophecy when I remembered how to use this power, and since then the dream had recurred every single night. You cannot escape it, whether you like it or not,” said Aria, stuttering a bit due to the tight grip around his throat. His voice was hoarse, as it was difficult for him to even formulate a sentence.

“Do you honestly think that I would just stand idle at the side and watch the love of my life sacrifice himself to save the universe? You are deeply mistaken. I would never leave him by himself, even when humanity had deserted us along the way,” replied Lupus, his face getting closer to Aria. Small flickers of black flame were dancing around the younger man’s throat, showing a possibility that Lupus would not hesitate to set his flames on the Oracle.

“I know. But there was nothing you could do to help him, Lupus. Did you see all these black flames that were burning the city down long before you summoned your own? Both of your flames and the one from the ‘cien’ had the same nature. They were derived from the darkness itself,” said Aria, watching the way Lupus release him from the chokehold in order to observe the flames in his palm, “You understand, right? Your power could not help him, in fact they would only hurt him in the process.”

“You are lying,” Lupus interjected, still in denial.

“I wish I am.”

“YOU’RE LYING!”

A huge blast of black flames erupted out of Lupus from his outburst. Another wall made up from concrete and soils formed in front of Aria, courtesy of his leader. The dark-haired man was relentless, and proceeded to send multiple bouts of fireballs on the other man’s direction. The wall was fairly durable as it was hard to melt the combination of the two elements, but Itaru found himself struggling to keep up with the pace of the attack. Furthermore, even from outside the realm, the leader could sense that the flames were getting bigger by each attack, and not the other way around. It was pure madness to confront one of the strongest power users in the universe by using his illusion only.

How do you tame a wild beast that was losing its control by using a mere rope? Itaru had realized that it was an impossible task to begin with. When Aria tried to persuade him in lending his power, he knew that the youngest member of his group was asking the impossible. Even in his amnesiac condition, the fact that Lupus was a strong power user still stood. The three of them could combine their powers and try to defeat Lupus, but then there would be no one left to fend against Lucas’ attack, if the red-haired decided to intervene in the fight. Knowing their personalities and affection for each other, neither of them would feel content to just wait at the side and watch. They were fiercely protective of each other, even when they were just two small boys in that forsaken facility. The other children had envied their abilities, while all the adults could see were just two ‘things’ to be experimented on. And now, all of them were reaching adulthood, their powers were only getting stronger and stronger, with the exception of Lucas. Being at the other side of the realm and watching his teammate getting pummelled on by the relentless number of attacks, Itaru half wished that they took a different way to approach Lupus. He however understood the gravity of their situation, and this method was probably the best way to convince the wolf tamer. Maybe, just maybe, their destiny could be changed and Lupus was their only hope to turn things around.

Aria persevered on, using his power to try to enter Lupus’ mind in order to calm him down. He only hoped that the dark-haired man would tire himself enough to buy himself some time to concentrate. He also wished that Itaru managed to hold on and withstand the attacks. Black flames had finally managed to surround him, burning everything in its path. Even the pavement had melted from the sheer heat from the flames, while the buildings too had collapsed on themselves. Aria could feel himself sweating profusely underneath his clothing and he was getting a bit lightheaded as well. It was a bit alarming, seeing how Lupus was losing control on his power more and more. In fact, the fire wielder had stopped focusing on Aria, and instead had sent his fire at every direction his eyes went to. He threw his head back and let out a shrill laughter, rendering the blond-haired man in front of him speechless.

[-Aria, something’s wrong with him.]

[I know.]

[-He was not supposed to act this way. Even with his grief overpowering him, he should still hold some semblance of control on his flames. And did you notice that he did not summon his wolf out?]

[I noticed that. Kogarashi was supposed to be the personification of his feelings and rationality, the control tower of his power. Seeing how he was nowhere in sight, I think something else had taken over him.]

[+Or maybe he had finally let the darkness inside him go berserk, you know?]

[What are you doing here, Karasu?]

[+Both of you were making so much commotion in the link that I had to come and check up on you. Looks like he finally went bonkers, huh? I told you this was a bad idea, Aria.]

[-Hush, Karasu, we have no time for this. Aria, I’ve told Kane to bring the others out of the mansion with him, along with the other members of Rowdy Shogun just in case. I think they had ended their battles with each other.]

[I think I’ve finally managed to get a glimpse on his mind. Oh, shoot.]

[+What?]

[There’s still some leftover ‘cien’ inside him. They were the one making him lose control.]

[-Aria, you need to exit from there immediately. Karasu, you know what to do. Do your part while me and Aria tried to buy us more time. Go, now!]

*

The communication link ended abruptly, leaving only silence coming from the other two sides. Karasu grunted in frustration, his mind now addled with worries for the two. Turning his head to the front, he watched how the familiar figure summoned his own power, with his body lighting up brightly in turn. Lucas’ red hair blowing lightly in the wind, the colour turning a bit lighter due to the brightness of his own light. His red eyes were fixed upon Karasu, mirth hiding in it as if planning a secret attack against the ash-blond haired man. Even when he felt threatened, Karasu could not tear his gaze away from the beautiful sight of Lucas' power, the light rays spreading all over the dark mansion.

“Now, what am I going to do with you?”

-

“ Is it more painful to forget, 

or to be forgotten? ”

(OLD TOKYO - 13 years ago)

[“Lucas, forgive us. Forgive us being bad parents, for leaving you here. But please remember that we love you, both you and --”]

He blinked his eyes open, once. 

Twice.

The scene in front of him remained unchanged. Buildings around him were engulfed in a massive fire, raising the temperature of the surroundings to several degrees higher. The flames were red, with its edges strangely darker in color and almost resembling black. The fire melted the stone buildings like it was nothing, crumbled into a pile heap of nothing in only a short matter of time. He turned around, observing how the rest of the buildings did not differ much. It spreaded like a wildfire, enveloping everything that it came across with no mercy. It was a scary feeling, being left alone in an unknown place with no friendly faces around him. It was scarier even to not be able to remember why he was standing there in the first place.

Where am I?

He continued to move forward cautiously, keeping an eye on where the fire touched to avoid getting burnt himself. A putrid and fetid smell suddenly overpowered his olfactory sense, nearly making him gagged and vomited all over the pavements. A squelching sound produced from underneath his foot made him stop in his tracks, as the 10 year old boy realized that the smell was getting stronger and more prominent. He looked down and saw a pile of bones and melted flesh that used to make up a living body. The bones were already charred black, forming black dusts that were slowly getting blown away by the wind. The once human flesh was completely stripped off from the bones, likely from the heat of the flames that burnt it earlier. Curiously enough, the stench that accompanied it was like a decayed body, and not the expected acrid smell that usually made up the combination of sulfur and smoke found on burnt bodies.

The boy stared absently at the corpse, etching the sight into his mind. Even in his amnesiac condition, he knew that it was not something a 10 year old child would expect to see at all. He was more surprised at himself for not being scared out of his mind with everything that was happening around him. In fact, he was overwhelmed with curiosity, every hows and whys filled his mind and left him wondering. He continued on, disregarding the sight of more corpses scattered on the road with disinterest. It was almost like his feet knew where to lead him, even when he could not recognize the place at all. After a while, his heart began to beat faster, as if anticipating something intangible to him. His adrenaline kicked in, causing his pace to increase bit by bit.

He found himself standing in a clear space, in between tall buildings with a single white tower stood directly in front of him in its glory. He was waiting for something, anything, that would give him a hint on his own identity, or the purpose of him being there in the first place. He did not have to wait for long, as he quickly found himself looking at a massive collection of black shadows that was clumped in front of him. It was so thick that its color had turned into the darkest shade of night. The boy noticed how there were more of them coming off the pile of corpses from the surrounding and gathered almost menacingly, like it could sprung into attack at any moment. 

For reasons unknown to him, the boy felt drawn to the entity, like how a moth would feel around the light. He inched closer bit by bit to the shadows, the sight of it was almost mesmerizing. The entity responded the same way, hovering closer to the boy within seconds. Somehow, the fact that the shadows were the ones likely to be responsible for the death of the corpses escaped the boy’s mind, as he was curious about its existence itself. He felt like he was missing something, like there was something he should do in regards to the shadows. 

[Lucas, honey, you can do this. You were born for this. There’s no one else that can do this except you. You just have to believ--]

A single, soft-spoken, soothing female voice was all he could hear in his mind before he was being abruptly pulled away by the hand of another person. He did not realize that he had gotten so close to the shadows, interestingly enough, the shadows had decided to stop its advances as well due to the newcomer. Speaking of, the person who had pulled his hand just now appeared to be in the same age as him. He had a small face that was streaked with soot and grimes, with jet black hair that appeared unruly as if it had been blown by the winds. His grips on Lucas’ hand were trembling a bit, but his eyes were full of determination. Even without knowing who he was, the red-haired boy felt like he had known him all his admittedly short life. The boy was asking, pleading for Lucas to follow him and leave that place. He ended up trusting the dark-haired boy, leaving the shadows and the ruined city behind him.

-

(CHO TOKYO - flashback)

Starting a new life in Cho Tokyo proved to be a feat hard enough to be accomplished. The arrival of the citizens of Old Tokyo was greeted with sombre and apprehensive faces of the enforcers, as they had been briefed prior to the arrival in regards to the attack of the ‘shadows’. No one knew exactly where the shadows originated from, and the authority had taken notice of its attacks on the citizens a bit too late. It was surreal how nearly 70 percent of the population had been completely wiped out by both the shadows and the uncontrolled destructions in just a few hours. Words like ‘the darkness’ and ‘BARRAL’ were shared among the enforcers, however young Lucas was unable to make sense of the conversation.

The first few days were mostly spent on recovering their energy and appetite. After that, the adults had mostly gone to work while orphans were being adopted by families from Cho Tokyo, Shin Tokyo and even Babylonium. He had no doubt that those children would be taken care of by their new families, but somehow the red-haired boy could not imagine himself being separated from his new friend. Speaking of Lupus, the dark-haired boy had gotten more and more tense as days passed by, seeing how the children gradually dwindling in numbers. The boy had never left Lucas’ side, refusing to budge even when the enforcer tried to call for them separately during food distribution. Lucas could somehow understand the sentiments, and mirrored the action as well until a particular day when he realized that there was a family wanting to adopt him into their family. He wasted no time to share the news with his friend, and together they left the shelter and trying to survive by living on the streets. 

The first time he knew he had powers, it was purely accidental on his part. The two boys were both freezing after walking for hours from the shelter, their small bodies and tattered clothes could only contain minimal amounts of heat to keep their body warm for so long. He did not do anything special in particular, only that he had prayed so hard for the two of them to be saved from the cold. A surprise exclamation from his friend made him lift up his head, noticing how they were surrounded by warm glowing spheres. He initially had no idea where they came from, only to realize later that more and more spheres were produced from his palms. He felt grateful towards any deity out there that had heard his prayers, as he promised himself to use his powers to protect the two of them.

When they first discovered Lupus’ power, it was a completely different experience altogether. His friend’s power was nothing like his, which always brings warmth and homely feeling to the two of them, as it had fended them against the cruel weather on the streets. Lucas was awestruck by the sight of the massive wolf, standing in its majestic glory  from the black flames that erupted from his friend’s fingertips. However, the red-haired boy felt an immense amount of dread right after, as he later observed how the wolf viciously attacked their enemy, reducing them into a pile of flesh, blood and torn pieces of clothes. He suppressed a shudder that threatened to erupt from his small body, and instead refocused his attention on his dark-haired friend.

Lupus was standing at the side of the pavement silently, his head facing downwards and eyes fixed on his two open palms. He remained that way for a few minutes, with his body trembling a bit from his shock. The wolf, which had manifested from the flames, had stood close to Lucas, almost like it was trying to console the red-haired boy after showing his vicious state previously. Lucas could not stand the sight of his friend's suffering by himself any longer, trying to stand on his feet shakily with his body still warm from his fever. He approached his friend slowly, not trying to alarm the other boy. He held his left hand out and spread his fingers on Lupus’ palm, and slowly laced their fingers together. 

The black-haired boy was crying, he noticed, several fresh tear tracks visible on both of his cheeks. Lucas’ heart sank from the sight, as he felt guilty from what had happened. It was because of him, who could not protect himself at the face of danger due to his weakened state from the fever. It was him, who had pushed his friend to the limit, causing him to release his unknown power and killed all those people. If only I could protect myself just now, then Lupus would not have ended up like this. But there was nothing he could do, as it was beyond their power to change the past. Instead, Lucas had waited until his friend stopped crying on the dirty pavement, his fever long-forgotten and his focus was only to comfort his best friend. Another promise was made to his own self, as to not let the dark-haired boy to undergo another similar episode in the future. Lucas was fine being the only one broken, as long as he could keep Lupus safe from all the darkness that the world has to offer.

-

“Kuro-chan.”

“Kogarashi.”

“Kuro-chan.”

“Like I told you for so many times already, his name is Kogarashi. Why won't you listen to me, Lucas?”

“I don't care, I will call him anything I wanted. Look, he loves it when I called him ‘Kuro-chan’,” replied Lucas, his face was set into a pout as he stubbornly disregarded the name that Lupus gave to his wolf. The red-haired boy was adamant on calling the wolf ‘Kuro-chan’, and the animal in question seemed to like it as well, judging by the number of licks he gave to the red-haired boy. They were at their new hideout, a small brick cottage at the outskirts of Cho Tokyo where they stayed together with Hades, Goemon and Bailey. The eldest three were inside, preparing dinner for their rag-tag family, while the two boys had played with the wolf outside. They were not afraid of being attacked, as the rumors surrounding the ‘two boys with superpowers’ had warded off any dangerous people from approaching them.

Lupus had enough of their never-ending argument, if his tired face was of any indication. He decided to relent on whatever the nickname his friend had granted for his wolf companion. With a deep sigh, he replied, “Alright, do whatever you want. You’re lucky I love you.”

The words were innocent enough, and the black-haired boy seemed to not understand the heavy implication that it brought due to his young age. Lucas however, did not reply immediately, trying to keep his composure as he knew his friend did not mean anything serious by that, at least not yet. He hid his face in the crook of Koga-, no, Kuro-chan’s neck to hide the smile and blush that were threatening to bloom over his face, and replied, “I know.”

-

It was easy to fall in love with Lupus. His friend, who was no longer a boy and had allowed his teenage years to reshape his body and face. Gone were the chubby cheeks and short limbs, his face now had become more angular and refined while his limbs finally filling up the spaces of the oversized clothes. His jet black hair framed his face perfectly, sometimes hiding his sharp gaze underneath his bangs. 

No matter that puberty had done the same to him and blessed him with a good look almost comparable to Lupus, the red-haired teen tended to stare at his friend longer than necessary at any chance he got and took notice of every (good) change that had happened to his friend.  Whenever they went out for recon missions, Lucas also noticed that boys and girls always had their heads turned to chance a look upon their group, especially whenever his black-haired friend was there. (They looked at you too, you know, maybe more than your beloved partner.) Lucas ignored the voice in his head that sounded eerily similar to Kisaragi and instead watched how his partner seemed to be oblivious to the stares that he got from the people around him.

Rowdy Shogun was no longer a foreign name amongst the people of Cho Tokyo, as they had recognised the group to be the protector of the place. Lucas could not remember how their group had unofficially been declared as such, but none of his teammates had refused the idea, himself included. Everything started with their eldest three, and was completed by the addition of Kisaragi, Sarutobi, Joe and A-Not. The sixteen of them made a solid group, and their success in protecting the city had made them one of the most reliable groups put there. Due to that, they had lots of enemies which was expected as there were some groups that thrived on shady businesses and illegal transactions in Cho Tokyo. They also had fair share of admirers too, as they often found themselves at the receiving end of various gifts whenever they did their round around the city.

That day was no exception, as Lucas found himself watching a young girl about their age with brown hair and curled around the tips, framing her small and cute face standing a few feet away from their group. She timidly approached his dark-haired partner, giving a handmade bracelet made of thin black bands with several gemstones strung along it. It was beautiful, clearly meticulously made and with utmost care. Out of a sudden, Lucas’ heart twinged painfully, the force too sudden it made the red-haired boy tightly grip his shirt in response. Too busy feeling mystified by the unknown feeling, he did not notice Marduk coming to stand beside him.

“Lucas, are you okay?” asked the older to the then 15 years old Lucas. The red-haired teen lifted up his head, opening his mouth to answer before he saw the knowing look on the other’s face. It was the one expression, the same one that he saw frequently on the rest of the members whenever they look at both him and Lupus. Kisaragi used to wear the same expression too, coupled with his teasings and jokes whenever he caught him staring at Lupus whenever the dark-haired teen was joking around their base with Sarutobi a bit too close to his own liking.

The realization hit the red-haired teen like a truck. That day was the first time he understood the meaning of love, and the first time he discovered how the word ‘jealousy’ felt like. 

-

It was not very often that Lupus would lose control of his own power.

The first time was, of course, when he first discovered his power. Since then, Lucas knew that the other had trained himself to keep a tight lid on his emotion, so that he would not easily lose control during a mission or a confrontation. It was a hard task, considering a young child was prone to have emotional outburst, as they had not matured enough in that area. But, the two of them had always known themselves to be different from the others, but not to say that they placed themselves on a pedestal, no. It was more of the fact that with everything that they had gone through, especially with everything that they had seen in Old Tokyo, those kinds of things had changed something in them. They had become more sensitive and knew the importance of keeping their emotions in check. 

Bailey was initially surprised to see the level of maturity displayed by the newest addition of his group. The three of them had heard rumors of the ‘gifted kids from Old Tokyo’, but watching them was a different matter altogether. Even when puberty had hit the young members of the group, the two of them were always spared from any confrontational events as compared to their hot-blooded teammates. And when Lupus had explained to the leaders about Kogarashi’s first appearance, the killing and his realization of controlling his feelings, the eldest three along with Gusk, Miya and Marduk had understood the pair’s concern.

Since then, whenever the two of them were out on a mission along with the other members, the leader of the said team would keep an eye on them to prevent any incident. There was one incident where Lupus had reacted too strongly towards their opponents, as they had tried to hurt Lucas, who by then had ‘officially’ become his lover, in a battle(nevermind that they would never succeed in doing so, as the red-haired teen could always conjure a powerful barrier out of nowhere to protect himself and his teammates). Kogarashi was summoned out, acting like a wild beast that was ready to tear down his opponents. 

It took the rest of the team a while to sort it out with their opponents being the last thing on their mind as the sight of the black wolf was enough to make them flee from the battle. Even when Lupus had calmed himself down, his wolf was still under the influence of his wrath from before. In the end, Lucas had to resort to forming a barrier around the wolf, with himself sitting outside of it and waited for the wolf to return to normal. It seemed like seeing the light-wielder safe from any harm was enough to do the trick, as Kogarashi finally retracted his fangs and claws, his menacing growl no longer could be heard.

After several similar episodes, Hades had decided for the pair to have an alternating turn to go on missions so that Lupus would no longer be easily affected by their opponent’s threats. It took a few days to convince the dark-haired teen, but he finally agreed to the leader’s suggestion. Since then, Lupus was paired with Q-B, while Kisaragi was tasked to accompany Lucas instead. And they were fine, as no one could come close on hurting the two power users in Cho Tokyo. A few years passed by, with the Rowdy Shogun finally cementing their place as the sole guardian of Cho Tokyo.

However, there was an incident that made Lucas realize that there was something sinister happening around him. It was one of those nights, where the recon team had gone out for their mission, with his lover being one of those in duty. Lucas was spending his free time down the tech lab, watching Judy tinkering with the surveillance scanners that were placed around their hideout. He was joined by Gusk and A-Not, the latter chose to be there to avoid training sessions with the always combat-ready Marine. The four of them were suddenly called to the meeting area, where Hades and Bailey were situated in front of a holographic map, the latter holding a transmission device in his hand. Every member apart from the recon team which were Lupus, Q-B, Goemon, Travis, Joe and Marduk, were gathered there.

Hades had revealed then that something had happened during the mission, causing Lupus to lose control of his power. And judging by the frantic voice of Goemon coming from the device, it was safe to say that the situation was more dire than they had imagined. Lucas was asked to come to the scene immediately, with Hades, Marine and Kisaragi accompanying him. And the sight that greeted them back then was nothing like they had imagined. Lupus was there, or at least only some part of him was visible as he was being completely engulfed by his own black flames from head to toe. Judging by the growl that was coming out of him, Lucas could only deduce that the flames were not hurting him at least, giving him some amount of comfort. He had wasted no time, immediately conjuring a strong barrier made of pure light around his lover. His loyal wolf friend was nowhere in sight, and from the brief explanation by Q-B it seemed that the wolf had been summoned back into Lupus before he went berserk.

Lucas had never encountered his lover being in that condition, his entire being was completely hostile and he did not seem to recognize his own lover and his teammates. Lupus was strong, insanely so in that form of his, his flames hitting the barrier every now and then to try to escape. But, the red-haired man persevered, and it took about four hours until his lover had returned back to normal. At the end of it, Lupus had collapsed, completely losing his consciousness due to him overusing his power. Marine had helped the older onto his back, and they returned to their hideout. Lucas himself was completely drained, his body slumped and nearly fell if not for Travis to help him up and walk together to the base. Their discussion on the following day revealed nothing out of ordinary, in fact there was no enemy to speak of as the recon team was just doing their round around the city before Lupus said that Kogarashi was fighting against his bonds, struggling to be released out of his master. Since that night, Lucas started to feel his powers draining bit by bit, causing him to no longer form a barrier around their base and his body became weakened. Babylonium issued the red alert a few weeks after that, raising the tension among the three universes and their inhabitants.

Looking back, Lucas should have known that the events were all connected, in some ways still unknown to him.

-

(CHO TOKYO - before the meeting with Astro9)

Lucas woke up that day feeling feverish, his skin harbouring the remnants of heat that did not come from the heater of the room. For a moment he wondered whether Kogarashi had sneaked up onto the bed during the night and provided the extra warmth, but the jet black furs that usually hinted on his appearance were nowhere to be seen. What time is it now? His groggy mind still unable to orientate itself to the time even when he stared emptily at the table clock beside him for a few minutes. His head was pounding and throbbing heavily, each thud was like a nail being hammered into his skull. Even after a few minutes of waking up, his head was still plastered onto the pillow as the mere task of lifting up his head seemed difficult enough to do.

He put both of his hands onto his mouth, stifling a painful groan that came out of it. He knew better than to let the noise out so early in the morning, or else he would find a certain wolf master hovering all over him throughout this day. Speaking of his lover, the dark-haired man was nowhere to be seen, his side of the bed was cold hinting its owner early departure from it.

His condition during the week seemed to have worsened, as he no longer could detect the presence of his own teammates at their base.  His head throbbed painfully, probably as a consequence of the lack of sleep during the night. He also became hyper aware of the way his heart beat slowly, each contraction was like a tedious task to be completed rather than being one of the essential components that enabled him to stay alive.

He sat up on the bed, his movements slow and sluggish due to his headache. He absently wondered at what time his lover woke up that morning, and why the other had not woken him up in turn. The change in position made his head spin, bile slowly rising up into his mouth causing him to nearly vomit at the side of the bed. Lucas strengthened his resolve to at least walk to the toilet, so that he could avoid further unnecessary accidents in the bedroom. With legs shaking like leaves and hands trembling, he made his way to the bathroom.

Due to their base being built on a large compound, the building managed to have enough space to build enough rooms to accommodate the 16 of them living there, along with many extra spaces left for their training arena, tech room, medical bay, kitchen and others. Hence, each room had its own bathroom as well, sparing them from arguing with each other. In the rare occurrences where their bathroom somehow needed fixing, a common occurrences among the younger members, the unfortunates ones would need to share the bathroom with the involved party. Entering his own bathroom, the red-haired man was met with the black wall with rusty crimson motives from the steel pillars, with small terrariums of plants lining the window and the sink counter giving some burst of colors in the otherwise monochrome bathroom.

Reaching the sink counter, Lucas looked into the mirror hanging on the wall in front of him, nearly not being able to recognize the sight before him. Gone were the full cheeks and bitten-red lips, as his face had turned worse for the wear with the sharp cheekbones, pale complexion and having an overall gauntly appearance. He had lost more weight than he initially expected, with his collarbones becoming more prominent as well. The battle at Shin Tokyo had affected him greatly, as the overuse of his powers caused his body to become weaker. He had ended up spending the rest of the week doing nothing but focusing on recuperating instead. Jiggy Boyz had sent some Atrias upon Hades’ request, however after using about three to four of them, he felt his condition no longer improving. He could feel the ‘shadows’ inside of him absorbing the Lyras almost greedily instead of being suppressed by it. He deduced that the Lyra’s power was too weak as compared to the ‘shadows’, causing it to be easily overpowered by it instead of healing his body. Due to that, Lucas was left with only a small amount of the Lyra, making him not strong enough to attempt to extract the remaining ‘shadows’ from his body.

Morbid thoughts and worries filled his mind as he was reminded of the meeting with the sender of the letter that night. When Goemon had shared the contents of the anonymous letter a few days ago, his heart sank. He struggled to keep his expression as neutral as possible to avoid the others worrying about him. Fortunately, his lover’s outburst had diverted their attention from himself, leaving him enough time to maintain his composure. Lupus was enraged by the letter, his eyes dark and his face barely hiding a scowl. Black flames sprouted out of his fingertips in a threatening manner, slowly burning its way through the wooden table underneath Lupus’ palm. Lucas wanted to calm the other man, but he himself was busy trying to quell the incoming panic attack. 

What did they know about him?

How did they know?

Who are they?

Hundreds of questions made its way into his mind, but the chances of him finding out the answers were likely to none, unless he decided to meet the sender. When Hades asked him to decide, he already made up his mind, hoping that his lover would understand his reasoning. The black-haired man did not disappoint him, as he too supported Lucas in the end. When the two of them retreated to their room later in the day, Lupus had said nothing in particular, instead choosing to gather Lucas in his arms and went to sleep together. If Lupus’ hands trembled a bit that night, neither of them mentioned it out loud. They fell asleep, with their minds full of worries and uncertainties for the fateful meeting.

“Lucas.”

The red-haired man jolted out of his thought, belatedly realizing that he had spent the previous 30 minutes staring into the mirror with a toothbrush still in his mouth. He had finished taking a bath earlier, his hair still wet and dripping down the side of his head. It seemed that he ended up brushing his teeth for the second time when he was lost in his memories. He glanced up, taking note the appearance of his lover in front of him. Lupus was standing at the door of the bathroom, watching him with an indescribable expression on his face. That moment, Lucas was having a hard time guessing what was on his lover’s mind, as the black-haired man chose to keep a tight lid on his expression. 

“Yeah?” Lucas replied hurriedly as to not worry the other even more. He unconsciously tried to avoid eye contact with his lover, as he knew that his appearance was enough to make the black-haired man hovering protectively around him throughout the day. True enough, a frown made its way onto Lupus’ forehead, the crease deep enough on his handsome face. He made a halting motion in approaching his red-haired lover, but in the end he remained at the door, watching how Lucas wiped his face clean off the toothpaste foam silently.

Lupus followed the red-haired man out of the bathroom, his movements calculated and steady as if not to alarm the other. Lucas had a feeling that he would not like the next words that will come out of Lupus’ mouth. “Perhaps you should sit this one out.”

The light wielder, who just started to put on his shirt, suddenly halted in his action. They had both past the point of getting shy when changing clothes in front of each other, perks of growing up together and being in a relationship with each other. Lucas sighed upon hearing the other’s words, “You know I can’t do that. They agreed to this meeting  mainly because I decided to do so in the first place. That’s why I, above other people, should be the one required to attend the meeting. Furthermore, the letter mentioned about me, Lupus, I need to know who they are and what they know about me. About us.”

“I know. But, look at you. You were barely able to get up from the bed earlier, with your head unable to focus properly. You had lost weight, and you looked sick almost all the time. Your power was nearly completely diminished by now, the Lyras were no longer effective for you. Not to forget, I could sense the ‘shadows’ becoming stronger by day, and it‘s only getting worse as you were not strong enough to remove them. Can you protect yourself if they decided to launch a surprise attack on us?” said Lupus, gathering his lover into a back hug. He buried his face into the back of Lucas’  head, breathing in the slight flowery scent of his shampoo underneath the soft crimson strands of hair. He always thought Lucas smelled heavenly, even when they were using the same hair products all this time.

Lucas remained silent for a while, letting his lover's words wash over him. “But you will protect me, right?” His voice was soft, barely heard even in the quiet room with only two of them. The black-haired man exhaled slowly, taking in the absolute trust hiding behind those words. He tightened his hold around Lucas for a few seconds before letting the other go.

“Of course.”

-

The two of them had later joined the others in the dining area for breakfast. Travis had taken a single look towards Lucas before dragging him to the table immediately, keen on feeding his friend with the food he helped to prepare earlier. Judy also had put down the detector he was tinkering on the table and instead turned to pour some drinks for the light wielder. The two of them were bumbling and fretting around him that Lucas could not help but to laugh out loud and just let them do as they please. Kisaragi, who had emerged from the training arena along with Q-B, had later taken a seat in front of the red-haired man. The three of them later fell into a discussion about their battle formation for the possible confrontation with the unknown benefactor of the letter that night, with Judy and Travis feeding Lucas with food at any chance they could get.

Bailey, who was watching the whole ordeal at the end of the table, smiled upon hearing the cheerful laughters. He was still worried, rightfully so, especially when Lupus had emerged at the kitchen so early in the morning, asking for his presence along with their two leaders. Red flags were waving in his mind upon the request, as he knew the flame wielder would only demand such a thing when it involved the very one person that he held dear the most. He was right, as later the black-haired man ended up sharing his doubts and worries on Lucas attending the meeting later that night. Hades had enquired about the well-being of the light wielder, a frown etched permanently on his forehead when Lupus had shared about the deteriorating condition of his still sleeping lover. The brief mention of the ‘shadows’ was enough to send the three eldest into a tense silence, as Lupus claimed he could feel it getting stronger the longer it resided in the red-haired man’s body. He had requested that Lucas be exempted from the meeting, with two or three members of their group to keep him company at their base.

“I understand your worry, Lupus. But do you think he will agree to this? He was the one who wanted to attend it the most to shed some light on his current condition. In the end, no one could truly stop him going, especially now when he had set his mind on it,” said Goemon, putting a hand on Lupus’ shoulder. The leader had left then, wanting to keep an eye on the younger members who were in charge of breakfast that day. The wolf master had excused himself a few minutes after that, able to sense that his lover had woken up from his sleep even with the distance from the kitchen to their bedroom.

Watching Lucas in front of him, Bailey could see why the usually calm and composed black-haired man had lost his usual demeanor that morning. Anyone could see that Lucas was sick, his current appearance a far reach from his previous self before the battle at Shin Tokyo. He wondered how much damage was caused by the shadows inside Lucas’ body. There was a box full of Atrias recently delivered by the Jiggy Boyz near the conference table, as the group wasted no time in sending them after receiving Hades’ message. He knew that the leader probably hinted of Lucas' condition to the boys, just so that they would make it in time before the meeting. 

The blonde-haired man also knew that the light wielder only managed to use only some of them, as he claimed they could no longer help him as his body had kind of developed a resistance to them. The fact did nothing but to emphasize the direness of their situation, as they no longer had any other alternatives in healing Lucas while the shadows inside him continued to deplete his powers more and more. They had no choice but to attend this meeting, even when they might have ended up getting ambushed once more. He also realized that even with his previous reluctance, Lupus was probably the person who wanted to attend it the most, even at the expanse of his own safety, just so that he could find some cure for his lover.

Meanwhile, Lucas had retreated to the training arena along with the other four members. He sat on a wooden stool, observing his friends getting their weapons ready for battle with each of them slowly lighting up due to the Lyra flowing inside them. They did not allow him to train with his bow and arrows, and instead insisted on him to just rest at the side. Marduk was practicing with his throwing knives at a corner, each throw perfectly hitting the bullseye. The older man did not even bat an eyelash upon his own impressive record, as the skills had been ingrained into his body since he was a mere child. Marine was swinging his hammer around, his footsteps remained light even while holding the massive weapon in his grip. 

“I really hope that the Lyras in our weapons would be able to last long if we ended up fighting tonight. Though I don’t know if our weapons would be effective enough to defeat possibly another power user like Lupus and Lucas,” said Sarutobi, who had stopped training with his twin katanas and joined Lucas sitting at the corner.

“You don’t have to worry, Sarutobi. I’m pretty sure that the weapons are strong enough to protect all of you,” replied Lucas, his eyes fixed upon Kisaragi and Q-B who were practicing with their katanas. The match was exhilarating to watch, as both of them possessed nearly the same skills and abilities while refusing to show mercy against each other. Sarutobi quirked his head to the side, unable to understand the meaning of the strange words and knowing glint inside Lucas’ red eyes. He knew that the other would not elaborate even if he decided to ask. ‘What were you hiding from us, Lucas?’

*

“When lost in darkness he who lights the way, marks himself as easy prey.”

― Mark W Boyer

(CHO TOKYO - present time)

The evening could not come fast enough to Lucas’ liking. He had spent the rest of the day lying in bed and trying to absorb another one or two Atrias to prepare for the meeting. He quelled down the nauseous feeling after using up an Atria, and forced his body to get accustomed to the foreign power infused into him. It was as if his body knew that the power did not originate from himself, thus it reacted so strongly against the Lyra that absorbed into his body. The group had agreed on wearing their white outfits today, the extra layers from their hoodies and coats were enough to provide them the much needed warmth on the chilly night. Lucas realized that his face was still a bit pale, however the light pink hue on his cheeks made him appear much better.

His dark-haired lover remained close by his side, keeping an eye on his condition but not invading his personal space. He knew that Lucas hated if someone regarded him as weak and fragile, and always demanded to be treated in the same manner as the rest of the members. His beautiful, unsuspecting face had always caused their enemies to let down their guard when facing the red-haired man in a battle, a fact that later caused them their downfall. Even without using his powers, Lucas was a formidable opponent to anyone foolish enough to go against him. His bow and arrows were handled with grace and finesse, each shot hitting its mark with the utmost precision. A momentary lapse in concentration would usually find the opponent dead on the ground, a single arrow embedded into their heart.

This time however, the red-haired man chose not to bring his weapon of choice to the meeting, with Lupus too leaving his own sword back at their base. Lucas had a feeling that he would not use his bow and arrows either way, his powers flickering every now and then underneath his own skin, begging to be summoned out into the open. It was as if it was anticipating the arrival of the other party at the meeting, which made him more certain that there would be at least one power user among them. 

The Rowdy Shogun arrived at the mansion later that night, their arrival greeted only by silence and darkness. Lucas procured several light spheres from his palm, helping his teammates to observe the surroundings better and to watch out for hidden traps. Each of the members later took a seat in the living room, waiting for the other party’s arrival in bated breaths. Their mental communication was already set up by Lucas, so that they could converse to each other freely without fear of someone’s eavesdropping. They did not have to wait for so long, as Q-B later announced the arrival of the newcomer while using his scanner pad about 15 minutes after their arrival.

The sight of Astro 9’s members standing in front of him was totally unexpected. Lucas initially wondered whether they were really the one who sent the letter the previous week, or they were there as someone’s representatives. He noted each and every one of the members’ names and commemorated them into his memories, just in case he managed to remember anything important about them. Their seemingly youngest member gained his attention, seeing how the light brown-haired man could not seem to take his eyes off Lupus. When Marine and Joe mentioned something about the younger having a crush on the fire wielder, his head throbbed painfully out of nowhere.

[“He left you yet another flower, right? Of course you’re the one he had a crush on.”]

There was a voice that somehow resembled his own, albeit sounding much younger that kept repeating the same sentence over and over again. Lucas accidentally let out an ‘Eh?’ in their communication link, caught by surprise due to the unknown voice. The two younger members quickly apologized to him, somehow deducing that he was mad that another person was having a crush on his lover. The red-haired man would roll his eyes if he could, he was not that petty, but he refrained from doing so as he was hit by a sense of dejavu. Lupus had looked at him in turn, wondering what about the situation that he found so peculiar. However, he could not provide the dark-haired man a proper response, as he could feel his power bubbling inside him, interestingly enough, not at Aria but the other member of Astro 9, Karasu.

When Itaru had greeted Rowdy Shogun, he could not help but to distrust the leader immediately. The man carried himself confidently, surrounding himself with an air of familiarity and friendliness. However, none of his teammates bought the act, as they continued to watch over the man in an almost hostile manner. Bailey refused to let the other man hinder their meeting, and instead confronted him directly about the content of the letter. Their conversation went back and forth, each of the group refused to back down. And when Itaru decided to mention Lucas' condition and the shadow, which the man dubbed as ‘cien’, the light wielder could have sworn that he heard something snapped in everyone’s mind, Lupus especially. The dark-haired man had moved forward, practically hissing every word that came out of his mouth after that. His lover looked positively livid, and Lucas knew the black gloves that the other man was donning were the only things stopping the man from unleashing his power into the room.

As for Lucas himself, to say he was not surprised would be a lie. However, he had prepared himself for that day, for that moment. The previous week was filled with his thoughts and contemplation on what he would do if someone knew about him and his condition. Unlike his lover, he was far from mad, in fact he was more curious and intrigued especially when Aria, the Oracle was introduced to their group. Listening to Astro 9’s explanation was like rereading an old forgotten storybook, filling in the gaps of his memory that had been haunting him since forever. Everything was still a blur, but he could appreciate the longing feelings of the past that he might have had before. He knew Lupus shared the same sentiment, as the flame wielder had turned quiet beside him, his previous demeanor was nowhere to be found. It was not until Aria mentioned the word ‘starborn child’ that he was hit by another bouts of flashbacks.

[“Baby, I’m sorry, but I have to leave you here.”

“You are the star-born child, and that is why the world needs you more than us.”

“We love you, honey, and we’re sorry for everything.”]

All the remaining doubts had completely vanished from his mind. Lucas knew that there was not a single trace of lies from the stories shared by the members of Astro 9. He was now a step closer in regaining his memories, and his lover seemed to be as excited as he was. But the moment was overturned when Karasu, the ash blond haired man that was observing him from the beginning began to speak. His voice seemed to come from a distant place, beckoning Lucas to follow the owner of the voice to somewhere unknown. The red-haired quickly snapped himself out of it, seeing how some of his teammates were proved to be affected by the voice. Unfortunately, he noticed everything a little bit too late, failing to form a barrier quickly enough to protect his team from Karasu, Itaru and Aria’s powers. He quelled down his panic after unresponsive Lupus beside him, his black eyes turning brown due to Aria’s ability.

He screamed his lover's name as a last resort, before everything turned dark.

-

“Where are we?”

“Take a guess.”

“We’re not in the previous meeting room.”

“Thank you for stating the obvious.”

“So where is this place?”

“Gee, for someone who was supposed to be one of the most skillful power users in the three universes, you sure are dumb.”

“Can you just stop being insufferable for a second and just answer my question?”

The man standing in front of him sighed, muttering lowly under his breath that sounded suspiciously like ‘Why am I stuck with babysitting this kid?’, to which Lucas dutily ignored. He had only spent about half an hour in the company of the ash blond-haired man, but he was already accustomed to the childish antics of the other. 

When Lucas found himself being in a foreign place earlier, his first reaction was to nearly have a full-blown panic attack. There was something in being left alone in an unknown place that scared him to bits, especially when he had flashbacks of his past that fateful day in Old Tokyo. The nightmares did not come often, only when he tired himself too much during the day or overexerted his power during a mission. Those days were the times he sought for his lover’s presence the most, the body heat that enveloped his being after waking up in the middle of the night was the only thing grounding him and anchored him to his reality. His dark-haired lover would pull him into his arms, softly murmuring comforting words of nothing while holding him until the tremors stopped. Sometimes, Lupus would hum beautiful tunes to the songs that he randomly listened to before, hoping that it would be enough to lure the red-haired man back to sleep.

But Lupus was not there at the moment, and Lucas was left to fend the nightmares of his past by himself. He was busy chasing away his dark thoughts when he felt another presence beside him at that place. Karasu, the man with the ability of compulsion, was standing in front of him. The red-haired man immediately summoned his own power, surrounding himself with several light spheres at a record time. His previous hostile feelings towards the man still remained, especially with his previous attempt of compelling the members of Rowdy Shogun into following whatever he suggested. He still could not ascertain their motive, so he decided to form a barrier to protect himself from any other compulsion attempt that came from Karasu.

“Remove your barrier, Lucas, and let’s talk,” said the Astro 9’s member.

“I don’t trust you. I don’t trust the rest of your teammates as well.”

“Alright, suit yourself. You can remain in that flimsy barrier of yours, but please listen to what I have to say to you,” added Karasu. He then launched himself into a full explanation regarding their goals. He shared about Aria, Itaru and himself in the past who had lost their memories when they found themselves arriving at Shin Tokyo. After meeting each other, their memories were improving bit by bit, and their final memories about Lucas and Lupus were only recovered after Aria invaded Lucas’ mind a few weeks prior to this meeting. It turned out that the trio had recognized Lupus and Lucas in their childhood, but he could not disclose any further information as the two Rowdy Shogun’s mrmbers had not fully recovered their memories yet. The trio also knew about the ‘cien’, and Aria  had foreseen some events from the future. He could not disclose the details, but this meeting was held to help Lupus and Lucas to know better of their enemies, so that they would be well prepared  in the future.

Lucas heard Karasu’s explanation in silence, not once he disrupted the man. He let his barrier remain around him in the beginning, as he still felt apprehensive around the ash-blond man. But as time went by, he no longer feel anything. Not even contempt or anger from earlier, or resentment for separating him from his lover and his teammates. He somehow had a feeling that he could trust the other man along with the rest of Astro 9, even when they were the reason he was there in the first place. 

But now he finally understood what their current goals were. He had a feeling that his lover did not share the same sentiment, as he could feel sparks and bursts of Lupus’ power that hinted on his wrath and fury that even managed to transcend into this ‘alternate’ realm that he was brought into. He grimaced, praying that he could wrap this up and get to the dark-haired man as fast as he could as he realized that Lupus’ power was increasing by the seconds, a sign of him losing control. Lupus, please, hang on. Don’t let your emotion overpowered you. Please.

“As of this moment, we are in one of Itaru’s alternate realms,” finally the member of Astro 9 decided to reply to the previous question, facing Lucas while doing so. For someone who was in the presence of another skillful power user, he looked relatively calm and expectant. 

Lucas nodded, already figured as much. He tried to focus on the matter at hand and not at the overwhelming worry for his absent lover. “What’s your reason for bringing me here? You already explained about your motives just now. Why would you go through all these troubles of separating me from Lupus and my teammates?”

“Because we knew that between you and Lupus, you are the level-headed one as compared to him. If we tried to explain to both of you at the same time, your lover would burn our heads off even before we managed to open our mouth,” replied Karasu. Lucas hid a snicker behind his hand, not denying the accusation. “Beside, this was Aria’s idea in the first place, as he claimed he had something important to show to Lupus. Alone.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow at that, curious on what the Oracle meant by that. He was not sure whether that was the best approach after all, as he was worried about his lover’s tendency to be overwhelmed by his own emotion.

“Before you also decide to fry me with your light whatsoever, I want to ask you something. Have you managed to recover your memories after our meeting just now? Did you manage to remember about something, anything at all?” asked Karasu, looking at Lucas pointedly. His face was expectant, like he was truly hoping that the red-haired man managed to remember.

Lucas absently wondered why the other man was donning such a hopeful expression on his face. What kind of answer exactly he expected from me? Was there anything in those memories that would help me understand him better? Karasu’s question made him relive all the flashbacks he had throughout the meeting. The ‘vallende ster’ phenomenon, the ‘cien’, the vision of children wearing white outfits. The short outbursts of images and sounds were not enough to be called as memories, as he still felt as if being in the dark. “I’m sorry if this is not the answer you expected from me, but all I got was random images and voices. I knew that they were probably from my past, but I still.. don’t get the whole picture.”

Karasu slowly nodded, “Fair enough. I didn’t expect you to remember everything in the first place until you have managed to find every single piece for this big puzzle that you and Lupus have. Just treat them as hints that may help you in the future. Both you and Lupus were different from the rest of us after all, so we did not expect you to regain your memories the same way as us.”

“That’s one thing that I did not understand. What’s so different about us as compared to you, Aria, Itaru or the other power users? We are powerful, yes, but so are the three of you. You had used Atria to enhance your power, while we did not have the luxury to do so. At this point, you guys should be the one more powerful than us. Why were you treating us as if we could end this world using our power if we wished so?” asked the red-haired man, a confused expression was donned on his face as he felt genuinely perplexed by Karasu’s behaviour.

The ash blond-haired man smirked, seemingly amused by the question. “That’s because it is possible, hypothetically if both of you wanted to. I wanted to tell you everything, but it’s not the time to do so. For this encounter, I was entrusted by Itaru and Aria to guide you and help you improve your power while the other two were tasked the same with Lupus. So I’ll cut the chase and ask you this: Did you realize that there was something amiss with yourself?”

“What did you mean there’s something wrong with—” Lucas cut himself short, belatedly realizing the implication behind that peculiar question. It was like having an epiphany, his mind felt clear at once. He suddenly understood the reason his condition kept deteriorating all this time. “Is this about the ‘cien’ inside of me?”

“You caught on fast. Yes, Aria foretold us that the ‘cien’ made you weak and depleted any remaining powers inside. That was why we brought Petra, a star core that could give you a temporary burst of power and give you the much needed strength to expel the ‘cien’ for good,” explained Karasu, holding a glowing sphere in both of his hands and showing it to the red-haired man.

“Will that be enough? Even before my body absorbed the ‘cien’ from Lupus, I had been losing my powers gradually. I.. don’t really know how much was left inside of me, if any at all,” asked Lucas, his face downcasted. He knew it was out of his control, but he wished he could do something to prevent it from happening in those previous months.

“Like we had mentioned earlier, the power from a star core is presumed to be much more powerful compared to the Lyra contained in the Atrias. You’ll be fine. But there’s one more thing that I need to ask of you. After you absorbed the power from Petra, I need you to allow yourself to fall under the control of my compulsion,” said Karasu.

The red-haired man had never turned his head so fast in his life. “What?! Why would I do that? What do you want to do to me?” It was almost comical to see Lucas’ face contorted into an expression mixed with horror and disbelief, his eyes were wide but it just enhanced the beauty of their deep red color.

“Calm down, sheesh,” the ash blond man rolled his eyes at the way the light wielder reacted. “Aria said that to preserve your power, it’s better to let me use my compulsion to coax the ‘cien’ out of your body instead of doing it by force. Maybe you still need to force them from your ends, but at least by this method the workload is lessened by half,” he further explained.

Lucas’ expression relaxed immediately, losing its previous tension. He could not help his reaction, as the previous encounter at Shin Tokyo where he was being mind-controlled by the enemy left a bitter taste in his mouth. He hated the way he was made to attack and hurt his own lover in a match. Lupus never blamed him for that, in fact his black-haired lover was worried about Lucas’ injury more than his own. 

But at that moment, Lucas was not against the idea of Karasu helping him, even by letting himself fall under the other’s compulsion. Was it foolish of him to trust another stranger’s words? Maybe. But he no longer feels any kind of malice around the other man and the rest of Astro 9. He genuinely believed that they wanted to help him and Lupus. Turning his body to face Karasu, he nodded in agreement for the other’s previous suggestion.

Karasu handed the Petra to the light wielder wordlessly. Lucas, who had remained indifferent to the star core until now, had become visibly affected by it after holding it in his own hands. He could feel his power reacted to the power source almost needily, eager to absorb all that power that was contained inside the shell it was contained in. The difference between the Lyra and Petra was unmeasurable, as even before properly taking in the power source, he could feel his own body rejuvenating at an unbelievable amount. He spared a glance towards Karasu, who was watching him closely throughout the whole ordeal. The man smiled, silently encouraging him to proceed. Lucas closed his eyes, and brought Petra nearer to his chest.

Almost immediately, the star core began to glow, threads of silver and gold came out of the shell and wound itself around the red-haired man. It remained that way for a few minutes, the illuminating threads were wrapped around Lucas like a cocoon, before they disappeared into nothing. The red-haired man’s body began to glow in turn, lighting up the entire realm the two men were currently in. 

A static noise in his ears disrupted Karasu from watching the magnificent sight. He turned on his communicator, and was greeted with two familiar voices that sounded full of fear and panic. His heart began to fill itself with worry as he remembered Aria’s ridiculous plan to persuade the wolf tamer.

[-Aria, something’s wrong with him.]

[I know.]

[-He was not supposed to act this way. Even with his grief overpowering him, he should still hold some semblance of control on his flames. And did you notice that he did not summon his wolf out?]

[I noticed that. Kogarashi was supposed to be the personification of his feelings and rationality, the control tower of his power. Seeing how he was nowhere in sight, I think something else had taken over him.]

“Or maybe he had finally let the darkness inside him go berserk, you know?” Karasu voiced out his opinion in the link he shared with Aria and Itaru.

[What are you doing here, Karasu?]

“Both of you were making so much commotion in the link that I had to come and check up on you. Looks like he finally went bonkers, huh? I told you this was a bad idea, Aria,” he added. He was still bitter that Aria had completely ignored his own safety in the favor of making his own plan a success. It’s all because of his stupid crush with Lupus. He belatedly remembered his childhood that was spent on accompanying Aria to visit his crush. 

[-Hush, Karasu, we have no time for this. Aria, I’ve told Kane to bring the others out of the mansion with him, along with the other members of Rowdy Shogun just in case. I think they had ended their battles with each other.]

[I think I’ve finally managed to get a glimpse on his mind. Oh, shoot.]

“What?” Karasu asked. Hearing the youngest’s alarmed voice only aggravated his worry, as he knew that nothing could really faze the other man, perk of being the Oracle that was able to see the future. But facing the flame wielder in a battle was like being handed a wild card, there were so many risks of the plan getting haywired. Lupus was strong, insanely so especially when Lucas’ safety was threatened.

[There’s still some leftover ‘cien’ inside him. They were the one making him lose control.]

Karasu nearly cursed out loud when hearing that, but fortunately he managed to hold back. Lupus being under the control of the ‘cien’? That was bad news, indeed. He needed to wrap this thing up with Lucas as quickly as he could and get back to the other two. He hoped he and Lucas managed to get there on time.

[-Aria, you need to exit from there immediately. Karasu, you know what to do. Do your part while me and Aria tried to buy us more time. Go, now!]

The communication link ended with a snap, with the Astro 9’s vocalist being left alone at this side of the realm. He let out a grunt of frustration, and redirecting his attention towards the red-haired man in front of him, he continued to watch the way the Petra depleted itself after fusing completely with the other man’s body.

Karasu knew what usually happened when a power user absorbed any kind of power source they possessed, whether it came from Lyra or a star core like Petra. In fact, he had experienced it himself when he, Aria and Itaru had used Lyra after their first encounter with the Mad Jesters. He saw Itaru and Aria glowed the same way his body did, the light enveloping their bodies in a warm, friendly glow. While for the rest of Astro 9, the Lyra just diffused into their outfits as they were not power users originally.

So there was nothing to prepare him at the sight of the Rowdy Shogun’s member at the end of it. Lucas was blinding, white glow of light radiated out of him instead of the yellow light that Karasu often saw in Aria, Itaru and himself. He assumed the light wielder had summoned his own power too with the additional power from Petra. Lucas’ red hair blowing lightly in the wind, the deep crimson colour turning a bit lighter due to the bright effect of his own power. His red eyes were fixed upon Karasu, hiding a sense of challenge in it. The sight was beautiful, and the ash blond haired man could not tear his own gaze away from the other man.

“Now, what am I going to do with you?” Karasu asked himself, still mesmerized by the sight in front of him. He knew about the nature of Lucas’ power, but to see it with his own eyes was another thing altogether. The light wielder slowly approached Karasu, his eyes were wide as if being unsure on what to do with the overwhelming power in his possession.

“How are you feeling?” Asked Karasu.

“Different, in a good, familiar way. It’s been awhile since I last felt like this, since my power started to gradually decrease several months ago,” replied Lucas, watching his palms fascinatedly. He moved almost comically, like he was afraid of making big grand gestures. “ I felt like a single flick of my fingers would send you flying to the other side.”

Karasu scoffed, amused by the other man’s choice of words. He did not deny it though, as with Lucas’ current strength, his claim was entirely possible. “Are you ready for our next plan? We couldn’t stay here much longer, Itaru and Aria were having difficulties in facing your beloved partner outside there.”

Hearing that, Lucas’ expression turned sombre, solemnly nodding his head. After receiving a sign from Karasu, he listened to the other man’s voice, and voluntarily allowed himself to fall under the effect of compulsion. 

“Come out.”

Lucas’ body jolted forward without warning, seemingly being pulled by an invisible force in front of him. The red-haired man was surprised to experience the full brunt of other’s compulsion. He knew that the vocalist was strong, as previously demonstrated during the meeting. But being 100% under his control was like a reminder of the event in Shin Tokyo. He forced himself to relax, and not let his own power to lash out in retaliation. He could distinctly feel another foreign entity inside of him, being woken up by the commanding voice.

On the other hand, Karasu was seen gritting his teeth, the task proving itself to be quite a feat to be accomplished in such a short time. Even with the light wielder allowing himself to fall under the spell, to compel one of the most powerful power users in the three universes was a tedious and difficult task. He could feel Lucas’ power threatening him even when its master did not wish it to do so. More importantly, he could also feel another sinister source of power residing deep inside Lucas, as if baring its teeth to him indignantly and refusing to come out of its hiding. Not one to easily give up, he tried once again.

“I said, get out!”

Suddenly, massive black shadows erupted out of Lucas and fell on the ground. Lucas gasped in surprise, not expecting to see that huge amount of ‘cien’ coming out of him. Before he got a chance to say anything, his heart began to beat quickly, the force strong and hammering beneath his left chest. He remembered Lupus telling him that he could feel the ‘shadows’ the strongest around that specific area. It seemed like it had managed to wound itself quite tight around Lucas’ heart, refusing to go out without a fight. The red-haired man gripped his shirt tightly, bracing himself against the pain. Beads of sweat ran down his face, making him feel as if he was having a heart attack. 

“Lucas, you need to try to push them out using your own power. The residual ‘cien’ was not that much, but to pull them out was tricky as it had managed to nest itself around your heart. Keep trying while I’ll try to pull them from my end,” exclaimed Karasu, repeating his compulsion attempt over and over again. The light wielder did the same, channelling his newly-found power to the area and trying to push the foreign entity out. It took some time, but the two of them finally managed to completely remove the ‘cien’ from Lucas’ body. Finally, Lucas contained the ‘cien’ in a makeshift barrier and used his light to completely eradicate it.

“Was that all?” asked Lucas. He was a bit breathless at the end of the process, otherwise he was completely unharmed.

“Yes. Are you sure you are strong enough to face Lupus right after this?” 

Lucas just smiled hearing the question, “Lead the way out, Karasu,” he replied.

*

“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars.” – Og Mandino

They were out of the mansion at record time, bursting out of the front door with faces red from the exertion. Lucas could feel the bone-deep coldness that followed him out of the meeting room, its nature too sinister that his power could not help but to react to it aggressively. Not too long after, black flames started to spread out, engulfing the huge mansion and thoroughly burning it down. Karasu had left his side and instead went to his leader, Itaru and Aria, the Oracle, who was kneeling on the ground. The ash-blond man had listened to Itaru’s frantic explanation half-heartedly before he quickly wrapped his arm around the young Oracle. Only then Lucas could see that the young man looked completely frightened, his face was devoid of color with his eyes wide with sheer terror. 

The sight was hauntingly familiar, the red haired man noted with a sinking feeling. He was reminded of the faces of the ones killed by Lupus several years ago when his power first manifested itself. But those men were mere humans, caught in surprise from the unsuspected attack coming from the defenseless boy with a super power. Aria was, is, a power user like the two of them, and a powerful one at that. To see the young man being completely scared out of his mind was unsettling, as it meant that his lover had gone completely out of control. Gripping his hand tightly onto the side of his shirt, he turned his gaze towards the mansion, waiting for the sight of the black-haired man with a bated breath.

A sudden heavy throb of his heart was the only thing he felt to remind him of Lupus’ presence, as the fire had spread to the lawn of the mansion, a subtle hint that the flame wielder was getting nearer. Before he got the chance to warn the others, a blaze of black flame was all he could see before it hit the three Astro 9’s members in front of him right on their chest. The light wielder was glad that the rest of his teammates were standing far behind him, as he was certain that the flame would hit them too. Curiously enough, the flames all but dissipated into thin air when it reached the light wielder, as even in his unconscious state Lupus still managed to protect Lucas even from his own attack.

The black-haired man appeared from the ruins of the burnt mansion, his white outfits did nothing to mask the ominous air surrounding himself. Black flames were all over his body, the tips of the flames slightly swaying in the direction of the wind. However, his face and skin were spared from being burned by the flames, free from scratch and other injury. His eyes were open but unseeing, his irises pitch black as the man  observed his surroundings coldly. He was quiet in his approach, deadly so like a predator waiting to pounce upon its prey. Kogarashi was nowhere to be seen, as Lucas suspected the wolf was detained in his binding due to overwhelming power being released all at once. 

This current state of Lupus was eerily similar to that eventful night a few months ago when the man had lost control of his power out of nowhere. The only difference was that the black-haired man was currently attacking with the sole intention of killing, as compared to that night where his attacks were just to release himself from the barrier made by Lucas. However, the light wielder was worried, because as of that moment he was nowhere as strong as that night. He was not certain that he could stop his lover this time around, judging by the way it took nearly half of his energy just to maintain that barrier around his teammates and the remaining members of Astro 9 at the back.

“What did you guys show him in that alternate realm to make him lose control like this? You are the Oracle, Aria, you should have been able to predict the outcome if you push him to his limit,” asked Lucas to the trio.

The youngest man in question remained silent, his head bowed as if to hide his shame of being unable to predict this outcome even though he was an Oracle. Karasu turned his head away, as if he was afraid his face would give something away. Even the leader, Itaru, did the same. 

Oh.

Lucas finally understood.

“The vision that you showed him just now.. It was about me, wasn’t it?” asked the red-haired man to no one in particular. He was met with more silence, which did nothing but confirm his suspicion. Judging by the way his lover had gone out of his mind, Lucas had an inkling on what the Oracle had envisioned about his future. But he felt nothing but a quiet resignation for his future demise, because truthfully, he felt as if he had known and prepared himself for it since a long time ago even with his lost memories.

“I’m sorry, Lucas,” replied the leader shortly, no further explanation offered by him. The red-haired man chose not to dwell on the matter, and redirected his attention to the familiar figure in front of him. Having himself situated in between the trio and Lupus,  the attacks had temporarily halted as the flame wielder managed to hold himself from hurting his own lover subconsciously. But Lucas knew that it would not last long as he could sense the ‘cien’ inside of Lupus growing restless by the seconds, wanting to consume the man wholly and take over his body. Only then the light wielder realized how similar the ‘cien’ with Lupus’ black flames were, as he was having trouble differentiating their nature during the previous attack. How could it be?

“Move,” said the flame user before pointing his right hand towards the four men. Immediately after, a huge burst of black flames came out of his body and surged towards the men. Lucas had no choice but to promptly form another barrier around them, successfully deflecting the attack. A scream rang out in the area, as the dark-haired man seemed to be agitated by his failure. Another burst of flames was thrown and followed by another, lashing against the barrier incessantly in the hopes of breaking it down. The attacks were seemingly fixated towards the four power users, as the owner had paid no attention to the rest of their teammates standing a distance away from the site. 

Lucas sighed, “I guess there is no use talking about that right now. We need to think of  a way to stop Lupus before he ended up hurting the others.” He stood facing the black-haired man, who showed no sign of recovering his consciousness any time sooner, judging by the bleak empty eyes and the still blazing black flames that covered both of his arms. “It’s unfortunate that none of us possessed power that was offensive in nature to counterattack him. I could use my light, however my offensive power was mild as compared to Lupus’ flame.”

“Didn’t you fight with him at Shin Tokyo previously? If I’m not mistaken your light was enough to overpower him,” asked Aria, his large doe eyes bored straight into the red-haired man. The said man turned to the youngest man in surprise, before his face quickly morphed into an understanding expression. 

“For a moment I forgot that you are an Oracle, Aria. That’s true. However, at that time I mostly stayed unconscious throughout the whole ordeal as I was under control of The Judge. Furthermore, my actions at the time were driven by the ‘cien’ inside of me, so I had no idea how to conjure that huge amount of power out of nowhere,” explained Lucas. His memory of the event at Shin Tokyo was still blurry at best, even with the help from his teammates and his lover to fill in the gaps. In fact he felt some sort of relief of not being able to remember every details as he hated himself at that time for trying to hurt his dark-haired lover, even when he was controlled by someone else.

Karasu went to stand beside the light wielder, his body poised in a defensive posture to brace against Lupus’ future attack. He had no intention to stay behind the red-haired man and just waited to be protected. “You should be able to do it now, as the star core that you consumed previously, Petra, had enough power contained in it. Not to mention there is no more ‘cien’ left inside you as of this moment as we had successfully extracted it all.”

Lucas nodded in understanding, before taking a deep breath. “Alright, I’ll try my best. Itaru, stay alert as I would drop the cue for you to use your illusion right after I managed to subdue Lupus. And please tell our teammates to not approach us lest they were caught in a crossfire,” he finished, taking a glance towards Rowdy Shogun and Astro 9’s members that were watching the power users quartet (minus Lupus) from a distance.

“Got it,” replied Itaru, relaying the message to Kane using his communication earpods. Lucas could hear some of the members voicing out their protests towards his decision, before Goemon and Hades’ voices interjected and calming them down. He knew that  the members had reasons to object, as they now had their own abilities even when it was derived from the Lyra (for Astro 9), or the remnants of his own power (in the case of Rowdy Shogun’s members). However, Lupus’ power was too strong and hostile, especially in his current condition where the owner could not differentiate between friends and foes. 

“Aria, you stand by here with Itaru as I may need your help in creating another vision later to calm him down. Let’s go, Karasu,” said Lucas, stepping forward with his hands on his side with his palms facing outwards. He could feel the tell-tale of his power started to build up, circulating all over his body through his veins. Karasu was right, as it was much easier to summon them now due to the Petra. But will it be enough to defeat his lover, whose flames just kept on flowing out of his body, with smokes and ashes filling up the atmosphere and turning the air acrid? The red-haired man knew that he needed to make sure the other three stayed behind him or else Lupus would waste no time in sending his black fire onto their trajectory  and burning them alive.

True enough, the black-haired fire wielder wasted no time to throw his hands outwards, several bursts of black flames were projected from his palms and moved towards Aria and Itaru in record time. Lucas left a barrier surrounding the two and retaliated with his own light beams as the counterattack. The black flames from Lupus’ arms fell to the ground, forming a circle around its owner and acting as his barrier in turn, causing the light beams to dissipate into nothing. Lucas swore under his breath, seeing how his attacks were practically useless against his lover. He realized his mistakes of holding back just now, as it was still hard for him to attack Lupus earnestly.

It was dark. It was evil. It was pure malice. That was what Lucas felt when facing his lover this time. There was hardly any of those familiar warmth he usually associated with the black-haired man’s fire. Each attack was like a vicious whip that slashed anything that came in his way, as if it’s sole intention was to hurt the others. What exactly did you see, Lupus? Why did you let the darkness consume you up to this point? The red-haired man gritted his teeth in frustration, allowing himself to wallow in despair upon the sight of his lover being engulfed by his flames, with no sign of him stopping anytime soon.

“Lucas.” Aria’s voice suddenly rang in Lucas’ mind. He jolted in surprise, just realizing that the younger man was able to use the mental communication link similar to him. He had half a mind to turn around and ask Aria on his reason to enter his mind, but the said man beat him to it. “Sorry for entering your link uninvited. I had no chance to ask for your permission earlier.”

Lucas lightly shook his head, trying to dispel the younger man’s guilt. “It’s okay, I understand. Since the day you entered my mind when I was at the rooftop, I had an inkling that I was not the only one who could do it.”

“To be fair, I wanted to use Kane’s transmitter, but he’s too far away right now so I had to resort to using this way in the end. As far as I know, there are three people in this world who had this ability.”

Three? Lucas cocked his head to the side upon hearing Aria’s last statement. Before he had a chance to ask further, a black fire blast was sent on his way, successfully diverting his attention. 

“So, do any of you have a proper plan?” asked Lucas to the trio, while dodging another blast of black flames sent in his direction.

“Umm, actually I was hoping you had one in hand, you know, since he’s your lover and all,” replied Karasu sheepishly, ashamed to admit the fact out loud.

“That doesn’t mean I knew how to defeat him in a battle. We’ve only practiced with each other before, but we did not use our full strength and certainly not with the intention of killing each other!” grunted Lucas exasperatedly, producing another big sphere of light and propelling it towards his dark-haired lover. The light sphere collided with a big black fireballs, cancelling each other out in the middle and leaving a massive crater on the ground.

“Just ignore Karasu, he’s practically useless when devising a battle plan. Even Kane is better in that prospect as compared to him.”

Lucas resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He needed to remind himself that Astro 9 spent most of their time as artists, having a completely different lifestyle as compared to the Rowdy Shogun who would jump straight into battle mode at any moment’s notice. 

A guttural growl broke in the midst of the chaos, making all heads turn towards the source. The four power users watched how black flames came out of Lupus’ fingertips, slowly forming a distinct but familiar shape of figure. It was Kogarashi, but there was nothing of it that reminded Lucas of the wolf that he adored so much. The wolf appeared larger than usual, the eyes glinting yellow and big sharp fangs peeking underneath its nuzzle. Deep growls made its way out of the mouth, a sharp reminder that the wolf was no longer able to distinguish friend from foes like its master. As for the flame wielder, he also no longer showed signs of recognizing his own lover, judging by the way his attacks no longer spared Lucas. In fact, the sound he made was unintelligible and no longer humane.

“This is bad. He’s falling deeper under the control of the ‘cien’ the longer we take to stop him.” 

“And now we have to take care of his wolf too.”

“Lucas.” The red-haired man turned and found Kisaragi and Q-B standing just a few feet behind him. Behind them, the rest of the two groups were scattered around them. 

“We wanted to help. Judy, Marine, Marduk, and Joe stayed behind  with Kane. I think it’s better if Aria stayed with them too, so that he would not be injured before we need his powers to calm Lupus later,” said Q-B.

Lucas, who initially wanted to argue, decided against it after seeing the determined looks his teammates were sporting. Aria immediately ran towards Kane and the others, understanding his own position and ability. The fight resumed immediately, with the two groups separated to face Lupus and Kogarashi separately. The black wolf wasted no time before leaping towards the person standing closest to him, which happened to be Sarutobi. Fortunately, the orange-haired man was blessed with good reflex, brandishing his twin katanas to stop the wolf from biting his head off. However, he lost his footing and ended up sprawled on the ground, with the wolf still on top of him. Seeing that, Hajime sent off a bout of electrical charge in the wolf’s direction in an attempt of distraction, with Dill following suit to blast the wolf away using his soundwave. 

“Are you okay?" asked Teku, lending a hand to help Sarutobi up from the ground.

Sarutobi, who had stood up from his previous position, grinned, “Yeah, thanks for that.”

Fighting against Kogarashi was not like fighting a common beast. Apart from its hostile nature, the wolf’s body was engulfed in black flames like its owner. The flames appeared to have a mind of its own, occasionally separating itself from the wolf and attacking at random. Hajime used his electric bolts to try to chain the wolf down, with Sarutobi and Gusk trying to fend against its attack. Dill and Teku blasted off the flames using their sound waves and magnetic forces, with Miya and A-Not using their crossbow and naginata respectively to extinguish the flames out. It was eerily similar how Lupus’ flames were defeated in the same way the ‘cien’ was, but they did not have time to ponder about it. Instead, they continued to barrel on with every swing and slashing of their weapons until no more flames were left around them. Only Kogarashi remained, still standing strong with barely a scratch on him. Kagura attempted to use his chain to tie the wolf down, only for the wolf to shake it off and release itself from the bonds almost immediately.

“This match is pointless. No matter how many times we attacked Kogarashi, he would only return back to life uninjured,” said Kagura.

“It couldn’t be helped. After all, Kogarashi is the manifestation of Lupus’ power, and it would only disappear if its master was defeated,” replied Gusk.

Hajime looked towards Gusk in surprise, “That means…”

“Yes, the only thing we could do now was to fend ourselves from its attack while hoping that the other group could defeat Lupus before our energy depleted,” agreed Sarutobi, gripping his hands tightly on his twin katanas to prepare for another attempt of attack.

“Our only hope now lies in Lucas,” added Miya, his face solemn.

*

If you asked him, Goemon never thought that he would end up facing his own teammate in a battle. In fact, he was still in a state of disbelief, the halberd that he was holding was just moving due to the memory that his body contained. His heart was not in this battle, as he had no intention of hurting the black-haired power user. A brief look at his teammates around him told him that they too, felt the same. The spear that was thrown by Hades never strayed too close to the intended target. Bailey had been swinging his sabre left and right to cut down the black flames, but he did not approach the younger man closer to fight him head on.

His eyes wandered to the rest of them. He could see Travis throwing his daggers around Karasu’s vicinity, protecting the Astro 9’s member. The power user needed to stay close so as to be able to use his compulsion immediately if needed. Kisaragi and Q-B were like a blur of motion, moving too fast for Goemon’s eyes to follow due to their twin-like combined attacks. The gold-sheathed katana belonging to Kisaragi shone whenever it hit the light, while the black sleek katana belonging to Q-B almost invisible when being wielded under the dark night sky. The duo seemed to be the most experienced when facing Lupus’ flames, perk of them being the fire wielder’s partners during their mission. He could the way Hades, Bailey and himself were lagging behind the attacks as compared to the younger members, and he knew the reason behind it. 

“Goemon!”

A hot, searing pain was all he felt before he was flung backwards by a blazing whip of black flames hitting him across his torso. His halberd was thrown aside, and his body hit the pavement with a sickening crunch. The Rowdy Shogun’s leader was sure his bones were broken at several different places, judging by the way his breaths came out shallowly after that. His clothes were singed open, revealing a thin strip of pink flesh underneath blistered due to the rush of the heat. The pain was so severe he nearly blacked out immediately.

“Goemon! Are you okay?” said Bailey, coming up to him and helping him sit up straight. The said man resisted the urge to groan out loud, even though he was pretty sure his expression betrayed the extent of his injury he was sporting. Before he had the chance to reply, he found himself being enveloped by a dome-like barrier, the yellow color of the barrier felt warm and soothing. A blurry color of red passed in front of him, before he saw Lucas standing in front of him and Bailey, throwing his hands forwards with lights ray shooting out of his palms and fingertips towards his own lover.

“Lucas, you don’t have to heal me. I can still fight!” said Goemon in their link.

“You are injured more severely than you think so, Goemon. If I didn’t construct that healing pod, your ribs will end up puncturing your lungs in no time.”

“Even so, you need to conserve your power to fight Lupus,” added Bailey, sticking close to the healing leader to protect him against the oncoming flames.

“I can stil spare some for my friends, and if you insist, I would remove it immediately after your ribs are healed and your life no longer in danger.”

The said leader could not find words to refute the younger man, staying silent and cursing his own weakness.

“Goemon, you were holding back just now, didn’t you?” Lucas asked, making several heads turn towards the red-haired man in the midst of the battle. 

“You don’t have to hold back when fighting him, you know? And you don’t have to feel guilty as well. At this moment, the best way to help Lupus was to come at him at our best ability and defeat him completely, so that he is no longer being controlled by the ‘cien’ inside him. In fact, he would end up hurting more people the longer we let him stay in this condition. That fact would only hurt him after he recovered. So, everyone, please, go against him to the best of your ability to save him.”

Several of the weapons of the Rowdy Shogun’s members began to light up, their owners now wielding them with a newfound determination. The Astro 9’s members who had listened to the light wielder remained silent, admiring the way the other group placed their faith on Lucas.

Aria silently observed the man from a distance, taking in the sight of the light wielder standing strong against the massive black inferno in front of him. If only you could see the way you looked when seeing those words just now. It must have hurt you, to fight against the one person you love the most.

*

He’s running out of time.

Lucas knew he was running out of time. He was the one who was telling his teammates to not hold back in the battle, when in fact he was the one struggling to do so. He was glad that the Petra gave him a boost in his power when he himself felt powerless to even conjure a barrier to protect his friends. Bouts and bouts of light rays, spheres and beams were sent towards his lover’s direction, in the hopes that one of them managed to hit him. His revived power also enabled him to pinpoint his friends’ directions and become attuned to their condition so that he could send a barrier or a healing pod at any time to help them. However, a momentary lapse in concentration was all it took before a massive blast of flames easily overpower his attacks, followed by walls of black flames surrounded him in no time. He could distinctly hear shouts and exclamations of surprise by Travis, Bailey and Karasu before the fire completely cut him off from the surroundings.

Hey there, love. You know you can do better than that.

He could almost hear Lupus’ voice beside him, teasing him due to those lacklustre attacks. The black flames around him slowly inching closer, burning down the grass and everything else in its path. He felt as if his body was inside a furnace, the heat so strong he was positive his skin would simply melted off, leaving only his bare bones. There was no longer the familiar feeling of warmth from the fire, instead it felt sinister and stifling. Lucas could feel his own blood boiling like a liquid fire, the acrid smell of smoke surrounding him left him gasping for air. The flames continued to draw nearer, barely licking the tips of his fingers. His clothes were singed at the corner, and he was left with a few seconds only before getting burned by Lupus’ fire.

Take a deep breath… that’s it, and let it go… 

It appeared as tendrils of light rays first, just a bare peek from his fingertips before the light beams slowly getting stronger, directly coming out of his palms. The light beams became thicker, before the light wielder found himself being surrounded by his light spheres, instantaneously destroying the thick walls of black flames. In fact, his light was overwhelmingly bright that it had lit up the otherwise a very dark night. He could see Travis and Bailey looking at him with wide eyes, probably surprised by his newfound power. Karasu was a few feet away from Travis, a smirk on his face with barely-concealed glee seeing the red-haired man able to escape from the fire walls unscathed.

Let’s try once again. On the count of 3, 2, and 1–

Lucas was reminded of the time when he only had Lupus, being two scrawny boys to fend against the strangers and to brave against some of the coldest nights by themselves at the street. Lupus had been the one to teach him how to use and control his power, even though at that time the dark-haired boy had not discovered yet the existence of his own fire. And now, Lucas was using the same method to manifest his power and to defeat his lover. 

Sending a look towards his friends, he concentrated his power on his palm, covering both of his fists in a bright light. Travis started to move away from the area, followed by the two leaders and the rest. Karasu did the same, though he stayed within the closest distance to the light wielder as compared to the rest. Lucas started off his attacks by sending a large amount of massive light spheres to keep the dark-haired man distracted, before projecting a huge blast of light beams from his palms directly onto the other man’s chest. Lupus was flung backwards by the hit, his flames unable to shield him as it had weakened considerably due to the light spheres before.

Without wasting time, Lucas approached closer with light beams still coming out of his palms. The dark-haired man snarled and growled from his position on the ground, his black flames no longer enveloping his whole body but instead concentrated at the area where Lucas was attacking. The light wielder did not let his guard down, as he conjured a thin barrier surrounding himself just to be on a safe side. He continued to point his light towards Lupus’ chest, the sheer heat from the intense light was enough to sear through a normal human’s chest. But, his lover never belonged to that category, the same as his own self. A few minutes passed by, until the flame wielder no longer had the energy to resist, moans and grunts of pain was all he could hear from the other man. Black, thick liquid were coming out of the dark-haired man’s mouth, a mixture of blood and the byproducts of the ‘cien’ damage inside his body.  Lucas felt as if his own heart was broken by the sight, but he did not relent on his attacks even a bit. 

Just a bit more, Lupus.

Out of a sudden, the black flames stopped coming out of Lupus’ body and instead, black shadows surged out from his chest. The ‘cien’ floated above his body, accumulated itself in front of the light wielder menacingly. Without giving the ‘cien’ a chance to attack, Lucas redirected his light onto its path, the blinding light rays shone through the shadows and disintegrated it into nothing. The red-haired man could see how it was drawn to his light, like a moth towards a light source before the ‘cien’ remnants completely disappeared. He could hear his teammates’ chorus of gleeful shouts, likely due to rapidly disappearing black flames around them. He sent mental notes to Aria, Itaru and Karasu, as it seemed like their help this time was unneeded. He could hear questions after questions being sent to him, asking whether he was injured or he needed help from the rest of them. He shut off the link from his own side, embracing the much needed silence for a while.

Lucas plopped down beside his unconscious lover, slowly taking in the sight of the slightly burnt, beaten-up body with a burnt hole on his shirt from the light beams. He gathered the other man into his arm, but not before he wiped off the black liquid that was smeared all over Lupus’ face. His shaky hands slowly brought the dark-haired man face closer to his own neck, taking in the soft sound of his lover’s breathing to calm his own erratic heartbeats. He silently watched the way Lupus’ chest rising up and down to prove that, yes, he’s alive.

Lucas kissed his lover’s forehead, just a slight brush of his lips while breathing in those scents that he was familiar with from all these years of being together. The red-haired man closed his eyes, and finally fell into a deep sleep with his lover in his arms.

[CHO TOKYO - flashback]

“Die while I can still remember who I am, who I used to be.” ― [ Tan Twan Eng, The Garden of Evening Mists]

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The blood slowly fell down, mixing with the puddle water and coloring the pavement red. There was a tangy and metallic smell in the air, the taste of rustic copper was almost perceivable. Marduk was holding his knife steadily, the blade sharp enough to cut through the skin underneath even when he did not apply any force on it. Even when he was only in his teens, he had ‘trained’ enough to locate the definite location of the carotid artery. The pulsating point at the side of the neck was like a beacon of light to him, and he could cut through it even with his eyes closed. 

So why couldn’t he do the same this time?

The black-haired boy in his chokehold remained unmoving, not losing his composure even when his blood was steadily trickling down his neck, collarbone and finally disappearing underneath his coat. His gaze was directed to his teammates standing a few feet in front of him, particularly towards a red-haired boy standing closest to them both. There were four other teenagers behind him, all appeared to be around the same age as Marduk. They appeared to be more on guard as compared to the two boys, as evidenced by the several weapons in their hands that were held in a tight grip. However, even with the fact that they overnumbered the assassin with the ratio of six to one, it looked as if they were waiting for a signal from the red-haired boy, even when he appeared to be the youngest among them and weapon-less.

Marduk knew he should end this job quickly and get back to his employer. Just a little more pressure on the knife that he was holding at the black-haired boy's neck, to ensure that his injury would be fatal. But he could not bring himself to do so. There was something about this group, these two boys in particular, that made him curious. He felt as if he wanted, needed to know more about them.

“Why are you doing this?” asked the red-haired boy to Marduk.

‘Because I’m an assassin, and that was what I was trained to do,’ he wanted to reply. But he himself was not convinced of the reason.

His late father was also like him, a gun-for-hire, mercenary, assassin, any other words that describe his ‘profession’. He was loyal only to the highest bidder, and the highest bidder would always, always change. Having a son was something he did not expect, or even welcomed in his life. Being attached to someone would only make you weak, the old man would say. He only took the boy in when his partner, Marduk’s mother died of an illness. The boy later was trained in fighting or wielding a weapon to survive in the underground. After his father was killed during an illegal drug transaction at the poorest side of Cho Tokyo, the boy was forced to take over his father’s job as his skills were recognized by his father’s employer. Since then, he had killed both innocent and bad people as long as he was paid to. That was what it took to survive in this world. 

He first heard of the rumors from his employer, who complained about the business not going well due to some ‘interference’ by an unknown group. The group was said to be composed of teenagers, who had deemed themselves as the protector of Cho Tokyo. His boss had scoffed by that time, claiming that those boys were just pests that needed to be destroyed.  However, as more and more illegal transactions failed due to the group, his boss had sent him to teach those teenagers a lesson. 

A report came in saying that the group had arrived at the port, where an illegal transaction of smuggled drugs was ongoing. He had chosen a particularly high ground to better observe over the group and to ascertain his possibility to successfully carry out his mission. Marduk could not deny the skills and abilities of the group, as the transaction was halted immediately and the adults were sent sprawling over the ground after being beaten by four of the teenagers. Curiously enough, two of them did not do anything, in fact they were just watching their friends fighting the low-life goons and crooks. Marduk waited until they finished their business, walking down an alley possibly to go back to their hideous. Four of the teenagers were walking at the front, while the other two, one had black hair while the other had red hair, followed behind. He immediately saw his chance, leaping down the two-storey building he was on and immediately grabbed the black-haired boy’s shirt, pointing his knife towards his neck. His action successfully took the group by surprise, when the five teenagers instantaneously turned around due to the noise. 

And here they were, the red-haired boy’s question agitated him for no reason, making Marduk’s knife slowly inching closer to the junction of the black-haired boy’s neck. His hostage was completely calm, his body laxed under Marduk’s hold and completely betraying the tension surrounding them both. Marduk felt like screaming, asking why the boy was still able to maintain his composure in that situation.

“Lupus, it’s time,” added the red-haired boy, after sensing Marduk’s refusal to answer his previous question.

‘Time for what?’ Marduk wanted to ask before black flames shot out of the black-haired boy’s fingertips. Before he knew it, a black wolf appeared amidst the black flames and immediately leaping towards Marduk. The sudden attack surprised him and caused him to loosen his grip around his hostage and his knife, causing the weapon to fall on the ground. He tried to sit up and grab another one of his knives, but the wolf wasted no time before pinning him to the ground. The sheer size and weight of the black wolf was enough to turn the assassin immobile. Lupus, the black-haired boy, remained at his place in front of Marduk. His gaze was locked on the assassin with his eyes dark and fathomless as if trying to uncover the other’s deepest secrets. 

‘I guess this is where my pathetic life ends,’ thought the assassin.

“Why don’t you join us?” asked Lupus out of a sudden, completely disregarding the side of his neck that was still bleeding lightly from the nick of Marduk’s knife.

The assassin was surprised out of his mind, not expecting the question to be coming out of the boy’s mouth. The other five teenagers appeared as if they knew what the dark-haired boy was thinking, and they all turned towards Marduk in anticipation for his answer. He opened his mouth, trying to formulate some sort of intelligible answer and not just incoherent noises. He failed miserably.

‘I can’t, I shouldn’t. I have to take into account all these body counts that I have accumulated all these years. I can’t just turn over a new leaf all of a sudden,’ Marduk continued to face the turmoil inside him.

“Forget about your past, and join us,” the red-haired boy interrupted his monologue, as if he knew what the older boy was thinking, “After all, we all had our own red ledger that we need to clear up too.”

There was something about him that made Marduk feel curious and wanting to trust him. Finally, he chose to follow his instinct, and place his trust on the red-haired boy.

That was the best decision he ever made in his life.

-

[CHO TOKYO, RS hideout - present time]

Marduk had woken up that morning, feeling sore and heavy all over his body. His right hand slowly slided over his left chest, taking in the way his heart beat rhythmically, no longer erratic due to yesterday’s mishap. He belatedly remembered Hajime’s kind words of reassurance from yesterday, that his electric shock was harmless and would not leave any after effect on him, Marine and Q-B. He and Marine were forced to stay behind with Kane and Judy during their battle with Lupus as their body was still feeling weak from the electric shock, along with Joe to help them both. Q-B was supposed to do the same, but the black-haired man had refused vehemently and claimed that he wanted to go to Lucas’ side by any means.

Aria had joined them after that, with one of Lucas’ barriers following him as a means of protection. The five of them had stayed inside the barrier, the Rowdy Shogun’s members all equipped with their own weapons while trying to protect Kane and Aria. He did not know whether the Oracle had any other gift besides having prophecies and premonition visions, but being the oldest in the makeshift group gave him a sense of responsibility towards the younger ones even when with his injuries from the fight. However, it turned out their group was the safest of all, as Lupus’ fire did not even reach a walking distance around them. 

Marduk had watched the fight from a distance, the way the other two groups fought against Kogarashi and Lupus respectively. He nearly yelled out loud when he saw Sarutobi go down with the wolf on top of him, but luckily the man was uninjured. He knew the group was just stalling time while defending against the wolf, waiting for Lucas to defeat the flame user. 

When the red-haired man reappeared from the confines of the firewalls around him, unscathed, he could hear audible gasp from Marine and Joe, in awe of the light wielder’s power. He too felt the same, as even when he was not actively participating in the fight, the throwing knives that he was wielding had been glowing brightly all the time in response to Lucas’ light. He remembered about the revelation from the Astro 9’s members during their confrontation, basically telling them that they were the reason Lucas’ power became weaker and weaker. How could they face the red-haired man after this? None of them had the intention to steal Lucas’ power from him, and even if they apologized, he had a feeling the light wielder never blamed them for it.

Feeling tired of his own thoughts and guilt too early in the morning, Marduk decided to go to the training arena to clear his heads after washing his face. It was still dark outside, no sign of the sun appearing anytime soon. The Rowdy Shogun’s base was quiet, as most of the occupants were still sleeping. It seemed like most of them would sleep in today, judging by the way yesterday’s fight had completely drained their energy. Passing by the common area, he could see some of Astro 9’s members, mainly Teku, Kagura, Hajime, Dill and Kane sleeping on the makeshift bed made of futons and pillows. Aria, Karasu, and Itaru were absent, as the trio likely prefer to rest and recover their energy in the empty bedrooms in the warehouse. 

Marduk tiptoed around the large common area, trying to produce as little noise as possible to avoid waking them up. His steps became faster and lighter, wanting to get to the training arena as fast as possible. His fingers flickered, already feeling the tell-tale of holding his throwing knives and daggers in his palm. There was an itch underneath his skin that he could not scratch, running deep in his veins that nearly turned him crazy. 

Ah. 

He knew that feeling. 

Bloodlust.

It was not a foreign feeling for him. There were instances where he would come back from a mission, his body still high-strung and filled with tension. It usually occurs when he did not participate much during the fights in the recon mission. He could not betray the bloodlust that was deeply ingrained into his body, memories of him being trained as an assassin by his father never stray far from his mind. When reaching their base, he would go straight to the arena to unwind and release all the tension from his body. 

And now he felt the same way. Being unable to participate much during yesterday’s fight caused his resentments and guilts to build up and made his second persona resurface. He was mad at the way the cien had hurt two of his precious teammates. But he felt angrier towards himself for being unable to help them to the best of his ability. There was a voice in his head that kept mocking and laughing at his incompetence. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed several knives and daggers on the table, and turned towards the target board in front of him.

He threw the first knife.

Bullseye.

Another throw, this time with his eyes closed.

Bullseye.

He felt a presence, as if his late father was standing beside him. With his hands shaky from his frustration, he threw another knife.

Bullseye.

“Marduk? Has your injury healed already?”

The said man displaced his gaze from the target board in front him, with three throwing knives embedded deep right in the center of it. Travis was standing at the entrance of the training arena, his eyes solemn and all knowing, as if he knew everything that the older man was feeling. Marduk glanced away, the expression hits too close to home. He saw it in the mirror that morning, when he went to the restroom to wash his face before going down to the arena.

Guilt.

“Yeah, Kane did a good job in healing me using his Atria-infused healing pods. There’s only a few bruises here and there, which I think will disappear in a day or two, give or take,” replied the older man, prying the knives off the board.

Travis walked further into the arena, walking towards the table where his daggers were placed. He lifted one of them and carefully weighed it on his palm. His mind flashed back on yesterday’s event, as it seemed a good night sleep was not able to dispel his worry.

“Marduk, regarding Lucas…” the younger man started, the tremble in his voice was prominent, but Marduk refused to comment on it.

“I know. But we need to wait for the others to talk about it. So, let’s just wait,” replied the older man, redirecting his focus back to the target board.

It took a few more minutes before Travis joined him, his daggers hitting the target board one by one. The two of them continued to practice in silence, letting the sound of their weapons filling the quiet training arena. In a way, it was comforting enough for the two of them.

-

“Aren’t you going to move anytime soon?”

“...”

“My hand is numb already.”

“...”

“Really? Is this how you’re going to be for the rest of the day? You sneak up onto my bed in the middle of the night and until now you still refuse to say anything?”

“...”

Sigh. “Kisaragi.”

“Five more minutes.”

Q-B rolled his eyes, looking at the man lying on his arm beside him. His right arm had turned numb from the way the older man was lying on it the whole night. He was surprised when he woke up in the middle of the night to find the older man deep in sleep while sitting on the chair beside his bed. Why the man was there in the first place, he never knew. Furthermore, Kisaragi’s room was just opposite his own. He knew how uncomfortable it must be to maintain that position in such a long time, so he woke the brown-haired man and told him to properly go to bed. But he did not expect the older man to take that as an invitation to sleep on his bed instead. Since he was completely drained and exhausted due to the fight earlier, Q-B relented and continued his sleep beside the other man.

And now, it was morning with the sun already high up, judging from the way it shone through his windows. The black-haired man could hear more than one voice outside the closed door. The atmosphere in the warehouse seemed to be livelier than the usual, thanks to their guests Astro 9. 

“We need to get up now. It’s already late into the morning already. They will probably laugh at us for being sleepyheads.”

“They’ll understand, especially after what happened yesterday. In fact, I assure you those who woke up early were only our freaky, superhuman-y leaders Hades, Goemon and Bailey too. Marduk too, because he was scary like that,” replied Kisaragi, easily brushing off the younger man’s concern. He let out a wide yawn, and continued, “Though I don’t know anyone among the Astro 9 who shares the same trait. We need to ask them later.”

Q-B snickered, amused with the way the older man managed to blabbered nonsensical things in his lucid state. “That’s a good idea. But to ask them, we need to get up first.” His suggestion was met with no response, in fact the brown-haired man seemed to snuggle closer, holding Q-B wrist tightly in his grasp. “What are you doing?”

Kisaragi let out a breath and replied, “Nothing. Just checking your pulse.”

The hidden implication behind those words lie heavily in the air. You are here with me. You are alive. Hajime’s lightning attack had shocked everyone. Kisaragi could not forget the way the lightning bolts had hit in the centre of the younger’s chest, rendering him fragile in the midst of the battle. It was impossible, after all, for a normal human to survive those kinds of attacks of that scale. What a normal person like him could do to save Q-B in that situation? They were cut off from the outside world, and Lucas was not there to help them. He could only scream Q-B’s name out loud, fervently hoping that it somehow would help him, however futile it was.

It seemed surreal how the black-haired man had turned out to be fine after that, surviving the hit that was supposed to be proven mortal. Q-B had immediately grasped Kisaragi’s hand, acting like an anchor that brought them back to reality and as an reassurance to the older man that he was fine. 

Both of them later wished that the truth behind it was not that cruel. But there was nothing for them to do but to absorb the fact and continue fighting, even in just a short amount of time. That was the reason why Q-B chose to join the fight to save Lupus, as he felt like that was the least that he could do at that time to help Lucas. To repay back for all these times they were unknowingly helped by Lucas.

“Honestly I.. I don’t know how to get out there and face them both. What is the most appropriate thing to say in this situation? Should I thank Lucas for protecting us all this time? Or should I be mad that he chose to endanger himself by doing so?” said Kisaragi, the low timbre of his voice shaky from his frustration. Before he considered himself as partner slash bodyguard for Lucas, the red-haired man was also his best friend.

“From what they explained to us earlier, it was possible that only recently Lucas had known about his powers being transferred to us, and there was a reason why he chose not to tell us. So that means we need to stay calm, and listen to what he has to say. We owe it to him,” replied Q-B. Even when he was one of the youngest, he always managed to keep his composure when needed.

“I get it. Alright, let’s go out and meet them.”

“Kisaragi?”

“Hmm?”

“Can we talk about.. us, later?”

Kisaragi smiled, “Of course.”

-

This was the first time the Rowdy Shogun had guests staying at their hideouts, and you could say that they were a bit excited. The three eldest members had woken that morning, only to be surprised when they saw Marduk and Travis at the training arena. They were joined by Teku, Kagura and Hajime later, each of them skirting around the Rowdy Shogun’s members awkwardly before deciding to help in preparing breakfast. 

The day turned livelier as the younger members started to wake up and filled the warehouse with their loud voices and enthusiastic manner. The power user trio in Astro 9 had woken up late as compared to their group mates, emerging from the bedrooms with tired and haggard appearance. It seemed like the fight had taken a toll on their bodies, as they struggled to compensate for the overuse of their powers with their remaining energy. However, the promise of a wholesome breakfast that morning had improved their mood instantaneously, as the trio had immediately warmed up to the Rowdy Shogun’s members. Due to the large number of occupants, the Rowdy Shogun and Astro 9 ended up eating their breakfast scattered all over the dining area and the common area.  

After breakfast, A-Not, Judy and Kane went out to buy groceries for lunch later. Kagura and Karasu suddenly claimed to be best buddies with Marine, rattling on and on about the best way to stay fit, best training regime, diet and everything. Gusk discarded his previous animosity and hostility and had let his previous admiration of the group resurface. He was asking about Astro 9’s songs and performances to Aria, and surprisingly enough the younger man had completely indulged in answering them. Sarutobi even managed to get the vocalist to promise to send them both the newest copies of their future songs, a feat that surprised and amused Teku to no end. Miya and Hajime were sharing recipes at one point, and the next moment found Hades to silently join their heated discussions of curry ingredients. Kisaragi was surprised to find that he shared the same interests with Dill, and they ended up playing games with Itaru and Q-B after breakfast. Travis had retreated to the rooftop, checking up on his friend’s potted plants as the owner was likely to not be able to do so that day. Joe and Goemon also went to the rooftop, taking care of the two groups’ laundry with the help of Teku.

While waiting for A-Not and the rest to return from their trip to the market, Bailey and Marduk volunteered to check up on the two power users who still had not emerged from their rooms. Before they walked even halfway up the staircase, the light wielder appeared at the top of it, with Lupus following closely behind him. Bailey stuttered, clearly not expecting the two to be walking nonchalantly so early after the fight. It was not like he expected them to be lying still on their beds, but he knew that the battle was one of, if not, the most intensive battle they ever had. The scale was far greater as compared to the one in Shin Tokyo previously. He wanted them to be well rested and completely healed before doing anything that might put a strain on their bodies. 

“Lucas! Lupus! Shouldn’t you stay in bed and rest some more? You shouldn’t move about just yet, especially you, Lupus,” exclaimed Marduk, beating Bailey by the seconds.

“That’s alright, Marduk. We feel fine, a bit tired, yes, but our injuries are all healed already,” consoled the flame user, trying to calm the older pair while continuing to walk down the stairs. He would have done a better job in convincing the duo if not for his dark circle and eye bags under his eyes, completed with a pale complexion. 

“Plus, we are hungry,” added Lucas, smiling cheekily at Marduk. He understood the other’s concern but not further trying to defend their actions. Even without using his power, he knew that the two were worried about his condition along with Lupus’. With that being said, if the calmest member of Rowdy Shogun was already acting like that, he could not imagine the reaction of the rest of his teammates.

As if being summoned, Travis, Kisaragi and Q-B appeared out of nowhere, their video games and watering cans in their hands were casted aside in favor of helping the two power users down, only to be brushed off later. Lupus and Lucas vehemently argued that they could walk just fine without the need of their assistance. They later reached the common area, where various expressions greeted their arrival. Surprise, happiness, guilt, to name a few of them, but ultimately all of their feelings were morphed into one, sheer, unadulterated relief. 

Bailey seemed to be the first one to react, walking forwards and enveloping the duo into a hug. After that, it was like a trigger for the rest of the members of Rowdy Shogun to have a massive group hug, with Astro 9’s members watching the sight fondly from a distance. Travis, Miya, Joe and even A-Not who just returned from the grocery trip shed a few tears of their own, a fact which they would all deny later.

“Are you really going to be okay, Lucas?” greeted Karasu from the entrance of the dining area. The red-haired man in question just nodded, throwing an ‘ok’ sign to the Astro 9’s vocalist. 

Lupus, who was sitting beside his lover, raised an eyebrow to Karasu’s question. He silently questioned the closeness of their relationship even after Lucas already explained the situation properly that morning. The two of them already had a long talk prior to coming down from their rooms, with the light manipulator being the one that did most of the talking. The dark-haired man still felt as if he had a few blackouts in his memories of the fight, but he could feel his body no longer being bound by the cien’s influence. There were still a few things he needed to make sure of, but his hunger had overpowered his thoughts. There was nothing he wanted more at that moment but to stay in bed with his lover beside him, but the grumbling noises that came out of both of their stomachs were too loud to be ignored. He was left with no choice but to go downstairs to search for some food.

Lucas took a seat at the table, with the dark-haired man sitting beside him. It seemed like the lunch was not quite ready yet, as Miya and Hajime had only started to cook in the kitchen. The two of them did not mind, after all it gave them time to meet the others. Lucas even had the opportunity to assess his teammates’ injury and whether they needed help from him to heal them. He took a look at his lover, who was sitting quietly beside him. Lupus was fine, in fact, apart from the exhaustion and fatigue, he had almost little to no injury. The light wielder had always been amazed by Lupus’ flames, as it never failed to protect the dark-haired man all this time. The flames had truly proven loyalty to its master.

Speaking of loyalty, Kogarashi appeared from Lupus’ fingertips, trails of black flames flickered on his fingertips and tapered off at the end of the wolf’s tail. The black wolf appeared to be excited to be summoned out, acting like the overgrown puppy with his tails moving to and fro. Travis and Sarutobi wasted no time to play with the wolf, calling him to their side of the common area. 

The Astro 9’s members were seen observing from a distance, trying to relate the view of the tame wolf playing all over the compound with the one they fought against yesterday. It was not until the wolf quietly came to their side and nudged Aria’s hand affectionately that they truly understood that it was not in Kogarashi’s nature to be hostile and dangerous, except for the one he deemed to be his enemy. Kane and Kagura were ecstatic to join Travis and Sarutobi, and the four of them quickly disappeared to god knows where. 

The flame wielder let out a sigh, as if seeing his wolf getting along well with the others had relieved him from a heavy burden on his back. He was worried that they would hold resentment towards Kogarashi, when in fact the wolf was only acting in response to his unstable condition. Lucas had already explained that the control that the cien had over him was too powerful, turning him into a complete monster. But he knew that the real reason was because of the despair that he felt after seeing Aria’s vision. Even at this moment when he was surrounded by his friends, the warmth of Lucas’ blood and the chill of his lover’s body still overwhelmed his senses. Furthermore, he was unable to tell the truth to Lucas. It was his own burden to bear, not Lucas.

But, that was not all. He knew that the light wielder was hiding something from him. The moment he opened his eyes that morning, the younger man had been present by his side and helping him reorientated back to reality. He could sense Lucas’ power too, flowing out of his lover and enveloping Lupus in that nostalgic warm cocoon that continued to heal him in his sleep. He had missed that feeling, as it had been a while since Lucas was in his top form. 

He could also see the tendrils of Lucas’ light, which was supposed to be invisible to the naked eye, that extended towards the wolf tamer every other second when they had their talk. However, there were moments when the light tendrils recoiled back to its owner and shied away from Lupus, especially when Lucas was talking about their teammates. At first, he thought he had badly injured one of their teammates during the fight, only for the idea to be shot down immediately. But the light manipulator refused to elaborate, making him determined to find out on his own. 

From the moment he went down the stairs until he had lunch later with the others, he could sense an invisible wall between his lover and his teammates. He knew that he and Lucas faced off against Aria and Karasu yesterday, while Itaru monitored everything from outside his illusionary realm. His teammates, on the other hand, were up against the rest of the Astro 9. And something had happened to them during their fight, which he knew nothing of. The fact that Kisaragi and Q-B still had not approached them both was also acting like a glaring signal to him.

Lunch time passed by uneventfully, as much as it could be with 24 people eating their meal at the same time. Lupus was pleasantly surprised to find the Astro 9 was full of cheerful, energetic bunch of people, their previous impressions of coming across as dangerous and untrustworthy long forgotten. All of them got along well, considering the things that happened before this. He and Lucas still needed to have a proper talk with their power users trio after this, as he hoped to find some answers to their lost memories.

“Lucas, can we talk?” Kisaragi said, and Lupus suddenly found himself being surrounded by the same tension from earlier. Not just him, the rest of Rowdy Shogun seemed to tense up at that. Even Astro 9’s members had stopped whatever they were doing at that time and chose to observe everything unfold.

Curiously enough, his lover seemed to be spared from the same sentiment. In fact, he appeared to be full of silent resignation by the way his shoulders drooped and his eyes losing their previous shine on them. This, this was the thing that Lucas had hid from him just now, and it looked like Lupus would finally gain his answers.

“Alright, let’s go to the rooftop,” replied Lucas, still avoiding Kisagi’s eyes.

“Why don’t we talk here, in front of everyone? Since you know, we all played a part in this,” said Kisaragi, his voice gradually increasing in its volume. It was the first time Lupus had seen the cat-lover losing his temper with Lucas. “Or is there something else that you don’t want the rest of us to know?”

“I-I don’t have—”

“We already know about it, Lucas. But the sad thing was that Astro 9 was the one who told us about it. Why—” Kisaragi’s voice broke in the middle of his sentence, “Why don’t you tell us that we were the ones responsible for the loss of your powers all this time?”

Huh?

Lupus halted in his thoughts, as Kisaragi’s statements replayed over and over again in his mind. 

“It’s not your fault to begin with, Kisaragi. So no, I’m not going to acknowledge that it’s your responsibility,” replied Lucas. 

“Wait a minute. What does he mean by that? What aren’t you telling me, Lucas?” Lupus interjected, getting more confused by the minute.

Aria shook his head, trying to pacify the situation. “The reason Lucas’ power has been decreasing all this time was because it was transferred to the rest of the members except you, Lupus. But it was no one’s fault. The extremely volatile nature of Lucas’ powers made it possible for it to do so. He could not stop it even if he wanted to. His only solution is to use one of the star cores to replenish his power temporarily.”

“We understand that. But we only wished that you told us about it, or at least share some of the burden with us,” Q-B intervened.

“When did you find out about this, Lucas?” asked Lupus. 

The light wielder let out a sigh, “Right after the battle at Shin Tokyo. At first, I wasn’t sure but after seeing Marine and Miya’s injury healed without my healing pods, I assumed as much.”

Black flames were dancing around Lupus’ fingertips, a sign of its master’s agitation and frustration. Kogarashi whined lowly beside Kane and Dill, able to sense its master’s distress even from the distance. 

“Lupus, calm down,” said Hades after seeing the dark-haired man’s state, not wanting a repeat of yesterday’s event.

“Even if I did tell all of you, there’s nothing else that you could do. I knew about my power and its nature more than anyone else. This is the only way for me to protect all of you for the last time before my power depleted. So please, don’t blame yourself. Don’t feel guilty for my own selfishness and greed to keep you all safe,” added Lucas.

A deafening silence filled the area, as the statement from the light wielder was clear enough. They all knew that the red-haired man had made his own resolution, and believed in it. Most of the Rowdy Shogun’s members were donning a sombre expression on their faces, finally acknowledging the truth of their situation. A-Not and Marine were holding their naginata and hammer respectively, examining the way the weapon lit up in response.

“I hope that you did not take their anger to your heart, Lucas. Kisaragi and Q-B frequently entrusted to be your partners during missions, that was why among all of us, they felt the guiltiest for not noticing it sooner. Same goes to me, along with Goemon and Hades. We should be the one protecting you instead, as we are the older members in this team. Yet we failed to do so,” said Bailey.

Lucas opened his mouth, trying to console the older man but a look from Goemon stopped him. The leader spoke out loud, his voice carried throughout the area, “Since it came to this, the only thing that we could do as your teammates, friends, and brothers, is to help you in your future fight. We don’t know what will happen in the future, and we still don’t have a clue on what we are up against. But as long as we are still alive and breathing in this world, we would stay at your side, both of you,” said Goemon, redirecting the last part to the two power users.

Lupus threaded his hand through his hair, extinguishing his flames and his anger at the same time. There was an ache in his chest that would not disappear, as the leader’s speech made it clear that their battle in the future would hold so many stakes in it, possibly involving their own lives as well. There were still so many things he wanted to add, but he chose to hold it in and confronted his lover later. He chose to change the subject, as the images of Lucas’ death in Aria’s vision were getting stronger in his mind. “So how about now? Will the star core, Petra that Lucas used yesterday be enough?”

“It is enough if Lucas uses it only for barrier, healing and small-scale fights. But, to fight the cien, it was far from enough. I assumed that he would need to find another star core soon, possibly a stronger one. But as of this moment, we don’t have any in our possession and we are still unable to identify their location even with the help of Aria,” replied Itaru.

“Furthermore, Lucas’ ability is one of a kind. Until you find the one star core that shares the same properties as his power of light, we’re afraid the other star cores would never be enough for him,” said Karasu.

Lucas nodded, already guessing as much. He wanted to ask in detail, but he could sense his lover getting restless beside him due to the recent revelation. “I.. want to talk with Lupus for a while after this. If anyone wants to see us after that, you can find us at the rooftop,” he said. The two of them started to leave the common area, but not before the light wielder enveloping Kisaragi and Travis into a hug. Lupus hugged Q-B too, and left his wolf under Sarutobi’s care. The pair disappeared in the direction of the stairs where it further led to the rooftop, leaving the rest of the members behind them.

-

“Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.” [George Eliot]

“Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“Do I have to? You already know how I think and how I feel about it,” replied his red-haired lover, a hint of defiance hiding under those words.

Lupus snickered, not gracing the other man with a reply. It had been an hour since they arrived at the rooftop, their previous intention of continuing their talk long forgotten. Instead, they spent the whole hour sitting at the edge of the roof in silence, having each other as their own company. The blow of the winter winds hitting on their faces should be cold, but the flames and light sphere conjured by them both had provided them with the much needed warmth. Neither of them wanted to disturb the peaceful ambience they were in, their interlocked hands and the zero space between them were evident to anyone’s watching. They chose not to pressure each other to open up first, as they knew they had their own burden and secrets to be let out in the open. The only difference was that Lucas’ secret was already laid bare by the previous confrontation, and the red-haired man was only waiting for his lover to respond to it. 

“I think you are taking advantage of the fact that I could never, ever, get mad at you. Aren’t you a cunning one?” said Lupus, threading his hand through the silky red-strands of his lover’s hair. Somehow the younger man had ended up resting his head on his shoulder, completely at ease with their current position. 

“We have been together for a long time already, if anything I am allowed to be cunning for all the stuff I had to put up with you,” replied Lucas, rolling his eyes for good measure.

“Alright, alright, you win,” the dark-haired man said, once again ruffling Lucas’ red hair. He took a breath in and finally let out his honest take on the matter. “Truthfully, I initially felt the same as them. Even if there was no turning back time, I wished that I was observant enough to notice about your power. It’s funny when I think about how I had searched everywhere for the solution, when the answer lies directly in front of me. But now, I only felt resigned about the fact that it was already in the past. What I could do for you as of this moment is to help you find another star core, as we need to prevent your power from getting depleted again.”

“I wished the others would stop pondering about it, you know,” said the light-wielder.

“They will, they just need more time for it to sink in. You don’t have to worry so much, love,” replied Lupus, dropping a chaste kiss on the other’s forehead. 

“How about you? Will you tell me about Aria’s vision that you saw last night?” asked Lucas, his curiosity getting bigger by the seconds. “I saw the moment you lost control over your flames, and I knew the fact that the vision that you saw was about me. What is it, Lupus?”

The flame wielder let out a sigh, acknowledging his turn to share his burden. There was no use in beating around the bush, as the red-haired man was anything but persistent. He gathered Lucas into an embrace. “I saw you, lying in a pool of your own blood with holes decorating your body. I feel the chill coming off of your still, lifeless body in my arm,” With both of his hands framing his lover’s face, Lupus continued, “I watched your face, looking pale and beautiful but no sign of those red eyes ever opening again.” The dark-haired man watched how his lover’s eyes fluttered open and close under his gazes, with their red color never failing to mesmerize him. “Aria’s vision was your death at the end of this battle. Tell me how I should react to that, please. How should I react when I was told that there was no escaping fate and the prophecy, no matter how cruel it is going to be?”

“You don’t have to do anything, love. Even when the Oracle had envisioned my end as such, the choice that I’m going to make is still my own, the road that I’m going to take is still my own, and the story that I’m going to write is still my own. My only option is to be someone who would not regret his own decision, and to spend my time living my life to the fullest no matter how long it’s going to be,” A stray tear escaped Lucas’ eye, only for it to be chased away by Lupus’ finger on his cheek, “I always thought that I’m living off a borrowed time period, that the purpose of my life was for this one thing I still haven’t fully figure out yet. The only time I did not think of it was when I am with you.”

“So, are you telling me to accept whatever it is that may happen in the future?” asked Lupus indignantly. 

“Yes, because I am going to accept everything that destiny throws at me in the future. Promise me, Lupus, that you would continue to live on even without me by your side. Can you do that for me?” asked Lucas, his eyes fixed on his lover. 

The dark-haired man nodded, his head buried at the crook of Lucas’ neck. He wished they could stay in that position forever, with him breathing in the familiar heavenly scent of after-rain dewdrops and sunlight belonging to the other. “I promise,” he replied, his voice all choked up and muffled.

-

Unbeknownst to the two, there were two people waiting behind the door to the rooftop, quietly listening to their conversation.

“What are you going to do, Aria? You said you are going to talk with Lupus after this about your feelings,” said Karasu who was leaning on the door, looking at the Oracle standing in front of him. The sight was too familiar, a sense of dejavu washed over him as he was reminded of their childhood where he would accompany the younger Aria to Lupus’ cell in the facility. They were never left alone with the flame wielder as even back then, the owner of the red hair was always present in the cell beside Lupus’.

The Oracle smiled, trying to keep up his last pretense. “Even if I do, there’s no use because in the end, they will find a way to each other again.”

[OLD TOKYO - flashback]

“Sherrock, come here. Look, you have a baby brother now. Come, and say hello.”

“Why is he so small, mama?”

The lady chuckled, her face was practically glowing with happiness even after enduring long hours of labour. 

“Because he was just born, honey. Later, he will grow up as big as you.”

“I can’t wait for it, mama! I want to play with him already.”

“You have to promise that you’ll be a good older brother to him, Sherrock. You have to protect him.”

The three year old boy nodded, his face determined. After seeing his brother stirred in the baby cot, he excitedly peered into it and watched the baby opening his eyes. “Look, papa, mama! His eyes are red! It’s beautiful!”

The boy did not realize the implication of his statements, and what it truly meant for the young parents. Gone were the joy and happiness from both of their faces, as the hospital room was later filled with the quiet cries of his mother.

-

“Papa, there were some scary officers coming to our neighbours’ houses just now. Who are they?”

“They were just looking for something, honey. You don’t have to be afraid of them.”

“I think they are going to come to our house next week.”

“Did they tell you that?”

“No, I heard them thinking about it.”

The 11 year old child fortunately did not notice the way his father’s grip on his shoulders tightened up a bit.

-

“It’s unfair! Why did this happen to us? Why are we the only one who have to suffer?”

“Calm down, dear. You are going to wake up the kids.”

“They are our children, our baby boys, the only ones that we have. And they are telling us to just give them up? Just because they were blessed with some abilities?”

“We know what’s going to happen in the future. Even if we refused, they would end up taking both of them forcefully. There’s nothing else that we could do.”

He heard the way his mother continued to cry, with both of his parents remaining oblivious to the two boys standing outside their door in the middle of the night.

“They said that this is the only way to protect humanity. And I’m sorry instead, for not being able to do more to protect our family.”

Sherrock gripped the hand he was holding tightly, noting the way the small chubby fingers returning the favors. Taking in the sight of the soft silky red hair and the beautiful pair of red eyes belonging to his younger brother, he pulled the boy towards their shared bedroom where the two of them slept together that night.

Somehow he knew, that night would be the last time he spent together with his brother.

-

[BABYLONIUM - present time]

Sherrock walked into the tower and went straight to the receptionist counter, not minding the greetings sent by the security enforcers around him. A holographic AI receptionist was seen at the counter, the image of a young lady wearing all-white outfits with a visor hiding her eyes was portrayed. The AI greeted him once again, bowing a little to show her respect. Her jet black hair was tied up in a high ponytail behind her head, not a single strand was seen out of place. He was not sure whether the hologram was created based on a real human beforehand, or the government just gathered several characteristics that define a perfect human model. He discarded away his curiosity, choosing to focus on the reason why he was there in the first place. Inserting his hand into the pockets of his denim jacket, he brought out a thin, transparent keycard the size of his own palm and gave it to her, an image of a key was seen on the device.

The AI received the device and replied in affirmative, her autotuned voice informing him that it would take a moment to process the key and grant him the access to the said place. After a few minutes, the AI nodded, gesturing to the lobby behind him where a few elevation discs were seen. They were made up of green circular metal rings with transparent center, the size only enough to accommodate one passenger and were seen waiting. However, Sherrock noted, the size of the disc was adjustable as he could see one of them increased in size to accommodate five passengers at once, the metal rings blinking red in color to indicate full capacity. He walked to one of it, causing the color of the ring to immediately change to red. The elevation disc slowly lifted up in the air, taking him with it to his destination. The transparency of the disc might cause vertigo or imbalance in some people, but as he had lived in Babylonium for quite a long time already, Sherrock already felt accustomed to it.

Floor 139, written on a holographic screen appeared briefly, before a programmed voice greeting him a welcome.. A narrow bridge made with clear glass laid upon him, leading the path to a closed door at the end of it. The brown-haired man walked off the disc and made his way across the bridge and stopped directly in front of the door. He did not have to wait long before the door opened, showing Smash standing before him. 

“Finally! You sure take your time coming up here,” said the man, throwing his hand across Sherrock’s shoulder and dragging him inside, closing the door behind him as he went.

Sherrock noticed that he was the last to arrive, as all of his teammates were seen scattered around the penthouse already. Rosso lifted up his right hand in greeting, while Parte was seen watching the televisor with a bored expression on his face, his hand changing the channels every so often. Masato was standing in the middle of the living area, where a 3D holographic map of Babylonium was displayed on it. Chatter was analysing a blueprint of Canopus, the central tower of Babylonium beside the other man. At the very end of the table lay a holographic projection of the cien , several arrows pointing towards it and listing down its nature and characteristics.

“Welcome back, Sherrock,” greeted Zero, the one and only Mad Jesters’ leader. He was holding a mug of freshly brewed coffee in his hand, the smooth, rich scent of roasted beans with a hint of nutty flavour wafted across the vast area. He stood facing the clear glass wall, where he could see the entire view of the Babylonium. The sun was seen at the far bottom line of the horizon, causing the sky to bleed into brilliant orange, red and purple. 

“Sorry that I’m late. I kind of lost track of the time just now,” said Sherrock, his eyes downcasted to show his remorse. There was no other explanation he could give to the man, as he felt that the leader had an inkling on what he was implying. 

As they were fastly approaching the deadline for their final mission, Sherrock had gradually become more and more restless. Too many things were running in his mind about their plan, its implication and the outcome of it, and what it meant for them, for him , in this world. The last few days were the worst, as he was continuously haunted with nightmares from the past. It seemed as if someone was mocking him, cursing off of his incompetence to not be able to keep his promise. The constant burn in his chest told him he was getting nearer to finding him , and that was the only thing that revived his spirit and pushed him to wake up every morning.

True enough, Zero did not ask further than that as the leader’s dark eyes roamed, slowly taking in the sight of the dark circle, eyebags and gauntly appearance of the late newcomer, and finally coming to a conclusion that he was satisfied with. 

“Very well. Let’s start the meeting now,” he said, joining Masato and Chatter at the table. The rest of the Mad Jesters did the same, each taking a seat that encircles around the holographic map on the table. 

“Our plan will consist of several phases; the first one would be about breaking the news to the citizens of the three universe about Canopus’ plan to stop supply of Atrias to Cho Tokyo. We will use the servers in all the three universes to broadcast the information simultaneously for several days straight. My suggestion is that we implant our own virus into the server beforehand, and start hacking into the system from the outside. It will require about 3-4 people to hack the system. Dill and Kane agreed to help me. Ideally, it would be better for us to have more people working on it, but considering we only have two groups in this plan, it couldn’t be helped,” Masato started.

Smash continued, “Phase two will start after the people started to riot to oppose Canopus’ decision. We are hoping there would be a massive scale of riots occurring at the three universes, although there would be low chances for the people of Babylonium to join, considering how stuck up most of them are,” he scoffed. “We are hoping for a peaceful protest actually, just to prevent the risk of mortality among the people. Our aim was only to attract the attention of the leader of Canopus to come out from his office and make a public statement for the people to calm them down. If we managed to coax the leader out, we can expect half of the security forces from Canopus to accompany their leader, thus reducing their strength at the tower by half.”

“Phase three will start immediately after that, where some of us will go to Canopus to fight the remaining enforcers while Sherrock uses the Coordinate to locate the Spica. We’ll use this blueprint of Canopus to guide us,” said Chatter, brandishing the hologram out. “Karasu could help us to compel some of them into submission.”

“Phase 4 will occur at the same time as phase 3, except that we’re going to need more of us in the group to subdue any violent protesters or enforcers. Remember we did not want to hurt any of them, as their purpose was only to create a diversion for us,” added Parte.

“There’s one problem,” interjected Zero, looking towards his teammates with a grave expression on his face. “We need to prepare ourselves for the possibility of the cien attack during the chaos. This is where it’s getting tricky. We need to consider whether to tell the citizens about the shadows or not during the first phase. I would like for all of us to consider it before we execute this plan.”

“Noted, Zero. About phase 4, since our reports stated that the number of mysterious deaths had been increasing lately, we could assume that the cien is getting stronger by the day. We need to allocate most of us into the field to fight it, if somehow by any chance it decides to appear amidst the chaos. Seeing how there would be another Vallende Ster phenomenon in a few days time, it is likely that the day when the cien launching a full scale attack is getting closer as well. Especially if we managed to get the Spica to its rightful owner, right, Sherrock?” asked Rosso to the only one member who stayed silent until now. 

The said man smiled and nodded, his brown hair fluttered with the movement. ‘ Which means his birthday is getting nearer as well,’ thought Sherrock to himself.

“That’s the end of the briefing for the plan. We have about two weeks before its execution. Initially, we planned to do it in one week's time, however Astro 9 requested for us to delay another week as they were currently still recovering from a battle with a certain group,” the leader continued.

“Huh? A fight? What they were thinking in the first place, having a match so close to our deadline? Didn’t they realize this plan takes precedence over everything, and more important than any other petty squabble they have with other people?” sneered Smash, his voice mocking even when he was losing his temper. His tattoo rapidly spread around his body as a result and caused him to change his appearance.

Parte nodded, seemingly agreeing with the metamorphosis man. “They should’ve known better. We already told them we need their help in the plan later.”

“With whom they were fighting in the first place? Surely a fight with mere mortals did not require them to use their power that much, especially for those three people,” asked Rosso, curious about the details of it.

“From the information that we gathered, their opponent was the Rowdy Shogun, a group founded and based in Cho Tokyo. The group was deemed as the silent guardian of its people, but their existence was pretty much kept secret unless to those who directly had a dealing or partnership with the group beforehand. Even when we asked their citizens, they refused to share any information as they were very loyal and protective to the group. It seemed that Rowdy Shogun was held in high esteem by the common people,” explained Masato.

“That’s interesting. It’s unusual for a so-called bouncer group to be loved by their people that much. Any particular reason why Astro 9 had a confrontation with them in the first place?” asked Zero.

“I’m not sure. But reports from several witnesses stated that it was a terrifying match between several power users,” replied Masato. 

Power users.

“Did you say several power users? Does that mean there are power users in the Rowdy Shogun too?” Sherrock interjected, his eyes wide. He was gripping his hands tightly around a circular metal device in his hand, as the statements replayed over and over again in his head. He did not realize his power started to fluctuate, affecting several things around him. Two coffee mugs elevated out of a sudden, the hot black liquid inside were suspended in the air. Several empty chairs were floating around them, defying the force of gravity that was imposed on them. Even the meeting table started to wobble, being held in place solely on the force exerted by Parte on its surface.

“Yes, the possibility is high. Furthermore, there was a spike of the cien’s signature mark during the fight, so it was likely that somehow their fight triggered the cien activity as well,” answered Masato.

“Not just that. It seemed that witnesses said that the area was filled with massive black flames and blinding light rays, making it impossible for them to approach closer. The area was also enclosed with a large dome-shaped barrier with 10 km radius from where the center of the fight took place,” added Chatter, reading out loud the written reports that he was holding. His expression changed, as the implication finally dawned on him. “Sherrock.”

“It was them . It couldn’t be any other person than those two. We need to go to Cho Tokyo now,” Smash interrupted and abruptly stood up from his seat, while Sherrock was still struggling to find his words. The telekinetic’s head was spinning as he felt as if he was dissociating from reality.

He was there. He was close.

A hand gripped his left shoulder, startling Sherrock out of his inner turmoil. Zero was looking at him closely, trying to discern his thoughts silently. The leader sighed, shaking his head to negate Smash’s suggestion just now. Before arguments started to rise among them, the leader justified, “We will, but not now. We received a request from the Jiggy Boys for a meeting in three days.”

“What for?”

“We shall know by then, I guess.”

- 

The Gravity Train was a collaborative project by the governments of Cho Tokyo, Shin Tokyo and Babylonium to build a transportation line that would connect the three universes easily. Lots of funds have been entrusted to the project over the years, mainly coming from Babylonium and Shin Tokyo. Due to the sheer size of Cho Tokyo population and its declining economy, its government could not provide the sufficient funds needed from its end, causing the subway to end its construction at Shin Tokyo.

After the introduction of teleportation pods, also known as the Astroport, as the new alternative of transportation, the popularity of the subway line had been steadily increasing, causing the demands for the train line to decrease by the years. The citizens of Shin Tokyo and Babylonium preferred to use the Astroport, as it consumed less time and more conducive for travelling alone. Finally, the two governments decided to shut down its operation, turning the subway into a means of transportation for goods and commodities only, with human passengers no longer allowed on it.

The seven members of Mad Jesters arrived at one of the stations, their arrival were mainly greeted by the automated voices of the AI operators, telling them the rules and regulations of the subway. Hologram screens were scattered around them, each of them containing the list of the exported and imported goods that will arrive at different times. The station was built with thick metal pillars, with no sign of rusting on it. There was no recent presence of humans there, as the citizens of Babylonium preferred to use their AI or androids to send the goods to the station, not coming down themselves.

“Where are we supposed to meet them?'' asked Rosso, looking at his surroundings interestedly. This was the first time he went to the station, as he had no business using the said service. The same thing applied to most of his teammates, with the exception of Chatter and Parte who worked in Marketing and Production departments in their company, needed to deal directly with the transportation line as required by their job.

“They didn’t specify where, only that they told us to walk along any station and they would know where to find us,” replied Smash. “I swear if that Oracle kid from Astro 9 didn’t vouch for them, I wouldn’t think twice before ignoring their request. This group was quite shady for me.”

Masato brought out an Anti-holo generator to stop the hologram images from functioning, causing the group to only be accompanied by the sound of their breaths and the Atrias as their light source. “Come on, let’s take a walk,” said the black-haired man, the rest of the Mad Jesters following suit.

They ended up walking quite a distance, passing by a number of stations in the way before Parte stopped his group mates from walking further. Apart from superstrength, the man was  able to use his ability to detect the vibrations on the ground. This was to help him calibrate his strength, so that he would not accidentally overexert the force underneath his feet during walking normally and avoid making dents and cracks all over the pavements or worse, collapsing a bridge or a tower. 

The subtle vibrations he detected on the pavements were unfamiliar to him, as it was forceful enough to indicate the strength that lay in the owner of the footsteps, but light enough to show their young age. The seven of them waited for a while, with the footsteps gradually getting louder indicating that the outsiders were getting closer. Not too long after, a group of seven young men appeared in front of them, wearing street-style outfits with bandanas covering the lower half of their faces.

The Mad Jesters had done a fair amount of research on the group, even after Aria’s message that relayed his approval of the said group. Sherrock agreed to use his powers to identify the fairly new group, and after his surveillance he claimed to be unable to detect any abnormalities among the members of the group. The telekinetic however was unable to shake off the feeling of familiarity that surrounds the group, almost resembling that one person. 

“Mad Jesters, thank you for accepting our request for a meeting,” greeted Future, being the leader of the Jiggy Boyz and greeted the other group.

“So what’s the important thing you guys want to share to us that even convinced you to come out of the hiding?” Chatter asked immediately, deciding to not beat around the bush.

“We don’t want to delay anymore when it is already so close to your deadline,” replied Future, taking in the surprised expressions on the Mad Jesters’ faces, “Yes, we knew about your plan for the cien and everything, in courtesy of Aria and the rest of Astro 9. We just want to inform you that we want to help.”

The members of Mad Jesters shared a look between them, their faces wary and in disbelief. “Care to explain your reason to us?” asked Zero.

Future nodded, agreeing to answer the leader. He motioned for X to start explaining, to which the younger man acquiesced. “Let’s start from the very beginning. We came from the same place as you, the Old Tokyo. But, as some of you already noticed, we were not part of The Gifted , as we had no powers or special abilities like the seven of you in Mad Jesters, the trio in Astro 9, or even those two from Rowdy Shogun.” Sherrock startled a bit hearing the last bit, the name of the Rowdy Shogun that had been plaguing his mind these few days made him anxious to know further. 

“I’m sure you guys remembered that fateful day when the rampant effect of the cien finally took over the universe, destroying buildings and taking lives left and right without mercy. There was no place left to hide nor escape, as even the government back then had given up altogether, leaving their people, us, to fend for ourselves. The seven of us, who were just mere orphans at that time, defenseless, hungry, and were left there waiting for the darkness to come for us,” Yuki continued.

“Up to this day, we still remember that one moment when suddenly there was light, shining brightly amidst the dark night sky. It was like a beacon, a warning or a signal to every living being that there was hope after all. But something happened that caused the light to turn haywire and become out of control, invoking BARRAL in the process to contain the said power. The Barral managed to subdue the light in the end, causing the power to disperse and scatter all over the place. Those power remnants ended up in all of us, changing our body and helping us survive the cien. And we escaped to Shin Tokyo, where we decided to stay together and monitor the three universes, where we search for anyone who might need our help,” said Claude.

Floly brought an Atria out, tossing it between his hands, and continued, “Aria and the others found us during our teenage years, where we later agreed to obtain Atrias and Lyras for the unfortunate citizens with the help of the Oracle, in exchange of giving some of the power orbs to Astro 9. We remained in the shadows, helping the needed while keeping secret of our identity. This arrangement with the Astro 9 continued for several years, until… we met up with Rowdy Shogun a few months ago.”

Future turned towards the Mad Jesters, who was standing still and listening to their explanation very carefully. “The reason why we met them was because we wanted to distribute the Atrias to the people of Cho Tokyo as their supply was cut off by Babylonium and their power plants were shut down prematurely. This was due to the red alert issued by Babylonium after some precious artifacts were stolen from its control tower, the Canopus,” he looked at the group with a knowing expression on his face, “which I assume, was your group’s doing.”

Zero just nodded, refusing to elaborate on the matter.

Skeet sighed, “When we first met the Rowdy Shogun, we did not expect there was a power user in the group, let alone two. We only realized at the very end of our meeting, where one of them nearly killed me due to my temper,” he grinned, remembering Lupus who managed to stop his punch at that time, before continuing, “After we got back, we conducted some research on the group, where we later realized that the two of them were part of The Gifted , as the report said that they originated from the Old Tokyo like us.”

“And when Floly said that our scanner could not detect those two’s presences, that was when everything clicked for me,” added Future. “All those years, I was searching for the one who holds the power of that light, that very same person whose power alone was enough to invoke BARRAL on his own, as I felt indebted to them. If possible, I wanted to do everything that I could to help them, in any way possible. So when Floly said that Lucas’ power was able to trick our scanner which was powered by Babylonium’s Lyra, I deduced that there was a possibility that his power was the very same light from that night. We decided to help him, or acting as a support for his group, even when there was no proof that his power was the--”

“It’s true,” Sherrock suddenly said, cutting off Future’s words. There was a slight tremble in his voice that forced the words to come out, a hint of sadness laced within them. The telekinetics were looking downwards, suddenly looking so small even with his impressive height that towered almost everyone in that place. “That was his power, his light.”

“Are you sure about it?” asked Future carefully, as he did not want to tread on any sensitive issue that prompted Sherrock’s sudden change of behavior. 

“Yes, because the one who you are referring to is his one and only baby brother,” replied Zero solemnly.

-

*static noise*

[Itaru?]

[This is Zero.]

[Please send me the coordinates to their base.]

[We’re coming for him.]

*static noise*

Our paths had crossed,

Our fate was intertwined,

Don’t mourn for what we have lost,

Because (together) we were destined.

[CHO TOKYO - present time]

Vallende Ster.

A name given to a special day when there were thousands of stars falling down the orbit, gracing the night sky like a glimmering parade of fireflies, a phenomenon so beautiful it grasped every living being's attention. The breath-taking scenery was promised to be the talk of town for days, as one never knows when it will happen again as it could be a year, a decade, or even a century. That was the reason every universe celebrated the occasion, with the poorest to the richest man alive hoping to get a glimpse of the celestial phenomenon.

It was the same in Cho Tokyo, where Rowdy Shogun was keeping themselves busy for the shooting stars festival. Seeing how the phenomenon was as rare as it came, they planned to celebrate it by preparing a feast and fireworks display for the orphans and the poor children at their base, as the children were likely to be unable to watch the shooting stars phenomenon later at midnight for their own safety.

Bailey, Miya, Joe, Judy and Lucas were in charge of preparing the food, as they already gathered the ingredients since that morning. Hades, Marduk, Marine, and Sarutobi had been tasked with cleaning and decorating their hideout, while Gusk, Travis, and Kisaragi were entrusted with the job to find some firecrackers, flares and fireworks for the children to play. Goemon, Lupus, Q-B, and A-Not went to the orphanages and the streets to meet and gather the children.

Dinner was served at 6 pm that day, with the children eating the prepared food to their heart’s content, their stomachs full and broadly smiling from ear to ear. After that, they played with mini fireworks and firecrackers, lighting up the warehouse with sparks and fire embers. Hades stood on top of one of the watchtowers, where he lighted up various colors of flares that rained down onto the ground. Travis, Miya, Gusk and Sarutobi were having some sort of dance battle, with some of the kids cheering them on and even joining them. There were about five to six children down at their training arena, learning defense skills under the guidance of Bailey, Marine, and Marduk. The rest of Rowdy Shogun lingered around, making sure nobody was hurt amongst the raining sparks from the fireworks.

“Can I join you?”

Lupus looked to his left, his eyes slowly travelled up a lithe body clad in moss green pants and black hoodie with white outlines, the hood lifted up and covering the red strands of his hair, finally stopping when his dark eyes met Lucas’ crimson orbs. It looked as if his lover had just finished taking a shower, judging by the slightly wet tips of his hair, appearing darker as a consequence of it. The flame wielder smiled, scooting over a bit to give space beside him.

“You don’t have to ask, Lucas.”

“Well, it’s not like there’s enough space for me to sit beside you just now, I think I might end up sitting on your lap instead,” Lucas paused, his face contorted as if he just realized something, “On second thought, you probably would’ve liked that, don’t you?”

Lupus laughed, amused on how his lover had come to that conclusion by himself. He had missed this moment, this Lucas, so much. These past few months were the hardest time he had gone through, as he relieved the moment when his lover had fallen sick and losing his power, the battles they had faced, all the new people they met, and the lost memories that they managed to recover. Previously, his lover was like a summer child, all bright smiles and tinkling laughter though not as playful and mischievous as Sarutobi, who never failed to live a day in his life without his pranks and jokes, until his power dwindled down, making the light wielder became more subdued and dispirited.

“Maybe. Why did you come up here though?” asked Lupus. They were sitting on top of an old fire truck, brought into their warehouse a few years ago by Hades, with the frames of its body nearly rusting off and the engine barely working. The rest of them were confused at first on why it was brought there in the first place, but they ended up leaving it as one of the cast-offs collection in the hideouts, apart from the massive samurai statue that stood in the middle of the warehouse, covered in slight scent of copper and metals due to its rusting edges.

“Well, everyone could see your gloomy and brooding face, even from a distance. But they were not brave enough to approach you, so I came here instead,” replied the red-haired man, shrugging a bit. “What were you thinking of?”

“Everything. Nothing,” the dark-haired man sighed, “I don’t know. I just felt that we are nearing the end of this journey we are in, except we are missing just a few bits. It was scary, like we were suspended in this void until we obtained the final piece of our memories. And then, there will be no turning back.”

Lucas hummed in acknowledgement, his gaze was fixed at Sarutobi and Travis who were still dancing in the middle of the warehouse, with Kisaragi and Joe shouting encouragement and praises from the sides. His friends looked happy, a very welcomed change as compared to the lost and miserable faces they had these last few days. The Rowdy Shogun had finally accepted the presence of Lucas’ power inside of them and embraced their newly enhanced strength and abilities, making it easier for them to defeat the cien they encountered during the rounds. 

“That was life, I suppose. You were never supposed to look back on the past, but instead you have to push yourself forward, and move on,” said Lucas. He conjured a small light sphere about the size of his palm, watching how the brightness slowly became more radiant, as if life was breathed into it. The light wielder later released it into the air, the small light ball brightening up the vast space and making the children squealed in delight. “It makes you wonder, what comes next after the fight? What lies beyond the darkness, what is left for us at the end of the tunnel? Will there be peace and happiness for humanity, for our friends, for us both?”

“I guess, it’s up for us to find out later, together,” replied Lupus, his gaze fixed on his red-haired lover, full of warmth and tenderness. “There is this one thing that I’m curious about, if we manage to regain our memories later,” he stopped, making his lover questioningly look at him, “ Your birthday.”

Lucas snorted, his expression turned into one of pure disbelief. “Seriously? Out of all things in this world, and that’s the one thing you want to find out first?”

Lupus smiled, hiding thousands of meanings behind it. “I wanted to properly celebrate it, because it’s the day you were born into this world after all.” 

Any words that Lucas wanted to say died on his lips, as that simple request took him by a surprise. He chose not to reply, and instead resorted to leaving a chaste kiss onto the other’s lips, just a fleeting touch between their lips, fragile and soft. He did not notice the moment he had closed his eyes, getting too lost in the kiss. Lupus’ hand was at the nape of his neck, pulling him closer if possible, even with the nonexistent distance between them. 

Nothing had ever pleased him the way Lupus’ kisses did, each brush of lips and each stroke of tongue against teeth made him feel like a white canvas waiting to be painted on, the painter skillful enough it left him breathless each time. The kiss continued for a while until their separation, with their lips still lingering at each other’s skin in the end, breathing in each other’s scent deep into their senses.

Somehow Lucas understood what his lover meant to do and to have. They had been there for each other for as long as he could remember, since that fateful day years ago. They were friends, until they realized the word did not quite define their complicated feelings later on. They were crushing on each other for an embarrassingly short period of time, as their friends could not tolerate them sending longing glances across the dinner table for so long that they decided to persuade them both to come clean about their feelings. They had promised to stay by each other’s side, and had given everything they had to offer.

Sometimes, Lucas felt as if he had taken a little bit too much from his lover. He had imagined himself tying an imaginary red thread around the other’s little finger, anchoring the dark-haired man to himself and getting rid of any chances for the flame wielder to possess other greatness in his life. He had prevented Lupus from having other fates and destiny written for him, and instead has written the man to be part of his own tragic story. He has taken Lupus’ smiles and laughter for his own safekeeping, just because he had loved Lupus a bit too much to let him go. 

But then, he was reminded of when Lupus would gather him into his arms, in those nights where these morbid thoughts became too loud for him to ignore, and whispered to him words, beautiful words to chase away the demons. I don’t mind. I too, have taken too much of yourself, to become my own. His lover had not said these words out loud, but his action told Lucas so. Maybe only within each other they could find their own salvation.

“Alright, I understand. We’ll get our chance to celebrate it in the future, I’m sure of it,” finally the light wielder replied, feeling content to acknowledge his lover’s request. He glanced towards his left, only realizing that their friends were still celebrating the festival. “What time is it? We still need to take care of the children and the feast after this.”

“Lucas!”

As if hearing Lucas’ thought, a small girl around 8 years of age walked towards the abandoned fire truck, looking up at the two power users sitting on top of it. She called Lucas’ name again, seemingly determined about something.

“Yes, Aika-chan?”

“Could you make some more light spheres for us to play with? We had run out of firecrackers a while ago,” said the girl, her large doe eyes blinking when she asked for the light wielder’s help. Lucas smiled in understanding, immediately conjuring about half a dozen of the said spheres and sending them gravitating around the little girl. She squealed in delight and twirled around to observe the spheres better, her khaki-colored knitted dress flowing around her, the outfit was matched with black leggings and leg warmers to keep her warm. The light user produced about another two dozens of light spheres of varying sizes and sent them to the rest of the children in the warehouse.

When the clock struck 10 pm, the feast came to an end. Rowdy Shogun had issued a curfew time for the citizens of Cho Tokyo a few days prior, as to prevent them from going out of their house late. This was to reduce the possibility of the citizens being attacked by the cien . The children were sent back to their home and the orphanage, with the warning for them to go to sleep immediately. This is to make sure that none of them sneaked out in the middle of the night just to watch the glorious display of lights.

The Rowdy Shogun’s members nearly took two hours to clean up everything, barely making it in time for the shooting stars phenomenon at midnight. The sixteen of them went up the rooftop and waited patiently, holding some drinks and chips in their hands from the feast’s leftover while staring absently at the dark night sky. Once or twice the voices of Kisaragi and Sarutobi rang out in the silence, as the two childhood friends never failed to find a topic to banter on, with Q-B curiously staying close to the cat-lover.

And then, it started. 

At first, it was just a single tiny streak of light, a white strip that passed by so fast, it was only managed to be noticed by Travis. Unfortunately, no one was able to share his enthusiasm, as he was the only one who managed to get a glimpse of the first shooting star.

Then, it finally rained .

Several glistening white lines started to decorate the blackish blue night, the blazing strips were a beautiful contrast to the dark background. It continued to pour and fall, each of the falling stars was following its own trajectory, crossing the vast space within seconds and touching the end of the horizon. A-Not and Judy excitedly counted the number of the stars before they lost track of it, as there were too many for them to count.

“Did you guys know the last Vallende Ster phenomenon occurred exactly 23 years ago?” asked Gusk, still had his eyes fixed on the sky. In fact, all of them mirrored his action, keeping their heads directed to the beautiful display of nature’s magic.

“Was it really? Where did you get the information?” asked Miya.

“Joe and I looked it up just now. They said it was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever seen in the whole century,” replied Gusk.

“More beautiful than this?” asked Lupus, curious about the previous Vallende Ster. if it was true, then it occured when he was at Old Tokyo, though he was not sure how old he was at the time due to his lost memory.

“Well, I still wasn’t born during the last time, so I could not really compare. But they said the falling stars were so numerous in numbers, they almost coalesced together and colored the sky white. They also mentioned the shooting stars were like a spiral display of lights, forming a tunnel-like constellations on the sky and the sight was downright mesmerizing, it almost felt like someone stopped the time at the very moment,” added Joe, reciting what he had read with Gusk beforehand.

“It must have been very beautiful then, to triumph the one currently happening in front of our eyes,” said Lucas, watching how the stars had started to dwindle down, no longer looking like a very vivid downpour of rain. ‘ 23 years ago, huh? I’m guessing that it was about the same year that Lupus and I were born,’ he thought to himself.

“My light. My starborn child. Forgive me for leaving you here--”

A feminine voice came into his mind, again sounded too familiar yet foreign at the same time. The red-haired man looked around, wanting to know whether he was the only one who heard it. Judging by the sight of his friends and his own lover still watching the stars and talking to each other around him confirmed it. ‘Did it came from one of my lost memories?’ He tried to calm himself down, taking deep breaths silently to not alarm the others. However, the voice did not return but instead, another voice resounded.

“The gravity of a shooting star draws it to those who have the same power, and the resulting shockwave awakens them.”

This time, it was a male voice, an old man who sounded strict and almost robotic, as if there was no emotion or feelings left harboured in himself. It sounded like a man who had lost all kinds of sentience and compassion, who never thinks twice to slay one in the name of a cause that he believed in. It sounded like a man he never wanted to meet (again).

Wait a minute.

‘Awakens them? Who exactly, what exactly the ‘it’ refers to?’ asked Lucas to himself, pondering over the sentence silently. A dull thud from a distance answered his question, as he found himself looking down the rooftop to the edge of the barrier that he had put up around their hideout. The rest of the Rowdy Shogun did the same, as they were likely to have heard the sound as well. 

The night appeared to be darker that time, as there was no more source of light to brighten it up, causing the group to be unable to see anything in the beginning. Several light spheres that remained from the feast were sent by Lucas to the edge of the barrier, lighting up the area to ascertain the cause of the sound. They waited for a few seconds before they saw a flash of black whip struck the barrier, rebounded from the edge and dissipated into thin air, as the barrier was strong enough to withstand the sudden attack. However, before each of them managed to let out a sigh of relief, another flash of black strip hit the barrier, followed by another. Marine and Marduk cursed out loud, finally coming to an understanding that they were facing a sudden attack by the cien.

“The gravity of a shooting star draws it to those who have the same power, and the resulting shockwave awakens them,” Lucas repeated out loud, causing Lupus and Hades to turn to him in surprise.

“What did you say, Lucas?” asked the leader. Lupus was standing beside him, peering down the edge precariously with his black flames already dancing on his fingertips, getting himself ready for a fight.

“The cien. I think the Vallende Ster phenomenon had awaken the cien, and made the shadow become drawn to those who possess the same power like the shooting star,” explained Lucas, each word was punctuated buy the sound of dull thuds which were getting louder by the minute, as if the cien was hitting on the barrier relentlessly, wanting to be let inside it.

“And why did they end up coming here to our base instead?” asked Goemon, already formulating battle plans in his mind. It seemed as if they would all be sleeping late again that night.

“My light. My star born child. Forgive me--”

“Because of me, I think,” said Lucas almost absent-mindedly, almost like he did not believe in the statement as well. He did not know where it came from, and how he made that conclusion in the end. But he knew that it was the truth, however illogical it might have sounded, sort of like a silent epiphany that crossed the back of his mind. Saying it out loud only fortified the strength behind the statement, planting it deep at places where he could no longer refute.

“I see,” said Bailey. He and the rest of Rowdy Shogun had known better than to question Lucas’ claim, as they knew that the red-haired man was still in the process of remembering his past, and this moment was one of them. “Well, we don’t have other choices but to defeat them now, do we?” He added, looking towards the two leaders.

Goemon nodded in understanding upon the cue, and immediately sharing his plan, “We’ll separate into two teams, one at the ground floor while the other will be at the rooftop. Ground team will have me, Hades, Bailey, Gusk, Marduk, Lupus, Travis, Sarutobi, Marine, A-Not and Joe. The rest will stay with Lucas here. Grab your weapons first at the training arena before going to your designated area. Kisaragi and Q-B, both of you need to use your guns instead of your katanas for long-range attacks,” he said, and all except Lucas, Lupus and himself started to move, going to the arena. “Lucas, can you hold the barrier while everyone’s getting ready?”

The red-haired man did not reply, instead redirected his attention towards the barrier. He held his palms outwards, and started to concentrate. From a distance, Goemon could see the barrier started to glow brighter, glistening glass shards-like particles shooting out of Lucas’ palm and spreaded out widely, adding another layer in the barrier.

“I’ll wait here with Lucas. Send me a signal from downstairs and I’ll join you immediately,” said Lupus to the leader, as he could easily ride on the back of his wolf to leap off from the top of the building. Goemon left, but not before gripping tightly the flame wielder’s shoulder. ‘ This is not a big deal, we’ll make it through,’ the man seemed to convey.

Lupus summoned Kogarashi in no time, the black flame immediately shaping into the wolf and sticking close to its master. “Let’s get this done, Lucas,” he grinned, and climbed onto the back of the wolf. Even with the massive number of cien surrounding the barrier, with the newfound confidence in everyone’s ability he had no doubt that they could do it. 

The light user just smiled in return, as if his lover’s confidence was contagious. “See you in a bit,” he replied. With that, the dark-haired man leapt off the building, his black flames trailing behind him and almost invisible to the eye due to the dark sky. Lucas distinctly heard the pitter-patter of several footsteps before Kisaragi and Q-B appeared at the door to the rooftop, with Judy right behind them, each of them had a sniper rifle strapped to their back. Miya appeared last, closing the door behind him while his other hand was holding his crossbow. They were all donning a night-vision goggles, no doubt the members of the ground team were the same. Kisaragi approached the red-haired man, and handed a longbow to him. 

Lucas did not need the help of the goggles to help him see the cien better as compared to his friends, as his own power was the better indicator due to its volatile reactivity to it. Same thing applied to his lover, who relied on the flames during a fight. The light wielder quickly established their mental link and made sure everyone was included in it.

“Judging by the sheer amount of cien in front of us, I think it had surrounded the perimeter.  I will stay at the front with Lupus and Joe, while the back will be covered by Goemon, A-Not and Travis. The rest will go to the left and the right sides of the building,” said Hades in their link.

“Lucas, could you watch over the team at the back there? The other four could proceed to cover any sides you choose,” asked Bailey, walking to the right side of the warehouse with Gusk, leaving the left side to be defended by Marine, Marduk and Sarutobi.

And when everyone was already in their position, weapons at hand while their goggles lighting up, Lucas started the countdown to dispel the barrier.

“—4, 3, 2, 1.. The barrier’s down, everyone.”

And they started to cut down everything in their path. As expected, everyone’s skills and abilities had improved tremendously as compared to the last time they faced the cien, making the shadows to be defeated in no time. Their weapons were glowing brightly, slicing across the shadows without delay. Sometimes, they used a grenade infused with Lyra to easily destroy the cien at one swoop. 

The rooftop team was also doing a good job of covering the ground team, as their long-range weapons make it easier for the five to cover for any blindspot of the ground team. The bullets for the sniper rifle and the metal arrows were infused with Lyra, making the cien to become susceptible to the attacks. As for Lucas, he decided to manipulate his light into the shape of arrowheads, and used his longbow to strike down the shadows from a distance.

Bailey and Gusk later joined the team at the back of the hideout after making sure they had cleared the area from the cien. The same thing occurred to the trio at the left side, in which they joined Hades at the frontal side. However, Miya and Judy continued to watch over the two areas in case there was any remaining cien there at the site.

“Right wing cleared. Me and Bailey had joined Goemon and the others. We should be able to defeat the remaining cien here quickly/in no time,” reported Gusk.

“The right wing is clear too,” said Miya.

“Same goes to the left wing. There was no sign of them coming back here,” added Judy.

“We are still facing quite a number of the shadows at the front side. But we are winning, as far as I could tell,” said Sarutobi excitedly, swinging his katana around. 

“Yes, we are winning, but somehow the number here does not reduce by much. In fact, the cien looked as if it was multiplying instead,” said Hades. He appeared unscathed from the battle, just a slight sheen of sweat present on his brows to betray his exhaustion, but there was a lingering worry behind his expression. 

“Lucas, could you come down now?” asked Lupus. Kogarashi had arrived on top of the building, waiting for the red-haired man. 

“Alright, but first I need to reconstruct the barrier around the perimeter, except at the front,” he replied, before getting on the black wolf. 

After the barrier was reconstructed, the ground team had all assembled at the front of the hideout, while the rest of the rooftop team was just getting down the building. 

“Can you sense that?” asked Lupus immediately after his lover’s feet touched the ground, “I think the cien was attacking something apart from us behind the trees.” 

Lucas looked towards where the dark-haired man was indicating, noticing the cien’s erratic and unfocused attacks. “I think we’ve got company. Everyone, step back,” he said, before putting up another layer of barrier in front of him, once again completely cutting off the Rowdy Shogun from the outside. Curiously enough, the cien seemed to have lost interest in fighting their group, and become preoccupied with whatever they were fighting against outside Lucas’ barrier. 

He did not have to wait long, as six figures emerged from the darkness of the night, each of them donning jester masks to hide their faces. They continued to walk leisurely, rapidly approaching the edge of the barrier and not being bothered by the cien trying to attack them. The Rowdy Shogun could see a blur of movement moving around the six figures and finishing off the cien at a speed too fast for normal human follow. 

“That.. is a power user, isn’t it? The one that is currently moving at an enhanced speed,” asked Joe. His question was met with no answer.

The six, no, seven men, now that that man had stopped moving around, stopped directly in front of the barrier, facing Lucas and Lupus who were standing in the middle of the clearing. 

“Parte, Rosso, finish them off,” said one of the masked men, the one with black hair and appeared to be the leader of the group, directing his command to two of his companions. 

A blond-haired man with a short buzz cut turned around, his back now facing towards the Rowdy Shogun. He kneeled on the ground, turned his hands into fists, and struck the ground. A thundering boom sounded out loud, before massive cracks began to appear from underneath his fists and branched out, effectively collapsing the ground and trapping the cien underneath. 

Another man, a red-haired one, pointed his palms downward, electric sparks coming out of his fingertips and later formed into massive electric bolts, travelling underneath the cracks on the ground and obliterating the trapped cien.

“What the heck, both of them are power users too?” asked A-Not in their link.

“The one with the electric bolts reminded me of Hajime, except that his power is much more powerful,” added Kisaragi.

“No, it’s not only the three of them,” said Lupus.

“Huh?”

Lucas slowly breathed out, taking in the way his power reacting to the newcomers. “They’re all power users.”

“What? Are you serious, Lucas?” said Travis. Facing three power users in Astro 9 was bad enough, now they need to fight a group full of power users?

“What do they want with us? Are we going to just wait inside the barrier and ask them?” asked Miya.

As if on cue, the leader, who had commanded his comrades earlier, stepped forward and said, “Could you let down the barrier? We just want to talk.” However, his request was not granted by Lucas, as the red-haired man continued to observe the masked men silently beside Lupus. “Very well.” He snapped his finger, and black smoke began to completely engulf the seven men, hiding them from sight before reappearing inside the barrier a few seconds after. As a result, Lucas’ barrier slowly crumbled, light particles falling around the perimeter and disappeared into nothingness.

The suddenness of the teleportation trick took the Rowdy Shogun by surprise, as they found themselves looking at the seven men with their masks still on. However, before any of them managed to react, the tallest of the group removed his mask, revealing the face of a young man with doe eyes and brown-hair underneath it. He was looking at Lucas with an expression too hard to decipher, a mixture of disbelief and.. longing.

“Lucas, it’s me,” the man said.

Lucas blinked, before everything started to rush in.

Children’s voices and laughter. Broken toys. Parents and helpless goodbyes. Pristine white walls and ceilings of the forsaken facility. Tests and pain (tortures). Apologies and promises. Cold, barren empty cells. Dark-haired boy and black flames. More tests, more screaming, more crying. Apologies and promises. Fire and pain.

Emptiness.

It was like a dark veil had been lifted from Lucas’ mind, slowly receded and exposing his sight to everything. A resounding snap, an instant of recognition, and finally an epiphany passed over him. Pool of tears welled up in his eyes, trapped underneath his eyelashes and slowly falling down the fair cheeks. His pink lips were pursed and bitten red, trying to quell the sobs that were threatening to escape. Sherrock surged forward, disregarding everything in his path and made his way towards the light wielder. He gathered the red-haired man into his arm and tucked the younger man’s head beneath his chin, whispering words of apologies and comfort to Lucas. 

“What took you so long?”

A simple five-words question uttered by the light wielder, but it was the most difficult question Sherrock had to answer. 

I’m here now, Lucas. I’m sorry.

[There is darkness where there is light, orbiting around each other but never mixing, their presences just a shy of touch between each other. However, the light could never sustain itself for so long, surrendering itself to the shadows that are ever looming. And with that comes death and destruction, as there was nothing left could stop the shadows from spreading.

There will come a time when a child is born, with crimson hair and eyes the shade of blood, and skin pale from the winter’s cold. He bears within himself the light, to shine and to radiate, as the stars smile upon him in blessing. And he will shine, the brightest sight one could gaze upon, selfless, relentless, and full of love, to spare the world from facing another darkest night.

And finally, the world would be left with nothing but stardust.]

No one knows exactly where the tale came from, and from whom it was told. But it was spread and shared from one mouth to another, from a mother to her child, spanning across generations until every living human was well acquainted with the story. Some said it was just a story picked from a child’s storybook, a bedtime story to help them sleep easier. Some said it was a prophecy, a symbol of hope that one day the land of man would be free from war and killings, to achieve peace and harmony. 

And that belief was instilled in every citizen of Old Tokyo, whose lives had initially been ruined in wars that stemmed from the greed of men, causing the shadows of the darkness to grow violent. It was not until the shadows nearly wiped out half of the population that their rulers finally decided to cease their meaningless war against each other, and instead combined their forces to stop the darkness once and for all. They decided to build an institution that will accommodate the forces to face the shadows. 

“And, that is where the Gifted comes into the picture,” said Sherrock, his voice sad as if he had cried for the fate of the people he had never met before. 

The Gifted, a name that resembles a blessing, when in fact it was like a cursed crown that was placed onto the head of a child, because with it came a heavy expectation and responsibility. The Gifted consisted of children that were born with abilities or powers that transcends any human being’s normal capability. It is said that the power of a Gifted child came from a star core, the level of power that a child had depended on how much a star decided to bless them with. Their existences are valid but hidden from sight to prevent them from joining the foolish human wars. They had been there since the emergence of the shadows, with some of them no longer children and instead grew old, their powers gradually dwindling by the years. And the governments had sought their help, both the old and the young, in hopes that the darkness could finally be defeated for good.

They failed on their first attempt. And the next. And the next.

Desperation and devastation bled into humanity, as time became a luxury that they could no longer afford to waste. Death tolls and body counts were rising, and the humans became too numb to cry for the loss of their loved ones, each of them could only pray for their own safety as the shadows continued to consume the people without mercy. The authorities continued their search for the Gifted across the globe and sent them to the facility, to train them, to be experimented on, so that only the strongest would survive and fight for humanity. No one fights or questions authority anymore, as everyone believes that one day, the prophecy will come true.

“For three years, father and mother were grateful beyond relief, as I had not shown any sign of power or unique ability in myself. I had lived the life of a normal child, growing up with two loving parents in a warm, comfortable home as compared to the other parents who possibly had lost their child to the authority from their cribs. And then,” Sherrock stopped, turning to look towards his younger brother sitting in front of him, who was already staring back at him. “And then, you were there, born into this world at the same time a Vallende Ster happened, and they called you ‘the starborn child’ as they said the fallen stars on that day had decided to give their blessing to you. You, Lucas, with your red hair and eyes, was an unfamiliar sight, as no one in our family had the same features. Father and mother somehow knew that you were going to have some abilities of your own, especially when your appearance resembled the child in the prophecy.”

Lucas breathed in, slowly taking in the words from the older man—his older brother, whom he only remembered a few hours ago. They were gathered at a common hall, both the Rowdy Shogun and the Mad Jesters, scattered all over the wide area. The reunion between him and Sherrock had taken the Rowdy Shogun by surprise, as no one predicted that the light wielder had an older brother all this time. Lucas had spent a solid hour within his brother’s embrace, finally able to recognize and acknowledge the nostalgic feeling from his past. It was true that Sherrock held the final key to unlock all of his lost memories, but the rest of his friends needed to know the whole truth about them too, hence, the gathering. He turned to look at Lupus beside him and gripped his lover’s left hand tightly, interlacing their fingers together. Lupus had remained quiet since the beginning, as his mind was possibly preoccupied with his own memories. 

Sherrock continued his story, trying hard to hide his smile when he saw the sight of his younger brother and Lupus sitting together in front of him. “Our parents somehow managed to keep the presence of Lucas hidden from the authority for four years. However, for some reason when I was eleven years old, I gained a power of my own, where I managed to read the mind of the enforcer that came to our neighbor’s house. I told our parents about it, and our mother was devastated to know that they needed to give up not just Lucas, but also me as my power had manifested. It was unheard of to see a child’s power manifested at the age of 11, but I did that. When I think about it, I was probably blessed with this power to protect Lucas and to stay by his side, even when we were finally being taken away by the authority.”

“But, after arriving at the facility, the head of the institution had taken one look at Lucas, and decided to take him away from the rest of the Gifted.”

Lucas was taken into an isolation cell located at the other side of the facility, whereas his brother was put together with the other children. Sherrock could not forget the sight of the staff and the enforcers alike when they saw his younger brother, standing in the middle of the room with his crimson hair and eyes, a stark contrast to the blinding white wall of the building. Several gasps left their mouths, their eyes wide as if they could not believe themselves. After finding out that Lucas had the power of light, they were ecstatic beyond relief, quickly ushering the then seven years old boy to the other side of the room and finally, out of Sherrock’s sight. Sherrock had retaliated and put up a fight, demanding to know where they had taken his beloved younger brother. They said that Lucas was put into a special place, and the two of them would be allowed to meet after this. 

“They put me into a cell, where another boy was already occupying the other cell beside it,” said Lucas. “That was where I met Lupus.”

“Why was Lupus put into an isolation cell in the first place? As far as I know, he did not have the same power of light like Lucas, and it was unlikely for him to be the child from the prophecy as well,” asked Travis.

“Lupus’ power.. Was special in its own way. His power was actually a derivative of the shadows, the cien itself,” said Sherrock.

Lupus remembered when the men wearing uniforms came to visit the orphanage, delving deep into a discussion with the head of the orphanage. They came not to introduce new parents for the lost children, and certainly not to adopt a child themselves. No, they came to take the boys and girls away, into an institution for special children. 

Honestly, the dark-haired boy could not care less. He had been alone all this time, unable to even remember who his parents were, only that they had left him at the orphanage when he was only a few days of being alive, bundled in a few layers of clothes in the hope that it was enough to shelter him from the cold before the staff of the orphanage found him on their doorstep. He was raised there, a calm and collected child who never threw a fuss and never quarreled with the other child. He could remain perfectly amicable to both his peers and the adults if demanded to, and never even once retaliated. The head of the orphanage, an old lady with the voice of an angel and a kind smile etched on her face, had loved him and cared for him. She had always wanted the best for him, praying that one day he would be adopted into a kind and loving family that he deserved, but curiously enough no one wanted to do so. 

She had said to him one day, ‘You are a special child, Lupus. There is something beautiful inside you that no one else had. Maybe you are not going to be blessed with a family that you want now, but in the future, you will be given something or someone else entirely, that you will love, cherish and hold on to, and only then you will know true happiness.’

And the dark-haired boy had held on to those words, even when the old lady had given him up to those men, her glistening eyes with unshed tears staring back at him from the door of the orphanage.

At the facility, he was lightly briefed by the staff there, even when the words that they used were too much for a six years old child to understand. Nevertheless, he could understand the word ‘ability’ and ‘power’, and surely, he was not meant to be there? He had no such thing, and had never used any kind of power throughout his stay in the orphanage. It turned out that there were reports of black flame sightings around him when he was placed at the orphanage six years ago. Thus, the head researcher decided to place him into a special cell, where they experimented on him and manifested his black flame, a power that had uncanny resemblance and characteristics to the ‘cien’. The researcher then concluded to train the other Gifted by fighting his flames, as a substitute for the ‘cien’.

It went on for about a year, until they brought another child into the cell beside him, his red hair was the first thing Lupus noticed. And then, his schedule was changed entirely. He was no longer required to produce black flames for the other children, as his flames were for the red-haired boy only. Sometimes, the two of them were trained separately, while on other occasions they were placed in two different rooms. However, it did not mean that it was no less tedious or exhausting as before. In fact, they had demanded him to produce much stronger flames, for the red-haired boy to fight against, until their body could no longer tolerate the physical and mental strain, causing them either to pass out or extremely weakened. They would be healed, brought back to their cell to rest, and the cycle continued the next day.

And in that short period of rest, he had gotten to know the red-haired boy with crimson doe eyes better, finally having a name to call the other boy with. Lucas.

Lupus knew that sometimes, Lucas, who possessed the power of light, would be put into tests far harsher than whatever he had to face before. They had called him the child of the prophecy or the starborn child, but never his real name. And that was the reason Lupus made it his responsibility to remind Lucas of his name, especially in those moments when exhaustion and fatigue began to build up, threatening to consume the other boy wholly.

The dark-haired boy knew that Lucas had an older brother, as he could hear the older boy visiting Lucas once or twice in a week. But, as two boys with powers that basically mirrored each other and were subjected to the same tortures everyday, they only had each other to lean on. 

“From the beginning, I was only allowed to meet up with Lucas once or twice per week, but even then, I needed to walk the long distance to his cell, where I could only talk to him through the metal barricade. Sometimes we could not even talk, as Lucas might already be sleeping by the time I arrived there,” said Sherrock. “Everyone in the facility knew about Lucas and Lupus, but no one had the opportunity to meet them personally, with the exception of me and a few others like Aria, Karasu, Itaru, or even Zero here, who usually accompanied me to meet Lucas.”

“First of all, you need to understand that not all abilities of the Gifted children were the same. There were many Gifted children that were born with straight-forward abilities like electrical charge belonging to Rosso. There were also children that were born with enhanced body capability such as super strength like Parte, sonic speed like Masato, or even Smash’s metamorphosis that allowed him to change his appearance or even copying other people’s powers. Several others had unique ability such as Zero with his teleportation that allowed him to distort the surrounding atmosphere and to produce portals in the gaps between the space for him to traverse through it, along with myself with my ability to remain invisible by producing mirrors-like particles that reflected the images of the surrounding to the passer-by, hiding myself in between,” said Chatter.

“No one among the Gifted had the ability to control powerful elements such as water, wind, fire, earth or anything like that as it was considered to defy the law of nature. The strongest type of ability amongst the Gifted were those who had the power revolving their mind. Itaru, Karasu, Aria, and Sherrock belonged to this group. Itaru and Karasu depended on their mind to create powerful illusion and compulsion against the enemy, the same goes to Sherrock’s telekinesis. Aria was an Oracle and he too could enter someone else’s mind if he wanted to,” said Zero.

“Sometimes, they would bring four of us to observe the tests on Lucas and Lupus, hoping that we could somehow use our power either to subdue Lupus from bringing out his flames, or to command Lucas out of his will to generate bigger, brighter light rays to fight against Lupus’ flames or the cien, even when Lucas already in his limit,” added Sherrock.

“But, that was.. inhumane of them. All of you were just little children at that time!” enraged Kisaragi. 

“The authority had chosen to act as the devil and be inhumane, for the sake of the rest of humanity.”

They were being called again to that forsaken room, where weird devices were being placed around their head to ‘amplify’ their power, as mentioned by the staff before. It was the same routine all over again, waiting until the red-haired boy was pushed to his limit and immediately using their powers to give him one final push before he lost his consciousness. Karasu would use his compulsion, Itaru would create an illusion to trick those two, or Aria would even control the light-wielder’s mind directly. The older boy with telekinesis was not there that day, as they had deemed him to be a liability in the test as he was unable to use his power on his own younger brother. 

There, they got to know about the starborn child and the boy from the shadows, watching how insignificant their abilities were as compared to them both. Did they feel a bit envious? Maybe. But they also knew if their position were reversed, the three of them could never withstand the level of suffering the two had gone through. And thus, Aria decided to leave a flower once in a while to the flame wielder, in the hopes that he would brave through another day. Karasu had done no such thing for the red-haired boy, and instead had silently prayed for his health and safety everytime he accompanied Aria to sneakily visit their cells. Itaru had watched his friends from a distance, hoping that one day, all of them would be free from that hell once and for all, even if they might face a bleak future in the end.

“I could not remember for how long we were there, as we all became increasingly detached from reality and lost track of time. But I had promised Lucas that I would get him out from that facility, no matter how difficult it could be. I had told Zero about it, and we tried to come up with some kind of plans to break out of the place along with the other Gifted children too. However, before we got to execute our plan, something happened at the side of the building where Lucas and Lupus’ cells.”

He was in the same room as his red-haired friend, and that day they were supposed to have a joint test with the other researcher. However, Lucas was not feeling well since that morning, only managing to reply to his question with a shaky, breathy voice across the bar in front of their cells. After the staff had fetched the light wielder from his cell to the test room, he was shocked to find Lucas’ pale and sickly face, his red eyes dimmed and unfocused. His friend was sick, and Lupus was certain that he would not be able to go through the test for even five minutes. He had demanded for his friend to be excused, and he himself was willing to undergo extra tests if only his friend would be allowed to rest in his cell. 

But, they chose to turn a blind eye towards his request.

The next thing he knew, the room was on fire. Trails of black flames erupted from his body and climbed the wall like tendrils of ivy and moses. There was so much anger and rage left in him, taking over the mind of the dark-haired boy. Lupus could no longer keep his calm, and continued to release bouts and bouts of black flames from his body. 

The flames had killed the staff almost immediately, their fleshes were stripped bare and melted, before their bones were singed and charred to dust, being blown away by the wind. The thick, heavy smokes became unbearable, black and grey wisps hiding everything from his sight and turning almost everything monochromatic. The acrid, pungent smell from the burnt materials was overwhelming, invisible dust particles clogging up Lupus’ airway and making him cough incessantly. 

He did not care whether he would die at that place, as long as Lucas was safe. 

He opened his eyes, paying no attention to the way the action made his eyes hurt, tears brimming at the edge due to the thick smoke. He crawled his way to the other side of the room where he knew the red-haired boy was placed. He was certain Lucas was still alive, he would never hurt his friend even when he had lost control over his power earlier. After getting closer, he could see a mop of red hair atop of the boy’s head, his face unmarred except for a bit of soot streaking his left cheek. There was a faint shimmer of light particles seen around him, forming a dome-like barrier that protected the boy from the destruction outside. The boy was unconscious, more because of his ailment rather than the fire and smoke around him, judging by how the barrier was still intact around his body.

“Lucas. Hey, Lucas, wake up.”

The light wielder opened his eyes, the movement sluggish and groggy. There were some questions left unsaid in Lucas’ eyes, however he continued to stare at the dark-haired boy silently.

“You should go too,” because I’m going to destroy everything, was the thing Lupus wanted to add, but did not have the courage to.

“I’ll stay with you.”

And everything faded to black.

“Out of a sudden, they said that a fire had broken out of the other side of the building, and we were required to get out of the building as fast as we could. I tried to get to Lucas, but the fire was too massive and the buildings had started to collapse on themselves, the black flames had melted its wall and pillars like it was nothing. Being one of the older Gifted there made me feel responsible for the younger ones, however I had failed my own brother.”

“Sherrock and I were among the first to be evacuated, along with these five Mad Jesters members. The fire and smoke did not manage to affect us much, and we managed to retain our memories and immediately transported away from Old Tokyo directly to Babylonium. However, for some of the Gifted children who escaped late from the place, they had completely lost their memories, and had taken shelter in various places in Old Tokyo. Itaru, Karasu and Aria were among them,” said Masato. “We did not know what exactly happened to the rest of the Gifted, including Lucas and Lupus. But we knew that the cien had emerged and BARRAL was invoked after that.”

“The combined power of Lucas and mine had drawn the cien to the facility. Initially, we managed to survive the fire and get out of the place, however we were surrounded by cien immediately after that. There was nothing left for us to do but to defend ourselves, but two ten years old fighting against an overwhelming amount of cien proved that it was a bit too much for us to handle. That was when Lucas decided to use all of his light, unrestrained and boundless, nowhere at the level of his training at the facility to obliterate most of the shadows. But his powers became too much for him to handle, and BARRAL was invoked promptly to suppress his light. A massive explosion occurred, and both of us were casted away as a result, losing our memories in the process,” continued Lupus, filling in the gaps of the story over what happened after the incident at the facility. He could pictured the memories on that day very clearly, the images of the two of them as young boys made him feel a bit melancholic

“I… had woken up alone after that in the middle of nowhere, not knowing who I am and why I was there in the first place. The buildings around me were already on fire, yet I was left unscathed and uninjured. There were remnants of the cien nearby, and I was drawn to them with no knowledge on how to fight them. But, somehow, Lupus managed to find me, and we were transported to Cho Tokyo after that,” added Lucas.

Smash nodded, “And that was the reason the Jiggy Boyz felt indebted to Lucas. Because they had received the remnants of Lucas’ power after the BARRAL was invoked.”

“So what’s the deal between Lucas’ power and the star cores?” asked Joe.

“What if we all take a break for a while? All these talks about the past are a bit strenuous for my mind to take in one swoop,” said Marine with a grimace, his fingers lightly massaging his temple.

Sherrock just laughed at that and agreed to the younger man’s suggestion. “We’ll continue after this.”

[There is stardust in your veins. We are literally, ultimately children of the stars. Jocelyn Bell Burnell]

“This is Vela, a star core,” said Zero, placing a spherical glass orb twice the size of his fists on the table. He lifted his right hand, the palm facing towards the sphere. Immediately after, the star core began to glow, the brightness slowly increasing until the lamps in the warehouse became pale in comparison. Tendrils of light from the sphere floated out and infused into the leader’s palm, the man’s body lighting up in turn. It went on for a while until the dark-haired man finally lowered his hand to his side. 

The whole spectacle reminded Rowdy Shogun of the first time Lucas used an Atria to heal himself. Marine, Judy and A-Not watched Zero and Lucas alternatingly, looking excited as they were reminded of those days when they had watched the light wielder using the Atrias a number of times before his body finally rejected the power source a few months ago.

Masato added, “Like what we have told you before, the strength that lay in Gifted children originated from the star core that provided them their powers. The stronger the star core, the stronger their power would be. But to know and to find the said star core was almost impossible, as if trying to find a needle in a haystack. There were more than thousands of star cores that fell to the earth, and not even half of them managed to be discovered by the authority back then in Old Tokyo.” He pulled out a holographic image from a device he was holding, showing the list of star cores to the others.

“But Sherrock was smart enough to find his star core during the escape from the facility, and he managed to take it with him to Babylonium. There, we had met up with the other five, where we agreed to form a group. Curiously enough, the seven of us found out that we were all compatible with Vela, which meant our powers were derived from the same source. So we decided to consume it in small amounts steadily since our arrival in Babylonium 13 years ago, making us stronger than the trio in Astro 9, as a comparison,” said Zero.

“Wasn’t it harmful for your body to take in all that raw power all this time?” asked Gusk. He was reminded of their fight against Astro 9, how it took nearly everything they had to stop their abilities, even when it was derived from their suits and not star cores. He honestly was afraid to figure out how much stronger the Mad Jesters were as of that moment.

“Not really, as we were consuming what we considered a part of our own power,” answered Parte. “Plus, our bodies gradually readapted from the slow process, and we underwent lots of training as well. However, we did not manage to use our powers that much, keeping it only during our training session with each other, not until about a few months before the Red Alert’s incident.” 

“At that time, there were already various signs of the shadows’ attack, especially when we obtained lots of reports regarding the death of the citizens due to unidentifiable circumstances. We decided to use our power to infiltrate and steal valuable artifacts and devices from Babylonium’s government that will help us defend the people against the cien’s attack,” continued Smash.

“However, we later also gained a trustable intel about the possibility of Canopus, the central tower of Babylonium, harboring all of the star cores that they managed to retrieve from Old Tokyo. Thus, we decided to infiltrate the tower, with our sole objective was to retrieve this one artifact that will help us find this one star core in particular. There, we stumbled upon these blueprints, where it showed that the central government had planned to shut down the supply of Atria to Cho Tokyo, sacrificing their people in order to preserve the remaining the Lyras in Shin Tokyo and Babylonium, so that they could increase the chance of defeating the cien for good,” said Rosso, projecting the holographic blueprints to the Rowdy Shogun.

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in, and Hades’ eyes were wide when he understood the implication of the plans.  Goemon was on his feet at once, connecting the dots on everything that had happened in Cho Tokyo all this time. “Are the lives of our people that cheap for them? Just to be used as sacrificial pawns for the sake of the other two universes?” he asked, his voice remained calm even when it had an alarming tone to it.

“We, the Mad Jesters, naturally did not agree with the plan because we knew there was another alternative to defeat the shadows without sacrificing the citizens of Cho Tokyo. We met up with Astro 9 and Jiggy Boyz for this exact reason, while helping them recover their lost memories in the case of Itaru, Karasu and Aria. However, all of these plans would be left in vain if not for the most important part, which was to defeat the cien. And that was where this device, known as the Coordinate, played a vital role in it,” said Chatter, gesturing towards a small, circular, metal device in Sherrock’s tight grip.

The telekinetic lifted his hand on cue, his right palm exposing the bronze-colored device to everyone in the vicinity. His eyebrows slightly furrowed in concentration, before the device floated on air, as if there was no gravity holding it down. He waited until the contraption was a few feet high up in the air before he flicked his right hand to the side, his telekinesis ability dropping the device right down onto Zero’s waiting palm.

Zero closed his hand into a fist, gripping the Coordinate tight before dark blue static charges came out of him in abundance, linking themselves to the star core on the table. “The Coordinate ’s sole purpose was to adjust and align itself with the user’s ability, and it would automatically find any other source of power that shared the same characteristics and nature with the said power user. This meant that a Gifted can use it to locate a star core  that provided them their power originally, and it was very helpful in a way that it could help the Gifted to become stronger. And if we were to make Lucas use the Coordinate later…”

“We could find his own star core,” finished Miya, finally understanding what Zero was implying.

“I had a theory of my own where I believed that Lucas’ power was derived from Spica, the most powerful star core in the whole universe. But we could only confirm it when we are at the Canopus itself, as there were thousands of other star cores retained there,” Sherrock continued, pointing towards several places in Canopus on the holographic blueprint.

Lupus scoffed, “Are you hearing yourself right now?” as if he had enough hearing about the plan.

Sarutobi stepped closer to the flame user, hesitantly putting his hand on the dark-haired man’s shoulder, “Lupus, what are you talking abou--”

“I’m the one who should be asking him that,” the dark-haired man snarled, brushing away the hand while his eyes continued to stare into Sherrock, appearing positively livid and brimming with ire, “Here you are, finding your long lost little brother after 13 years and one of the first thing you did was to put him back into the very reason he suffered in that facility years ago. You want to give him the Coordinate , locate the Spica, telling him to consume all those powers in the very hope that he will defeat the cien , fulfilling those foolish prophecies from decades ago. What kind of brother are you?”

“It wasn’t his intention to--” Zero interjected, trying to explain their situation.

“Rather than talking about all these plans under the pretense of saving humanity, why don’t you just ask him to sign a death warrant for himself instead?”

“LUPUS!”

The sound of a slap echoed in the wide space, filling the warehouse with tension and dread. Kisaragi and Q-B stepped forward, watching the two power users who seemingly caught in a staring contest from the side. Lupus was holding his left cheek, its color slowly turning red due to the blow it received earlier. His dark eyes were fixed onto his lover in front of him, silently questioning his action while still keeping a resolute determination in it, evidently showing that he had no intention to retract his words. Fortunately enough, there was no tell-tale of the flickering black flames that erupted from his fingertips, showing that he still had full control over his power and emotions.

“That was uncalled for, Lupus,” said Lucas, his eyes fixed onto his lover, “and you know it.” Lucas looked as if he slightly regretted his action, judging by the way he kept his right hand close to his side, only to prevent himself hurting the flame user further. However, his eyes remained determined, as he would not tolerate anymore slander sent towards his older brother. “If I agreed to it, it had nothing to do with some prophecies from decades ago. It’s my decision, Lupus.”

Lucas’ words seemed to evoke something in his lover’s memory, as the dark-haired man finally turned his head to the side in defeat. The other Rowdy Shogun’s members silently observed the scene with bated breaths and watchful eyes, waiting for their two power users to calm down and sort their feelings out. In comparison, the Mad Jesters had been on their guard as well, their postures signified their inclination to immediately use their powers if things went south.  The only exception was Sherrock, who looked sad and ridden with guilt after hearing the dark-haired man.

Lucas sighed, knowing that he had to talk to his lover alone. But for now, he needed to do something else first. “Sherrock, can I talk to you for a second?” he asked, his question taking the tall man by surprise. He did not wait for a reply, and instead had led the way upstairs, going straight to the rooftop. After his initial surprise wore off, his brother arrived at his side immediately, taking long strides to keep up with the red-haired man. Having some space and privacy of their own was the only way for them to discuss everything, and Lucas did not want his lover to have another outburst or else the two of them would only do or say something that they would only regret later.

-

Fresh, dewy morning air greeted the arrival of the two brothers at the rooftop. The sun peeked at the horizon, with light orange and yellow hues starting to color the sky and replacing the dark blue dyes from last night. The first ray of sunlight fell onto rows of potted plants at the corner of the rooftop. The light shone directly on the purple flowers of Catmint and Siberian iris, with the Sweet alyssum white flowers becoming a nice contrast in the beautiful scenery. Some of the plants had turned bare and wilted, an unmistakable sign that the winter had arrived. 

The rooftop was originally just an open space at the top of the warehouse, laid bare with only cemented concrete as its floor. They initially had chosen not to put up any barrier or railings around it, however after an episode of young A-Not sleepwalking up to the rooftop one night a few days after he joined the Rowdy Shogun, their two leaders immediately decided to put up sturdy metal railings surrounding the edge. Lucas had asked for their permission to have his own garden then, with Hades agreeing to it while bringing along some of his own plants for the garden. Thus, it started a chain of reaction among the rest of the members, each of them choosing their own corner and place to have and design. A hammock, a set of tables and chairs, a makeshift clothing line, a grill for barbecue, a patio, were some of the things they brought up there, turning the place into a comfy hangout. 

Lucas realized he still had not gotten a wink of sleep yet since the previous two days, the Vallende Ster phenomenon and the cien attack from last night had become a blur of memories ever since he met his brother. He could almost feel an invisible force behind his eyelids, dragging its weight down and making him wish he was in the bed instead. His movements were sluggish and slow, as he felt as if using most of his energy just to take a single step. There was nothing else he wished to do at that moment, but this talk with Sherrock took precedence over his fatigue. He walked to the end of the rooftop, unlocking a small gate at the metal railings and finally sitting down with his legs dangling over the edge. His brother followed suit, sitting beside him without much fuss.

“13 years huh? Can’t believe time flew by so fast,” Lucas started, wisp of white smoke coming out of his mouth due to the chill of the winter morning. He rubbed his hands together, blaming himself for forgetting to grab some warm clothes before coming out there. He decided to produce some light spheres instead, hoping that the warmth from the light was enough for them both.

Sherrock watched the floating spheres around him in a poorly-hidden fascination, taking in the much needed warmth they were emitting close to his body at the same time. “I’m sorry for not finding you sooner,” he replied, his voice low.

Lucas shook his head, “You have nothing to apologize for. I know it must have been hard for you all these years, being able to remember everything from the past yet helpless to do anything about it,” he smiled, before adding, “In comparison, my whole life had been a blessing in disguise. I found Rowdy Shogun, stayed with them, grew up under their care and love instead. My forgotten memories became a blessing instead, as I paid no attention on how to regain it back, and chose to live in ignorance. So I’m the one who should apologize to you, for not trying harder all this time.”

“It doesn’t matter. You deserved all the happiness that you could get after all those things they made you go through,” Sherrock replied, and it was nothing but the truth. He felt no qualms in letting his brother to live in that life for how long as he wanted, but the imminent danger that the cien brought had slapped some cold, harsh truths right onto his face. There was nothing but death and destruction that awaits them in the future, if they left the cien be. He could not do it alone, and even with the combination of powers from Mad Jesters and the trio from Astro 9, it would never be enough.

They needed Lucas’ help.

Lucas chuckled, the sound almost childish and unlike his usual laughters. His gaze turned wistful and solemn after that, the change of expression was immediate and taking a complete 180 degrees turn from before. “My happiness could only last up until this point, I guess. Fate would not allow me to retain it much longer, given that the universes were on stake.”

“And yet Fate cruelly decided to use your life as a bargaining chip in the game,” Sherrock said, hiding his head in between his arms. “Do you know that ever since you were born, I had prayed and prayed that your hair and eyes would change their color? I had wished it so vehemently, God must have been tired to listen to my request. I wished that you were not the child of the prophecy, that it was me instead that had been born with your power. I never stopped praying, even when we were at the facility, after the BARRAL incidents, up until now. I am your older brother, I should have been the one to shoulder those responsibilities.”

Lucas dragged away his brother’s hands and cupped Sherrock’s cheeks, looking straight into the telekinetic’s eyes, “Our roles would be reversed by then, but it would be me instead, as your little brother, trying to take some of the loads off your shoulder, or even fight against the world for you to have a chance of happiness. See, Sherrock? We would have been back to square one. It doesn't matter who the prophesied child is going to be, what matters is the outcome of it.”

The ending is always the same, and that similarity is that it ends.

“It might have not been us, or we might even be born in this alternate reality where there was no cien, no powers, nothing, just us living a normal life with our friends. But we are here, in this world, a world that would be left with nothing if we did not do everything that we could,” the light wielder added.

Sherrock’s brown eyes started to glisten, tears brimming as the telekinetic tried to put the last effort of resistance towards his brother’s reasoning. “But he would lose you in the process, they all would. Is it worth it?”

At that, the red-haired man seemingly became lost at words for a few seconds, before he cleared his throats as an attempt to mask his surprise, “Lupus understood the limited choices and time that we had, more than anyone else here. That was the reason he did not lose control over his powers earlier, even when he was mad at you,” he replied, a sad smile decorating his face. “I’ve talked to him about this before, so I knew he would respect my decision, regardless what it might have caused.”

“You really love him, don’t you?” Sherrock’s words sounded more like a statement rather than a question, a mere observation that he had done over his younger brother.

Lucas sighed, as if that fact had become too heavy for him to bear. “With everything that I have.”

-

“Sherrock, care to join us for some breakfast and coffee?”

A voice stopped the telekinetic from walking down the staircase, coming from an archway that led to the kitchen on the ground floor. A blond-haired man walked out of the kitchen, bringing some bread and coffee in his hands. He recognized the man to be Bailey, one of the oldest members in Rowdy Shogun. For the lack of better things to do, he agreed to the offer, realizing that he did not know where else to go in that warehouse. 

He noticed that his members were absent from the hall they were gathered earlier, the meeting possibly being adjourned after he and Lucas went to the rooftop. He presumed the Mad Jesters had retreated to the prepared rooms or resting spaces to catch some rest. After following behind Bailey, they finally arrived at the dining area, and fortunately Zero and Smash were already there, along with Hades, Goemon, Miya, Marine and Travis. Smash threw a questioning look at him, silently trying to ask about his condition. 

“How’s the talk with Lucas? Did you manage to clear everything’s up?” asked Goemon immediately after the telekinetic took a seat in front of him. Bailey subtly nudged him from his side, as if to warn the leader to not further ask rash, imposing questions. Sherrock chuckled, trying to brush off Bailey’s worries.

“It went well. We talked about a great deal of things,” he shortly replied. He accepted a cup of hot coffee given by Miya, taking a sip of the aromatic, bitter liquid that instantaneously sharpened his senses and alleviated his fatigue just for a bit. 

“Did he seem overwhelmed by everything that you told him? I mean, recovering his memories, remembering about you as his brother, himself as the child of prophecy, and those other things.. It might have been too much for him to take in in the span of a day,” asked Travis.

Sherrock shrugged, remembering his brother’s demeanor throughout their talk at the rooftop. “He looked fine, in fact he looked as if--”

“As if he was ready for anything that the world decided to throw at him?” Goemon interjected, “Sounds familiar, indeed. He did not even break a sweat over the prospects of his future demise, for heaven’s sake.”

Smash looked around the table curiously, noticing the Rowdy Shogun’s expressions. “Was this a common occurrence for Lucas?”

Hades nodded, confirming the other’s question. “Ever since they joined the three of us, Lupus and Lucas were very independent and matured beyond their ages. They never let the fact of their forgotten memories hinder them, and they were never afraid of the enemies that we fought against at that time even when they were very young at that time. When the other members joined the group a few years after that, they were the one who helped them becoming more open and made them feel as if they belonged here.”

“That’s what happened to Marine as well,” snickered Goemon, looking towards Marine. The three Mad Jesters turned towards the said man as well, wanting him to elaborate on the matter.

“Before I joined Rowdy Shogun, I was just a helper at a shop. However, one day I stumbled upon Lucas at the back alley of our shop, alone and looking as if he was there purely by accident. When I tried to give him directions back to the main road, we found ourselves being surrounded by some bandits, and they all looked as if they wanted to beat him senseless,” Marine said, scoffing when he reminisced the faces of the said bandits, “That made me curious. Why were they ganging up on this skinny, lost-looking red-haired boy? But I had no time to find out, as I ended up fighting against all of them to save him without being asked to.”

Miya chuckled, sharing his side of the story, “What happened was that Lupus, Lucas, Gusk and myself were on a patrol that day, we stumbled upon that group of thugs who had some kind of revenge towards our group. Amidst the commotion, we were separated from Lucas along with those men. He could always use his power to fight them, but we knew he hated to use his light to hurt others, even when the opponents were supposed to be bad guys. We found him safe and unharmed, with Marine protecting him.”

“Because of that, Lucas decided to abduct Marine from the shop, and brought him to our hideout,” Bailey added, ignoring Marine’s protest saying ‘He did not ab— I followed them willingly!’ from the side, “He suggested, or rather demanded that we took in Marine as our newest member. The look of shock mixed with exasperation on Hades’ face was priceless, it was almost as bad as when Lupus wanted us to accept Marduk, even when Marduk nearly tried to kill him a few hours before that.”

“He sounded.. so happy, here with you guys,” said Sherrock, smiling wistfully towards the Rowdy Shogun members.

“Well, we grew up together, after all. We had faced so many things in the mean times, both good things and bad, and it all make us closer, almost like a family even without the same blood flowing in us,” said Travis, grimacing at his choice of words when he saw the telekinetic’s face darken at that, “Sorry, I didn't mean to undermine your relationship with him.”

“No, you aren’t wrong. It made me feel guilty to come and find him now, disrupting everything that he had with you guys instead,” Sherrock replied.

“Sherrock,” Zero chastised, as he could feel the underlying guilt underneath that voice.

“Regardless of whether you come here or not, it does not betray the fact that the cien attack is imminent. At the very least, you gave us a better chance to defeat it for good,” said Goemon, swirling the nearly empty coffee mug in his hands. He stared at the residual coffee grinds in it, his gaze empty and absent of meaning. “All of us already understood that much, that was why we were eager to listen to everything you have to say—“

“—Just so that we could at least fight in the battle and increase everyone’s chances of survival, whatever it takes,” finished Hades.

Zero nodded, “We felt the same.” And a calm, peaceful silence fell over the table, as everyone pondered upon their talks.

“Alright, it’s been a long night, or day, I don’t even know. I could show the three of you to our extra rooms, where the rest of Mad Jesters were resting,” said Bailey, standing up from his seat, “It’s only 7 in the morning, plenty of time for us to catch some sleep. I’m guessing no patrol for our group today.”

Zero, Smash, and Sherrock stood up as well, following the blond-haired man before Travis stopped them. 

“Sherrock, about Lupus.. You don’t have to worry about him,” said Travis, and after he saw the Sherrock’s puzzled expression, he continued with a grin, “Lucas is there.”

-

Lucas entered his room, slowly closing the door behind him. He took note of the blinds that were shut even when it was already morning, covering the room in semi-darkness. Even in the dark, he could see a lump of figure on the bed, the clump of dark hair splayed over the pillow was a clear sign of whom it could have been, not that there was anyone else who would come into their room. 

Walking closer to the edge of bed, Lucas could not help but break into a smile when he saw Kogarashi sleeping on the mat beside the bed. The wolf was likely summoned out by its owner, an attempt to calm himself down from what happened earlier. It was a habit that Lupus had adopted ever since he realized that he could summon the wolf any time he wanted to. The black wolf had become a loyal companion for both of them, both as a protector or for a mere reason of keeping Lucas company at their base while Lupus himself went on a mission. And because Kogarashi was a direct manifestation of his emotion and feelings, Lupus sometimes would summon it out just for him to control his emotions better. 

Lucas circled around the sleeping wolf, lying still as a brick as it paid no attention to the newcomer of the room. Kogarashi already familiarized itself with Lucas’ presence, scent and power, thus it never deemed the red-haired man as a threat. He stopped in front of the figure on the bed, who was lying on his right side, with the duvets pulled up to his neck. Lucas stared at Lupus’ face, as if he could still see the offending red color that bloomed on the left cheek. He knew the action did not hurt the other man so much physically as much as it hurt him emotionally, even when it was just from the spur of the moment. 

Lucas continued to watch his lover silently, his sleepiness and fatigue became the last thing on his mind as he replayed his conversation with his brother. Watching the rise and fall of his lover’s chest, hearing the sound of his breaths that whispered through the silence, and feeling the soft morning breeze that filtered in through the gaps of their windows only made him sleepier than he already was. He slowly raised his hand and placed it on Lupus’ left cheek, caressing the slope of the cheekbones down to his jaw gently as if to not to wake his lover up. 

A hand gripped his wrist out of a sudden, startling the red-haired man and thus stopping his motion. Lucas could feel his lover slowly waking up from his slumber, his eyelids that were previously leaden with sleep fluttered open. Lupus’ eyes were fixed onto the light wielder, his pupil trying to focus as the dark-haired man reorientated his senses and chased away the remaining drowsiness. 

“Sorry for waking you up,” said Lucas, his voice came out a mere whisper, as if trying not to disturb the tranquility and calmness of the atmosphere. He interlaced his fingers with the other man, clinging to the warmth from Lupus’ palm, a direct consequence from his ability to create fire out of his hand.

Lupus chose not to reply, using his other hand to cup the back of Lucas’ head and pulled him closer. He planted a chaste kiss on the light wielder’s unsuspecting lips, trailing to the corner and seeping through the soft skin, a promise of that there would be more to come. 

With a little more force being exerted on his back, Lucas found himself being pulled down onto the bed, with the dark-haired man immediately gathering him into an embrace, cuddling him from the back. Hot puffs of air blew at his nape, as Lupus appeared content to burrow his face there and continue his sleep. It tickled, and Lucas could not help but to let a few giggles escape him in turn.

“How come you are this energetic even after a whole day of no sleep?” asked Lupus. His voice was deep and breathy, the tone a bit disgruntled as if he was mildly irritated at the prospect of being awake in the midst of his sleep. Lucas had loved to listen to the same voice all these years, whispering sweet nothings and words of comfort that passed through his ears. Hearing that voice still harboring the same warmth in it and having caught Lupus in a deep sleep earlier, Lucas came to a conclusion that his lover was not mad at him. 

“No, I’m not. I felt tired too, but you are making  it hard for me to fall asleep right now,” replied Lucas, still feeling the same ticklish breeze down his neck and resisting the urge to squirm. He knew his lover was probably hiding a smile right now, being a tease that he was. 

The flame wielder chuckled, the reverberations travelled down Lucas’ spine, making him shudder. “Your fault for coming back to the bed so late,” said Lupus, receiving an eye roll from the red-haired man in turn. He tightened his hold around the slender waist in front of him. “How are you feeling?” 

“Fine, I guess,” replied Lucas, his answer clipped and brief. 

Judging by the way the red-haired man seemed to inched closer to him, if that was possible, Lupus could sense that his lover still had something else to say. True enough, Lucas continued after that, as if the proximity gave him the strength that he did not realize he needed. 

“Do you remember him?” 

Lupus hummed, as if he already expected that question for some time now. “Of course I did. Half of my forgotten memories consisted of you waiting for him to come to your cell,” he replied, hiding the fact that he too had anticipated Sherrock’s visit in those days. Those visits only meant a happier, stronger Lucas at the end of it to face another grueling day of experimentation, and Lupus had always hoped that those visits would be more frequent.

“Sitting beside him at the rooftop made me realize how much I’d missed him. The fact that he’s my older brother, the only living relative that I have left... I want to stay with him longer because we didn’t get to spend much time together in our childhood. But, we, no, I.. don’t have much time left—“ said Lucas, his voice breaking at the end, coming out a bit muffled as he hid his face into the pillow, “the fact that he came here, finding me now after all these years. It’s a sign. You can feel it too, right, Lupus? I know you can sense it, the cien, it’s getting stronger. We can defeat it easily last night just because it fought using only a fragment of its power. If it decided to come at us with full power, I don’t know if I could defeat it, Lupus, what should I—“

“Hey, hey, love, it’s alright. You’ll be alright. You’re strong, remember?” said Lupus, trying to console his lover. He himself was trying to hold back his tears, his lips bitten red from the sheer force of it. Hearing the pain and insecurity in the normally calm voice saddened him even more, as he finally understood how much Lucas wanted to be with his brother. “And you’re not alone in this fight. We’re all in this together.” 

A few sobs escaped Lucas, and even with his back facing towards Lupus, the flame user knew that his pillows probably already soaked wet from his tears. All the tough acts that the red-haired man put on earlier finally crumbled, leaving him emotionally bare and exposed, only for Lupus alone to witness. 

“I knew I said that I’m okay with whatever fate had decided for me but.. I wanted to stay with everyone longer. I want to eat curry and gyoza that Hades and Miya made for us, shopping for groceries with Marine and Joe, playing at the tech lab with Judy and Q-B, going on missions with Kisaragi and...” Lucas stopped, feeling choked up with his emotions, “I just wanted more time, Lupus. I want to live.”

Lupus stretched his hand out, gathering the wet and tear-streaked face that still hid in the pillow. He turned the face to the side, with his own pair of eyes searching for the two opposing crimson orbs belonging to his lover. Lucas’ eyes were glassy, and Lupus had to take a few seconds to strengthen his own resolve. Tucking Lucas’ head underneath his chin, the flame user slowly breathed in the familiar scent of dewdrops and sunlight belonging to the other man and tightened his embrace.

“And you will.”

[CHO TOKYO - 11 am]

“One more time.”

Joe and A-Not both held up their hands, signalling for a brief break while they tried to catch their breaths. Behind them, Travis stood upright, his posture stiff while sweats trailing down the side of his face. He appeared more collected as compared to the younger two, who were already out of their breaths after an hour of intensive training with Masato. The Mad Jesters’ member was using his superspeed to land a continuous bout of attack to the trio, relentlessly attacking them left and right without giving them a chance to retaliate. Joe and A-Not were supposed to use their axe and naginata respectively to corner the dark-haired man, and Travis would follow suit by using his daggers to try and pin the man down. But they were failing so far, as their eyes could not keep up with the sheer speed that belonged to him.

Masato laughed at their frustrated faces, “The cien would come at you with speed much faster than this from all directions, and by then you guys wouldn’t even have a chance to breathe. Come on, you guys could do better than this! Don’t waste the power that Lucas gave to you and fight harder!”

Travis gritted his teeth, hating the fact that Masato knew what to say to turn his emotion into a turmoil. Joe and A-Not were the same, no longer doubled over due to their exhaustion and had stood up straight, their weapons glowing brightly. They turned to face the Mad Jester's member, their faces grim and their hands clasped tightly around their weapons. Seeing how the three had regathered themselves, Masato slowly counted down underneath his breath, before the fight continued.

On another side of the clearing, a huge fissure appeared on the ground, splitting the soil into several huge pieces of boulders and debris that scattered into several directions, with some of the smaller pieces landed on Marine’s cheeks, scratching the tanned skin across the cheekbones. Beside him, Bailey looked worse for the wear, his arms were filled with small cuts that littered across the span of the limb while his sabre glowed dimly in his hand. Marduk threw his knives aside, the blade turned dull after hitting too many rocks and boulders coming his way. 

Parte grunted, his smugness rolled out of him as he displayed his superstrength, his fist embedded in the ground to create the chasm.“Is that the best you could do, Bailey? Aren’t you one of the strongest fighters in Rowdy Shogun?”

Bailey chuckled, wiping off the blood from the corner of his lips, “Well, I couldn’t deny that, could I? The truth is,” he stopped for a while, looking at Parte amusedly, “we have lots of strong fighters in our group.”

A kick landed at the side of Parte’s head, taking him by surprise and throwing his body to the side. Marine appeared in front of him, landing a punch to his torso before the Mad Jesters was later barrelled with countless hits by Marduk. Parte laughed, taking in all the hits in stride, “Now, that’s what I’m talking about!”

A brief flash of lightning was seen at the clearing before a loud thunderclap was heard, as Rosso lifted up his hands to summon his power. As compared to Hajime’s lightning that came out of his suits, Rosso’s power was able to be summoned anywhere he wanted to, including the sky that resembled a true lightning. Miya, Judy, Gusk and Goemon were tasked to face him, their bodies now full of blue-black bruises. It hurt so bad, and with the heat from the afternoon sun that enveloped him, Miya felt as if he would pass out at any moment now. He and Gusk could no longer hold their weapons, as their hands now could only tremble and quiver after being hit by so much lightning from Rosso. 

“You should learn to endure the pain now, Miya, or you would not be able to do so if you are being hit by the cien during the battle. Trust me, it felt so much worse as compared to being hit by my lightning,” taunted Rosso after seeing the Rowdy Shogun’s member shaking uncontrollably on the ground. 

Goemon tightened his hold around his halberd, before addressing the youngest Rowdy Shogun’s member behind him, “Judy, I’ll try to distract him for a while. If you see an opening, do not hesitate and use your grenades to stop him,” to which Judy nodded. “Miya, Gusk, rest for a while and join me if you are ready.”

Sarutobi, Kisaragi, Q-B, and Hades on the other hand were trying to avoid Smash’s replicated lightning from Rosso’s attack, while trying to find out the whereabouts of Chatter. The platinum blond-haired man remained invisible as he tried to land some sneak attacks on the four. The two Mad Jesters were formidable opponents in a match, as Smash’ ability allowed him to copy anyone’s ability, thus making it difficult for them to predict the next attack. 

“Is it safe for you to launch lightning attacks so haphazardly, Smash? What if you hit Chatter at the same time?” asked Sarutobi, his agile feet enabled him to avoid the lightning so far, as compared to the other three. His eyes remained alert, watching the field for any sign of the invisible man. Kisaragi and Q-B were moving as a pair, the blades of their black and gold katanas glinted under the sun. In the meanwhile, Hades chose to swing his spear around him, his ears remained alert as he tried to catch any unfamiliar sound around him.

Smash grinned, brushing off Sarutobi’s concern at once. “Don’t you worry about that, I had trained with him all these years, I know how to detect him easily.” The tattoos around his body started to glow again before he immediately teleported away, and punched the Rowdy Shogun right on the face. “I think it would be better if you worry about yourself first, Sarutobi. The cien was renowned for its unpredictability, you would never know at what form it would take before its attack.”

Mad Jesters had decided to stay at the hideout after that night, refining their plan as now they needed to take into account of Rowdy Shogun’s involvement, with a total of 38  people joining in the equation. The seven members of Mad Jesters had submitted their resignation letter at their respective workplaces, as they deemed it was impossible for them to return there after the plan. Apart from that, they also helped the Rowdy Shogun patrolling Cho Tokyo. Two groups were assigned for the reconnaissance mission instead of one so that they could have a longer training period with each other, divided into morning and evening team. Having seven power users as the opponents during sparring was a good opportunity to have, as the Rowdy Shogun found themselves adapting to the harsh training session better than usual. They decided to use the open ground beside the warehouse, as the training arena was unable to accommodate all of them at once, and it also limited the power users from using their ability freely. Smash’s ability especially came out handy, as he could replicate the ability of his teammates and strengthened their attack twice-fold towards the Rowdy Shogun.

Lupus, Lucas, Sherrock and Zero were watching the training session at a nearby hill, while discussing among themselves about the details of the plan. Lucas and Sherrock were preparing some of the Atrias into the healing pods that Judy and Masato prepared earlier, to heal their injuries after the training. Zero only used his power to teleport any of them to another place, in case their allocated training site became totally destroyed, particularly in the case of Parte’s group.

“Lupus, I need to ask for a favor. Can you summon out your flames, and attack all of them at once?” asked Zero, his eyes still fixed on his teammates on the ground.

Lupus startled, not expecting the request. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I don’t want to set my flames on them right in the middle of the training.”

 “That’s why we need to do it now. We need to take them by surprise, so that we can gauge their reaction to the attack. Your black flames also behaved similarly with the cien, which is beneficial for our training,” replied Zero. “I’ll teleport the flames to them, so you don’t have to project it from here.”

Lucas slowly approached his dark-haired lover, who was still debating on the pros and cons of summoning out his flames. The light wielder put a hand on Lupus’ shoulder, gripping it tight as a form of reassurance. “It’s okay, I could just heal them later.”

The flame user nodded, finally acquiescing to the request. His fingertips started to let out black sparks and smokes, before black flames started to sprout out and engulfed his hands, travelling up to cover the whole span of both of his arms. It takes only a few seconds before the flames were getting bigger and bigger, dark black smoke started to accumulate in the area where they were standing. Zero wasted no time before snapping his fingers, opening a small portal right in front of Lupus. He motioned his head towards it, signaling the flame user to redirect his flames into the portal. 

After that, the training ground was filled with nothing but pure chaos, with both Rowdy Shogun and Mad Jesters were taken aback by the sudden appearance of the black flames. They were no longer fighting with each other, and instead had to work together to fight against Lupus’ black flames. Kogarashi’s appearance was met with more complaints and shouts of frustration, as they now had to face both threats simultaneously. The training continued for another two hours, with the field later being filled with black flames and smoke at the end of it.

-

“Lupus, seriously?”

“My coat is now full of soot. Mind you, it’s my favourite coat!”

“ZERO! Stop putting weird ideas into the kid’s head for god sake! My hair has changed its color and I don’t even have to use dye for it!”

“Kogarashi bit me just now, that cheeky little monster. Call him out!”

“Lucas, can I use one of the healing pods? I think my back was burnt by the flames.”

They were all gathered in the arena, having the much needed break after hours of training outside. As expected, most of them had been complaining non-stop since they entered the warehouse, with the remaining four power users paying no attention to it. Zero especially, used his power to teleport away from Chatter, who kept on complaining about his hair to the leader. They were relatively uninjured from the training except for some cuts, scratches and bruises, but some of them did get burned by the flames, in which Lucas and Sherrock used the healing pods on the said members.

“Sorry for the additional training regime just now, we had no opportunity to inform you beforehand,” Sherrock apologized, passing an Atria to Goemon to be put into the healing pod that he was using.

“It’s okay, beside it made me realize how our teamwork was lacking. Considering it had been only a few days since we knew each other, it couldn’t be helped. But we could make some improvement in the next session,” replied Hades.

“Why are we gathered here by the way? I’m just asking, it’s not that I have anywhere else to go,” asked Miya, his voice muffled due to a sandwich he was eating.

“We have received another star core from Aria this morning. We thought of giving the Coordinate to Lucas, so that he could practice using it in the meanwhile,” replied Zero.

“Is it necessary? I mean, we already knew that the star core wasn’t his in the first place,” asked Kisaragi.

“Yes, because it is actually harder than it looked to use the device and summoned your powers in a controlled manner. Sherrock needed to practice for a few times before he allowed the rest of us to try as well,” said Smash.

Sherrock walked to the center of the fighting pit, bringing along a small glowing orb clasped in his palm. The star core was considerably smaller in size as compared to Petra, or even Vela, as everyone assumed it was due to the amount of power stored in it. “Astro 9 pulled some strings with some people they knew in Babylonium, and thus they managed to get a hand on this star core. Looking at the size, I think it was from the weaker batch of star cores stored in the factory that produced Atria, so I don’t think they would have missed it,” explained Sherrock, indirectly answering the question that roamed in everyone’s mind regarding its origin. “Lucas, you may start now.”

The red-haired man stepped up to the center, taking the Coordinate from his brother’s hand in the way. Chatter who was in the middle of a conversation with Joe and Marine stopped, his full attention was now redirected towards the light wielder. The others, namely Marduk, Parte and Rosso who were eating their lunches at the corner of the arena went closer to get a closer look. 

Lucas took a deep breath in, clasping both of his hands around the metal device in front of his chest, and waited. It took quite a while before minimal white rays of light flowed out, starting from his palm, continuing to his chest and torso before travelling down to his limbs and out of the tips of his red hair. As compared to the static blue sparks that came out of Zero’s body previously, Lucas’ power was colored in white all over and was not that abundant in amount. He was unable to sustain it very long, with only a few tendrils of his light managed to reach towards the star core before they dispersed out. “Zero made it look so easy that time,” Lucas breathed out, a bit put out after seeing his light still unable to reach the star core after a few tries.

“That’s what I said. When we go to the Canopus later to find your star core, we need to find the star core as fast as possible, or the enforcers would gain an opportunity to use their energy limiter to tamper down our power, possibly cutting off our only escape option which was to teleport out of there,” said Zero.

“It’s really amazing to think that you managed to find the correct star core for all of you 13 years ago, Sherrock. I mean, you guys consumed the Vela’s power even when you did not know for sure it was yours, seeing that the Coordinate was obtained only quite recently,” A-Not interjected, his face pondering.

“We took a gamble by consuming Vela all these years even without being able to confirm that it was really the star core that provided us our powers. However, it seemed that luck was indeed at our side when Sherrock confirmed it those few months ago,” said Masato. “It is common for a number of the Gifted to share the same star core. There is also a possibility of Karasu, Itaru and Aria shared a star core as well.”

Lucas unclasped his hand, taking another look at the device before he turned to his side, where his lover was standing. “Lupus, how about you?” he asked.

Lupus approached his red-haired lover, taking his turn to use the device. Black flames erupted and engulfed his body in no time, flicking over the edge of his sleeves and shoes without burning his outfits down. However the flames remained static around his body, with no sparks or tendrils trying to reach the star core. There was a quiet resignation on his face, as if he already predicted this to happen. 

“The Coordinate would not work on me and my power, because as Sherrock mentioned earlier, my power was derived from the cien. I kind of expected this to happen,” Lupus started, “That was the reason why my flames shared the same nature and characteristics with them. Back then, the people at the facility did not manage to prove it, but they made it very clear that I was to be separated from the others and subjected under the different kind of experiments like Lucas.” Seeing the grim expression on his friends’ faces, he continued, “Aria also had mentioned the same thing when he showed me his vision of the future that day. I think that was the reason my power did not diminish all these years, instead it was only getting stronger and stronger along with the cien ’s presence.”

The flame wielder lowered down his hand, placing the Coordinate onto the table beside the star core. He knew none of his friends felt he was responsible for all the deaths caused by the cien. But, he felt guilty nonetheless, as if his power was partly shouldering the blame. 

“If, no, when Lucas defeats the cien later, does that mean you would lose your powers too? Since it is indirectly reflecting the cien as well..” asked Q-B to the flame wielder, his voice drifting off into a mere whisper at the end of his sentence.

A heavy silence fell upon them, as everyone pondered upon the question. Even Sherrock was left speechless, as the fact seemingly had never occurred to him before. 

“I guess we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes,” Lupus shrugged, throwing a small smile to the younger. He ruffled the younger’s dark locks of hair for good measure, trying to dispel the rigid tension that wrapped itself around Q-B’s body. 

Marine cleared his throat as a thought came into his mind, “There’s one more thing, Sherrock, that I want to clarify. During our fight with Astro 9, Lucas had used up the power belonging to a star core named Petra. Could a Gifted consume power from another star core that was not their own, per say?”

“A good question, Marine,” answered Sherrock, nodding approvingly to the Rowdy Shogun’s member, “Yes, some of the Gifted who are powerful enough are able to take in power from other star cores as well, because our body are are able to withstand the discordance of the two powers from two different sources. Prior to the meeting, Aria had a vision about Petra, and he asked for his teammates’ help to find it for him. From his vision, he already knew that Petra is compatible with Lucas, and so it could be used to heal and replenish Lucas’ power temporarily before he found his own star core. Fortunately, my brother was able to defeat Lupus at that time, with the Petra giving him the temporary boost of power that he needed.”

As if on cue, the clock on the wall started to chime four times, indicating the time for the recon team to disperse for the evening patrol. They would return to their base in about two hours right before dinner, as compared to the previous schedule where they were needed to patrol until midnight. They also reduced the number of members involved, with only two people for that particular day instead of the usual group of four or five people. Lupus, Sarutobi and Q-B started to gear up, as it was their turn that day. After bidding goodbye to Lucas (with the red-haired man chuckling and shaking his head in exasperation when Lupus offered to leave Kogarashi with him to keep him company), the three only barely stepped out of the warehouse before Sherrock stopped them, wanting to follow suit. 

-

Q-B pocketed the holopad he was holding, within it contained the reports of the patrol for that day. He bent his head forward a bit to the small izakaya in front of him, as a form of farewell to the elderly owner who owned the premise. Even when he was a backstreet thief in his childhood, the gesture of respect that was instilled in him by Bailey after he joined the group with Judy still remained in him. 

“That’s the last one, Lupus. We could go back to the base after this,” said Q-B, his dark hair with blue highlights blending well with his black apparels. Lupus nodded silently, before immediately leading the way back. Sherrock, Sarutobi and Q-B followed the man silently, letting the last glimpse of sunlight of the day fall upon them, with red coloring the contour of their cheeks as a result. They huddled closer into their coats and jackets for some warmth, wanting to reach into the comfort in the warehouse and away from the cold in the streets as soon as possible. 

“I need to stop somewhere else on our way home,” said Lupus, “I want to buy some karaage for Lucas.”

Sherrock raised an eyebrow upon hearing it. “Does Lucas like to eat karaage?”

“Like it?” Q-B scoffed, “He loves it, always making sure to buy one or two meals just for himself whenever he was out. If he wasn’t, then he’ll ask someone else to buy it for him.”

“I guess he got that from our mother. She used to make it quite often back then, since it was her favourite meal as well,” Sherrock chuckled, but it sounded hollow against his ears. “There’s a lot of things about him that I still did not know yet, as compared to all of you who grew up with him.”

Lupus inserted his hands into his pockets, trying to appear as nonchalant as he could in front of the older man. He observed the way the streetlights began to flicker for a while before it lightened up the street, as the night slowly started to bleed in. “Stop it. There’s still time for you to know him, learn about him. He’s not going anywhere.”

“You know,” Sherrock interjected, “when I was looking for the Coordinate at the Canopus, I stumbled upon another device. It could show us the way to a new place, where we could start anew with no cien to worry about, and no sinister government to watch for. I was tempted to take it, and to bring Lucas away from here when I found him.”

Sherrock stopped, his breaths coming out in small wisps of white mist from his mouth. “But I am a coward, Lupus, because I know he will never forgive me for doing that. He would not let me leave the world to burn in exchange of saving him alone. I don’t even know him, the present him, yet that was the conclusion that I came up with. And now, I regretted not taking the device with me, regretted not being brave enough to withstand his hatred towards me, because at least his life would not be a bargaining chip in this battle.”

Sarutobi laughed, as if there was a hidden joke somewhere within the telekinetic’s words. “Okay, here’s the second thing about Lucas that you need to know today. There’s no way you could take him away like that, even by force. Lucas is stubborn, frighteningly so. He would not agree with it, and he would not come anywhere near you if you wanted to proceed with it. In fact, he would ask you to go by yourself instead, never to return.”

Q-B grinned, agreeing with the orange-haired man. “You were not a coward, Sherrock, but you were being realistic. And by making that decision, you actually managed to predict one of your brother’s traits without you realizing it,” he said. 

As it was getting colder by the minutes, Lupus decided to summon out Kogarashi, letting its body be engulfed with black flames while walking near the other three to provide them warmth. Q-B and Sarutobi instinctively walked closer to the wolf, cooing words of appreciation to it at the same time. Sherrock was amused to see the youngest two, their desperation to pet the wolf was prominent, but the flames licking its body prevented them to do so.

“What if you lose your power for real after this battle?” he asked the flame wielder.

“I’m guessing it would feel a bit like having a phantom limb, the pain and the itch to use my power could not be overcome that easily. It might take a few years even, and I’m gonna miss Kogarashi as well. But,” said Lupus, scratching the wolf’s head, his hand completely unaffected by the flames. He turned his head to watch the sun disappearing in the horizon, until only a speck of its light remained, the sky had turned completely dark by then, “my ability was only a means for me to find Lucas in this life. As long as I have him, I don't need anything else that this world could offer.”

They finally arrived at a small family restaurant, where the Rowdy Shogun’s members claimed to sell the best food in the city. As Lupus and Sarutobi went inside the shop to buy Lucas’ favourite dish, Sherrock remained outside, replaying Lupus’ words in his mind over and over again.

-

After the arrival of the recon team (with the additional of Sherrock) to the hideout, the two groups had dinner together at the dining hall. The look on Lucas’ face when his lover gave him his favourite karaage was comical, as he later forgetting anything else that were served on the table, and instead finishing the takeout food within record’s time. Sherrock just smiled knowingly at the sight, possibly reminiscing about their late mother’s antics as well. After the meal, they were gathered in front of the holo-monitor, with Astro 9 and Jiggy Boyz already waiting to discuss about their plan. 

Plans were rearranged, tasks and jobs were divided, and the 38 of them were assigned according to different groups to handle the said tasks. Each member’s ability and skills was discussed in detail, and the leaders made sure that each of them would be able to cover the other’s weaknesses. The chemistry and compatibility between the members were discussed as well to ensure the best teamwork in getting the job done. Leaders were reassigned too, with age being the last factor to be counted in. There was none of the lighthearted and cheerful atmosphere from the training and dinner, as the discussion could very well meant a life and death situation for them. At the end of the meeting, the three leaders decided to share a few words with the rest of them.

Goemon started first as he looked across the room, making eye contact with each of the occupants along with the ones displayed on the holographic projection. “I want everyone to understand that there is a high chance of some of us not being able to make it till the end. The only person who has some sort of healing ability is Lucas, but..”

“Lucas could not heal each and every one of you during the battle, as it consumed a lot of power to heal someone and it would weaken him considerably. We would not risk it, as we want him to be at his strongest when fighting against the cien,” continued Zero.

“So, remember that when you are on the field, you could rely on your teammates, but there is always a possibility of you being left alone in the end. So please, do what you have to do, and survive,” finished Hades.

[How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” - A.A. Milne]

“Are we seriously gonna do this?”

“Yes, Lucas. Now grab one of the swords, and come here.”

“You’re being unfair,” the red-haired teen whined, his mouth turned into a pout, his defiance and refusal visible even when he slowly made his way from the weapons’ rack to the fighting ring. His thin, slender fingers were wrapped around the hilt of the sword, cautiously estimating the strength needed to hold the said weapon. He turned towards the table at the side, looking forlornly at his weapon lying on it. “Why can’t I use my bow and arrow? I’ve never used a sword before, it’s too heavy.”

Lupus resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his lover’s antics, knowing that the act was just a bluff in order to skip the practice. “That’s why you need to train using one now, who knows one day you will use it in a battle.” He grabbed his own sword, the sheer weight of the metal did not weigh him down as he swung it around as a warm up.

“Training’s important. So, pay attention to what I’m about to show you,” said the then 18 years old flame wielder.

Lucas had been the one who told him to have his own weapon a few years ago, and not to depend solely on their powers if anything went haywire during their mission. The two of them had paid a visit to the blade smiths, the best one in Cho Tokyo, to forge a sword, a bow, and a set of arrows for themselves. The owner of the shop was an elderly man in his early 70s, his eyes kind with crows’ feet decorating the side, his body standing strong and not letting his age hold him down. They had known him for a while, as Bailey, Goemon and Hades loved to visit his shop to repair and mend their weapons as well, and would bring both of them along.

When they got the news telling their weapons were ready to be picked up a few weeks later, they had asked for permission from Hades to go to the town, even when they both clearly were not in charge of patrol that day. The leader had allowed them to, but not before raising his eyebrows as he questioned their destination. When they had arrived, they were ushered further into the forge, as the old man seemed to be excited to show them their weapons as he all but dragged them both inside. 

When Lupus first laid his eyes on a single sword lying on the table, his breath hitched and his eyes widened, locked to the sight of the weapon. The first thing that came to his mind was that it looked beautiful, all silvery metal with a sharp edge, its full length reaching his mid-torso, and it glinted under the sunlight that filtered through the window. As he approached closer to the weapon, he could see intricate golden engraving of flames that filled the fuller of the blade, starting from the guard down to the central ridge. There was a wolf’s head sculpted at the end of its hilt, likely as a tribute to Kogarashi. He held the sword and weighed it in his grip, giving it a few swings after he distanced himself from the other two. The heavy blade made a sharp whistling sound as it sliced through the air, enough to convince Lupus of its ability to pierce through the heaviest shield and armor.

Lucas’ gaze was still transfixed on his lover’s weapon, when the old man had gently tapped him on the shoulders, gathering his attention in turn. He pointed towards a long bow hanging on the wall. Lucas picked it up and brought it underneath the sunlight, where it shone reddish gold. The body was thin enough as to not burden his hand, but sturdy enough to prove it could withstand pressure and heavy work. There were also intricate engravings on its body, resembling hundreds of little stars across the limb. Its arrows were in the same rose gold color, the tip pointy and sharp, causing Lucas’ finger to bleed slightly upon touching.

Lupus had approached Bailey after that at their hideout, asking for the older man’s help to practice with his newly-forged sword. The older man was surprised, initially refusing to train the flame wielder who was only a mere 15 years old at that time. Bailey had argued that he, along with Goemon and Hades were enough to protect them, that there was no need for the two to wield weapons as well. But Lupus was anything but persistent, and finally the blond man relented. 

In comparison, Lucas had trained with Marduk, as the two leaders had a halberd and a spear as their weapons, making them unsuitable to train the red-haired teen in using a long-range weapon. Marduk, who had only joined the group for a while, surprisingly agreed to do so without much arguments. Lucas had struggled a bit, as Marduk tended to be strict in his guidance, but soon enough he was able to learn the basic skill to use his bow efficiently.

A year later, the two leaders agreed to let the rest of Rowdy Shogun choose their own weapons as well.

The sounds of metal hitting against metal rang throughout the arena, reverberating in the vast area with only two occupants in it. The two bodies moved in rhythm, a blurry of movements with the occasional clashing of black and red colors of their hair. 

“Had enough of me yet?” taunted Lupus, skipping a few feet back to have some distance between them. Even half an hour had passed, he still appeared well-collected, his breaths steady and calculated.

Lucas just scoffed, hating the way he appeared worse as compared to his lover. After counting down on his own, he surged forward, slashing the sword in his hand directly in front of Lupus. But the dark-haired teen stopped it effortlessly, his silver sword poised above him as a temporary shield before he turned his grip on the hilt, making the sword circled around and knocked Lucas’ sword out of his hand. Before the light wielder managed to retrieve it, Lupus had his sword pointed underneath his lover’s neck, the distance a mere inch from cutting into the fair skin. 

“You lose, again,” said Lupus.

“The fight will only end when one of us is down, and today, I wouldn’t be the one to do so,” replied Lucas, before he slid his leg from underneath, hitting Lupus’ leg and making him fall. He grabbed Lupus’ right hand that was still holding the sword, rendering the flame user immobile, while grabbing one of the throwing knives from his side pocket and pointed it towards Lupus as a payback, “A trick Marduk taught me. I won.”

Lupus grinned, his dark eyes teasing as he watched his lover propped up above him. With a sudden display of strength, he flipped their position, with him now hovering on the top of the light wielder. He foregone replying to his lover altogether, instead he moved forwards and captured the other’s lips with his own. 

A simple peck on the lips turned deeper, as Lucas begrudgingly parted his lips to grant entrance to his lover. The small noises from the back of his throat only seemed to encourage the dark-haired man further as his fingers sneaked its way to the nape of Lucas’ neck and up the back of his head, slowly threading along the silky red strands in tandem with the rhythm of their kiss. It was full of fervor and relentless, stealing all of his air and turning Lucas heady, leaving him gasping and his breath stuttering at the end of it. 

“I love you,” rasped Lucas almost like an after-thought, his eyes half-lidded and his lips trembling. His own mouth tasted so sweet, a phantom of the kiss still lingering on the soft skin. His body felt like liquid honey, soft and slippery, floating weightlessly against the gravity. There was nothing but the truth in his confession, and he wanted his lover to know what he truly felt for him. 

When Lupus rested his forehead against Lucas a few seconds later, the red-haired teen knew his message was well received by the other. Lupus’ state was not that different in front of him, his pupil dilated and appearing darker under the light. He seemed to be caught in a trance as he stared into his lover’s own crimson eyes, wanting to do nothing but to continue their kiss somewhere else and Lucas would absolutely let him. 

Yes, he totally would.

Remembering where they were at the moment, Lucas had to turn his head away, breathing in some of the most needed air into his lungs as he tried gaining some semblance of control back into himself. But his lover chased his mouth, deepening the kiss with all the fervor and enthusiasm that he seldom showed the others. Lucas had no other choice but to follow the act, childish laughters escaped him, the sound of their kiss came out muffled in the empty arena. 

He did not realize how long they were there, lying on the practice mat, their legs tangled and his hands gripping at the back of Lupus’ head. Lupus’ hands were stationed at his lower back as if they belonged there, pulling him closer and closer until Lucas’ mind blanked out.   They should stop, really they should, because the training arena would be swarmed by their friends in just a few minutes—

“Oh my god, my eyes!”

The two sprang apart, trying to face 180 degrees away from each other as if it could hide their previous actions. And judging by Sarutobi’s wide eyes now half covered with his palms and his loud, dramatic outrage, it seemed that they failed miserably in that aspect.

“I came here to spare myself from seeing Kisaragi and Q-B making googly eyes at each other during breakfast, but instead my eyes were fed by the sight of these two? Someone get me a bleach, I need to cleanse my freaking eyes out!” Sarutobi yelled, with his eyes still covered.

“Shut up, Sarutobi,” said Lupus, holding out a hand to pull his lover’s up from the floor. He dusted off his clothes, with his face remaining indifferent even when he was caught in a rather compromising situation, as compared to Lucas whose face was completely red by then. 

Travis just laughed, as he had found himself in Sarutobi’s shoes way too many times before. Judy and Joe were directly behind him, the latter bringing along his hammer into the training arena. “Told ya we should have waited a little bit more before barging in here.”

“If we come in later than that, it would be more hazardous for our eyes!” exclaimed Sarutobi.

“We are not radioactive materials, Sarutobi, quit it already,” Lucas interjected, refusing to make eye contact with anyone due to his embarrassment. He fanned his own face for a while, hoping the warmth had completely receded by then. “It’s good that you are here, Judy, I want to ask for your advice regarding my bow,” he addressed the youngest in the room, quickly changing the topic. 

True enough, the newcomers did not tease them any longer than that, as Sarutobi loudly declared his intention to spar with the flame wielder. Before Lucas got to follow Judy to their armory, a hand grabbed his own, as a very familiar voice spoke into his ears.

“We’ll continue later.”

-

[The beauty of being mortal is the ephemerality of everything—a moment is worth so much more when you have fewer of them. - Woodnote]

Morning on a summer meant waking up to the heat seeping through their opened windows, with the duvet thrown aside in the midst of the night to prevent the heat from being trapped in between their bodies. The warmth seemingly had seeped through the walls of the warehouse, as even Kogarashi had long abandoned his honorary place on the bed and chose to sleep on the cold, bare floor instead. Lupus dragged his eyes upward, locking into the opposing pair of red eyes in front of him. It seemed like Lucas had been awake for a while now, paying no attention to the heat and choosing to remain embraced by the sleeping Lupus. A thin sheen of sweat glistened on Lucas’ nape, with his red hair appearing darker as well. Lupus knew that the air conditioning was working just fine, but it appeared that the heat of the summer season had hit its peak that day, refusing to be cooled down by the air conditioner.

“Let’s go out, just the two of us,” Lucas grinned, his voice silky and soft, solely carried by the wind into Lupus’ ears.

‘Where to?’ he wanted to ask, but he was still chasing away the remnants of sleep from his eyes. He wanted to refuse initially, as he remembered that his lover had only recovered from a fever the day before. But it took only a look into the red eyes, the very one that belonged to a man who has a tight hold on his heart, and the words of refusal died on his lips. He should have known that he was doomed from the start. The last thing he remembered was the sound of Lucas’ laughters as he was dragged into the bathroom, getting ready for their outing.

 The two of them later arrived at the market on a Wednesday, full of people and merchandise alike. Loud and boisterous voices of the merchants greeted them, trying to attract possible customers into visiting their stands. However, even with the variant colors and things there, Lupus’ focus and attention was towards one person and one person only, who stood alone amidst the flock of people. With the creeping heat of the sun and the golden ray of sunlight that fell on the blazing red hair of his, the sight was picture perfect.

If anything, Lupus was glad to find his lover up and about, his previous sickly and pale appearance from the fever was nowhere to be seen, and was replaced with healthy blush that spread over his cheekbones and across the bridge of his nose, an after effect of being under the sun for some time. It felt too familiar, as if Lupus’ eyes had been fed with the same sight for so many times that it was now seared permanently behind his eyelids. He could see the smile that accompanied the face even with his back turned towards him, the same one that held a thousand meanings behind it, adoring and mischievous at the same time.

Lupus had seen a butterfly before, watching the way it hopped from one flower to another from a distance. Its flail wings a mere thin strip, appearing almost see through under the sunlight. He managed to catch it, seeing the way it remained docile and calm as he held it in between his interlaced fingers, its wings weakly fluttering as it tried to hide its anxiousness and agitation. Lupus knew that if he looked away for one second, it would fly away, leaving his grasp and reaching a height that he could never reach. 

It was a beautiful sight that he could not tear his eyes away from, even when he had ended up losing the butterfly for good.

As of the moment, Lucas’ behavior was exactly the same as the winged creature, as he discreetly slipped away from Lupus’ grasp and flitted about from one stall to another, greeting its merchant in cheerful voice and tinkling laughters. 

He was taken away from Lupus by small hands and tiny footsteps, as the children of the cities immediately recognized their red-haired guardian, and they had adored him and loved him all these years. They would ask for treats, candies or even magic shows from the red-haired man, because the sight of his glowing light spheres never failed to take their breath away. The puddles that littered the pavement would only serve to refract the light, brightening up the streets with colourful mirages. And Lupus, he would follow his lover all the same, his eyes never straying from the other man, like a bewitched man under a spell.

After a while, they bid the children farewell, with his lover still adamant on continuing his visit at the other side of the market. They visited the fruit stand to try on some of the new harvested fruits, followed by the trip to the kakigori stand where they filled their bellies with cold, syrupy, sweet shaved goodness. His lover would later be found crouching outside a flower stall, with his nose practically buried in the huge cluster of flower bouquets displayed there, looking at them with morbid fascination. 

The walk back home found the two of them having an ice-cream each, trying to finish off the treat before it melted down from the summer heat. Lucas was laughing, saying something about Kisaragi, or was it Sarutobi? Honestly, Lupus could not focus on the matter, as his attention was fully occupied by the sight of his lover in front of him, and nothing else. His vision was full of the red-haired man, the light from the sundown giving off the impression of a halo atop his head, pink blush prominent on the fair skin, his lips red from the cold of the ice cream. Lucas’ mouth was slightly ajar from his incessant laughter, and Lupus was too far gone in his love that he even found the sight to be so endearing to him.

He approached his lover, his step light and non-imposing, as if not to alarm him or stop him from laughing. He gripped Lucas’ hand that was still holding the ice cream, and pulled it away, only to plant a kiss on the unsuspecting lips right after. 

“I love you.”

A confession, not the first, and certainly would not be the last one from the dark-haired man to his lover. Lucas smiled, that one particular smile that was reserved for Lupus only, and nodded.

I know.

-

“Don’t go anywhere I couldn’t see you,” said Lupus one night, his voice was soft and tender, overlying the worry that he kept for his lover. He tightened his embrace, like he was afraid that Lucas would slip out of his reach if it was one inch looser.

He had always had a feeling that a day would come when the red-haired man would slip out of his grasp, his invisible wings taking him away to places he could not reach, leaving Lupus staring at the ghost of his back. 

There was no reply, as the red-haired man was deep into his sleep to hear it. Was it a valid promise, when the other party was not aware of it being made?

Lupus did not know the exact answer to it, but he would try all the same.

-

(present time)

4 hours left // 2000h // Cho Tokyo

It was only 8 in the evening, and Lupus found himself sitting in front of a bonfire outside the warehouse, staring into the black flames that were licking the firewood almost fascinatedly. He was the one who started the fire, using the woods that Gusk had kept inside their storeroom. He could always use a lighter or something similar, but there was an itch underneath his skin that he needed to scratch no matter what. It persuaded him to use his power for something, lest his mind went crazy from doing nothing at all. He had felt it since yesterday after the departure of Mad Jesters from their hideout, his flames dancing in his veins and burning him inside out, biding its time to be summoned out to join the fight. 

Yesterday’s morning, they had received intel from their informant about the arrival of the elite team of enforcers at the nearby town, likely trying to trace the whereabouts of the Mad Jesters. They had to leave immediately, before the enforcers arrived at the hideout and possibly taking the Rowdy Shogun into custody as well, for conspiring with the notorious ‘thieves’. Sherrock had gathered Lucas into an embrace, promising his younger brother that he would see him soon. If the plan went well, they would see each other in about three to four days during the second phase of the plan. Lucas had returned the hug with almost equal ferocity, whispering Be safe into Sherrock’s ear.

It was not only the Mad Jesters that had left the base, as four members of Rowdy Shogun had followed them as well. Q-B and Judy were recruited to help in the hacking plan, as their skills in technology were deemed important for the first phase of the plan. They had accepted the job without question, understanding that it was time for them to be the asset and not a liability. Kisaragi had excused himself out of the room after the announcement, tension wrapped around his shoulders, his jaw set and his eyes dark. Kisaragi and Q-B did not say anything, but anyone in their group could see how much they matter to one another, even without a proper label on their relationship. Lupus understood Kisaragi’s feelings a bit too well, as the latter’s behaviour almost mirrored his own whenever Lucas’ safety was involved.

Bailey and Miya were invited as well, as they would be part of the convoy. They brought along their sabre and crossbow, in case they needed to protect the hacker team from getting ambushed. The Rowdy Shogun were not the only ones to join in phase one, as Astro 9’s Kane and Dill and Jiggy Boyz’s Floly and X were to be included in the team as well. They would come to Babylonium from Shin Tokyo at any moment’s notice, already equipping themselves with the required necessities. Right before Zero teleported them away, Sherrock had given the Coordinate to Lupus, his eyes staring into Lupus’ dark ones. 

Take care of him, and see you soon.  

And the eleven of them finally left, with the shrill sound of the sirens accompanying their departure in the background.

That happened yesterday, but it felt like a long time ago. The warehouse felt too empty, the absence of the four members was too prominent to be ignored even when there were 12 members left. Hades and Goemon continued to watch over the younger ones, trying to mask the absence of a certain blond man. Kisaragi and Marine had spent the day in the fighting ring until Marduk and Gusk had to step in and stop the two, telling them to take a break and clear their head. Marine had landed a nasty hit on Kisaragi’s head, but Kisaragi only laughed, his face bloody and demanded his partner to land another hit on him. Even Sarutobi remained silent, as none of his jokes and tricks could be heard throughout the day. 

Lupus could feel Kogarashi getting restless as well, the pair of yellow eyes shining in the dark confines inside him. The beast’s fury was contagious, as Lupus nearly growled at poor Joe when he sparred with the younger man, with A-Not and Travis jumping into the training ring and trying to calm him down. He gently pat Joe’s arm as a silent apology, before stepping out of the ring and letting the other two to take his place. He walked to where his lover was training with his bow and arrow in a corner, alone as if there was an invisible  bubble that separated him from the rest of them.

But Lupus knew his lover the best.

He knew that Lucas was not that unaffected, that there was an imaginary dark cloud hanging above his head. He could see him too well, from the countless arrows that the red-haired man had shot across the rink and embedded onto the target, from the thin string of his golden bow that nearly snapped after the sheer amount of tension it had endured only on that day, and from the way Lucas held himself.

He ended up going out of the warehouse an hour ago, lighting a bonfire to calm himself down.

They were all on edge, counting down the hours before the execution of phase one that would happen once the clock struck midnight.

1.5 hours left // 2230h // Babylonium

[Everyone’s ready?]

[We’re good to go.]

[Judy, Kane, X, you guys will hack into the server for Cho Tokyo’s grid system. Dill and Foly, both of you will be in charge of Shin Tokyo. Q-B, you will work with me and Chatter to get into Babylonium’s system.]

[I understood, Masato.]

[Zero, we could start hacking now.]

[Very well, Chatter. Rosso will remain here to handle the electricity. Parte and Smash would guard our perimeter in case there was invasion from the enforcers. Sherrock would remain here to handle communication with the other three groups, while I will remain on standby for emergency teleportation.]

[Let’s start.]

45 minutes left // 2315h // Cho Tokyo

Lucas woke up with a gasp as a scream died in his throat. He did  not even realize he had fallen asleep, the last thing he remembered was lying on his bed, trying to get rid of his nervous jitters, dragging Lupus along with him. He was all sweaty, his forehead peppered with tiny beads of sweat and his hair falling down on his forehead, all clumped and matted together. He was sweltering underneath his clothes, the heat surrounding his body becoming more unbearable by the seconds, but his body was still chasing off the remnants of shivers and chills that spread throughout his whole body.  Outside the window, snow was falling down, benefitting of the winter season that had arrived.

He put his hand over his eyes, replaying the nightmare that haunted his sleep. The memory was still fresh, as the image of him being enveloped in the darkness was practically burned behind his eyelid. Whether it was a premonition from the future, or something forgotten from the past, he honestly could care less. 

The nightmares had been frequent throughout the week, as if it knew that the big fight was just around the corner. Even with the presence of the Mad Jesters that had livened up the hideout more than usual, Lucas still could not stop the nightmares from coming. He had put up a brave front in front of Sherrock, joking around and putting a smile on his face whenever the older man was nearby. It was not in his intention to lie outright, but he did not want their moments together to be filled with Sherrock worrying about him. His brother had 13 years of experience in that particular matter, so the light wielder did not want to add more into his burden. And now, Sherrock already gone to Babylonium along with the rest of the Mad Jesters, getting ready for the first phase of their plan. 

He turned around, facing to the other side of the bed in search for another figure that was familiar to him. And there he was, sitting on the edge of the bed, his gaze fixed to the night sky, with the moonlight that filtered through the window shining on him, casting an almost mythical look on the dark-haired man. Lucas could see the way his shoulder stiffened and his jaw tight, likely as a result of seeing Lucas thrashing and tossing about in his sleep due to the nightmare. 

It would be easier if they had a big, bad villain to put the blame on, to put a face and identity on something that they have been fighting against all these time, to channel all their rages and wrath towards it. But, no, the reality was not that apparent enough. The cien had no master, had no face and brain to coordinate its attack, nothing at all. It just existed , coming into this world as Lady Fate had deemed it to be, to wreck chaos upon humanity just for the sake of it. And he felt nothing but numbness, from the top of his hair down to the tips of his toe, his tears had long dried up, making him stared emptily through the walls of the room instead.

After a while, Lucas extended his hand outwards, reaching for his lover’s hand that lay limp on the bed. He interlaced their fingers together, his supine position making it awkward for him to do so, but Lucas could care less. Finally, his lover turned towards him, his dark hair falling over his forehead and reminded Lucas of how young he was, they both were in that moment. 

15 minutes left // 2345h // Cho Tokyo

Lucas did not want this trip to be their last journey together, or this exact moment to end. Emotions flooded into his chest, as staying there with Lupus by his side made him feel so, so warm, but there was coldness in the core of his heart that he could not shake off. He held back his fears, knowing that it was no longer the appropriate time and place for him to feel helpless. As if knowing his turmoil, his dark-haired lover tightened his grip around Lucas, the force intense but anchoring. He half-wished that he could stop time, to live in this moment, before everything started to tumble down. But, he knew that his wishes would not likely come true.

The transmitter lying on the nightstand started to glow red, before the sound of alarm filled in the warehouse. He and Lupus stood up from the bed, their bodies already clad in fighting gears and outfit for the mission. Lupus’ sword was strapped to his back, while Lucas held his bow in his hand with the quiver of arrows slung across his back. With their hands still interlaced with each other, they made their way to the rooftop. The remaining Rowdy Shogun members did the same, bringing along with them their weapons and fighting gears. Together, they silently watched the way various hologram projections were scattered everywhere in Old Tokyo, blue and red lights from the hologram brightened up the otherwise dark city in the middle of the night. It was a result of their pre-installed projectors a few days ago, with Jiggy Boyz and Astro 9 having done the same at both Shin Tokyo and Babylonium, as they needed to make sure every citizen was able to see their messages. Travis could see some of the citizens vacated from their houses, being confused on why the holovision and other projector at their homes showed the same thing.

0000h // Phase 1, commence.

The twelve of them watched the way the holograms changed and projected the number ‘10’, slowly counting down until it finally reached zero, before Mad Jesters insignia was displayed, showing the image of a Joker inside a sun-like circle. The hologram changed again, with Joe and A-Not holding their breaths as Rowdy Shogun’s symbol was seen in the sky, two pairs of katanas underneath a symmetrical fire. Even though the group had kept a relatively low profile throughout the years, Joe was sure it would not be long before enforcers would come storming their hideouts. The holograms changed again, with Astro 9’s star symbol and Jiggy Boyz’s simple logo displayed to everyone. The Mad Jesters insisted to only have their logo being shown in the video, but Goemon, Teku and Future insisted to have their own group’s insignia to be included as well, not letting the blame to fall only on the former. The video finally started, showing every citizen of Cho Tokyo, Shin Tokyo and Babylonium about Canopus’ plan, the presence of the cien , while hiding the presence of the Gifted at the same time.  

Lupus could hear the sound of the town nearby awakening, as the citizens appeared to be in rage over the news. Amidst the chaos, there was a distinct sound of a siren which was rapidly approaching their hideouts. Turning to his side, he could see his lover noticed the same thing, the red-haired man minutely nodding his head to confirm his suspicion.

‘It’s the enforcers. They are coming for us.’

“It’s time,” said Lupus to the rest of the members. The twelve of them quickly formed a circle, with Lucas placing the teleportal device in the middle of it. Some of them were looking a tad melancholic, as bittersweet feelings overwhelmed their emotions as they finally had to leave the hideout, their home. But the situation called for it, rather than having them stayed there and risked being arrested by the enforcers. They were needed somewhere else now, and who knows when they will come back, if they managed to come back. Lucas chanced a look at the rest of the members, committing their faces into his memories for one last time. With his hand gripping onto Lupus’, he slowly counted under his breath, waiting for the device to teleport them to their respective destination.

The enforcers arrived there only a few minutes later, finding nothing but a dark, abandoned warehouse.

[BABYLONIUM]

It had been a week since the news was released to the public, and the three universes were filled with nothing but chaos. People had no qualms to leave the comfort of their home, and  joined the protest on the streets against the central government and its control tower, Canopus. The transportation services such as teleportation pods and portals had been ceased temporarily, to prevent massive influx of the citizens into Babylonium. However, some of them managed to use the subway line to get to the capital, before the enforcers were dispatched to all of the subway line’s gatepoint.

It was true that Canopus only included the people of Cho Tokyo to be the sacrificial lamb against the fight with the cien , but the citizens of Shin Tokyo and Babylonium had participated in the protest too. Daily news had included all the coverage of the protests, along with the cien ’s attack and the deaths that previously had been kept under wraps by the government. The fear against the cien was too overwhelming, and the Canopus had no choice but to come out with a way to defeat it, or temporarily subdue the cien before more attacks occurred towards the human.

And finally, the leader Canopus finally emerged, addressing the rumors that had been circulating amongst the public. He acknowledged the truth about the plan to sacrifice Cho Tokyo, about the cien as well. His statement was spreaded throughout the three universes, an attempt to calm the people down. However, he also claimed that the government was successful in finding the solution of the cien matter. Canopus would start to produce a new Atria, a more powerful version than the previous one, and they would supply it to everyone. The welfare of the people in Cho Tokyo took precedence as compared to the other two universes, due to their largest population size and their susceptibility to the cien attack.

Unbeknownst to the Canopus, everything was being observed by four groups of people hiding in the shadows.

The Zentro, a very renowned subway entry point at the capital, was like a temporary safehouse, bought by the Mad Jesters in the case of an emergency using their collective salaries from years of working in Babylonium. Masato and Chatter had done a good job in covering their tracks, so that the purchases could not be traced by the Canopus back to the seven of them. Before phase one began, they had given the instructions for the entrance to Astro 9, with Rowdy Shogun and Jiggy Boyz later transported there to join them. 

The fluorescent lights that decorated the walls of the subway flickered, their neon color giving the place an eerie, abandoned feel to it, ensuring no innocent passerby to be brave enough to come there by themselves. Several thermal blockers were placed strategically from the entrance, across the lobby and finally along the tracks of the train to prevent the enforcers from being able to detect any thermal wave from any living being, along with the energy wave originating from power users. True enough, the enforcers did not manage to detect any suspicious reading or activity there, and they never bothered to reinspect the place since the protest started. Tens of surveillance cameras were still active, monitoring the place to warn the people inside the wall against any unwanted intruders or enforcers.

Bailey entered the surveillance room, a small cramped space filled with wires and monitors alike, with Goemon, Lupus, Karasu, and Teku hot on his heels. There were five members of the Jiggy Boyz sitting at a round conference table, frantically typing on keyboards and maneuvering about a dozen monitors and hologram maps using the consoles in front of them. The blond man could see the videos of the on-going protests on the said monitors, watching too many people crammed up in one place making him feel nauseous and slightly claustrophobic. As he saw Future turning in his chair to face him, he nodded his head as a sign of greeting. “Any news yet?”

The Astro 9’s leader shook his head in the negative, “None so far.” Bailey could see Skeet sitting behind him, his hands moving about the keyboards expertly while his eyes roamed for any signs or clues that might tip them off to their teammates’ whereabouts.

Karasu brushed his hair back, the movement only ended up emphasizing the lines and dark circles underneath his eyes, a prominent sign of his worry. “Seriously, where are they? A week has already passed by, but Mad Jesters have not replied to any of our messages yet. We could lend our help, but we don’t even know their location for phase one.” They had asked for Aria’s help, but unfortunately his power did not work under pressure, instead his premonition would only come unprompted or unforced.

“Let’s just hope that they are safe and the lack of reply was due to some trivial matters, not because of the enforcers or anything,” replied Goemon. As a makeshift leader for the remaining members along with Teku, he needed to put a tight lid on his emotion so as to not worry the others. “Claude, Yuki, any suspicious activity from the surveillance monitor?”

Yuki stood up and walked towards the Rowdy Shogun’s leader, bringing several sheets of paper in his hands. “This was a compilation of the report regarding the vehicles that had exited the capital since phase one started last week. The first thing that I wanted to highlight was the convoy from Canopus, in which they were shown going into Shin Tokyo yesterday. Judging by the announcement from the leader, I’m guessing these vehicles were tasked to bring back all the stored star cores from Shin Tokyo’s factories, and bring it back here for the production of the new and enhanced Atria.”

“The second thing that grabbed our intention was,” Claude interjected, projecting the captured images of two SUVs seen in two different days into the main monitor for everyone in the room to see, “these two vehicles with the similar plates were seen exiting from Canopus in the middle of phase one, going to someplace still unknown to us. Yesterday, the same vehicles returned to the control tower, with an ambulance following right behind them.”

Teku raised an eyebrow, “What are you trying to say?”

“We had a thought that this special team, who were not involved in controlling the public protest, could be dispatched to stop the Mad Jesters one week ago. And yesterday, they had returned to the control tower, with no sight of our friends becoming their hostages from the surveillance recordings,” Future replied instead. “Their fight had ended, which means our friends could have successfully escaped from them, or…” Or something much worse than that, Karasu noted.

“I don’t think they are dead, and this is not me speaking on behalf of the Rowdy Shogun’s members that were sent as part of this team. This is Mad Jesters we are talking about. They have been running away from the authorities, certainly they wouldn’t let themselves easily be caught or defeated. Furthermore, Sherrock was there, and he would not allow anyone else to stop him from returning back to his brother,” said Lupus, his eyes still locked onto the captured images, “With that being said, I hope Lucas is spared from any unconfirmed rumors and news about Sherrock and the others.” He went out of the room, not waiting for any response for his small request.

Before the flame wielder got to take a few steps further, a figure appeared by his side.

“You know, your words just now contradict each other when you said you trusted our friends’ ability to survive, but at the same time you wanted to keep Lucas in the dark about any possible updates.”

Lupus barely spared the man a glance, continuing his stride down the non-functioning escalator on his search for his lover’s whereabouts at the moment. “He had lots of other things in his mind to think about, I don’t want to put unnecessary burden on him,” the dark-haired man replied.

“We are at war, Lupus, deaths are practically inevitable at this point of our life,” Karasu pressed on, paying no heed to the dismissive tone in Lupus’ voice. 

Lupus stopped walking and turned to the ash blond-haired man, his body language barely hiding his contempt about the topics, tension wrapped around his body like a tightly wounded string waiting to snap. “I know that, but as long as there is no confirmation on their status, I would gladly keep it a secret. And we are at war, that’s why there’s no use for us to ponder upon any unconfirmed possibility, and we should instead focus on other matters at hand instead. I’ll let him put his trust on his brother's survival, while I’m going to be the one to face the reality and get things done in the meantime.”

Karasu opened his mouth to reply only to be interrupted by a voice interrupting their conversation, followed by the sight of familiar red hair appearing in their line of vision.

“Lupus, are you done? Gusk and Hajime had prepared lunches for everyone a few minutes ago,” said Lucas, wide eyes peering curiously at the sight of his lover with the Astro 9’s member, unable to discern the thick tension brewing between the two man. 

Lupus was startled into a laugh at the abrupt interruption from his oblivious lover, his face immediately softened while his previous harsh demeanour completely wiped out in the matter of seconds. He immediately went to the red-haired man’s side, understanding that his lover had been waiting for his return for them to eat together. 

Karasu sighed as he continued to watch the duo discreetly as he followed them to the lobby of the subway. ‘ Face the reality, huh?’ the Astro 9 mused to himself.

-

It took another two days until they received another news, or rather an alarming report obtained by Joe and A-Not after a whole day of being cooped up in the surveillance room. Lucas was getting more and more restless, as there was no news of the Mad Jesters and his friends as well. They were supposed to go to the Canopus together, him, his brother, along with Lupus and several others to find the Spica. But it seemed like they had to make some adjustments soon, as it was unlikely for his brother and Zero to be able to make it in time.

Joe and A-Not were standing at the front of the room, behind them lay several hologram projectors that were showing some surveillance videos along with charts and graphs about something still undisclosed to the rest of them. Itaru and Hajime were there too, their faces serious and sombre as if the news would take a heavy hit on everyone’s emotion. The leader of Astro 9 stepped forward, his eyes addressing the other nineteen people who were in the room.

“I’m sorry that we had to call upon the rest of you so urgently. As all of you already know, our plan before this was to wait for the return for the Phase One’s team back here before we proceed with the next phase, however I think that we could not afford to wait anymore,” Itaru started, before nodding his head to Hajime to project several holographic graphs and charts. “Our report today had detected a spike in the cien’s signature energy here in the very capital of Babylonium. Curiously enough, there was no other reading in other places in the other towns in Babylonium, or even in Shin Tokyo or Cho Tokyo. I had come to the conclusion that the cien was attracted to the accumulated star cores at the Canopus, that was why each and every part of the cien was merging right here in the capital.”

The graphs that were shown in the projection revealed the increase in trend of the cien ’s activity and its signature thermal wave, hitting several peaks in several succession in a record of a few hours only, with no sign of slowing down yet. At this point, the readings would reach the highest they would encounter in no time, which was basically a sign for them to take drastic measures as soon as possible. Almost every face in the room had turned determined by then, understanding what the leader was implying at once. Lucas had to take several deep breaths himself to calm down, trying to control his frantic heartbeats back to normal. Seeing Lupus whose face remained undeterred by the news did help, snapping some sense back into himself that all of them were ready for the war. 

“By tomorrow, we predicted that the cien would have reached the highest reading of energy ever, and then they were free to roam everywhere, destroying this city before reaching everywhere else,” added Itaru.

“It seemed like we made a mistake in estimating the cien ’s reaction to the star cores being kept here. We also forgot to factor in the presence of the citizens in the capital, and now it is likely for them to be dragged into the battle as well,” commented Hades. “Even if the capital is not that large as compared to the other cities, it is still one of the most heavily populated cities.”

“That just means that there are more lives we need to save,” said Kisaragi. “No pressure.”

“Exactly, and who would save the world if not us?” said Goemon, his voice playful and a grin decorated his face. And that was all it took for the rest to crack a smile, some supporting a full-frontal smile as well that mimicked the leader.

Lupus cleared his throat, redirecting everyone’s attention to himself. “What are we going to do about the team that is accompanying Lucas to the Canopus? Are we going to change its members?” he asked.

Itaru nodded, understanding the flame wielder’s concern. “Considering Sherrock and Zero wouldn’t be able to make it, along with the cien ’s presence, I guess it is necessary.” 

Hearing that, Lucas had a sudden, primal need to interrupt the Astro 9’s leader, his hand which was previously hanging limp at his side now gripping tight onto his lover’s left wrist, with his body discreetly inching closer to the other man as well. He wanted Lupus to be there when he found Spica, but it looked like the situation would require them to be separated, because he knew Lupus’ offensive power was valuable in the fight against the cien later on. The dark-haired man seemed to understand his dilemma as well, as he glanced at Lucas wordlessly before slinging an arm around him and pulling him closer as he waited for Itaru to announce the names.

“For the support team to accompany Lucas at the Canopus, I would suggest Travis, Marduk, Claude, Yuki, along with me, and.. Lupus,” said Itaru.

The flame wielder snapped his head up, surprised written all over his face as if he was not expecting to hear his name being called out by the illusionist. Lucas mirrored his expression, as the two of them continued to stare into Itaru.

“Don’t worry, both of you did not mishear him,” interjected Hajime, as if knowing what the two of them were thinking of.

“Are you sure? I mean, I understand if I was stationed in the city instead for defense. I could help the others using my flames--” Lupus tried to reason before he was cut off.

“Hey, did you forget something? The current me is not the same person from several months ago, none of us are,” said Sarutobi, smirking as he nudged the dark-haired man from his side. Lupus’ eyes travelled across the room, watching the way his friends gave him thumbs up and nodding in approval of Sarutobi's words, while Astro 9 and Jiggy Boyz watched from the side in amusement. “We are much stronger now, thanks to Lucas’ power inside us, that’s why we don’t need your help to cover our asses this time.”

“Karasu and I would be there to help the evacuation of the people from their people before transporting them to other cities where it would be safe for them. We’ll be fine,” added Aria, who remained quiet at the back of the room since the start of the meeting. He was looking at both Lucas and Lupus, his eyes all-knowing while hiding hundreds of secrets of the world, the burden that he needed to bear on his shoulders since his childhood.

Lucas wondered whether the Oracle had seen this day in his premonition before.

Goemon clapped his hands twice to mark the end of their meeting. “Alright, get enough sleep tonight because tomorrow we’re going to be busy.”

-

“This is one of the teleportation pods designed by Kane that resembled the ones used in Astroport, however this version is able to teleport longer distances in shorter time as it is powered by Atria. It is also able to accommodate up to ten people per trip. However, the catch is that it can only be used twice, which meant you must make sure everyone is counted for before you teleported away from Canopus, or the members who are left behind need to find their own way to escape from there,” said Kagura, replaying the instructions given by the Astro 9’s member before he left with Dill during phase one. He passed a small square-shaped metal contraption with a glowing disc on its back to Lupus, who accepted it with a slight bow of his head as a form of gratitude.

The Canopus team, which were made up of Lupus, Lucas, Itaru, Travis, Marduk, Claude and Yuki, were standing at the entrance of the subway, along with Goemon, Kagura, Karasu, and Future to watch over their departure. It was only 5.30 in the morning, and most of their friends were still asleep. Hades wanted to be there too, but it was his turn to be stationed at the monitor room, leaving the leader no choice but to let Goemon alone to handle the departure. 

“Remember, the coordinate of Canopus is already wired into this device, so all you guys need to do is to press the small button at the centre of the disc, and it will bring all of you to Canopus,” added Kagura, before continuing, “In comparison, the coordinate to go back here require three taps of the button, while two taps will send you straight to the capital, where the rest of us will be waiting.”

“Understood. We’ll try to make this trip as short as possible,” replied Lupus.

“Kagura, make sure that everyone’s suits are properly equipped before going into the battle. Bring enough Atria shells for the suit’s supplements. Karasu, make sure to not let Aria out of your sight. His powers couldn’t do much against the cien so watch over him,” said Itaru, fixing the ash blond-haired man with a stare, and Karasu promised the leader so. Future was giving some last minute’s tips to Claude and Yuki, referring to the guns that were strapped to the holster as he relayed all the upgrades that had been done to the weapons.

Goemon gave Travis and Marduk a brief hug and said, “Take care, both of you. Don’t let the enforcers get the best of you,” to which Marduk chuckled in amusement. “Watch over the two,” the leader said to Travis, to which the latter nodded. They all knew the said two power users were already strong on their own and did not warranted protection from anyone, but in the case of their powers being suppressed in Canopus, their help might come out handy, along with Claude and Yuki’s assistance.

Lucas turned towards Goemon, observing the way the older man already decked in his complete fighting suits and gear while wearing black leather jackets, dark jeans and combat boots, with his halberd being the only thing missing from completing the outfit. “What are you going to do about the cien ?” asked Lucas to the leader, his voice soft but barely masking the curiosity inside it. 

“Hades and Gusk are currently monitoring its activity. If the level spiked up again along with its sightings in the capital, we’ll be there at once,” replied Goemon. 

“Don’t die until I get there,” said Lucas, his words remained light-hearted but the tone of his voice was absent from jest, as he looked up to the leader with a melancholic expression. It felt like a farewell more than anything, and he hated this restless feeling that overwhelmed him at the moment.

The Rowdy Shogun’s leader seemed to be taken aback by the sudden request, but he quickly got over the shock, ruffling the silky red hair belonging to the light wielder with a cheeky grin decorating his face completely opposite to the weight of Lucas’ words just now. “I won’t, I need to look after the others after all.”

Lupus could feel the bile rising up his throat, as dread and anticipation started to spread all over his body for what to come. He squashed down the feeling, and instead refocusing on the task that he was entrusted to. Giving Goemon a hug, he whispered, “ Can you tell Kisaragi that Q-B will definitely come back, and he has to be there when he finally arrives?” Goemon nodded, understanding Lupus’ concern about the two members. The flame wielder threw his hands forward, black sparks dancing on his fingertips before they erupted into full-blown flames, flowing out of his palms onto the floor. Before long, the black flames took the shape of the all-too-familiar figure of a wolf, sitting quietly on his rear legs beside its master. “I will leave Kogarashi under your care as well, Goemon.”

“We’ll be going now,” said Itaru as a farewell, and in the next seconds they were finally gone.

The shrill, deafening sound of a siren resounded in the subway, loud enough to wake the remaining members who were still sleeping in their bed. Karasu brought out his communicator, reading the message sent by Hades to the rest of the team. 

“I guess it’s time for us to head out as well.”

-

[BABYLONIUM - Canopus]

The first thing that greeted his vision was the blinding white wall surrounding the seven of them, stretching up to the tall ceiling that was nearly thrice their height. The corridors were brightly lit by the lamps that lined across the expanse of the wall, its white paint doing nothing but to increase the lamps’ sheer intensity. Being there made Itaru feel nauseous, the absence of other elements from the color wheels almost giving him whiplash just by the action of turning his head left and right. The sight from one corridor to another remained, as if he was caught in a mirror that kept reflecting the same scenery over and over again. He shook his head lightly to somehow reorientate himself in the foreign place, a feat that was turning to be difficult enough even for the one and only illusionist amongst the Gifted.

He turned around, watching the other six people closely to gauge their condition. Travis and Marduk remained alert even when their eyes kept blinking, hands remaining close to the weapons he knew were hidden in the various pockets and straps  all over their body. Claude and Yuki somehow were not faring that much better, their faces a bit green likely from the combined after-effect of teleportation and the bizarre landscape inside the Canopus. Claude was holding a scanner in his hand that he used to warn the rest of them whenever they nearly stumbled into a surveillance camera.

Yes, the seven of them had successfully teleported inside the control tower, finding themselves inside a blinding white corridor that never seemed to end, connected to countless cross-intersection and flights of stairs. Each corridor appeared to not differ much to another, and each floor resembled the previous one no matter if they went above or below it. He vaguely remembered Masato’s story about the time Mad Jesters went there, almost getting themselves caught before they managed to escape with the Coordinate and the blueprint. The Mad Jesters had warned about the tricky architecture of the control tower, designed to keep something in rather than to prevent outsiders from entering. 

It had been only twenty minutes since their arrival, but it was twenty minutes too long considering they have not managed to find anything worthwhile. Not even a directory, as Itaru doubted that the enforcers working there had a memory strong enough to remember the directions in this 150 floors control tower. Finding no other acceptable alternatives, he told Lucas to use the Coordinate at once. At first, his plan was to find the vault before allowing the light wielder to use the Coordinate . However, he had no choice but to improvise, as the place was completely surrounded by a foreboding, sinister feeling that he still could not shake off. Judging by the hard eyes and tight expressions donned by the other two power users, he knew he was not the only one who felt that way.

It did not take long before the device started to light up, with Lucas himself following suit. His crimson hair was flowing lightly, the color a nice contrast against the white surrounding, acting as an anchor for the other six to reality and preventing their mind from being tricked by the seemingly innocuous walls and corridors. Lucas’ endless training had allowed him to exert better control over the device, matching the wavelength of his light to find another similar power source in the vicinity. After a few seconds, the light rays from Lucas began to stabilize, before it converged into a single beam of light pointing somewhere to the east. The seven of them did not waste any more time, as they broke into a run with Lucas and Lupus leading the way. 

After running up a few flights of stairs and taking a few confusing turns, they arrived in front of a single, bolted metal door embedded on several inches thick of pure concrete wall. Claude briefly scanned the door using his scanner, before nodding to Yuki to confirm there was no other presence of human beings on the other side of the wall. The three power users stepped backwards, while Travis and Marduk stood in front of them in case of an ambush. Yuki brought out a small holographic keycard that he inserted into the automated keylock of the door, the keycard quickly unlocking it without too much hassle. They entered the room, their eyes trying to adjust themselves to the sudden darkness that enveloped their senses before the light from the Coordinate slowly started to light up the place.

The seven of them had to stifle a gasp that threatened to escape their mouth when they finally took in the sight in front of them. They were in a large vault with its size easily accommodating up to four floors in a normal building. There were hundreds, probably thousands of brightly glowing orbs of various sizes and colors that lined up the racks, all arranged around a single circular cell that stood in the center of the vault. The cell had see-through glasses that made up its wall, likely to enable the outsiders to see the inside of it. Lucas could see a podium-like stand inside the cell, likely used to hold one of the star cores on it. There was also a single chair inside it, with the body connected to wires and cables that disappeared inside a small hole on the floor, possibly to connect with other monitors and devices outside the cell. The scene was hauntingly familiar that the red-haired man had to contain himself from releasing a full-blown shudder.

And he finally realized, the cell reminded him of that facility.

He could almost picture himself sitting on the chair, with the metal headpiece and all those wires. Lucas had to take a few breaths in to calm himself down before he had a breakdown from the nightmares of the past. But he had to know the reason why Canopus had that cell built, if not for the purpose of experimentation on humans again?

Before he knew it, he had run down the stairs of the auditorium, reaching in front of the cell in no time. Several footsteps followed behind him, not before making sure there were no other threats inside the area. 

“Lupus, look, it’s so similar to that cell. How could it be?” asked Lucas, his eyes fixed inside the cell while his right hand was hovering outside the wall. The Coordinate in his left grip weakly glowed, no longer producing the previous blinding light beam as the red-haired man was unable to concentrate on controlling his power. 

Lupus stood close to the light wielder, barely sparing a glance towards the cell before he redirected his attention back to his lover. “I know what you are thinking, but it is impossible for them to have done all those things to another person. The blueprint plan is one thing, if words get out that they repeated what Old Tokyo had done, there would be chaos everywhere.

Itaru nodded, “I thought the same. If you looked at these devices closely, they were designed to channel something into the person that was sitting in the chair.”

“Is it possible for them to channel those raw power from the star cores into a human being? Perhaps to make their own ‘artificial’ Gifted instead so that they could fight the cien ?” asked Travis, disgust and horror written all over his face.

“It is possible, but we haven’t stumbled into one all these times, so I couldn’t predict how successful their little experiments were. Come on, we need to get going,” replied Itaru. 

Lucas refocused his attention to the metal contraption he was holding, once again channeling some of his power into the device to find his star core. Once the light beam from the Coordinate stabilized, they broke into a run once again, navigating through the maze-like design inside the vault. They stopped once they came across another empty cell, this time having only a stand with a small metal chest placed on it. The light beam was pointing straight towards the box, confirming them that it was the one they were looking for. Claude brought out his scanner as he tried to locate and disarm all the hidden traps and surveillance cameras in the surrounding when Lucas stopped him.

“Let me..try something,” said Lucas, with the Coordinate in his grip glowing the brightest it had ever been. He put his right hand on the glass wall, the palm flat on the cold, smooth surface. Tendrils of light started to flow out of him, a sign of him summoning his power out in the open and reaching to the wall, shattering the circumferential wall into tiny, miniature shards of glass that fell onto the floor. Itaru was left amazed by the sight, as he was getting more and more intrigued by the extent of Lucas’ capability. Furthermore, the alarm somehow had decided that Lucas’ presence was not a threat, or rather it had deemed that his power and the power source inside the box were the same. The red-haired man stood in front of the chest, being confused on how to pry it open before his lover appeared beside him, summoning his own flames and letting the scorching heat melted the sturdy material, revealing an iridescent white star core inside it. Its small size was deceiving enough to trick someone into thinking it was one of the weaker star cores if not for its sheer power that leaked through its body and the super-tight security surrounding it. 

Lucas could feel the star core, Spica , calling for him, each glow being in tandem with his own heartbeat that pulsed madly underneath his ribcage. His skin felt warm while his power danced in his veins as if begging to be joined with the raw source of power in front of him. He felt enthralled and completely charmed, as he had never encountered something so beautiful and powerful at the same time. The thought of having all those powers as his own was intoxicating, however a certain movement at his peripheral vision stopped him in his tracks. He immediately constructed a barrier around the seven of them, with Lupus and Itaru standing at his side while Travis, Marduk, Claude and Yuki stood at each corner of the barrier.

There were about twenty enforcers that surrounded them, each of them wearing their signature all-white outfits of white visored-headgears, jackets, pants, and combat boots. Curiously enough, Travis noted, they were holding an unusual kind of gun in their hands, along with another two enforcers at the very end of the cell who were holding an unknown device in their hands each. He did not have to wait long before one of the enforcers stepped forward and spoke up.

“I’m sorry, but you are not allowed to escape this tower along with the Spica ,” one of the enforcers said, his position at the front of the entourage hinted at his leadership, his voice monotonous as it came out through his mouthpiece.

“This matter did not involve any of you, or even the Babylonium’s government. We are the Gifted, and we need the star cores more than you know,” said Itaru.

“The government did not think so. From the moment the Gifted had gone into hiding after escaping from Old Tokyo, Canopus bad decided that none of the Gifted had the rights to retrieve the star cores to be used as their own.”

“Canopus should have known why we went into hiding in the first place. It was because we did not want to be exposed to the same treatment at Old Tokyo, we were not your lab rats to be experimented on and we deserved to have our chance of having a normal life,” replied Lupus, practically hissing the words out due to his anger.

“Canopus was aware of that, but due to your selfishness, normal citizens were dead because of Gifted refusal to emerge from your shell of anonymity and defeat the cien , especially you, the starborn child,” the head enforcer sneered, referring the last part to Lucas, “That was why the head of Canopus decided to use the star core to make their own battalion of enhanced soldiers, to take place of the Gifted in the fight against the cien .”

“So that means you guys are the result of the experiment. Were you the one who fought against the Mad Jesters and the rest of our teammates?”Travis interjected.

“Yes.”

“But, you still did not manage to take them into custody, I’m guessing they still overpowered you guys, the so-called enhanced soldiers , in the end. So, I suggest you leave us alone, and spend your time doing what you were intended to be, an army against the shadows,” added Marduk.

“We have our orders, and we’ll follow it through, lest we die trying.”

“And we have our own goals to complete, friends to save out there, not wasting our breaths here talking to you,” said Lupus, a burst of flames sprouted out of his hand and being sent across the distance to one of the enforcers. However, the flames did not manage to reach the intended target, as it was repelled by an invisible force field around the enforcers.

“Lupus, don’t waste your flames by setting it on them, they have a barrier-like shield that was projected from their suits. The four of us will handle this, and you and Itaru watch over Lucas instead while he takes in the Spica ,” said Marduk. Holding one of his knives in his hand, he stood facing towards the enforcers, a wicked grin spreaded over his face. “I’m guessing this would turn out to be a battle of the ‘enhanced’, thanks to Lucas’ power inside us.”

That was all it takes before the two opposing sides surged forwards, as Travis and Marduk had unsheathed their knives and daggers and held it firmly in their grip, the blade shone dangerously in the half-lit cell and knocked against the barrel of the enforcers’ guns, slicing open their cloth before slashing across the skin. The Enhanced proved themselves to be quite formidable opponents indeed, as their bodies were able to withstand the various cuts and hits from the sharp weapons. 

In comparison, Claude and Yuki had used their guns as well, emptying magazines of bullets faster than one could count to ten. The two Jiggy Boyz were quick enough on their feet, sometimes disregarding their guns for a while if they were not able to reload within time and immediately engaging in hand-to-hand combats with the enemies. The cramped space was not enough area for them to fight it out, as sometimes stray bullets found themselves flying towards Lucas, only to be destroyed into nothing by the flames barrier Lupus had constructed around him.

The presence of energy limiter had rendered Itaru’s power useless, leaving him with no choice but to stay at Lucas’ side and monitor his surroundings, while the light wielder concentrated on taking in the star core. In comparison, Lupus remained unaffected by the device as his flame was not derived from star cores. He would send trails of flames to help his friends whenever he recognized the temporary absence of the enforcer’s barrier due to receiving countless hits from the four non-power users. The fight went on for a while, giving Lucas time to fully assimilate Spica’s power into himself.

When it was done and all that was left of the Spica was a spherical glass shell in Lucas’ palm, Itaru immediately asked Lupus, Travis, Marduk, Claude and Yuki to retreat, before the red-haired man constructed a barrier around them to prevent anymore attack. Itaru pushed the buttons on the teleportation device, not wanting to waste anymore time in that forsaken tower. 

“All the death tolls from the cien ’s attack.. They belonged in your hands, starborn child, because of your refusal to step up and perform your role in this. You have to atone for it,” said the head enforcer.

Lupus gathered his lover closer to his side in the confinement of the barrier, while Lucas matching the head enforcer’s glare with a stare of his own, his red eyes appeared empty and bleak.

“I planned to.”

And the group teleported away, leaving the enforcers to stare at the vacant spot they were standing at.

“Best of luck to you, child of prophecy.”

[Attention to all personnel. The cien’s activity had reached its peak level as of this moment. All enforcers are obligated to report to the base immediately to prepare for the battle. I repeat--]

*

[BABYLONIUM - Capital]

After the siren went off, it took everyone about half an hour to wake up and get ready before they set off for the capital. When Goemon went to the bunker, he could see some of them had already woken up, staring into nothing as the loud sound of the siren continued to rang throughout the compound. Not even the younger members made so much commotion at being woken up at an ungodly hour, as they already knew the implication beforehand. The sound of rustling fabric and clinking of belts and metal weapons were heard as each of them put on their combat outfits and fighting gears swiftly and efficiently. The mood was sombre and grim, like taking a deep breath before the plunge into the deep ocean, the unnerving tranquility that people pondered upon before the storm finally hit the city.

It was true that having only two power users left in the group was not a reassuring fact, especially when facing this enormous threat that could invalidate the existence of humanity. But that was the reality that they needed to face now, and it did no good to ponder upon what could have been instead. Goemon knew this better than everyone, and being one of the oldest in this team he needed to put up a strong front in front of everyone. Hades was right beside him, his silence and reticence were never his flaws to begin with. It was because his presence had always managed to pacify everyone, sturdy and dependable like an old wise tree standing strong in the midst of a storm. Astro 9 and Jiggy Boyz trusted the two leaders, even when they had known them for a relatively short time as compared to the Rowdy Shogun’s members who grew up together.

“Kisaragi, can you pass me my gloves?” asked Marine, his trustworthy hammer lying on the bench. They still had a few more minutes to go before their appointed gathering time outside the hideout, and thus he decided to test the weapon for a few swings.

The brown-haired man heeded his request wordlessly, his movement stilted and stiff like a clockwork machine. The action did not escape the keen eyes of his teammates, knowing the exact reason why Kisaragi behaved as such. It was quite a sensitive subject to be approached, and none of them had the courage to comment on it as a result. The only exception was his best friend, who  was having none of it.

“Snap out of it,” said Sarutobi out of a sudden, his clear loud voice ringing like a ripple that broke onto the still surface of water, causing discordance in its tracks.

“Sarutobi.” Hades intercepted, his low voice was like a warning to whomever wise enough to pick up on it. But Sarutobi was always one of the bravest in Rowdy Shogun, and not even Hades’ admonition was enough to deter his concern about the way his best friend was behaving.

“I know that you are worried, heck, we all are. No one has heard anything from Q-B, Judy, or anyone from the Mad Jesters. But that didn’t give you a free pass to act like a miserable, useless piece of shit. Lucas had only managed to meet Sherrock, his own brother, for a few days only before they were separated again, and yet I didn’t see him moping around even when I knew he was dead worried about his brother. He did his own part, going to Canopus even when the original plan was to have Sherrock go along with him,” hissed Sarutobi, each word that came out of him was imbued with enough vigor and heat in them, as if he had hold on to them for quite a while. He brushed his orange hair back in agitation, before continuing, “We know.. We get it.”

Kisaragi had to turn his head away, his guilt was written all over his face after being called out by Sarutobi. It was nothing but the truth, and he had no excuses that could justify his behaviour. 

Marine let out a sigh, his head looking up to the ceiling as his eyes watched the way molds and wild ivies had wormed their way up there, due to the place being abandoned by the government for so long. “It would take more than just a number of enforcers to bring them, him , down. I know it for a fact, because I had trained with Q-B all my life, the same goes to Judy.” 

“Not to mention that both of you were appointed as the partner for Lucas and Lupus respectively all these years, that gotta account for something, right?” said A-Not, tightening his hold over the naginata that was slung over his back.  

“I’m sorry,” Kisaragi dragged his hands over his face, as if trying to wipe off the pitiful expression he knew he was donning. He was mad at himself, for letting his emotions overpowered his rationale these past few days. He wondered where the trust and faith that he had kept for Q-B from all these years, because he was sure his previous self would scorn his current pitiful self. He slowly sheathed his gold katana from its scabbard, the dangerous glint from its blade finally hidden from the dim light of the ceiling. He walked up to his best friend, who was already waiting for him with his arms opened widely and a knowing smile on his face, warm and comforting. “I wouldn’t do that again,” said Kisaragi, his voice muffled in between the hug.

“That’s what your friends are here for, to take care of each other’s back. Now, come on, we need to go,” said Hades, one of his hands clasped onto the younger’s shoulder. 

-

At another room, the remaining Astro 9’s members were having the final check on their outfits, making sure the suits’s abilities would not hinder the abilities to be used freely during the battle. Teku was making rounds and checking up on every member in the room, letting each of them demonstrate the power in front of him and giving necessary final comments to improve on their technique and handling. The silence proved a bit too much for them to handle, even when they were missing only three members from the group. But it was three too many for them to get used to.

“Aria, Karasu, will the two of you be fine on your own?” Hajime approached the two power users who were sitting on a bench together at the end of the room. They were placed in a different group and had their own mission to accomplish during this final fight.

Karasu nodded wordlessly, his blond hair fell down on his forehead, making him look younger than he usually was. Aria, who was sitting beside him with both of his hands clasped together like a prayer, replied, “We’ll manage, somehow. Sorry that we could not be of help directly in the battle. It would be better if we possess an offensive type of power like Lupus or Parte instead of, you know, premonition dreams and everything.”

“Nonsense. You know that the rest of us would not be here if not for the three of you. And we are thankful to be able to help the rest of the people alongside the Gifted,” said Hajime, as he watched over the younger two men warmly, the corner of his eyes crinkled and his mouth quirked up into a kind smile.

“After everything ends, let us all have a barbeque party or something, yeah?” Kagura interjected, dispersing the serious mood in the room with his loud outburst.

The other four just laughed, silently keeping their prayers to themselves.

Let’s survive this, together.

-

“Future, what should we do after the battle ended?”

The Jiggy Boy leader turned towards the owner of the voice who was already watching him, his pink hair bright and eye-catching even under the dim light.

“I don’t know, I haven’t given it a thought yet. Do you have anything in mind, Libra?” asked the leader in turn.

Libra grinned, his eyes gleamed as if he was just waiting for the leader to ask all this time. “I was just thinking.. How about we opened up an orphanage or a shelter kind of thing in Shin Tokyo? Cho Tokyo already has Rowdy Shogun as their guardian. We could take care of the kids while teaching them about technology, devices.. That sort of thing, you know?” 

“We are barely past the age to be called an adult, you know? And you want us to take care of other youngsters?” said Skeet, his eyebrows rose as he questioned his friend’s suggestion.

“Alright, alright, I’ll think about it. Let’s ask the others as well when they came back and see what they thought of it,” replied Future, his mouth twitched as if he was holding his laughters in.

I wonder what our future has in store for us.

-

The capital was in pure chaos.

It seemed that Canopus had detected the emergence of the cien, as they had issued out an emergency news and notices everywhere in the city, telling the citizens to remain in their home to avoid being attacked by the shadows. The government had issued a lockdown as well, trying hard to reduce the number of inevitable casualties in the next few hours. The teleportation platform, Astroport, was immediately shut down to avoid massive exmigration of the people that might attract the shadows to attack there. Several trucks had been seen exiting the control tower, with enforcers filling the vehicles without doubt. Teku hoped that this meant the number of enforcers left in Canopus was greatly reduced as well, so that Lucas and the others could complete their mission without hindrance.

They had left their hideout and went to the city on foot. Even from a distance, he could see some of the cien emerging from the drain and sewer, like smokes rising from burning coals and woods. He hoped that no one was there in the vicinity, or else they would be caught in it. The weather had taken a turn for the worst as well, thick snow fell down the sky and blanketed the city into a pure white landscape. The mixture of fire and ice had turned everything into a blur of monochromatic palette of colors, making the capital appear as a bleak, desolate ground of nothing.

The Astro 9’s leader knew about the emergency lockdown measure executed by the government. However, it was hard to control the movement of the people in one of the most heavily populated amongst the three universes, as some of them did not exactly understand the gravity of the situation, even when their lives were only acting as mere bargaining chips in this battle against the shadow. 

The sixteen of them arrived at the center of the capital, standing right below the huge founder’s monument built at an intersection that branched off to five different roads. They could see Canopus, Babylonium’s control tower that stood tall and striking even with about fifteen kilometres of distance between them. The blinding white color of the tower still appeared pristine and untarnished, unlike the place they were at where the shadows had slowly crept outside, masking everything in their vision under the wisp of black mist and filling the air with a foul, rotten stench of death.

“Aria, are you seeing this?” Teku asked the Oracle through their communication link that was established earlier. It was getting harder to breathe normally without inhaling in that foul smell as well, so he was glad that the link did not require him to open his mouth and say the word out loud.  Snow was still falling down as well, and he had to squint his eyes to be able to see properly through it.

“Yes, I am,” replied Aria, standing a few feet behind the older man.

“Still working on believing,” added Karasu, as he slowly turned around and took in the sight of the bleak, gloomy atmosphere of the capital, the previous image of bustling, hectic city was nowhere to be seen.

“We’ll try our best to fend against the cien here, while you guys concentrate on teleporting the citizens away,” said Future, already moving towards the rest of his teammates in accordance to what they had devised back in at the hideout.

“Understood. Best of luck to all of us.”

Karasu, Aria, Marine and Joe turned south, running towards the apartment complex and condominium where the citizens were still residing. They were tasked to evacuate the people out of their houses and provided a safe route for them to teleport out of Babylonium in a controlled manner to avoid attracting the cien towards them, where the powers of the Astro 9’s members would play a huge part, while the latter two would act as combative supports.

As they arrived at one of the condominiums, the power users duo went straight up to the rooftop with no obstacle, as they had disabled the security measures beforehand. The rooftop was empty, as expected, and Karasu and Aria wasted no time in standing in the middle of it. They had planned to combine their power beforehand, seeing how it would be more efficient and to avoid Karasu using up his power faster than expected. Aria started by taking a deep breath, and exhaled, repeating the routine for a few more times until he could feel the dull ache behind his eyelids, the pressure inside his skull gradually increasing as if there was a mass growing within the confines of the hard bones. A few seconds later he could feel the pressure decreasing as thousands of imaginary sparks blew off inside his mind, a sign that he was now in the mind of the residents in the condominium. He managed a tiny nod towards the older man who was waiting beside him, who immediately placed his hand on top of Aria’s hands.

“Take your loved ones and leave, and don’t turn back,” rasped Karasu, his voice merely a soft whisper as he used his compulsion on all of the residents at once. Before long, they could hear the tell-tale of people moving up and about throughout the building, slowly but surely leaving their houses. 

“Aria, Karasu, it worked. They are walking out of the building as of this moment,” said Joe in their communication link, as he continued to observe them at the ground floor where he was waiting with Marine. 

“Any sign of the cien yet?” asked Aria.

“Nope, I think--” replied Joe, before he was cut off by Marine.

“It’s here,” said Marine shortly, before a swishing sound of a heavy weapon slicing the air could be heard in the link. “We’ll take care of it,” he continued.

True enough, there were wisps of shadows coming out of the ground, gradually approaching the residents who were still under the compulsion effect and unable to defend themselves unless Karasu told them to. Joe had both hands on the handle of his axe, gripping it tightly before swinging the weapon down, hacking across the black shadows in one swift motion, instantaneously dispersing it into nothing. His axe was unlike a normal one, as the handle was designed long and sturdy befitting his tall stature better. It also made it easier for him to have some distance in between him and the shadows, so that he would not be vulnerable to the exposure with the cien.

Marine was on the other side, donning his fighting gauntlet and punching across the shadows, the Atria imbued inside the fighting gear enabled it to effectively destroy the black wisps. He had his hammer with him, but the blond-haired man always took pride in being one of the best fighters in Rowdy Shogun, preferring hand-to-hand combats even in battle like this. And he was a good fighter, way more than the average, as he barrelled through countless hits onto the shadows, his feet remained agile even with a huge body built due to years of training.

It continued for about a while, with the two Rowdy Shogun members circling and orbiting around the compelled entourage out of the condominium and protecting them from the shadows. However, they later realized that the shadows had gradually adapted themselves to their attacks, changing form into a massive collection of black shadows instead. It was not long before Marine found himself face to face with one of them, its appearance too thick he could not see anything past it. It took both of them together to defeat it completely, leaving them breathless at the end of it. 

Finally, Karasu and Aria went down from the rooftop after making sure there was no one left in the building. The four of them ran towards another apartment complex, before they were greeted with more cien. 

A sadistic grin broke out on Marine’s face as he readjusted his gauntlet. “Well, I hope the others are faring better than us in this battle,” he said before launching another attack on the shadows, with Joe following suit.

“I hope so,” said Karasu, before he used his power to compel the shadows into its own demise, helping the former two men. Aria stayed behind him, and the two later repeated their whole routine of evacuating the people with Marine and Joe as their support.

-

In another part of the capital, Hades was fighting against the shadows as well, with A-Not and Kagura alongside him. They were at the street, having the whole wide expanse of the area as their fighting ground, so they did not have to worry about casualty from the passer-by. Hades was wielding his spear like an expert, the pointy tip of the weapon seared across the shadows like it was nothing. He also switched from using his weapon and fighting bare-handed without a slip, his fighting stance worthy of his status as the leader of Rowdy Shogun. 

“Was it only me but was the cien acting more aggressive and unpredictable?” asked the leader in their communication link.

“Yes, one or two swings of my knife are not enough to make them disappear anymore,” replied Gusk, fighting with Goemon and Skeet somewhere else. 

There was a rustling sound in the link, before Marine’s voice interjected, “We had to take a longer time to evacuate the people as well, because Karasu needed to use his power to compel some of the shadows away.”

“Not to mention, the cien had changed their shapes thousands of times, so it was getting harder to pin them down,” said Kagura, holding his whip-like fibres in his hand, the Atria infused inside it making it resilient as steel while remaining flexible as well. He swung around the weapon, taking a hold of the cien briefly before A-Not came up behind him, his naginata slicing across the black matters. Their teamwork had been getting better and better since they fought at the same side in this match. 

Another voice came up in the link, sounding young-ish and tense which the rest recognized to be Libra, and a bit breathless as well which they chalked up due to his exhaustion. There was no sign of Future and Hajime, his teammates, in the link, as the two probably had their hands full with the shadows. “The next few hours are going to be crucial, because our scanner said the cien had still not reached its maximum potential as equivalent to the reading from this morning. I think the shadows are currently amassing somewhere unknown to us, before they decide to launch a full-scale attack on us.”

A-Not chuckled, but the sound came out forced and broken, as they all understood that the battle was only reaching its peak. The snow underneath his feet was reaching up to several inches thick, making it harder to maneuver around his weapon while staying light on his feet. “What do you think they have in store for us—”

He did not get the chance to complete his words before a rumbling sound was heard, low and tumultuous as if it originated from the deepest core of the earth, droning on and on as if there was a monster begging to be released from its confines. A few minutes after, the ground that they stood on began to tremble and shake, as if the terrain was threatening to split open upon the slightest impact. Hades, A-Not and Kagura had to crouch down in the middle of the street, waiting for everything to settle down.

“What in the world--” yelled Sarutobi in the link, with Kisaragi cursing under his breath at whatever they saw in front of them. Teku who was in the same group with them probably agreed with them, as the Astro 9’s leaders added in some of the most colourful curses in the link as well.

Hades looked up from where he was lying down, the sight in front of him took him by surprise. “Oh shit.”

-

“What in the world—” exclaimed Sarutobi, but neither Kisaragi nor Teku turned around to ask for clarification when they both could see what the orange-haired man was talking about.

The shadows had emerged from the sewer and drainage across the cities, thick and suffocating like a black miasma that overfilled every inch of the thoroughfares. They watched the way it slowly pulverized the street, dissolving any kind of matters that stood in its way. Cracks began to appear along the pavement, making way to the dirt and soil that lies underneath it, with more and more cien appearing from it. 

People were screaming left and right, crying for the help that they could not get in time. As the cien got to them, there was nowhere else for them to escape, and they were later consumed by the shadows. Groans and screams of pain followed, when the cien had entered their bodies and turned their insides into mushed liquid, rotting from the inside out. It reminded Kisaragi of the first report of the cien’s victim a few months ago, when the Rowdy Shogun were back at their hideout, guileless and oblivious of the suffering in the outside world.

Teku had gathered all the metals around him, infusing them with the Atria from his suits to fight the cien off. He was wielding his single golden katana, the metal swiftly cutting across the shadows. His best friend was right beside him, moving his own twin katanas in a blurry of motion, barely seen by anyone’s naked eye. The two of them focused on the floating cien around them, while Teku used his ability to support them, making a makeshift metal floor and wall as a barrier to protect them against the shadows from the underground.

They had managed to withstand the attack all these while, but Kisaragi knew they could not last that way. There were too many cien around them, and their abilities were not enough to fend them off. Kogarashi had done a great job on its own, the black flames that were covering its whole body remained secured and enduring despite the number of hits it sustained. The wolf had jumped into his defense more times than he could count, a nostalgic feeling that reminded him of his two dear friends who were currently fighting a battle of their own. 

Another loud, deafening sound resounded in the area, before the cien further split open the street, forming massive fissures and voids underneath it. For some reason, Kisaragi found himself separated from the other two, with the remaining ground underneath him only a mere inch from falling into the darkness. The wolf was separated from him as well, howling and growling as it tried to reach him and save him.

They said that if you are on the verge of death, there will be a brief moment where you get to see your life flashing back before your eyes.

Kisaragi wondered whether the person that said it truly had an experience of dying or not.

Because, he was pretty sure he was going to fall into his death any moment now, but all he could think of was—

Nothing.

He was standing right above the darkness, a never ending abyss that could consume him whole until there was nothing but ashes and dust left from his remains.

He could distantly hear the voices of his friends, screaming simultaneously in the link and in his ears, telling him to Get out of the way! Move the fvck off! KISARAGI, RUN! but he still could not move, his feet firmly planted to the ground, as if there was some sort of force holding them down. His eyes were fixed to the chasm underneath him, his hands swayed uselessly at his side with his katana lying on the ground, the gold color of the blade dimmed considerably under the pitch black darkness. His thunderous heartbeats defeated all the other noises surrounding him, the distinct thudding sounds it made was the only thing his mind could focus on. Kisaragi belatedly realized that he was— terrified.

He was terrified of the death down there that was now staring at him, just biding its time until he fell right into it.

He was terrified of being among the now-rotting corpses stranded all over the cities, the death count was now innumerous.

“Kisaragi, please, I’m begging you, run,”said Sarutobi, pleading for his best friend to move out of the harm’s way. He would jump over the rift if he could, just to drag the other man away from there.

The shadows continued to loom below him, all gloomy and menacing, as if it could smell the fear that was brewing inside Kisaragi. And the tiny patch of ground underneath him finally gave way, crumbling into pieces as the shadows corroded it bit by bit, making the brown-haired man free-falling into the abyss.

Kisaragi closed his eyes, allowing himself to fall into the clutch of death. 

Or not.

There was a gunshot-like sound that rang behind him, the sound remarkably familiar to him before he felt a tug at the back of his collar that pulled him above.

He gasped, like an almost drowning man having another attempt of inhaling in all those air. Before he knew it, he was once again above ground, his buttocks landing on the asphalt harshly as if he was tossed there by force. 

“You are the stupidest person I’ve ever met.”

Kisaragi blinked his eyes open, his eyes were greeted with the sight of someone he never thought he would see again. The man’s dark hair was swept to the side, as if the wind had run through it countless times. He was holding a black katana, one that he knew he had trained with so many times. Behind him, there were three other figures he recognized to be Rosso, Zero and X, looking relatively unharmed except for some minor cuts and bruises on their faces and limbs. But he could not tear his eyes away from the very one man in front of him.

The said man was looking at him with a frustrated expression on his face, his fair skin was tinged red dud to his anger. “You should’ve run! You could’ve used your gun, or I don’t know, any other weapons that you kept around that thigh holster of yours. But you just stood there, watching it with the stupidest expression on your face. I swear I would’ve killed you instead for being such an empty-headed idiot--” he babbled on.

Q-B did not get the chance to complete his sentence when he was abruptly pulled into an embrace by the older man, the latter’s hands wrapped around his waist shook from his fear just now. He did not have any other choice but to return the hug, burying his face into the crook of Kisaragi’s neck, because had he arrived later, the older man might as well have been dead. The man who had promised to wait for his return a few days ago. The very same man who he was in love with.

“I’m so glad that you are finally here,” mumbled the brown-haired man, his voice all muffled.

“I told you I will come back,” replied Q-B, soft and comforting, his anger all gone now that he was certain the older man was no longer in danger .

Zero silently watched the whole spectacle from the side, ensuring everyone’s safety for the time being. “I’ll leave the rest to you, Rosso, I need to check on the others as well,” he said, before he left the site with nothing more than a puff of smoke that hinted them of his presence a while ago.

With the arrival of Mad Jesters and the rest of their teammates into the battlefield, the tide of the battle now had hit a plateau. Sherrock had joined up with Karasu’s group, Smash, Dill and Floly arrived at Hades’ side, and Goemon’s team had Parte and Miya as their reinforcements. Zero had been dropping each of them at different sites respectively, making sure that no one was injured badly before moving on. 

“Thank you for coming back for us, Zero,” said Goemon, briefly stopping the Mad Jesters’ leader before he teleported away again. 

“No, in fact, I should apologize instead for being so late. The enforcers had energy limiters with them when they stormed on us during phase one, making my power haywired, and I ended up scattering everyone to nearly twenty different sites. It took me a while to pinpoint their location and gather them around, and I had to rest to replenish my power too,” explained Zero. “Here, these are the receptors made by Judy and Kane to be used for communication. In this way, Aria didn’t have to use his power to maintain the communication link in between us.”

“What are you going to do now, Zero?” Miya asked, curious about what plan did the dark-haired man have in mind.

“I would wait at the communication tower, along with Chatter and Kane. They would watch over everyone using Kane’s monitor while I will teleport wherever my help is required,” answered Zero, before he left the place. 

The additional support from the power users could not come at a much better time, as the cien was getting more and more aggressive in their nature. Karasu’s team continued their mission to save the residents, with Sherrock using his telekinesis to forcefully repel the shadows away. Marine and Joe were amazed by the sight of the telekinetic man in his element, chasing the shadows away almost effortlessly. Dill and Floly improve the combative range of Hades’ team, with Smash changing his ability every once in a while to destroy the cien, with Rosso’s electric and Sherrock’s telekinesis becoming his favourites abilities to imitate.

Masato had come to the aid of Future’s team, with Bailey and Judy joining him. Hajime had used his soundwave to create sounds that match the frequency of the cien, the resonance between the two wavelengths successfully destroying the shadows in the process. Masato used his sonic speed to fight against the cien, while planting light grenades made by Judy all over the place. Future and Libra, who had outstanding fighting skills of their own did a fantastic job on their own as well, their acrobatic skills helped them from being caught by the shadows. 

However, Bailey realized that the cien once again adapted itself to its opponents, as they started to coalesce and change its form. As it floated and assembled on the sky, it started to form web-like structures, extending to various other directions. He did not have much time to react before sharp, spike-like projections protruded out of the webs, stabbing directly into every living and non-living matter in its way, before disappearing underneath the ground. He could hear shouts of surprises from his teammates, barely stepping out of the way before the cien repeated the attack. As he swung around his sabre and cut down the spikes one by one, he could hear groans of pains of his teammates in their communicator. 

“What's going on out there? Did someone get hurt by one of these spikes?” asked Bailey, unable to ignore the sound much longer. It was bad if someone was badly injured this early in the fight, especially when Kane and Chatter likely had not finished preparing their healing pods yet.

“It was me,” a voice he recognized to be Skeet answered, “but the spikes barely scratched my back, nothing serious.”

“Marine was injured too,” added Sherrock, with the said man’s voice heard in his background, “one of them managed to stab his left upper arm, so he is now unable to use his left hand for a while.”

“I’ll come there at once, Sherrock, so that Kane could heal him using one of the healing pods. I’ll bring X to cover Marine’s place in the meantimes,” said Zero, before the familiar gunshot sound was heard as he teleported away.

Bailey breathed out a sigh of relief, as he was once again grateful for the presence of Zero and the rest of his teammates. However, he soon found himself enshrouded in the darkness along with the rest of his team, the six of them looking up to see the cien amassing above and below their feet, its pitch black color ominous and threatening. Once again, dozens of spikes and spear-like projections rained down on them, the vastness of the area that the cien encompassed made it harder for them to escape in time. 

A shout of pain came from his behind, making him turn around to see one of the sharp projections that had hit Libra's left thigh, causing red to bloom on his outfits, slowly bleeding down the rest of the leg. The hit had caused the Jiggy Boyz’s member to stay rooted in his place, the pain from both the hit and the spread of the cien in his bloodstream were causing the younger man so much pain to even attempt to move. But, Bailey realized it was a dire mistake for Libra to make, as they were not supposed to stay in one place longer than a few seconds, not until the spikes stopped raining down--

No.

“Libra, MOVE!”

Bailey did not even realize how loud he was yelling, screaming at Libra to move before he saw a few more spikes fall down on the injured man, one of them stabbing straight through his heart, a direct, clean hit. 

“NO!!” Future was screaming somewhere behind him, but Bailey already reached Libra in a few seconds, his sabre swinging around to cut through the remaining spikes before the cien stopped his attacks, rescinding into a distance as if it knew it had successfully hit one of them.

Bailey held him in his arms, watching the way blood spilling out of his mouth, falling down his chin and onto his shirt. Red patches were scattered across his torso, blooming around the holes from where the spikes hit. The blond-haired man was certain several other vital organs were hit as well, but Bailey knew that the hit through his heart was the most crucial hit. Judy and Hajime were asking for Zero’s help to teleport him away, but Bailey was not sure he could make it in time.

Future was right there beside him, body shaking and hands trembling, unable to do nothing to somehow save him. Libra had tried to turn his head towards the leader, his teammate, his brother, as thick red liquid streamed down the edge of his mouth, mixing in with the platinum grey dye of his hair. It took mere seconds for him to breathe his last, before Libra’s eyes finally dimmed as the light escaped them. There were no dying wishes, nothing. One second he was there, and the next he was gone. He was one of Jiggy Boyz’s best fighters, and he was gone.

Future had screamed the name of his fallen teammate’s so loud, his voice could be heard throughout the distance even without the help of the communicator.

And for the first time in his life, Bailey could feel how feeble human life was.

There was nothing else that he could do for the boy, except to put the body away from the main road, his mind blank and his eyes bleak. He could feel the moment the rest of the Jiggy Boyz disconnected from the communicator, being in a suspended period of anguish and disbelief.

They were all still so young, they have so much more to explore in this life.

Libra did not deserve this.

No one did.

-

He did not realize how long he had been fighting there, as he very well thought one whole day had passed judging by the way how tired his body felt and his movement sluggish, as exhaustion and fatigue had finally catched up to him. His body, which initially was running purely on adrenaline had lost its steam, as he was finally able to feel the pain from all the injuries he sustained in the fight. His mind was no longer able to stay optimistic, as he knew the opponent he was facing was far from being done in its agenda to destroy humanity. A glance around him told him that none of his teammates were faring better than him, each donning a pale, gauntly appearance with countless bruises and multiple spots of greyish-black rotting skin due to the shadows.

His ear was still ringing from Future’s scream just now, the rawness of that voice raising goosebumps all over his body. He never wanted to hear something so painful again in his life. He turned to his left, his eyes watching his best friend still moving around the place so deftly, working together with his partner in a calculated, coordinated attack against the shadows, their gold and black katanas never stopped moving since Q-B’s arrival.

‘As expected,’ Sarutobi noted, ‘ from the recon partners of both Lucas and Lupus. They never failed to live up to their position.’ He grinned, feeling nothing but proud and pure happiness for them both.

The three of them, along with Teku, Kogarashi, and Rosso, had given their all into this battle. Rosso had worked together with Teku, the latter gathering metals around him and using them as  a platform to conduct the electricity summoned by the Mad Jester. The electrical bolts were relatively an effective way to obliterate the shadows in a large area. While the wolf had never stopped attacking the cien, its unyielding presence was like a reminder that Lupus was still alive, and for them to hang on, at least until his arrival. Sarutobi had missed seeing the flame wielder terribly, a terrible longing suddenly bloomed in his chest as he was reminded of their easy times at the hideout, the sixteen of them laughing and joking round. He wanted to have Kogarashi beside him again, to play catch and run a bath for the wolf even though there was absolutely no need for him to do it, as it would be summoned back into Lupus all the time.

In front of him, the shadows were still there, covering the place in darkness, its presence unyielding no matter how many times they cut, slashed and hacked through it. He could see the shadows from the ground began to rise up, piling up bit by bit until it easily reached the height of a five-story building, standing tall and menacing like the waves amongst the sea. And it finally fell down, crashing onto the ground in multiple succession, sweeping everything from their stand like a massive tsunami, destroying everything in harsh, ruthless, and unforgiving manners.

It took nearly everything that he had left to move out of the way, but unfortunately it was not enough. Half of his body was caught in it, with the cien permeated deeper and deeper, burning the skin around his right forearm. There was a searing sharp pain in his left eyes, as some of the shadows had managed to enter his eyes, the coarse, gritty sensation making him teary and his vision became blurred. It felt like the burnt you got from dry ice, as you would initially feel the sharp prick from the cold which later turned into a searing, burning pain.  He gritted his teeth, shaking his arm in an attempt to quell down the painful, foreign sensation while his other arm still gripping his katana to fight the cien. He could hear Kisaragi telling him to take a break and heal the injury with Kane, but he was too out of it to even formulate an intelligible response to it.

As the cien amassed itself once again, Sarutobi braced himself for the next onslaught of attack, and the next, and the next, each attack coming in intense and cruel. He could hear the screams of the citizens who were caught in the crossfire, the burns spreading all over their body and their insides were scorched mercilessly, before the rotting organs shutting down and leading them to their death. Suddenly there was a flash of black streak in front of his eyes, appearing out of nowhere and striking him across his chest and torso, the sheer force powerful enough to fling him halfway across the block. 

Sarutobi hit his back directly on the brick-hard surface, a sickening crack resounded, as his head spinned and his ears rang from the shock of the force. He fell onto the ground like a measly heap of limbs and bones, and he was pretty sure there were more than one broken bone in his body. The pain was hitting him full-blown, and even the sheer act of breathing left him shuddering and trembling in his place. 

“Sarutobi, hang on, we are coming for you.”

Q-B’s voice appeared in the communicator, hushed and barely audible even when he could detect the tremble underneath it. The orange-haired man knew the younger man was doing his best to remain calm, to not let his worries and concern bleed into his voice. As if Sarutobi did not know the true extent of his injury now. Each breath he drew in was accompanied with sharp pain on the lower side of his chest, where he suspected a rib bone had punctured into his lung, and the tangy, coppery taste had overwhelmed his gustatory sense as blood started to pool in his mouth.

He should be afraid now, as death was already so near to him, he could practically feel it in his surroundings.

But, he was not afraid, really.

Even with half of his eyesight gone from the cien ’s previous burn, he could still picture the way his best friend’s eyes lit up at the sight of Q-B standing tall in front of him just now. The younger man had arrived, with his blue-black hair skewed and his usually flawless skin painted with blemishes and bruises likely from his previous encounter with enforcers. His face had become a mixture of expression, pinched in between relief and fear for Kisaragi’s life.

Q-B looked terrible, but his best friend had never looked so alive, so happy at the fact that the younger man was there.

Good for you, Kisaragi.

Sarutobi grinned, sweats and blood dripping at the right side of his face where he had hit the building earlier, flung by the shadows as if he weighed nothing more than a piece of paper. His vision was swimming with black spots, making him no longer able to differentiate between the cien or the snow storm. It was getting harder for him to stay awake, as his eyelids got heavier and heavier by the seconds. Both of his katanas were no longer with him, lost from his grip from the cien’s strike, and he had no other weapons with him left, not that he could move in the first place.

If he concentrated enough, he could hear the voice of Kisaragi getting nearer to where he was currently at, the brown-haired man sounding desperate as he begged for Sarutobi to wait for him.

And the cien in front of him was advancing closer to him as well with its form made up of jet black vines and tendrils, biding its time without slowing down even a nuance. 

As he slowly closed his eyes, Sarutobi wondered absently, which of them would reach him first.

-

After Libra’s death, the communicators had remained silent except for the occasional shouts and grunts that escaped through it. Everyone seemed to have lost the will to encourage each other, to even talk to each other. They fought together in silence, their team works were mainly built upon knowledge and trust on each other’s ability. Goemon felt the same, as he felt it was inappropriate to even a crack a joke to dispel the tension when some of them were grieving for their lost teammates. 

He looked at Skeet, at the red-rimmed eyes and drying tear tracks that ran down his cheeks. The younger man had cried wordlessly as he agonized over the loss of his brother.  But he had remained strong, continuing to fight in the battle even in the midst of his grievance. It had been a few hours since their battle began, and the cien still had not shown any sign of slowing down even when the rest of them were now filled with fatigue and exhaustion. Their bodies barely holding up, hands trembling to even hold their weapons, legs threatening to give way at any moment’s notice. The joints of their limbs were sore and numb, as the slightest movement caused them pain comparable to the ones from the cien.  

A static noise was heard in the communicator before Zero’s voice was heard. 

“It’s Smash. The cien got him.”

“What happened?” asked Aria, his concern palpable even through the communicator. 

“He was trying to use another ability, but that few seconds gap left him.. vulnerable. It caught him and drowned him in the shadows. Kagura and Hades tried to save him.. but it was too late,” replied Zero shortly, his voice resigned and grave, before he immediately logged out of the communicator.

Once again.

And they did not even have the liberty to spend more time to grieve for another loss right now.

He did not even have the full status of each and every one member of Rowdy Shogun apart from Miya and Gusk who were in his team, to ask their extent of injury, whether they were even alive. 

Goemon did not even know whether he himself was still alive or not.

His body was moving on auto-pilot, trying to keep up with his vision as he ascertained the direction of the cien’s attack and tried his hardest to avoid facing it straight on. Gusk and Miya stood a few feet in front of him, holding their weapons respectively and working together to fight the shadows. Even when Miya had joined the fight later, he already appeared worse for the wear, proving Goemon’s theory that his fight with the enforcers must have taken quite a toll on his body.

“Brace yourself!” yelled Parte as a warning, before he smashed his fist directly onto the ground. His strength had caused the ground to ripple and quiver, forming several fissures and cracks that pulled the cien underground. However, it also made the pavement they were standing on to be unstable, and the team had run into various directions to avoid being caught in Parte’s power. 

Looking up, the Rowdy Shogun’s leader found himself being left alone with Miya, as they both arrived at a clearing, where he recognized to be one of the arrival platforms for the teleportation pods. There were deep clefts and rifts surrounding them, a consequence of both Parte’s power and the cien that split the earth. Countless numbers of bodies scattered all over the place, already appearing to be in an advanced state of decay, with their skins sunken in and hollowed. 

Miya could hear frantic voices calling for them both in their link, with Gusk’s voice being exceptionally louder than usual as his best friend demanded to know his whereabouts. He could reply to their questions, sharing his location to quell their worry for a while. But he knew it would take time, that they were too far from the others to wait for their help. 

Well, if Zero was there, the two of them could maybe regroup with the others. But the last time Miya saw him, the dark-haired man appeared to be exhausted already, overusing his power by teleporting left and right. And given by the fact that the cien was not particularly a sentient being, there was no chance for it to willingly wait for them.

“Aww, come on, at least give us a chance to meet the others first.”

The shadows continued to advance, paying no attention to his words. 

Miya spared a glance at the leader beside him, standing strong with his halberd faintly glowing in the midst of the darkness. The snow was stuck on the older man’s head, its white color almost invisible between the silver strands of the leader’s hair.

“Goemon, I could barely feel my hands anymore.”

The leader grinned, somehow finding no fault in his confession. “Me too.”

Then why? Why are we still fighting? Miya wanted to voice the thoughts out loud, but the other man somehow knew what he was thinking anyway.

“I promised Lucas I’ll take care of everyone, and not to die until he gets here,” replied Goemon. A simple answer for such a tricky question, even when they knew there was neither reward nor glory that they would gain at the end of this fight. 

“And I intended to keep my promises to the best that I could.”

The two of them broke into a coordinated rhythm of attacks, standing back to back with Goemon holding his halberd and swung it around while Miya fired shots of arrows from his crossbow, both weapons glowing due to the Atria infused in them. The shadows continued to recede bit by bit, dispersing after the blade and the arrows sliced through it.

The leader knew Miya had nearly run out of arrows, and then the younger man would be left with nothing but only his knife and fighting skill to defend himself. He would be vulnerable as Gormon was sure the amount of strength left in Miya was abysmal, he would not last. He could not depend on the others, because he knew all of them got their hands full at the moment.

And the cien once again advanced towards them, forming dozens of spikes that already took Libra’s life before this, mercilessly. 

He did what he knew, what he needed to do, as a leader, a friend, a brother. 

To protect.

He swung around his halberd, again and again and again, slashing through the spikes without stopping for a breather. 

He was reminded of the first time Lupus and Lucas asked him to demonstrate how to correctly wield his halberd, large eyes blinking up at him in pure curiosity and admiration.

Miya was doing his best to catch up to him, taking down a few stray collections of the cien that surrounded them using the last few of his arrows.

He had lost count on how many of the spikes that managed to pierce him, the pain turning him numb but he squashed down the urge to scream from it. Was this what the corpse lying around them felt minutes before they died? 

It took a while before the cien around them finally disappeared, and by then he had let go of his weapon, his mind empty as he stared into nothing.

Why is it so cold out here?

He could hear Miya calling his name behind him, his voice shaken and broken, as if he was barely holding himself from breaking into a scream. The sound of footsteps was getting louder and louder, as if the younger man was trying to approach him.

No, Miya, don’t come here.

One touch and he would fall to the ground, depleting the remaining of his strength.

God, it hurts so much.

He had lost all his senses, his body remained upright purely by the force of gravity and his body weight that had reached an equilibrium.

Not yet?  

And suddenly two very familiar figures  appeared in front of him, one with a red lock of hair, matching a beautiful crimson pair of eyes and flawless fair skin, free from blemishes and bruises seen. His hair was madly blowing under the winds, eyes harboring a reddish orange glow, looking like the personification of a storm himself. His body was covered all over in bright white miasma, with faint white sparks glittered on both of his hands. Beside him stood another young man, with dark hair on top of his head and black flames spiralling around his body and licking the ground underneath his boots.

Goemon let out a relieved sigh and finally smiled, looking peaceful and serene even with bloods littered all over his own body.

Finally.

*

やさしく照らす希望の光

“The light of hope that gently illuminates”

It was cold. 

It was so cold, the kind of chills that seeped into your skin and made your bones tremble from it. Lucas lifted up his partly-covered hand, looking at the pale fingers with barely visible blue-green veins near the wrists. Even with his powers that helped him tremendously in providing the much-needed heat, the cold was still so palpable he could not imagine how the others felt in that weather.

They did not have any specific destination in mind before they left the Canopus, only following whatever the coordinates written on the teleportation device provided by Kane before. Itaru had deduced that it was possible for the Astro 9’s member to send the coordinates himself, to make sure their team arrived at the right place at the right time.

And for the first time in Lucas’ life, he was left speechless by the sight in front of him. 

He had arrived at one of the teleportation stations, judging by the neon blue holo-sign in front of him. The previous snow from before had turned into a storm, masking his sight into a blanket of white and grey scene. But he could see the cien that was lurking in the surrounding, some of them rising from the ground while the rest falling from the sky along with the snow. Even from a distance he could see the huge number of corpses that lay everywhere his eyes landed on, buried under the thick layer of snow as if trying to hide all the sinister sequence of events that caused all the mortalities.

What is this?

He had never seen so many corpses at one place before, their bodies strewn aside like defective, worthless dolls discarded by their owners. The rusty, metallic scent of blood and the nauseating fetid smell from the rotten flesh filled the air, the very scent that he already acquainted with death and despair. Several buildings were deserted and abandoned, with the shadows encasing them from the inside out. Even if there were some people left in it, Lucas was sure they would be dead by now judging by the way the shadows had covered all of the entrances and exits. The roads and the highways were destroyed by the underlying chasm and cracks, revealing the bare ground underneath it. It was nearly impossible to travel from one place to another, and he could only assume that they were going to need more of the teleportation pods from Kane, or Zero’s help. 

“Lucas?”

Travis’ voice broke him out of his thought, reminding him that he was not alone at the moment. He turned around to address his friend before he realized Travis was not looking at him at all. In fact his friend was looking somewhere behind him, eyes widened in surprise and recognition.

And finally, he could see a figure that was very familiar to him, the very same man that had made a promise to him before he left for Canopus with Lupus and the others. There was a hint of a smile on his face, curiously enough his right hand was left empty, his halberd was lying on the ground untouched. Lucas could barely suppress a grin of his own, raising his hand to greet the man when Lupus stopped him, wrapping his fingers around his delicate wrist, his thumb stroking the pulse point almost comfortingly. 

He was puzzled by his lover’s action, before Lupus looked straight into his eyes and said, “Did you realize it yet?”

Realize what?

A closer look revealed Miya sitting on the ground behind the man, his head facing downwards and hiding his expression, to which Lucas later realized that he was crying. Only then he could see the red that blotted the leader’s chest and torso, the eerie stillness of his body, his unchanging expression, and the weapon that was still lying on the ground as the owner made no move to retrieve it.

No.

He could feel Lupus approaching closer to him, a hand at his lower back and lightly pushing him towards the very same direction. His feet were heavy, as if there were weights that were dragging him behind, preventing him to go closer to the two men. His throat felt hoarse and scratchy, as if he had been screaming for hours now. There was the familiar sting that burned behind his eyelid, but he took a shuddery breath in and harshly bit his lips, preventing the tears from falling. The sound of footsteps told him that Travis and Marduk were following closely behind, no words spoken between them. 

If only he had arrived earlier, then maybe Goemon would still have a chance.

He held his breath as he immediately entered the communication link that connected him and his teammates, and true enough, there were two persons missing, their link silent and empty. 

He could hear Kisaragi even from this distance, the sound piercing right into his heart as the brown-haired man cried for the loss of his best friend.

Would things have turned out differently if he allowed Lupus to be on the battlefield with the others?

Would they be safe, if he had made a different decision altogether?

If only.

Lucas had to turn away from the sight of the lifeless Goemon and his dark eyes, empty and unseeing. 

I wonder, Sarutobi, Goemon, whether the two of you would forgive me, for not making it in time.

Lupus stayed close to his lover, watching the way the red-haired man tried to compose himself once again. No words were heard out of the other’s mouth, but the flame wielder knew how much guilt was circulating inside his lover’s head.

“Travis, Marduk,” he called the name of his companions, who were holding in their tears on their own. They turned towards Lupus, their eyes glassy but still holding that alertness in it. “Can I ask for your help to take Miya and Goemon away from here?” asked Lupus, still unable to say the words Goemon’s body out loud. They nodded in understanding, approaching the still crying man and trying to console him.

“What about you and Lucas?” asked Marduk, his concern prominent in his voice. Even though he knew he was likely to be of much help to the two power users, being older made him feel responsible for them both.

“We’ll fight.”

Immediately after the dark-haired man said that, several lashes of the cien emerged from the ground and tried to strike them, but failed to hit its mark due to the presence of the barrier that Lucas built around them. Lucas swept his right hand to the side, shattering his own barrier into several shards-like particles before it disappeared into thin air. Winds began to blow through the soft strands of his hair, the dark crimson color of the soft strands stood out against the dark surroundings. His eyes were harboring the previous reddish orange glow to it, a sign that he was summoning more and more of his power, his body posture betraying his poorly-concealed ire. With barely a nod to his lover to signal his departure, Lucas ran towards the shadows, his palms glowing up and ready to be used at any moment.

Lupus remained behind, his gaze remained locked to the sight of his lover in front of him. “Claude, Yuki, you can tell the others to rest for now. The cien .. probably would not attack the others anymore, not when Lucas is finally here.” And true enough, there were no more shadows around them, not even from the previous attack.

“Lupus,” said Travis, his eyes locked with the opposing pair belonging to the flame wielder, his voice determined, “we’ll wait for your return.”

The dark-haired man smiled, gracing no response to the request as he finally went off into the battle and joined his lover’s side.

-

“Kogarashi.”

Black flames began to sprout out of his left palm, before the flames reshaped into the figure of his wolf. Lupus could see parts of its body appear mangled and patch of its fur deformed, likely to its fight with the shadows earlier on. He slowed down his pace to pat the back of the wolf’s head, as he knew the wolf had done the best that it could to protect his friends against the cien . And now he had to summon it back into his confines, making his power returned to its usual capacity to prepare him in this final battle. He knew his friends and teammates would be fine, as the cien was now accumulating itself to go against Lucas, like a moth attracted to the light. 

The city had turned completely dark by then, appearing as if it was already night time. The sky was filled with dark clouds and shadows alike, the snow relentlessly falling down and showing no sign of stopping anytime soon. The cien was hiding in between the puffs of clouds, making it harder for them both to discern the difference between the two. 

Lupus slowed down into a halt when he saw his lover doing the same, stopping right in front of the shadows. As he summoned more and more of his flames, he could see Lucas following suit, both of them gearing themselves up for the incoming attack. He stood closer to the red-haired man, acting as a support to the other. He could hear the sounds of Lucas’ breaths, small puffs of white clouds coming out of his mouth due to the cold, which he himself inadvertently tried to match the rhythm, the act soothing and reassuring enough for him.

And then it started.

There were none of the half-hearted, mediocre attempts as the two of them went on full swings on their first streak of attacks. Lupus hurled his flames everywhere his eyes landed on, destroying the cien one by one in the matter of seconds. Lucas on the other hand threw his hands out, projecting bright light beams out of his palms that shone through the dense shadows. 

It was not long before the cien began to change its form, as it continued to surround them both and drained into the cracks on the ground. Black spikes began to emerge out of the ground, and the sight of the sharp pointy end of the shadows made Lucas falter in his tracks, as he was reminded of the sight of Goemon’s body full of blood and the leader’s empty eyes, making him gritted his teeth in anger. 

“Lucas.” As if understanding his frustration, Lupus called the light wielder’s name, passing his own sword to the red-haired man wordlessly when his lover redirected his attention to him. Lucas enveloped the weapon with his light and continued his attacks, swinging the heavy metal effortlessly around him to cut through the spikes, his movements smooth and well-coordinated thanks to the training he had with Lupus before. Lupus on the other hand kept on using his flames, aiming his attacks towards the shadows that lingered beneath the pavements and ground.

A sudden slight thudding force inside their heads was all they felt before Bailey’s voice was heard through their link, briefly asking about the two’s well-being. Lupus used the chance to ask about the rest of his friend’s condition in turn.

“The rest of us are fine, Marine and Gusk are recovering using Kane’s healing pods right now. The cien no longer approaches us after Lucas arrives, so don’t worry about us.”

“We understand,” replied Lucas, his voice trembling a bit as he was hit by a remorseful feeling at the sound of the older man’s voice.

“We’ll try to share some information with you regarding the various forms of the cien’s attacks these past few hours. We’re sorry for not being able to help you further than this.”

“It’s alright,” Lupus reaffirmed, watching the way the shadows receded for a while, no doubt preparing for the next bout of attack. The two of them listened to Bailey’s explanation in the link, trying to pinpoint the weakness of every one of the cien ’s forms that appeared before this. 

“That’s all we have. See you two soon,” said Bailey, before the link turned silent from his end. A promise that the older man intended for them both to fulfil, no matter what.

Lupus wasted no time before slamming his fists onto the ground after that, the flames gushing out of his hands protected him from the impact while it spreaded on the surface, engulfing everything in its way. Its sheer heat was enough to melt even the metals found around them, and the cien too at the same time. More and more of the cien were forced to come out from its hiding, lashing aggressively against the blazing black fire that showed it no mercy. 

At the other side of the battle, Lucas interlaced his own fingers together before he spreaded them out, producing dozens of light spheres which he later circulated to the surroundings. As each of the spheres approached closer to the shadows, the light inside the sphere slowly brightened up before it finally exploded, disintegrating the shadows and the surrounding structures as a consequence. The battle went on, each side showing no sign of slowing down while the buildings and infrastructures of the city crumbled away. 

After a while, Lupus realized his flames were having mild outbursts in between his attack . He felt the way his blood started to run hot, flaring up inside his veins as if his flames were trying to burn him from the inside out. The sudden change in the nature of his power surprised him tremendously, making him stumble and fall onto the ground. He wrapped his arms around his body tightly, his coat was stretched over the expanse of his torso as if the piece of clothing was able to contain the heat inside it. He did not even realize he was gasping out loud, not until Lucas had gathered him close inside his barrier, with the light wielder’s hands stroking the side of Lupus’ face and his voice breaking through the daze of his mind, telling him to breathe properly. 

“Lupus, what’s wrong?” asked Lucas, his worries prominent in his voice as his fingers deftly wiped away the sweats trailing down the side of Lupus and ran through the dark, wet strands of his hair, the act much more comforting than Lupus expected. 

“My power.. it’s going haywire. I felt as if it was trying to go out of me,” replied Lupus, stuttering over his words a bit due to his pain.

“What? Why?” Lucas looked surprised by the answer, his eyes widened in disbelief at Lupus’ reply. 

“Both of your flames and the one from the ‘cien’ had the same nature. They were derived from the darkness itself.”  

“You understand, right? Your power could not help him, in fact they would only hurt him in the process.”

Suddenly Aria’s voice rang in Lupus’ mind, reminding him of the vision that the Oracle had shown him before. He finally understood what it meant for him. He circled his hand around Lucas’ slender wrist and grip it tight, before looking into the other’s eyes. “My power was a manifestation of the cien , remember? I think.. the cien wanted it all back.”

Saying it loud somehow made it feel more unreal. Lupus had to take a moment for the fact to sink in, of what it truly meant for him. He could see the way the shadows continued to attack the barrier that his lover had put up around them, hostile and aggressive as if it had no intention of giving them even a moment to rest.

‘God, why now?’ he wondered. This is the time when he needed his power the most, to fight along Lucas until the end. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself to stand up and disregard the still burning inferno inside him. Lucas was watching him closely, his face one of sorrow and exasperation as he stared at the dark-haired man. The flame wielder decided to bring their faces close together, their foreheads and noses touching, breathing each other’s scents in due to the proximity. “I’ll stay and fight with you, until the end, until there was nothing left in me. We’ll do this together,” said Lupus, his tone final.

Like the way it was supposed to be. 

More flames broke free out of Lupus’ body, swirling around his arm for a bit before trailing down onto the ground and disappeared. The dark-haired man knew he did not have much time left before he was depleted of all his flames, and that was why it was crucial for him and Lucas to fight now. He summoned Kogarashi out, wanting the wolf to be his companion for the last time it disappeared for good. The black wolf seemed to understand its master’s predicament, nuzzling Lupus’ legs fondly as if to comfort its master for the last time. 

As the shadows began to absorb more and more of Lupus’ flames, the two power users could feel there was something sinister brewing in the horizon. It was not long before the shadows began to spiral down to the road in front of them, before it formed into several beast-like creatures, their disfigured heads had goat-shaped skulls complete with short and floppy pair of ears, eyes pitch black like the abyss, jaws wide and unhinged with sharp pointy teeths, and their front and hind legs had long, sharp claws underneath. 

And the creatures sprang into attacks, their hind legs propelling their bodies into the air and crashed upon the two power users. Lupus had his sword ready, the blade barely stopping one of the beasts’ advances at their jaw, before he barraged through and sliced neatly through its body. Kogarashi was fighting against the creature on the ground viciously, its sharp fangs snapping inside the creature’s body and wrenched the rotten skin and meat away, the smell overfilled the air. Lucas had chosen to use his bow, infusing the arrows with his own light and shooting the creatures down one by one, leaving only black particles where they once stood. 

Unfortunately, Lupus later realized that only he and Kogarashi were left, his hands were now empty from the familiar black sparks that erupted out of his fingertips, barren from the swirls of black flames that used to wrap itself around his body. The wolf appeared in the same condition with no more flames dancing around the edges of its body. There were three of the creatures that stood in wait a few feet from them, snarling and growling menacingly and ready to pounce for the final attack. Kogarashi whined lowly, and the dark-haired man could have sworn the wolf chanced a glance towards him, as the usually frightening, a hint of melancholy swimming in the gleaming yellow pair of eyes for a few brief seconds. The wolf leapt towards its opponents, managing to take down one of the three before it finally disappeared, leaving trails of black fire before it all faded away. The shock from the loss of Kogarashi hit the dark-haired man hard, leaving him vulnerable and wide open for the two remaining creatures to attack, before a brief flash of light crossed in front of his eyes and hit the creatures straight through their disfigured heads.

Before long, a huge silhouette fell over the two power users that covered them from any other source of light, as the cien formed a massive wave with the height of nearly one hundred fifty feet tall that was approaching them in record’s time, burning and disintegrating every building and corpses it came across. The scale of the attack was unlike its previous attempts, and a moment of doubt passed through Lupus, making him wonder whether Lucas’ barrier was able to hold and protect them both. As if knowing what was on his mind, his lover was on his side instantaneously, his right hand travelled down Lupus’ left wrists and interlaced their fingers together. 

“I think it’s time for me to fight on my own now,” Lucas said, the corner of his mouth curled upwards as if he was trying his hardest to smile, even when they both knew it did not quite reach his eyes, “and this time, I’ll be the one who protect you instead.”

Everything turned pitch black after that, as the cien fell onto down and enshrouded everything in darkness, before tiny rays of light filled in Lupus’ vision, making him realize that he was still in the safety confines of Lucas’ barrier and completely unharmed. There were bright swirls of light rays and tendrils that came out of his lover’s body, his power forming a cocoon-like protective barrier of its owner. He realized that it was the work of the Spica, which meant that Lucas finally could manifest the power of the star core completely.

“If we go on fighting like this, this battle would not end, Lupus. Even when the cien was now only focused on me, the aftermath of its attack would only cause more and more casualties when the citizens were caught in the crossfire. I have a plan, but I don’t think you would agree to it if I told you,” Lucas added, his eyes fixed to the shadows. He glanced towards the dark-haired man as he chuckled, seemingly amused by a hidden joke that was privy only to himself. “I hope you will forgive me one day, for not keeping our promise.”

Lucas finally left a kiss onto his lover’s lips, the pressure light and soft, the moment chaste and fleeting with the ghost of farewell lingering at the end of it. His beautiful crimson eyes appeared full of hidden sorrow as he stared into Lupus’ very own dark pair of eyes.

And the light wielder elevated into the air, an invisible force lifting him up with his body still enshrouded in bright lights, like a stray star that was seen in the midst of dark, dark night. 

The starborn child. The child of the prophecy.

And with him, the story will end.

-

“All the death tolls from the cien’s attack.. They belonged in your hands, starborn child.”

Dozens of corpses and destroyed buildings in the city that was covered in fire and darkness.

“Don’t die until I get there.”

Goemon. Sarutobi. 

No one could blame Lucas for acting driven solely by his wrath and guilt, a conflict of two opposing emotions that drove him mad, even when his face remained dispassionate. He had ran straight on towards the darkness, leaving everyone behind, including Lupus. Then he continued to fight, his body was moving more on auto-pilot, a habit that had been ingrained into his body more than anything, even when his mind remained empty. He cut down the spikes one by one, and the sword given by his lover acted more as a tool to be used, even when they both knew he could his light just fine to defeat the cien . But Lupus passed his weapon to the red-haired man for a purpose, not for him to defeat the offending projection of the cien only but to rid of the haunting images of their leader in his mind as well.

When Bailey appeared in the link and further solidified the loss of their two friends, it took him nearly everything to remain composed but his voice still trembled, his mask of indifference managed to slip away for a second. His light spheres that he produced after that had obliterated both the cien and the buildings likewise, but he could not seem to bring himself to care.

However, the time slowed down into a halt as he watched Lupus fall down to his knees, his face stretched into silent agony as he wrapped his arms around himself as if to contain his pain inside. Lucas arrived at his side in no time, wiping he sweats, stroking his dark hair softly, and trying to help in regulating his lover’s breath who appeared as if he was drowning. He did not know what prompted his lover to behave that way, and a quick scan all over the other’s body did not reveal any kind of injury from the shadows. 

The answer that Lupus gave him for his question took him by surprise, reminding him of their discussion before this about the dark-haired man possibly being powerless at the end of this battle, but he did not expect this occurring so early in this fight. Lucas did not mind his lover was powerless, as long as he was alive , and remained so until the end. He wanted to relay the thought to him, to comfort Lupus, but as he accidentally heard the other’s thought through their link, he was left speechless.

‘God, why now?’ Lupus thought to himself, but Lucas had heard it just fine.

It hit him that the flame wielder was not grievous of the fact of him losing his power, but instead he was disappointed by the fact that he could not fight at Lucas’ side long enough. Lucas realized this past hour of him fighting, Lucas was there by his side, with him, for him. He had acted selfishly, his battle was driven by his grief, when Lupus also had lost two of his friends. Yet all Lucas had done was not acknowledging his help.

Lupus had always been the stronger one between the two of them, and Lucas had took his presence by granted.

“I’ll stay and fight with you, until the end, until there was nothing left in me. We’ll do this together,” Lupus said to him. 

Together.

Regardless of everything that had happened and will happen, he only wanted more time with the dark-haired man. 

The appearance of the vicious, menacing beasts made him refocused, as his mind became attuned to Lupus beside him. Gracing his arrows with his light, he silently took down all the beasts around them both, covering his lover’s blind spot as Lupus fought off the rest with his sword and Kogarashi. Even when his body was overheating as more and more of the black flames escaped his body, Lucas watched the way his lover never falter in his attacks, taking in all the searing and burning pain underneath his skin.

Watching Kogarashi fade away was heartbreaking, as the wolf had been one of his most precious companions, protecting them both since he was only a mere child until now. The black wolf had kept him company when Lupus went on missions, and sometimes he had put his trust on the wolf to keep his lover safe when he was not there to watch over his lover’s back. 

Too much goodbyes left unsaid.

He took down the remaining creatures wordlessly, while his hands later formed an arch above his head, constructing a barrier to protect him and Lupus from the massive wave of shadows. 

“I think it’s time for me to fight on my own now,” he said, “I’ll be the one who protect you instead.”

Let me protect you.

The Spica inside him began to sing an unknown song that was only audible to him, coaxing him to let the power out, trying to convince him that it was now ready. 

And he let the power to do so, embracing the light within himself even when he and Lupus were completely covered by the darkness that fell onto them.

The Spica was supposed to be the most powerful star core amongst the rest, but Lucas did not feel himself as the strongest human being. 

He was completely void of feelings.

Tendrils and rays of light formed around him, even when he did not command as such. He only had one plan in his mind, a way for him to end everything once and for all.

‘Will you forgive me, Lupus? For not keeping our promise from that day?’

A kiss of apology, and he was now on his own. 

He left his heart behind, going to where the darkness was lying in wait for him. Even from a distance he could see the cien converging all of its fragments from different parts of the city, like a whirlpool that sucked in all the darkness, the sight inexplicable in any other circumstances. He also noticed Canopus behind the cien , as he unknowingly had returned back to the tower when trying to follow the cien . 

‘Lucas, you don’t have to do this.’

It was surprising to hear the Oracle’s voice in his head, but he guessed only the younger man had the ability to do so, apart from himself.

“You have seen this before, Aria. You know there is no other way,” Lucas replied, amused at the younger man’s being persistent.

‘Everything that I had done, showing Lupus this vision the other day, was to prevent this from happening. It should have made a difference.’

“Well, maybe Lady Luck was betting on you doing that, so that it would lead me here, you know?” He let out a little laugh, not discrediting what he just said. “It wasn’t your fault, Aria, you have done everything that you could. Everyone else too.” Fate worked in the most mysterious way, and maybe no matter how many turns and hiccups he encountered along the way, he would always end up in this same place. He would never put the blame Aria or anyone else in this world for this ending. He had made his own choices, did everything that he could, and to be honest, he had made his peace with everything. Well, not quite.

“Farewell, Aria,” he said, ending the link immediately after that.

At least he got to say goodbye to one person.

He took several breaths in, before gradually reinforcing his spherical barrier around him, brightly glowing with the amount of powers imbued in it. He let the glowing sphere he was in flew closer to the centre of the shadows, taking in all the hits and strikes from the cien against the shell of his barrier.

This is it.

He could feel the way the strength of the barrier faltered and weakened after fending off against so many attacks of the cien as barely visible cracks began to form along the sphere before it shattered, letting in some of the cien in and piercing his torso. He began to summon the rest of his power out, thousands of rays and beams of light began to be projected out of his body instantaneously, his eyes nearly went blind from the sheer brightness. To anyone who was watching him, they would only see a blinding speck of light shooting across the dark sky, almost like a fallen meteor before it crashed down. 

I guess we didn’t get to have more time together that we always wanted, after all.

I’m sorry, my love.

And the little speck of light disappeared from sight, before a massive but silent explosion of light erupted in the dead center of the shadows, painting the sky in a vivid and brilliant white color. Countless flashes and beams of light travelled over the expanse of the previously dark sky, radiating out from the center of the cien and diverging across the city. The brilliancy of the phenomenon could easily be seen across the three universes, almost enough to turn the day back into daytime. There was no more cien left anywhere, for it had been completely wiped out by the light at every inch of the three universes.

As the city began to stir and awaken itself from the darkness and destruction, and the people started to flock out of the safety confines of their shelters in celebration, a figure was seen slowly making its way to the front of the Canopus. The dark-haired man kneeled on the ground and lifted a limp body with crimson red hair from the pool of blood underneath, gathering it close to his chest as he wept silently for his lover.

*

//A few months after the final battle//

[SHIN TOKYO]

“Future, look, it’s done!”

The six young men stood on a line, watching six neon lights that embedded on the brick wall, spelling the word ‘PASION’ in a multitude of colors, with another signboard underneath it that wrote ‘Dance Studio’ on it. The Jiggy Boyz had decided to open a dance studio for the poor and orphan children, giving them cheap, almost free dance lessons. They had originally planned to open a shelter, but as they took account of the number of personnel that they needed to have to launch a big-scale project as that, they decided to start out slow through the dance studio, to gather funds from various sources so that one day, maybe they could turn Libra’s wish into a reality. 

“I wish he was here right now. He would have loved to teach those kids himself,” Claude said, his mouth twisted into a half-smile, his eyes still having the sad, sombre edges to it.

Future placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, clasping it as if to console Claude silently.

“He will always be here with us. He’s our brother after all.”

-

“Itaru!! I need your help in House of Mirrors!”

The leader sighed, as if he already heard that request so many times that day. Or maybe he did. “What’s wrong now, Kane?”

“Dill heard some customers complain that they could not see any illusion at all in that tent. I was thinking maybe you would know what was wrong with it, since you are an illusionist after all. Can you give the place a look? I’ll take care of the booth for you,” explained Kane.

The eight members of Astro 9 had compiled their savings and salaries from their time as idols under the Star of Wish company, and bought a land in Shin Tokyo, turning the place into an amusement theme park with the name Astropark. Due to their popularity as artists prior to this, the park had managed to gather a lot of customers as well. 

“We have an important group of customers coming from Cho Tokyo in  a few hours. Make sure to ask Kagura or Dill to give them a tour of the place, alright?” said Itaru, already going out of the payment booth to make his way to the House of Mirrors.

Kane lifted an eyebrow in confusion, “Alright, but why don’t you ask for Karasu and Aria’s help?”

“The two are going out on date today, so they are not working right now,” Teku interrupted as he greeted the other two Astro 9’s members at the booth, sipping on a lemonade in his hand. Kane just loudly yelled ‘It’s so unfair! I want to go on a date too!’ in the background, to which no one paid him any attention. “Who’s the important guest, Itaru?”

Itaru did not immediately reply, looking over to a distance as his mouth stretched into a smile when seeing Hajime walking over to the entrance of the park, with about twenty children around him. He waved to the black-haired man, and received another wave as a return. “They were the children under the care of Rowdy Shogun in Cho Tokyo, so their visit today is free of charge.”

He would make sure the kids had the best time of their life today at the park.

-

[CHO TOKYO]

It was spring already, leaving the worst of the chills from the winter behind. Several petals of sakura fell from the tree, coloring the background of the building in pastel pink with a mixture of green that came from the grass and shrubs. The building appeared to be enshrouded in silence, as the occupants seemed to feel content to just bask in the moment of peace without interference.

A few days after the battle were the hardest if times, as each of them had a hard time in coping with everything that had happened. They had lost too much, the deaths of their comrades had taken away part of their soul. Coming back to their hideouts was difficult enough, as each corner of the places had memories of their lost friends replayed in their mind. They even feel guilty to muster up a smile, and no one had even had the courage to crack up a joke to lighten the atmosphere. 

Hades was trying his best to readjust himself with the change, as he was now acting as the sole leader of the group. Being the oldest needed him to watch over the youngsters to the best that he could. He had a thought on asking for Bailey’s help, but the blond man had lost his best friend as well. The three of them had stayed together for a long time before they even thought of making a group, but Bailey had been friends with Goemon since his childhood. He allowed the man all the time he needed to grieve on his loss, while he dealt his own as well. Fortunately, Marduk and Gusk had been so helpful, keeping an eye on the younger members whenever he felt too exhausted to do so.

One step at a time.

It took several weeks before the Rowdy Shogun finally saw Kisaragi emerge from his bedroom, with Q-B following closely behind him. The brown-haired man had gone straight to the kitchen, no words coming out of his mouth even when Hades greeted him. His eyes were empty and glassy, with the edge rimmed with the color red as if they had been rubbed countless times. There were dark circles and eyebags underneath his eyes. His face was pale, lips dry and chapped and cheekbones prominent, giving off a gauntly appearance to the normally impeccable-looking man. He looked absolutely miserable, but he was there, finally joining the rest of the friends.

Judy placed a cup of warm tea instead of coffee on the table, the citrusy scent it was giving off was a pleasure to their olfactory sense, all calming and comforting. A-Not wasted no time before pushing a plate full of breakfast to the man, silently praying to himself that Kisaragi would eat the meal. He was not left disappointed. Joe had sat beside the brown-haired man without so much a greeting, and instead letting a comfortable silence wash over all of them. Marine took notice of the tightly intertwined hands belonging to the grieving man and Q-B, and let out a sigh of relief. 

He would be okay. They both would.

-

“--That’s all for today’s report, Goemon. I would come again next week to share with you some stories,” said Bailey, standing up from where he was sitting in front of a tombstone. Goemon’s name was written there, his grave was situated right beside his late mother and sister. There were a few other bouquets of flowers placed on his best friend’s grave, which he deduced coming from the rest of Rowdy Shogun, or even from their friends from the three other groups. A single white lily grabbed his attention, making him curious on who the sender was. As he chanced upon a look on the card, he could see a familiar handwriting on it, making his eyes slowly welled up with tears. He wiped his eyes using the end of his sleeve, before turning around him to address the other two persons behind him. “Miya, Travis, do you have anything more to say to him?”

Miya shook his head, his eyes still had the red rim around the edges as he had cried at the beginning of the visit. His lower lip quivered, as he tried hard to appear strong in front of the older man, even when he knew Bailey could see past through the facade easily. Miya was still unable to let go of the guilt that surrounded him, as he had chalked off the reason Goemon was dead was all due to him. He had apologized, but no one ever blamed him, and there was nothing for them to forgive the man as well. Bailey had consoled him, making sure that the man’s mind was not addled with his self-reproach, for him to face another day with his head held up high.

Travis had stepped up to the front, greeting the late leader before adding, “Send our regards to your mother and sister as well, Goemon. See you again.”

Let us meet each other again, in another life.

-

“How about your power? Any updates?” asked Joe to the holographic monitor, where the Mad Jesters were projected from the device.

“Well, it comes and goes. Sometimes we can use it as usual, the other times we aren’t able to do so at all,” replied Parte.

“That sounded tough for you guys,” added A-Not, munching on some snacks while his eyes still trained on the monitor.

“Not really. In fact we kind of felt relief because of it, because now we are able to act like a normal human being for once. Masato deduced that our power will gradually dwindle down as we grow older, like those Gifted back at Old Tokyo,” said Zero.

“And we are completely fine by it. Maybe, with the exception of Chatter because he wanted to be invisible when going for a grocery run, though I don't even know why,” Masato’s voice was heard, teasing his teammates out loud.

“I’ve never said that!” Chatter interrupted.

Hades laughed, before he noticed the absence of a particular voice from the monitor. “Where’s Sherrock, by the way?”

“He had few errands to do today, and he apologized for not being able to join today’s call session with the rest of you,” replied Rosso.

“Oh yeah, I will stop by your hideout and drop a package at the rooftop in a few hours. Make sure someone collects it later, okay?”  added Zero, almost like an after-thought.

“Duly noted. Lupus, will you go?” asked Bailey, looking at the dark-haired man who was sitting at the end of the conference table. 

Lupus looked up towards the older man before he nodded his head silently, facing somewhere else right after that as if he had already lost interest in the rest of the conversation, his act of nonchalance and dismissal did not escape the keen eyes of the Mad Jester’s members on the monitor. However, he did not realize how they were looking at him amusedly, with matching grins and bright eyes on their faces as if they were hiding something from him. The call ended not much later than that, with the leaders from both groups agreeing to meet again next week.

After about three hours after dinner, the Rowdy Shogun received another message from the Mad Jesters, informing them of the arrival of the package. Lupus wasted no time to go to the rooftop, walking up the stairs leisurely as he tightened the thin black coat around him to protect him from the cold of the night. As he opened the door to the rooftop, he was greeted with the sight of a few petals of cherry blossoms on the cemented ground, likely coming from the trees that grew around the compound.

It was ten o’clock in the night, and the rooftop appeared dim save for several spots that were lit up by the lamplights that they had installed there. However, the sky was littered with a single crescent moon along with countless number of stars, their lights shining bright and comforting.

Lupus continued to walk further into the area, blaming himself for being absent-minded as he forgot to ask Zero what package he was supposed to look for in the first place. He turned around, his eyes making a brief scan over the whole area to find the said 'package'.

And as his eyes finally arrived at a spot at the edge of the rooftop, he saw it. Him.  

As if sensing his presence, the figure turned around slowly, his back no longer facing towards Lupus. There was neither light sphere around him nor the familiar white miasma that was always associated with his presence. He was just like a normal human being with no more special abilities, the same like Lupus, who now had to depend on the lights on the rooftop to guide his eyes to see his surrounding, instead of using his black flames. But to Lupus, the man had never shined any brighter than that moment, with the light of the stars dawning upon him like a blessing, for being alive.

How Lupus had longed for this day, this moment, to arrive, since the battle ended that day, with his hands covered in blood that was not his, holding tightly a stiff body in his embrace. 

A person that was dear to him, whom he had never thought he would be able to harbor so much love, just for him, all this time.

“Hey.” The said man softly murmured to him as a greeting, his red hair falling down his forehead, hiding the beautiful pair of crimson eyes that Lupus had, has, loved so much. There was a smile on his face, soft and innocent, and yet it was the same smile that took Lupus’ breath away all these years.

“Welcome back, Lucas.”

Welcome home.

*