FALLEN -survival of the fittest-

Musen 27 - December

Just remembering Taisuke's dangerous glare, his unbeatable copy ability, a speed and strength not even Myuto could stand up against, was too much for Taiga to even be able to think about any plan how they could ever be able to face Taisuke together with the other Fallen he had gathered.

"Didn't you say your healing ability would make them recover faster?"

Hokuto's voice. So at least he was safe and they were most likely back at their Center, because the next voice he heard was from Shime.

"Physically I can heal them faster than our abilities can, but I can't repair mental damage, so after such a fight I guess they all need some more time to get up."

Which meant as much as Kentaro and Myuto were most likely also still unconscious.

Feeling the pressure of Hokuto's hand closing around his, Taiga finally fought himself out of all the dark thoughts and he squeezed the other one's hand back.

"Are you awake?"

The worried tone made Taiga smile faintly at him when he opened his eyes before he nodded. "Are we at the West Center?"

"Yes, we got some unexpected help in the end."

Hokuto explained while Taiga scanned the room. It was their medical station and he could spot Myuto and Kentaro on other beds, with Reo sitting next to Kentaro with a dark expression.

"You should be okay to get up and walk around," Shime said.  "I have a healing ability so your physical wounds are all good."

"How about Myuto?"

"He'll be fine, but just a bit later and maybe even I wouldn't have been able to rescue him," Shime explained with a gloomy expression. "I'm sorry that you had to face Taisuke like this without any warning."

"It's not like that is your fault," Taiga let out, but then he saw the way Hokuto's expression changed.

"Is there something I don't know?"

Shime shifted a bit uncomfortable next to the bed before he bowed apologizing towards Taiga who didn't even know what was going on.

"I should have said something earlier, but with Myuto and the others around and the focus on the Reverse serum I wanted to wait until I've seen the results."

"Wait with what?" Taiga asked curiously yet a bit terrified by the way the boy looked so scared.

"Taisuke is my older brother."

The missing reaction from Hokuto and also from Reo meant that they had already been told, but Taiga didn't even know what to do with that information.

"Okay... Thanks for telling us, I guess?" Taiga said a bit lost.

"You're not angry?"

"Were they angry?" Taiga asked and pointed at the others, but as expected Shime shook his head.

"You are not at fault for what your brother does as a Fallen. Not even your brother himself is at fault for that, because he is after all a Fallen and not in control of his emotions."

The explanation made sense, yet Shime didn't seem to feel better.

"Where are the others?" Taiga asked instead and Hokuto got up.

"Let's go meet them. As Shime said you should be fine getting up and Reo promised to have a look at Kentaro and Myuto until they wake up."

Taiga nodded and got up, relieved to not feel tired or unstable on his feet.

Shime left together with them, but instead of the lab, they left for the training room.

"Moro, Hagi and Yuma are in the special Fallen room, waiting for Myuto to wake up. Just then they will agree to get the serum."

It sounded fair and while Taiga wanted them to feel safe while doing the transition he felt a sudden urge to rush them, because they couldn't stand a chance against Taisuke. But would numbers even matter?

Sudden loud noises from the training room made Taiga look up at the glass and he found a handful of unknown faces together with Juri, Shintaro and Jesse.

"Aran and Kochi are in the lab at the moment. They try to improve the serum, so we can go later and talk to them," Hokuto added before he entered the training room.

“I guess Aran is trying to distract himself instead of sitting next to Myuto and worry,” Taiga realized, but he couldn’t blame him.

"Taiga, you're awake! How are you feeling?" Jesse asked and hugged him before even waiting for a reply if he was still hurt.

"All good, no need to worry."

"This is definitely the most messed up situation we've been in so far," Shintaro added.

"Are they…?"

"The ones who helped you yes," Juri explained while Taiga hurried to walk up to the six boys in front of him and bowed.

"Thank you for your help. I fear without you none of us would have survived."

One of them laughed and shook his head, but he didn't get up from the ground where he was sitting, leaning to the back instead. "Trust me if Taisuke wanted to kill you then you'd be dead, us most likely as well."

Unfortunately Taiga had guessed that already, but he didn't want to say it out loud.

"So you are the Fallen in control of his senses we heard about?" Another one of them asked, scanning Taiga from head to toe with an intense stare.

Taiga looked a bit worried towards Hokuto, but he also didn't know how they had gotten that information.

"Let me explain a bit before this gets too complicated," Shime offered and walked up to the other boys. He stopped next to the boy sitting on the ground and who had spoken up first. He had curly black hair, which was already so long that it was hard to see his eyes when he was sitting. “This is Nakamura Kaito. He is a Chaser from the South Center.” The boy just lifted his hand, not bothering with getting up and introducing himself. Not to forget that details had to wait for later. They had a dangerous enemy right in front of their doors and who knew if Taisuke wasn’t planning another attack already.

Shime stopped next to the boy who had spoken next and put his hand on his shoulder. The boy was the tallest of them all and he had a little bit longer straight black hair. “This is Kawashima Noel. He is the ace of the Chasers in the Main Center.”

“Now I would have loved to see him compete against Taiga when he was still a Chaser,” Shintaro whispered, but Noel just cracked a smile.

Shime kept going and pointed at a boy at his left who had red curly hair and a sheepish smile on his lips. “Matsukura Kaito, a Vestige from the Main Center.”

“Do you have any special abilities?” Juri asked, but the boy shook his head.

“Wait two of you are called Kaito? This is going to be confusing,” Jesse interfered.

“Then what would you do if I told you my name was also Kaito?” One of the other boys with slightly wavy black hair said with a teasing smile as he got up and bowed slightly to the others. “My name is Miyachika Kaito. I am a Chaser from the East Center.” 

Shime walked up to him and patted his shoulder. “You can call him Chaka and the other two Matsuku and Umi.”

“I already have a headache,” Shintaro let out, but with so many new people it was normal that they needed some time to remember everyone in the first place.

“Our youngest member is Yoshizawa Shizuya, a Chaser from the North Center,” Shime added and pointed at the boy with short black hair and slightly chubby cheeks.

“And definitely the worst Chaser you have ever seen,” the last boy spoke making Shizu seem slightly embarrassed. “But he puts a lot of passion into his job.”

Now Shizu seemed even more embarrassed, but Shime pulled everyone’s attention back to the remaining boy. “This is Matsuda Genta from the North Center and he is a Vestige. He is the strongest Vestige in our team.”

“Is he stronger than Myuto?” Taiga asked and the boy with the dark gray hair nodded.

“My special ability is to be able to attack with ten times my strength, but of course I need a long recharge time and it only works for a few seconds. I can hold someone down or put enough strength into my grip to even crush bones, but of course Taisuke stays unaffected even by that ability.”

 “Wait, you are all from different Centers, some of you Vestige, others Chasers. What is your connection?” Shintaro asked and then pointed at Chaka. “And why weren’t you at the East Center attack right from the start?”

The boys all exchanged a troubled expression for a moment before it was Taiga who caught up to the situation first. “You are all connected to Taisuke.”

“More or less, yes,” Shime explained. “The same as Myuto, Taisuke gathered other Fallen around him, but he didn’t do so to rescue them from the Government. All he wanted was to gather the most skilled Fallen to be able to eventually strike back at the Capitol.”

“So the Fallen he gathered are connected to the other boys,” Juri said. “Well those details can wait for later I think. For now we need as much information about Taisuke and the other Fallen as we can get.”

“All of us stood in contact all this time,” Shime started. “We only clashed once with Taisuke and the others, since then they had retreated so far away from the city that we couldn’t find them anymore. When the attack at the East Center happened, Chaka was out with a few Chasers and two Vestige. So luckily he was able to contact us.”

“That’s why you all came as backup,” Hokuto concluded.

“You guys gave Taisuke a tough challenge. But you have to think again if you really want to join us against them,” Genta said. “Taisuke likes playing around, but we all had trouble with just him, now imagine him coming with the others.”

“By then we will luckily have three more Fallen on our side,” Juri said, but he still seemed skeptical as well after all even Myuto and Kentaro hadn’t stood a chance.

“Taisuke will be a threat to all Centers from now on, so there is no way we will stay back,” Taiga explained.

“I am really glad to hear that,” Shime said and walked up to Taiga and Hokuto. “I have another request if you are both okay with it.”

The two boys exchanged a look and nodded before Shime stepped even closer. “To make things easier could you read my mind and show the information to all the other members? Like that we will speed up the explanation part a lot.”

Shime had a good point there and Hokuto moved first putting his hand on the boy’s temple, before Taiga moved his hand to the other side of the boy’s head.

“Please don’t hold back. I won’t keep any secrets from you.”

How much had the boy suffered until now through his brother being a Fallen? Taiga had suffered a lot after finding Myuto as a Fallen and here Shime was a Vestige and still couldn’t get close to his brother as he had turned out to be the strongest Fallen they had ever encountered.

Hokuto wouldn’t be able to share the memories he would receive, yet he could at least receive them directly so Taiga didn’t need to waste time with transferring them to him and as soon as Myuto was awake again he could help as well.

***

Musen 24 - October

“What do you mean you want to take part in the trial?” Shime asked perplexed, but Taisuke already put his clothes in his bag.

“What else can I do? We have been losing this war for years now. Daily I see people die. People who have nothing to do with this, friends who fight right next to me. Don’t you want this to end?”

Of course Shime wanted the war to end, but he also didn’t want to lose his brother. Every single day he left on another mission from the Government he worried sick until he finally walked back through the door. As a family of soldiers, their father had died in the war already and their mum had also lost her life as a nurse on the front line. But while Shime was only helping out inside the bases, Taisuke was on the front line. A pilot, away from him for weeks sometimes and while they had already said that resources got tight and they would soon not be able to fly over the border anymore, that day had not arrived yet. And the thought of him never coming back from one of those missions made Shime emotionally unstable and sometimes he couldn’t even get up in the morning without getting a mental breakdown.

“I promise to update you as often as I can, okay?” Taisuke said as he walked up to his little brother and put his hand on his cheek with one of his bright smiles. A smile he didn’t see often anymore as the sorrow of the loss of their parents and the ongoing stress of the war was now mainly seen in his brother’s eyes.

“You know that I will storm the facility if I don’t hear back!” Shime teased and Taisuke placed a kiss on the boy’s hair.

“Then I guess I have to make sure that you won’t get expelled for that.”

“Then don’t break your promise,” Shime whispered as he hugged his brother. The last hug he would ever give him…

The next time he saw his brother was a whole year later and there was absolutely nothing left of that smile he had wished to see again. But Shime had changed as well. A change which he had seen necessary to be able to even get close to his brother. As expected the promised contact had never come and soon after the disappearance of his brother the news of the Fallen had leaked. Shime had immediately known that his brother must have been among those Fallen or he would have come back to him. Unable to get anyone to help him, he tried for months to find Taisuke, but the Government started to hunt them and force them further away from the city. A civil war against the Fallen had started. First Shime had become a Chaser so that he could try and find Taisuke that way. But he soon realized that he wasn’t in any way suited to fight. At least not as a human. So as the Government suddenly established a new experiment and started sending out Vestige to the Centers against the Fallen he volunteered to become one of them.

On the same day as he had decided to become a Vestige he had met Matsuku who had made the same decision out of almost the same reasons.

Just two months after his transition Taisuke showed himself again, this time with a group of six followers. He hadn’t come to take the Main Center down, at least not yet. Maybe he wasn’t sure how strong he was himself at that time, but they could all only be grateful that he retreated or they would have all ended up dead.

Shime tried to stop his brother from running and now he was finally able to at least catch up with him, not that his strength was enough to stop him.

“Do you want to join us?” Taisuke’s question wasn’t as ridiculous as it should have sounded. What if he joined them? What if a Vestige went with the Fallen? Maybe he could find a better solution for all of them if he knew more about them?

“Won’t you come back with me instead?” Shime asked, trying to not sound too desperate. Yet the cold smile his brother showed made him tear up. How could he smile and yet be so emotionless? How could the touch on his face that followed, feel so meaningless.

“Oh, interesting. I can’t copy your special ability.”

“Maybe you just don’t want to,” Shime said, but what was he saying? His brother was a Fallen. There was nothing stopping him if he wanted to kill his own little brother now.

“I fear you won’t be of any use to us,” Taisuke said before he walked away from Shime, but once more he reached out for his older brother. What he didn’t expect was Taisuke turning and moving his hand to the boy’s chest. A common shockwave was what should usually hit him as in training Matsuku’s shockwave had hit him several times as well. But nothing happened and Taisuke lifted an eyebrow in amusement.

“Interesting. Maybe you should join us after all. We could do a lot of research together.”

Shime shook his head and stepped back, not even having the mindset of using his immunity against Taisuke’s ability to attack his brother. “I wish I would have stopped you that day.”

“Oh boy, then I would be one of so many dead soldiers by now.”

“I might prefer that,” Shime let out, not even knowing how such cruel words left his mouth.

Taisuke seemed to get angry at his words, but before he could do anything, there were sirens heard from the Main Center and a lot of backup was on their way.

“Then maybe this should remain our last encounter. But be prepared, if you stay with the Government I won’t show you any mercy next time.”

***

Musen 27 - December

“I remember that attack on the Main Center,” Kochi said after Taiga had come to the lab to show Kochi and Aran what Shime had shown him and Hokuto. He wasn’t able to go through all his memories at once and there were so many linked memories with the other boys that he needed to concentrate on the important parts for now.

“They told the other Centers to be on backup in case things escalate. They never gave us details about the Fallen who attacked though. But knowing that they had only shown up to scare the Government and make clear that they would be back with a real attack I wonder what the Main Center was thinking? The loss of so many lives at the East Center could have easily been prevented.”

“I wonder what would have happened if Myuto’s group had challenged Taisuke on their first encounter,” Taiga let out a bit absentminded.

“Most likely we would have all ended up dead,” Myuto was heard from the open lab door and Aran stood up, hurrying over to him.

“Are you alright? How are you feeling?”

“All good. I heard from Reo about Shime and the others. At least the summary.”

“I can give you the rest of the details,” Taiga offered and Myuto nodded before he lowered his hand from Aran’s cheek to take his hand and squeeze it.

“You should take a rest. I know you are worried, but you can’t lock yourself in the lab for days.”

“Could you stay out of my mind?” Aran teased, but of course he knew that the other one was worried and he definitely needed some sleep after they researched on the Reverse serum for this long. “Is Kentaro still asleep?”

Myuto nodded, but he wasn’t that worried. “Let’s talk to Yuma and the others for now.”

Aran nodded and left the lab first.

Myuto turned to Taiga after Aran had left. “You mind?”

Taiga nodded and stretched out his hand towards Myuto’s face. One part of Shime’s memory that surprised Myuto the same way as Taiga was that Taisuke seemed to completely remember everything from his life as a human. Was he that strong that he could easily deal with his past without his instincts trying to shut them out? For now they wouldn’t get to know.

 It was so much faster to put memories into someone’s mind than talking things through, but Taiga still didn’t want to use this ability too much. It felt like there was still a lot about his own abilities he didn’t know. He felt that his abilities were the same as Myuto’s and if he wanted to he could actually block people’s memories and maybe even alter them, so that they would end up like Aran before. Something he never wanted to even try out.

***

“I wish I could take all the stress out of your mind.”

Hokuto’s words made Taiga turn to the boy who was lying with his back against the backrest with a few pillows behind his back, while Taiga had just sat down with an obvious way too loud sigh.

“Maybe Myuto could if I ask him?”

“But I doubt you would?”

And Hokuto was right, after all their abilities weren’t there to take away headaches or stress. But Taiga couldn’t deny that he felt extremely exhausted after this one day already and there was going to be a lot of chaos waiting for them that was for sure.

“Do you want to look further into Shime’s memories tomorrow?”

Taiga shook his head and crawled more onto the bed, resting his head on the other one’s chest as Hokuto invitingly stretched out his arm and played with Taiga’s hair now that he had settled down.

“I think tomorrow we should leave them all alone for a bit. Kentaro went straight to Yuma and the others when he woke up without even speaking to them and with Aran preparing the serum for them in the morning I think there will be enough chaos.”

“It fascinates me how they still follow Myuto even though his mind set is now so different,” Hokuto let out, his look absentmindedly on Taiga’s face.

“He is still as strong as before and they could have easily run over to Taisuke if they thought he was a more fitting leader.”

“Luckily that will be one less thing to worry about from tomorrow,” Hokuto said relieved and Taiga reached out for the other one’s hand and turned more on his back while he caressed the back of Hokuto’s hand.

“When you still had to deal with your Fallen self, did you ever feel how he was looking for a strong leader too?”

“You mean because he wanted to run over to Myuto?”

Taiga nodded while Hokuto’s hand stopped its movement in Taiga’s hair before he put on a thoughtful expression. “I never really felt his emotions in that way, so I am not sure if he was really looking for leadership or if he just wanted to break free from me.”

Taiga only nodded once more while both his hands were now putting a bit pressure on Hokuto’s hand and the boy raised an eyebrow at him. “Why did you want to know about this?”

“Mh? Oh, no specific reason. I think I am just worried that someone could still run over to Taisuke.”

“Like who? You?”

Taiga should laugh now, right? Yet he didn’t and Hokuto shifted a bit to be able to look at the other one more directly, but Taiga looked up at him and bit his lip. “That’s a joke, right? You got a serum, which should have actually turned you into a Vestige and just through my Fallen self you got his abilities. Your mind set is in no way the same as a Fallen.”

“Yet I am a Fallen, Kochi said so too.”

“And Myuto and the others are also still Fallen and they would never follow Taisuke. They almost died together with us fighting him. Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

Of course Hokuto would easily catch up with the situation and Taiga finally got up and sat down next to Hokuto, letting his head drop on the other one’s shoulder and luckily the younger one didn’t pull away. “I know I might just be overreacting, because I am so stressed and honestly quite scared about what Taisuke could do to our Center and the Government if he attacks with the Fallen following him.”

“But?” Hokuto asked, knowing that Taiga would never just start such a serious topic without any good reason.

“So much unused potential.”

Taiga’s words made Hokuto raise an eyebrow, but before he could shift away, Taiga hooked his arm with the other one. “Taisuke said that to me when he read my mind.”

“So what? You think there is still something going on in your mind? Don’t you think Kochi would have realized that by now? Even I couldn't find anything.”

“It does sound like I am overreacting, right?”

“It sounds damn scary,” Hokuto said to Taiga’s surprise and with the next move Hokuto placed a kiss on the other one’s hair and pulled him closer. “As long as you don’t hide anything from me or Kochi, I think you should be good? My Fallen self was able to communicate with me, so in case you ever feel like something is going on in your mind we can always run tests, you know? No matter how much our tests proved that you should be perfectly fine.”

Taiga was grateful that the other one didn’t make fun out of him over such a ridiculous worry, after all he wasn’t hiding anything. But his own weird reaction towards Taisuke on their first encounter and Taisuke’s words somehow made him worry that he wasn’t hiding something, but that something was hiding from him.

Moro, a Fallen that can take away all basic abilities of a Vestige or Fallen through a simple touch, yet his past was marked with blood. His own blood. Always cheerful and showing a smile to his two little cousins he grew up with, after losing his own parents in an attack, when he was still a baby. Yet the war took away the rest of his family as well. Unable to cope with his loss he tried to take his own life. Becoming a Fallen hadn’t been his choice, but now he got a second chance to show his cheerful smile once more.

Hagi, soundwaves that would paralyze his opponents and take away their ability to find their balance, yet he had always helped children rebalance their lives after losing their loved ones. Until one day he lost them all in an air raid. Losing the ability to believe in human kindness he decided to become stronger to protect those who couldn’t do so themselves. Now he was finally given the chance to do so.

Yuma, with the ability of overpowering almost everyone with his shockwaves, he possessed the ability to end fights in an instant. Yet he hated fighting, hated violence and wished for nothing more than the end of the war. Unable to remain at the sideline he put his morals aside to fight for the sake of peace. A peaceful era, which he could now help create.

It wasn’t surprising to Taiga that after the third person he was unable to get up by himself and Hokuto stepped on the platform in the lab to help Taiga get up.

“I told you to take breaks in between,” Hokuto scolded him.

Taiga took his hand with a sheepish nod, but then he formed a smile when he looked at the others. “I think it was worth the hurry.”

All three remaining Fallen had finally received the serum and Aran had also somehow managed to make it at least a bit less painful so that they wouldn’t faint easily anymore, yet Taiga had still offered to help them through it and they had all agreed.

“Their smiles are beautiful,” Taiga let out a bit absentminded as he watched how Myuto hugged every single one of them. They were all a bit shaken through all the memories Taiga had woken up again, but they were all smiling. There was so much gratitude and hope shining in their eyes now and Taiga wished they could just forget about Taisuke threatening everyone’s new found happiness.

“Let’s give them a moment,” Hokuto said and left the lab together with Taiga and stopped at the training room where Juri was training with the others to see how skilled they were.

Hokuto pulled Taiga out of the way right before Umi landed next to them. The others in the room were only the Chasers of their group, so they seemed to have some trouble with Juri even with four against one, but Taiga could understand that as he had faced Vestige and Fallen as a Chaser often enough.

“Are you alright?” Taiga asked when the boy was up again and rubbed the back of his head.

“All good, only my ego is hurt.”

“To get such a big ego you should train harder,” Noel scolded him when Juri told them to take a break.

“Well there can only be one ace after all,” Chaka laughed, but the truth was that if he concentrated a bit more he could also become a quite good Chaser, but he was too chaotic for that.

“Never let him enter a battle in the same team as Shintaro,” Hokuto said towards Noel who didn’t know much about their Chasers yet, but he gave him a teasing smile obviously understanding that it would be a chaotic choice.

“Who is the strongest Chaser in your Center?” Shizu asked and Juri pointed at Taiga. “Until he got turned it was Taiga.”

“Really?” Umi asked, a bit disbelieving. “And here I thought you were as bad as Shizu and that is why you turned.”

“Let’s say I had a good reason to get stronger,” Taiga said and gave Hokuto a side-glance.

“Oh, I see, no more questions,” Noel said, getting the hint while Chaka raised an eyebrow at them.

“What do you see? I don’t get it.”

“Ask Hokuto I bet he will definitely explain the details to you,” Juri said with a teasing smile towards his friend before he left the training room to meet with Shime and the other Vestige.

Chaka turned to the one in question, but before he could even voice out anything, Hokuto pointed at him. “I swear I’ll make you regret any question, so zip it!”

Chaka got the threat faster than the hint so he pressed his lips together and hid a bit behind Shizu.

“So I think we are done for today then?” Umi said and already headed out to the corridor, when he stopped. “Oh, one of the Fallen is here. What was his name, Kentaro?”

Taiga turned towards the corridor and he was surprised to find Kentaro alone as he had been with Reo, Myuto and the others in the lab until a few moments ago. After he had finally woken up again he had only met with the other Fallen and had been to the lab, so he hadn’t gotten the time to talk directly to the boys who helped them out. But something on his face made Taiga tense as he didn’t seem in talking mood.

“Out of my way,” Kentaro hissed and Umi almost jumped out of the way.

“Didn’t you say he got the serum already?” Noel asked, but Hokuto could only shrug his shoulders.

“It helps with bringing them back to their senses, but they won’t change their personality.”

“So no taking Kentaro lightly it is then,” Noel said as he was able to analyze him already.

“Where the fuck is he?” Kentaro growled, but Taiga could only lift an eyebrow at him and the others also didn’t know who he was talking about.

Noel looked at Umi, but he shook his head, then he turned to Shizu who shrugged his shoulders, but then he realized that Chaka had completely hidden behind him.

“Chaka, what are you doing?” Noel asked, but on that question Chaka gave him a scolding look and put his finger in front of his own lips.

“YOU!” Kentaro shouted and Shizu immediately stepped away from Chaka as he realized that he wasn’t the one in question.

“What is going on?” Taiga asked a bit panicked, but something told him that he shouldn’t interfere, for now.

“Wait, I can explain,” Chaka said as he started running backwards when Kentaro approached him with big steps.

“Have you ever met Kentaro?” Hokuto asked, but Noel shook his head. “Not as long as I know Chaka.”

With a gasp Chaka hit the wall of the training room now out of running space and he seemed so stressed out that Taiga was on high alert. He doubted that Kentaro would rip him to pieces no matter his anger, but he still wondered what was going on.

“Ken-chan, let me explain. Please…” Chaka begged, stretching out his arms, obviously more than afraid of what Kentaro could do.

“Ken-chan?” Taiga asked with a raised eyebrow. Chaka had seen Kentaro when they rescued them, yet he had stayed with everyone in the West Center so things couldn’t be that bad, could they?”

“There is no need to explain anything,” Kentaro said, his words more threatening than soothing and Chaka almost curled up on the ground when Kentaro grabbed him by the arm.

“Ehm, okay...now I don’t get anything anymore,” Umi whispered after the whole room had fallen silent the moment Kentaro had pulled Chaka into a hug.

“Do you put them on drugs or something with that serum?” Shizu whispered towards Hokuto and received a punch against the shoulder from Noel for that stupid comment.

Chaka didn’t react for a moment with his eyes still wide open in panic and his hands slightly shaking. “You don’t have to explain anything,” Kentaro repeated when he put one hand up to the latter’s back and squeezed him even more. “All I needed to know is that you are safe, you damn son of a bitch.”

That statement finally made Chaka tear up and hug the other one back, desperately clenching his hands into the back of the other one’s shirt. “I am so sorry for disappearing like that.”

“He is not his brother, is he?” Hokuto whispered towards Taiga, but he shook his head. He had seen his brother and he was older. But he also hadn’t seen all the memories of course, so most likely he was someone he had lost sight of in the war.

“Guys, do you want to let us be part of the celebration or not?” Noel asked after giving them a moment to calm down and Chaka hurried to wipe away some tears with his sleeve, before he squeezed Kentaro’s shoulder.

“Ken-chan and I have been friends since childhood. Our parents were neighbors,” Chaka explained.

“Then why did he storm in here as if he wanted to kill you?” Umi asked perplexed.

“Well, Ken-chan always scolded me when I was younger. I got into trouble a lot, often vanished without letting anyone know where I was going and one day…”

“One day this asshole just didn’t come back,” Kentaro finished for him.

“Could you stop insulting me?”

“Never, you moron,” Kentaro teased and ruffled through the other one’s hair.

“Well, I would be pissed and happy at the same time too if I suddenly found someone who had disappeared like this,” Noel said.

“Why did you disappear?” Shizu asked and Chaka looked quite embarrassed through the question.

“I was a way too carefree kid and I loved playing with Ken-chan, his sister and brother, but one day none of them were home and I randomly started searching for them. I know that was stupid, I was still too young and naive to realize how dangerous it was to wander around alone as a child. At some point I didn’t know the way home anymore and just stood there in between all the buildings for hours, waiting for someone to find me. A sudden air raid made everything even more chaotic and in the end I found myself in an orphanage as I had obviously lost consciousness. I tried to explain to them that I had a family and after a few days we were finally able to find my house, but…”

“But it was too late,” Kentaro said with a dark expression. “That air raid had hit our neighborhood. It killed your parents and my sister.”

“I thought all this time that you had died as well,” Chaka let out with new tears shining in his eyes. “But when I met your brother again I wondered if you had survived too.”

First that statement hung in the air for a moment until Kentaro looked up with wide eyes. “What did you just say?”

Now everyone’s attention was on Chaka who lifted a hand to his mouth as if he just realized that he had said something he shouldn’t have. Even Noel and the others didn’t seem to know.

“I- I know I need to explain this, but-”

“Then do. Chaka, where is he?” Kentaro asked and shook him on the shoulders, but Chaka seemed more than reluctant to reply. “Don’t you get how amazing this news is?”

Kentaro’s excitement wasn’t shared by Chaka and when Hokuto gave Taiga a worried side glance he felt a heavy stone sinking in his stomach. Taiga reached out for the other one’s face and in silence they confirmed what they were both thinking. He was alive, which was indeed good news, but maybe the rest wasn’t as exciting as Kentaro wished it to be…

“Do you know how happy I was when I saw your name on the list of new members in the lab earlier? I couldn’t believe that you were still alive and now you tell me that you even met my brother? Was he in your Center? Where is he now?”

Chaka kept looking to the floor, unable to reply, but his silence made Kentaro shake him even more until he finally had enough and grabbed the other one’s hands. “I can’t tell you.”

“What do you mean?” Kentaro asked a bit more calmly this time.

“Can we talk about this later? I was so happy to find you with the others the other day. Do you know how happy I am that you are alive? Even though you had become a Fallen you got the chance to start over and this is amazing and just for now I want to be happy.”

His words made Kentaro take a few steps back and then he finally caught up with Chaka’s reaction, with his gloomy look and his attempts to change the topic.

“No, this can’t be…” Kentaro slowly shook his head.

Shizu tugged on Noel’s sleeve, but the older one lifted his hand, not wanting to give him any explanations now.

“He promised to come back on that day…” Kentaro whispered and for the first time there was such hurt visible on Kentaro’s face that Taiga wished he could take away his emotions to give him some peace of mind. “Nika...why…”

There were so many open questions, yet to their surprise Kentaro got a grip once more and clenched his hands until his fists were shaking and Chaka flinched when he looked up.

“Where is he now?”

It was obvious that Chaka didn’t have any other details about Nika, Kentaro’s older brother, but at least his whereabouts he knew. But alone that information could shatter Kentaro even more, yet it was clear that he wouldn’t let it pass in silence and finally Chaka took another deep breath.

“He is with Taisuke.”

***

“Kentaro, we can’t just go and look for him. We have no clue where he is,” Kochi tried to calm down the other one, but Kentaro didn’t even listen to him and only rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in front of his chest as almost the whole Center had blocked his way.

After Chaka had told him that his older brother had ended up as a Fallen with Taisuke he had decided to go find him, but of course his idea had been cut short when Myuto got to hear about what had happened and made sure to drag him back into the training room before he could actually storm out of the Center all on his own.

“I am not a member of this Center, nor a puppet of the Government, I am grateful for your help with the serum and also for Chaka and the others helping out, but this is something I have to do alone.”

When he tried to get out of the room once more, the other Fallen blocked his way and Reo was the one to walk up to him. “After what we have done over all these years don’t you think you know the outcome already if you find him?”

“He is my brother,” Kentaro growled at him in annoyance.

“And Taisuke is Shime’s brother, yet he doesn’t storm out, knowing that it doesn’t make any sense to do so without a plan,” Myuto said while Shime and the others had gone a bit on distance, not wanting to interfere.

“Shime is no Fallen,” Kentaro countered.

“And yet Nika will just see you as the same enemy he sees in everyone else,” Taiga spoke up to everyone’s surprise. “Even after I became a Fallen, Myuto still tried to kill me.”

The truth of these words made Myuto’s look darken, but Kentaro didn’t want to listen.

“I am well aware of what will await me, but that won’t stop me from going,” Kentaro said and when Reo tried to put his hand on the other one’s shoulder he slashed it away with a warning look.

“Can’t you wait at least a few more days? We can come up with a plan where to look for them and how to approach them more carefully?” Juri interfered.

“I don’t need a plan and I don’t need you with me,” Kentaro hissed and passed Reo, but this time Myuto stepped in his way and before Kentaro could lift a hand the other one had pushed him to the back, making Kentaro growl at the other one.

“You are still part of my team though and I won’t allow you to go,” Myuto ordered, showing that he was as serious about stopping Kentaro as the other one was about leaving.

“Fine,” Kentaro said, suddenly forming a snappy smile as he turned away and stopped in the middle of the training room and spread his arms. “Then let’s settle this the old fashioned way.”

“What does he mean?” Shintaro whispered, while he and Jesse kept hiding a bit behind Taiga and Hokuto.

“You’ll see in a second,” Hokuto let out while he crossed his arms to his chest with a sigh. “Do you think we have to interfere?”

The question was for Taiga and he looked quite troubled and wasn’t sure if he wanted to nod or not, because the truth was that he could understand why Kentaro wanted to go and also why he tried to leave the others out of it. Kentaro wasn’t as egoistic as he wanted to make the others believe after all.

“Fine, if you think this is necessary,” Myuto said and stepped in front of Kentaro while the others slowly retreated to the side of the training room, knowing what was coming.

Between Fallen an argument would usually get settled through a fight and the serum wouldn’t change that kind of thinking for them.

“I won’t hold back,” Kentaro warned.

“You better don’t or you won’t have a single unbroken bone left to leave the Center for the next few days,” Myuto warned.

“I will walk out these gates no matter what,” Kentaro hissed before he dashed to the front, but Myuto hadn’t been bluffing and he lifted his hand, making Kentaro stop with a curse as he couldn’t move freely for a moment, but he was stronger than most of them had expect and Chaka bit his lip in worry as Kentaro screamed at his body to move and he was able to approach Myuto fast enough to make the other one go on distance. Myuto didn’t have to fear Kentaro’s shockwaves, yet his special ability was something that could make him lose.

“Don’t make me go all out on you,” Myuto warned, but Kentaro just gritted his teeth and sped up once more, breaking completely through Myuto’s motion control this time.

First Myuto tried to stay on distance until he could recharge, but Kentaro’s anger made it way easier for him to break through that ability so in the end Myuto dared to step into Kentaro’s reach.

The smaller one tried immediately to get his hands on the other one’s skin, but Myuto was faster than him and he grabbed Kentaro’s wrist and twisted his arm on his back before he reached out for his face. But the time it took for Myuto to try and control Kentaro’s mind, was enough for Kentaro to lift his free hand and reach out for Myuto’s hand. Before anything could happen, the taller one jumped away, leaving Kentaro laughing at him.

“If you want to stop me then you should use your pain infliction instead of your mind control. You won’t have enough time to get into my mind.”

“If you want to lose that fast then I can do you that favor,” Myuto said dead serious as he wasn’t happy about hurting a friend, yet he wouldn’t let him run out there into his own death.

Once more Kentaro took a run up at the other one, but knowing that he couldn’t use his shockwaves and with Myuto on high alert about his special ability, he went for kicks and punches instead.

But once more Myuto was still the faster one and he could use his shockwaves, so with the next attack Kentaro got thrown through the room and crashed into the wall with a gasp.

Everyone else remained on distance, not even Reo tried to argue with him. It was clear that he had to lose or he wouldn’t get stopped.

“Kentaro, you know that we will stop you know matter what,” Myuto reminded him. “Even if you somehow win against me, you need to go through them all to leave.”

“Then I will win against them as well,” Kentaro shouted after he got up again. “Why do you even care? I never asked any of you to go with me. Just leave me alone!”

“You know exactly that we would never do that,” Myuto said with a slightly hurt expression while Kentaro got ready for another attack.

This time Kentaro went all out, ready to put all his remaining energy in defeating Myuto, but his leader wasn’t going to lose just so he didn’t have to hurt his friend, so in the end Myuto went for the one attack he didn’t want to use as Kentaro kept fighting like a wild animal.

In between Kentaro’s shouting and punching, Myuto lifted his hand, making Kentaro slow down enough to stretch his hand out and grab the other one’s neck. Kentaro immediately reached out for Myuto’s wrists, but this time Myuto’s ability was faster than the other ones as he wasn’t going for mind control.

With a scream Kentaro went to his knees, but Myuto wouldn’t let go of him as he knew that he needed to make him surrender completely or he would just keep fighting.

To his surprise Kentaro was still strong enough to use his own ability and soon Myuto gasped on the pain in his chest, which would soon rip his blood system apart if he didn’t hurry.

“This is for your own good,” Myuto said as he went full out on the other one and in the middle of another scream the room fell silent as Kentaro fell to the back. Myuto was fast enough to move one hand around his back so he wouldn’t hit the ground and Reo hurried towards them and sat down next to Kentaro.

“Why won’t you just leave me alone,” Kentaro let out in a weak voice, not even opening his eyes, while Myuto got up with a judging look towards him.

“Because as much as you want us to believe that you want to go alone, because it’s your family problem, we won’t sit back and watch you getting killed, just because you want to keep us away from the fight.”

Of course Myuto had realized as well why Kentaro wanted to leave in such a hurry, but he wasn’t the only one who wanted to settle things with those Fallen following Taisuke.

“I know I can’t get him back,” Kentaro let out in an unsteady voice and it was Reo who looked ready to cry the next second. “I don’t want to go to get him back. I want to go to punch him in the face and yell at him for being so selfish and leaving me behind.”

“I know,” Myuto whispered, clenching his fists. “But how about you trust us instead?”

This time Kentaro finally opened his eyes, but didn’t get up. Myuto gave him a serious look before he let his eyes wander through the room. “All of these people here in this room have done so much for us and are still trying to help all the other Fallen out there. Chaka and the others have the same right as you to be angry, disappointed or sad about the Fallen following Taisuke, yet they didn’t give in to their emotions. Instead they are all here to help, so for once how about you put your trust in someone else?”

Not only as a Fallen was Kentaro a lone wolf, but he had been different before losing his family and turning into a Fallen, but it was hard to put his trust into someone, especially when the situation seemed hopeless.

When Myuto suddenly stepped aside, Kentaro looked up at Chaka who had slowly walked up to them and gave Kentaro an unsure look. “I know as a Chaser I can’t do much, but I trust these guys as much as you trust your leader and the other Fallen,” Chaka explained while looking over at Shime and the others. “I was shocked when I saw Nika as a Fallen. I wanted to take him by the collar and yell at him why he hadn’t protected his family. But it was Shime who taught me how important it was to think rationally and be patient, because you are wrong. You can get him back.”

Chaka’s direct words had everyone look at the boy, but it brought supporting looks instead of disbelief, because they knew that he was right. Kentaro was just too outraged to see the hope!

“We have the Reverse serum, we have Fallen on our side, a whole Center behind us and if you give us a bit of time and your trust we can definitely come up with a plan to get Taisuke, Nika and the others back on our side too.”

When Chaka stretched his arm out towards the older one, Kentaro hesitated for a moment and bit his lip, but when he looked up at Reo, the boy gave him a bright and supportive smile, while Myuto also seemed to have waited for him to finally see past his anger.

“Under one condition,” Kentaro said, making Chaka raise an eyebrow, but the next second Kentaro had reached out for his hand already and let the other one drag him back on his feet. “I will personally train you before we go out to look for him, because at the moment you would be the first one in this group to die out there.”

While Chaka pouted, the others in the back started laughing and Shizu hit Noel as he said that he would die with him. But in the end Chaka formed a smile and nodded.

“As long as you are not the one killing me at that training already.”

“I can’t promise that.”

Musen 28 - January

"Two more days," Aran announced.

"But didn't you just say you completed the upgrade for the Reverse serum for the use on the battlefield?" Hagi asked.

"Yes the serum is not the problem, but you need to train more on how to get close enough to them to even get a chance to use it," Kochi explained.

"Chaka is ready to beat the shit out of them," Kentaro announced proudly.

"I'd say Chaka looks like the shit was beaten out of him instead," Shintaro whispered towards Jesse who giggled, but zipped it when Kentaro gave them a dangerous look.

"Anyway, the system is easy," Aran explained as he lifted the metal tube in his hand. "All you have to do is bring it down on their skin for at least two seconds. There is no button to activate it as it automatically shoots the needle out when in contact with a Fallen. The system is similar to the first version of the Cricket. But be careful even though the canister is hard to break it’s not Dragnacit, so a Fallen will be able to destroy it."

"We should have just put it in a bullet and shoot them. Wouldn't that be safer?" Jesse asked and it wasn't a bad idea but it wasn't that easy either.

"We're too fast to easily get shot," Myuto explained. "And it would be a waste of serum."

"Will anything happen if the serum gets used against us?" Taiga asked, but Kochi shook his head.

"It's only attacking original Fallen DNA and we analyzed every possible outcome. Taiga, your DNA was different from the start so it wouldn't affect you at all, except your DNA would somehow change."

"But don't forget that for this first patrol all we want is to find their hideout," Juri reminded them. "Just if we get discovered and end up in a fight with them we will use the serum."

Kentaro didn't look too thrilled about that plan, but he had lost against Myuto so now he had to go with what they were planning. A whole week had already passed and he was getting restless.

"So we're training how to use the tube in the most effective way starting tomorrow?" Hokuto asked and Kochi nodded.

"Two days should be enough to get everyone's teamwork on a good level."

"Teamwork?" Reo asked a bit perplex.

"We'll head out in teams, so we will start training in exactly those teams."

Aran's words had them all a bit tense as it was obvious that they had thought the Fallen would go on their own, then Shime's team and then a West Center team.

"Well, the teams are definitely stronger when we combine a few strong abilities," Yuma agreed.

"Are you sending Chasers out too?" Moro asked, but it didn't seem like he felt offended by Kochi's nod. Usually Fallen wouldn't care to protect Chasers on the battlefield, but they understood that it was their fight too.

"Let's keep the details for tomorrow, okay? It's late you should all rest," Kochi suggested and they dismissed the meeting in the lab.

"Do you think we'll be on the same team?" Taiga asked on the way back to their room. Now that so many people were staying at their Center, Taiga had offered to move to Hokuto’s room for now so that his room could get used for others.

"You know the answer already, don't you?" Hokuto said with a gloomy look as he closed the room door behind them and went straight for the cupboard to change clothes.

"I'll take a shower," Taiga said and Hokuto couldn't blame him for being tense. Even with them only wanting to spot their location this mission was more than dangerous. They had to protect their own Center, be ready for other Fallen to attack while they were gone or in the worst case for Taisuke to be faster than them and attack them instead.

Remembering how badly they had lost against Taisuke, Taiga let out a sigh as he stepped under the hot water and put his forehead against the cold stone wall.

For days he just couldn't see a way to win and he wondered how the others could just keep going with their training like this.

After realizing after a while that his endlessly racing thoughts wouldn’t bring him anywhere and not wanting to waste precious water and keep Hokuto waiting for his turn he finally turned around, but that was the moment when he realized that he was indeed way too distracted. So distracted that he hadn't even realized the presence right behind him. Luckily for him it was no enemy, but the other one still attacked him.

Hokuto didn't say anything, instead he lifted his hand to Taiga's jawline and pushed his head a bit to the back, before he pressed him against the wall and gave him a rushed yet passionate kiss.

The running water didn't disturb them and Taiga's hands immediately reached out around the other one's hips, finding a lot of skin to grope on his way down.

"You want to switch to the bedroom?" Hokuto whispered against his lips, but all Taiga was capable of doing was shaking his head. This was exactly the type of distraction he needed and he needed it now!

Hokuto was luckily able to read the need in his eyes and their next kiss already mixed with moans while Hokuto used the advantage of the running water to prepare Taiga without even moving out of their position.

When Taiga bit the other one on the bottom lip, signaling his impatience, Hokuto lifted the other one up. Taiga closed his legs around the younger ones back and kept his arms hanging loose around his neck, while Hokuto pressed him more into the wall. For them it wasn't much of an effort to keep this position and Taiga would do it in whatever position for now.

"Hurry up," Taiga complained and clawed his fingers into the other one's shoulders as Hokuto did exactly what he was asked to do.

Their touches were impatient, Hokuto's thrusts so rough that Taiga ended up as a moaning mess way too soon and even though Hokuto wasn't able to help him out in this position he didn't care. This messed up situation was enough to make Taiga come on his own and he rested with his head against the wall, the water feeling like needles on his skin.

Hokuto let him down so that he could relax for a moment, but then he turned him around and Taiga was feeling still too weak on his legs to complain.

"If you go without me then you have to go again," Hokuto whispered next to his ear and bit in his earlobe when he pushed in from behind.

This time the sound Taiga let out was more of a whine as he wasn't yet completely down from his first climax.

Hokuto used that to his advantage though and closed his hand around Taiga, making the other one breathe in sharp on the way too sudden second stimulation.

"Come again for me," Hokuto whispered before he bit Taiga on the neck and the older one threw his head to the back, one hand reaching out for Hokuto's face. Even with the weird angle he still demanded s kiss and Hokuto was more than willing to give it to him. Once more he seemed busier with Taiga than with himself and Taiga had to pull back with a high pitched moan as Hokuto made him come once more. This time though Hokuto started thrusting more desperately, not giving Taiga the time to relax yet. Finally able to come as well, Hokuto put a hand to the wall to stabilize himself while taking a few erratic breaths.

Taiga used that moment to turn around and put his hands on the other one's chest before he gave him another passionate kiss, which made Hokuto feel way too aroused once more.

"Do you plan on keeping going for the whole night?" Hokuto asked with his own lips already back on the other one’s face, before he was even able to answer.

The way Taiga melted into the upcoming kiss and had his hands greedily over the other one's body, while Hokuto deepened the kiss until all he wanted was to take it further once more, it was clear that yes they would keep doing this for a while.

"From tomorrow on we'll be pretty busy and most likely not even training together, so yes I won't leave you alone tonight," Taiga said, his voice already sounding a bit husky.

"Then let's make sure we're not using the whole water while we do so," Hokuto said with a lopsided smile as he turned off the water and grabbed a towel, throwing it over the smaller one's head.

It was ridiculous how easily Taiga had thrown all his worries out of the window, but just for another night he wanted to pretend like they could go on like always!

***

"Okay so we will send out four teams and have one back up team here in the Center. We also will have some people remain in the Center in case other Centers are in trouble or if we get attacked," Kochi explained the next day when they all met in the training room.

Most of the West Center's Chasers had already decided to stay behind and take care of the Center and possible emergencies, but Jesse and Shintaro wanted to help out.

"Anyone who wants to stay behind voluntarily?"

Kochi's question had made them all look at each other until one Vestige stepped to the front. "My abilities are more useful here."

Juri's words made Kochi nod and he noted Juri's name down as backup.

"We don't want the worst case to happen, but in case a team needs help it's definitely a good idea to have you on it so you can help out with recharging their abilities."

"I'll stay behind with Juri," Noel announced. "My strength lies in analyzing so I can give advice to the teams from here."

"I'll stay here too," Shizu announced and while it was clear how much he would like to go out with one of the teams, he didn't want to be a burden. Not that they were trying to get into any head on fight this time.

"Okay so then we only need one more Fallen or Vestige who will stay at the Center for other emergencies."

"I'll do it."

To their surprise it was Yuma who volunteered.

"I'm a strong fighter, but as we're not aiming for a direct fight this time and the Center is our base, which needs to be protected as well, I will make sure everyone has a safe place to return to."

It was obvious how grateful Shime and the others who were directly involved with Taisuke, were for his choice.

"Okay then let's start forming the remaining teams so that you can start your training," Kochi announced. But it seemed like he had already decided the teams depending on who would stay behind.

"Every team will have a team leader. They will stay in contact with me and the others who stay behind."

"Means as much as don't dare to do something they didn't approve of," Kentaro said, knowing already that this was what they needed of course, but it also meant he wouldn't be a team leader, because he wasn't calm enough for that.

"Okay so the first team's leader is Myuto." Kochi announced.

That came to no one's surprise neither did the name he put under it on the board.

"Kentaro you have one of the strongest direct abilities and in combination with Myuto who can control from the distance, you're a strong team."

"And I can't run off doing something stupid," Kentaro added mockingly.

"The other two members on your team will be Matsuku and Chaka."

"Now I have to babysit?" Kentaro said, looking at Chaka, but to his surprise his friend went up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "No, you're going to get babysitted."

While everyone else chuckled, Kentaro let out a dangerous growl on which Chaka went a bit on distance. But it was after all a good idea to have Chaka on the team to talk Kentaro back to his senses in case Myuto would be busy fighting and Matsuku could take a neutral spot in the team as long as he would react calmly if they met the Fallen he was looking for.

"Okay then the second team Leader is Hokuto."

Again no one was surprised, because as much as Hokuto could be stubborn he could also be calm and would definitely think before acting, at least as long as Taiga wasn't on his team.

"The other members on your team will be Hagiya, Shintaro and Jesse. Hagiya can keep the Fallen on distance and you two-"

Kochi turned to the two Chasers in question. "Are too chaotic to leave you with anyone other than Hokuto."

Shintaro pouted and got ready to complain, but one look from Hokuto made him shut up.

"Look, it’s already working," Juri let out with a chuckle.

"The third team leader is Genta," Kochi announced and put three more names down. "Reo you can help them get away whenever necessary. Moro can help in case they get into close range and I heard Umi is quite skilled with close combat."

"No one on the team complained, but Reo seemed a bit disappointed that he didn't get a leader role.

"The last team's leader is Aran," Kochi announced and this time all of them looked more than confused.

"You're going?" Myuto asked, obviously not having talked about this with Aran.

"If I had told you, then you would have complained, right?"

"I still complain now," Myuto let out, but Kochi asked them all to calm down again.

"He'll be with Shime and Taiga so he'll be fine."

"And he is a really good strategist and knows how to fight Fallen the best, right?" Juri added and slowly Myuto calmed down, but the same as with Taiga and Hokuto it was definitely a good choice to not have him together with Aran on the same team.

"Okay, then the teams are set. You have two days to get a good teamwork and then we head out," Kochi explained.

It took a moment for everyone to split up in their groups and Shime approached Taiga with a careful look.

"I'm sorry that we put so much pressure on you."

"What do you mean?"

"Aran is the leader and I don't doubt that he is a skilled fighter, but we are only a team of three and while I can heal and am immune against Taisuke's abilities, I feel like if we get into a fight, you'll have to do most of it."

Realizing that, Taiga felt a bit nauseous, but he could only hope that they didn't have to go for a frontal attack. After all he wasn't confident at all that he could win against any of those new Fallen, especially not Taisuke.

***

"Make sure to keep me updated, okay?" Kochi said as he handed the leaders an earpiece. "This new transmitter can't easily be seen by the enemy, yet it could get destroyed if you get a heavy impact to the head. I'll only contact the team leaders so that not all of you will get distracted, but in case I don't receive a reply I can contact those with the old wrist transmitters."

They all made sure to set the new transmitter up, but different to a normal earpiece it would automatically put itself deeper into the ear so that it couldn’t easily fall out. Taiga also got one of the new types as Kochi had one spare one and if he really needed to fight than it was better than a wrist transmitter.

"Remember that this could take days, but as soon as anything goes out of hand we will call you all back," Juri reminded them.

"Will you be okay?" Hokuto whispered next to Taiga who couldn't really nod.

"As okay as everyone else as long as we don't run into trouble and at least we both still have our chips implanted in our arms from Kochi, so in a worst case scenario our locations can always be tracked."

“Right,” Hokuto said and put his hand to the back of his neck. The Vestige microchip he had gotten from the government wasn’t a tracking device, yet it was still a dangerous weapon. For him the chip had never worked through his Fallen self, but for the other Vestige it was different. Kochi was still keeping everything they were doing a secret from the Main Center, but would they get punished if they found out?

The gates of the Center got opened and the security fence would get opened after Kochi and the others had retreated back inside, so Taiga turned back to Juri and Kochi once more. "In case something is going on here, definitely let us know, okay? We can come back at any time."

"If you worry about us or other teams you will lose your focus. We'll be fine," Juri said with a supportive smile, yet Taiga still felt anxious about them splitting up. Even almost all of them together hadn't been enough to beat Taisuke.

"I warn you, if anyone cries I'll throw up," Kentaro yelled over to them and finally Taiga was able to show a smile as well, even though it didn't last long. He walked over to Hokuto who immediately stretched out his hand to the back of his head and pulled him closer to place a kiss on his forehead.

"We'll all come back here. Just stay focused, okay?"

"You too, don't let them annoy you too much," Taiga joked looking at Jesse and Shintaro.

***

“Shouldn’t we try and find shelter for the night?”

Chaka’s question made Kentaro stop and then his look changed. “Right, you need sleep.”

“Thanks for remembering my presence,” Chaka said a bit pouting.

“Did you ever think about becoming a Vestige? A lot of your friends are Vestige too.”

Kentaro’s question made Chaka look at Matsuku who walked in front with Myuto, but then he shook his head.

“I know that as a Vestige I would be a lot stronger, but I don’t trust the Government enough and with all the stuff I heard about the microchips they implant I just never felt like doing it.”

“Might be the better choice,” Kentaro let out with a gloomy expression.

“Can I ask you something?”

When Chaka didn’t ask directly, but waited for Kentaro to reply, the smaller one turned and nodded. But Chaka looked quite troubled about his own question.

“I know we only met recently again after this long time and didn’t have much time to catch up, but what happened back then?”

Kentaro remained silent for a while until Myuto shouted over to them that they found a hut, but would check it out first and they should wait for them.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

As always Chaka was so thoughtful and Kentaro formed a brief smile. “It all started the day you went missing as well. Nika went out in the snow storm to get provisions, but when he didn’t come back until the next morning I decided to look for him, but of course I couldn’t leave my sister at home, so we went together.”

“That was when I didn’t find anyone at your house after the snow storm and went out looking for you.”

“As expected I couldn’t find Nika at the usual spots from where we got supplies so I took my sister back home and went around the neighborhood to ask if anyone had seen Nika. That was when I heard that you have gone missing since the morning.”

Chaka still felt a bit stupid for that, but he had been a child, not really thinking about any consequences.

“The air raid happened that afternoon and I tried to make it back to our house, but...I was too late.”

Another heavy silence followed, but Kentaro wasn’t the type who wanted hugs or comfort so Chaka just waited.

“I didn’t want to give up, knowing that Nika must have been out there somewhere at that time. Well, now I know that I had been closer than I thought I was, because after I couldn’t find any clues at all, I started spying around the Government buildings and of course that didn’t pass unnoticed and some soldiers tried to catch me, but I got away. Not for long though. They definitely thought I had found something out about their secret Fallen research and in the end I ended up the same. If I had known that Nika had been in the same mess...maybe I could have saved us both…”

“Or you would be with Taisuke now as well,” Chaka said, knowing that the chances for that outcome were huge.

Matsuku came back to let them know that they had found a place to stay the night so they walked up to the hut and Chaka dared to put his hand on Kentaro’s shoulder to squeeze it a bit. “You know that no matter what happens from now on, I will fight alongside you to get him back.”

***

“Can you stop looking at my food like this?” Umi scolded Reo as he sat way too close to him, while he was eating. “You don’t even need food and I won’t share with you.”

“Just because I don’t need it, doesn’t mean I don’t like it. And your food looks good,” Reo let out a bit pouting, but finally fell back against the tree next to him.

They hadn’t found any place close by to rest for the night, but Reo had made sure to use his illusions as much as possible to hide the fire place from their surroundings.

“If you were still human, you would be round and fat,” Moro scolded his friend, on which Reo kicked him against the leg.

“We won’t find that out luckily,” Reo said and stuck out his tongue towards the other one.

“It’s so hard to believe that you two are Fallen,” Umi said and bit his lip when both looked at him. “I don’t mean that in a bad way.”

Moro laughed at the sudden fear in the other one’s voice. “Be happy that Aran and Kochi got that serum, otherwise we would most likely be on Taisuke’s side now and give you an even harder time.”

“And we gave the West Center a tough time already. Kentaro and I almost killed Taiga on his first day as a Chaser.”

“Seriously?” Umi asked, more interested in that story than scared about it, because Taiga and the others were fine now and they had forgiven the Fallen for the things they did while they couldn’t actually think straight.

“Well, Hokuto was actually the one who almost killed him.”

“Right, he was half Fallen as well, if we heard that right?” Genta finally entered the conversation.

“Something like that, yes. He was supposed to become a Vestige, but the research was still shitty at that time and he ended up with a Fallen personality, which had a sadistic way of throwing Taiga and Hokuto into trouble until in the end he actually sacrificed himself to rescue Taiga.”

“Damn, that sounds so romantic,” Umi said and Genta threw a small stone at him, making the other one pout.

“Why did you decide to become a Vestige?” Moro asked and Genta sat back with a thoughtful expression.

“I wasn’t a fighter at all before I became a Vestige. I was in a research team and I had a senpai, his name was Mitsu. Things got dangerous at some point when Mitsu got part of some special research, but he wanted to get out as he didn’t agree with the Government. He also had a little brother he wanted to take care off, so when it got clear that he wouldn’t easily get out of his position he tried really hard to keep me out of that research.”

“The Fallen research,” Moro concluded.

“He made sure that I got transferred in a hurry and he wouldn’t let me know anything at all. Now I know that he did so to protect me, but I found out that he had become a Fallen through a footage I shouldn’t have had access to. I wished I knew more about his background, because I couldn’t even contact his brother about it.”

“But you are sneaky and know your way around the research Center’s backdoors,” Reo said with a lopsided smile. He liked how Genta had been so serious about finding out the truth and hadn’t been running away at that time, even though it would have been the better choice maybe.

“I knew that alone I wouldn’t be able to help him and I never wanted to see the Fallen as our enemies, because we caused their misery ourselves, so we should help them as well.”

“So you decided to become a Vestige to help him,” Moro concluded with a kind of proud look.

“And you didn’t want to become a Vestige?” Reo asked Umi who seemed troubled finding a reply.

“He tried,” Genta replied. “Right after my transition I was about to go to the North Center when I met Umi at the Main Center and he requested to become a Vestige.”

“But?” Reo asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I have a rare health condition, which doesn’t really bother me in my daily life except if I fight for too long, but it would have been life threatening to turn me, as my cells wouldn’t have been able to make the transition.”

Umi’s explanation made sense, but it was still hard to imagine that there were indeed limits to their DNA manipulation.

“I had been traveling around the country, trying to stay out of the Capitol and I met a soldier who had been traveling as well, to help the people in more rural areas to get supplies and updates. Senga was such a great person. He was always smiling and trying to cheer everyone up. But one day I lost sight of him when we went to the Capitol and he was called to one of the military bases. It was when I met Genta that he helped me find out where he had ended up and the same as with Mitsu we found files about him. Because he had kept a low profile out of the Capitol they chose him, because they thought no one would realize it if he was suddenly gone.”

“So now you want to repay him for all the help he gave to you and the other people back then,” Moro said and Umi nodded with a nostalgic smile.

“It’s not his fault after all and with the serum we finally have a chance to actually rescue them instead of fighting them.”

“But after everything that happened I am not sure if there is a chance to rescue them,” Genta added.

“Now you sound like Taiga,” Reo said with a teasing expression.

“Better than sounding like Kentaro,” Moro added, making them all giggle a bit.

All they could do for now was trying. If Taiga hadn’t tried to convince Aran and Myuto to change, then they wouldn’t have gotten a second chance either, so they wouldn’t give up on the others without even trying.

***

“Are you sure that you don’t want to rest more?” Taiga asked a bit worried after Aran needed to be almost forced to sleep at some point, but Taiga remembered the best how tiring it could be as a human to keep up with Fallen and Vestige.

“The faster we cover our territory, the sooner we can go back,” Aran said as the sun had barely risen behind the huge mountains in the northern area. “Kochi, are you up?”

First Aran didn’t get any reply after he put his hand up to his ear, but no one was surprised that it was barely five in the morning, if even.

“Kochi is asleep, but I am in the lab. All good, why are you up so early?”

Shime and Taiga could hear Juri’s voice even like this and as expected their early departure the second day made them worry.

“All good, I just want to make sure that we are fast. How about the other teams?”

“They all rested for the night, but you are the first team we heard back from today,” Juri explained.

“Keep us updated if any team heads back before us,” Aran asked and Juri promised to inform them. They had a map and a given territory and they weren’t allowed to get out of it for safety reasons. If anything happened, the others could easily find them, knowing at least where to start the search. If they wouldn’t find anything this time, they would expand their search the next week after meeting at the West Center once more.

“You seem restless.”

Shime’s words made Taiga turn to him after he had kept scanning the mountain area. Like he did every single minute since the moment they had left the Center. So yes he was restless. Terrified was maybe the better word, but he didn’t want to make the others feel even more restless.

“Let’s go, if we are fast then we can cover enough territory today, to be able to get back tomorrow night,” Aran announced and started walking while Taiga stood still for another moment until Shime gave him a questioning look.

“Did you ever fight your own brother except for that one encounter?” Taiga asked, not even knowing why he asked such a stupid direct question, but Shime didn’t seem offended as he shook his head.

“The only time was when I met him as a Fallen for the first time and you have seen that memory. You can’t really call it a fight though. You’d be surprised though how much of a sweet and caring person he was before.”

“It’s always hard to tell the true character of a Fallen, but all I can see in Taisuke is a monster.” A few seconds passed in silence until Taiga looked up with wide eyes. “You know that I don’t mean that your brother is a monster. I am just- I don’t know…”

“It’s okay,” Shime immediately soothed him and started walking so Aran wouldn’t have to wait for them. When Taiga caught up to him, he felt like he had said something more than offensive and he felt stupid for voicing out his worries towards the person who was closest to Taisuke.

“I am not hiding behind our happy memories,” Shime explained. “I want my loving brother back of course. I want him to do stupid jokes, to give me those sheepish smiles when he can’t hide a surprise and I want to be able to walk up to him, hug him and tell him welcome back.”

Shime’s words were as honest as Taigas, yet way more positive. “But I know that our chances are slim. I am not the only one who wants a family member or a friend back, but the cruel truth is that Taisuke has indeed become a monster. Of all Fallen I have ever encountered I have never seen a cruel behavior as the one of Taisuke.”

It hurt to have even Shime say those words out loud, but it made clear that he was living in reality, able to keep his emotions under control.

“But you have hope,” Taiga said with a faint smile. “I got Myuto back, now we have the serum and a lot of people who are more than willing to help out.”

Shime nodded with a thoughtful expression. After all it had been Taiga’s and Myuto’s story, which had made him put his hopes into the West Center and he couldn’t be more grateful for their help.

“We should go and help Aran, this area will be tough for him to climb,” Shime finally said after a moment of silence and when Taiga looked up he realized that they had made it to a steep area with no paths in front of them. So all they could do was climb and see what was lying between the high mountain peaks.

Musen 28 - January

“Two days without any living soul around,” Shintaro said, exhausted as he dropped on the dirty stone floor of the old farm house they had found in the southern area close to the ocean. Jesse had offered to get firewood and Hagi went with him, while Hokuto stood in the half broken door with a thoughtful expression.

“He will be fine.” Shintaro hadn’t even bothered looking up at the other one or getting back up in a sitting position after he had dropped on his back, already exhausted after marching such a long distance in two days. “We will head back tomorrow and Juri said the others should also head back tomorrow or latest the day after. Myuto’s team covers the most ground in the western area so they will take a bit longer.”

Hokuto didn’t reply, but it was no secret that he was worried. He wouldn’t let it show at day time as he was aware that he was the leader of the group and had to make sure everyone stayed safe, but luckily Hagi was pretty good in reading the atmosphere and he helped out as much as he could with sharing the responsibility and keep the two chaotic Chasers busy.

“You are afraid that you can’t get to him in time if something happens,” Shintaro let out once more, but again no reaction. “They are in the North, we are in the South. The whole Capitol lies between us and they are in the mountains so even for a Vestige it will be tough to get to them.”

“Could it be that you are not trying to read what is on my mind, but speak what is on yours?” Hokuto finally let out, but didn’t turn around to the other one. When there was no reply he finally looked over his shoulder, just to find Shintaro snoring on his back. “How can you fall asleep seconds after you said something?”

But Shintaro was indeed already deeply asleep and Hokuto only shook his head and let him be. After all they all worried for each other and all they wanted was to get back. At this point Hokuto even hoped that none of the groups would even find anyone. It wasn’t just Taiga who had felt restless about fighting Taisuke. Just the thought of one of their groups having to fight him, made Hokuto feel nauseous and he put his hand down to the metal tube on his belt. The serum was hard to produce and Kochi would need to find a reason to get to the Main Center to give him the necessary ingredients once more to make more without the Main Center getting suspicious. So for now they all had only one tube on each team. But the main problem remained, Taisuke was almost invincible alone, how were they supposed to fight against him and six other Fallen?

***

“You heard him, right?” Aran asked after Kochi had told them that Genta’s group was heading back to the Capitol and hadn’t found any clues about Taisuke.

“At this point I feel it might even be safer if we all head back without finding him,” Shime said. “We didn’t have the chance to cover such a huge territory until now with just the seven of us, but except for that one time they actually showed up in the Capitol as a warning, we were never able to locate them again.”

“I feel like the others think the same,” Taiga said, knowing that Hokuto was definitely feeling as restless as him and Myuto definitely also wanted Aran back at the Center as soon as possible.

Aran lifted his hand to the transmitter once more when Kochi told him that Hokuto’s team was going to turn back now as well.

“We have one more area to cover, but we will make sure to walk back through the night, so that we are back soon.”

Aran’s words had Taiga and Shime look at him scolding, but they knew that he didn’t want to delay them.

“Myuto’s team will also not head back before tomorrow so let’s not hurry too much. We can take breaks whenever you need to,” Shime said, but Aran already headed to the next steep path up the mountain.

They walked in silence for a good hour until the area showed more rocks than forest and Taiga slowed down, while Shime made sure Aran was able to get over the rocky surface safely. Because he had been tense over the whole trip he had made sure to scan their surroundings as much as possible, but that was also what made him spot the difference now and he wondered if he had just spaced out in between or if this was indeed a sudden change they should worry about. Not wanting to raise panic where he might have been just a bit too exhausted he kept moving, after all even as a Fallen he would usually rest a bit more, yet he was on too high alert to sleep while Aran and Shime had done so.

A few meters ahead they could see a waterfall around the rocky surface and another forest ahead of them, but he stopped once more while Aran and Shime stopped at the river in front of the waterfall.

“Taiga, this river marks the spot where we should turn around,” Aran shouted over to him, but while the other one had heard him, he didn’t reply. His eyes were fixed on the forest in front of them.

“Taiga?” The one in question jolted when Shime was next to him without him realizing that he had walked up to him. “What is it?”

“Don’t you think something is off?”

“What do you mean?” Shime asked, now on high alert too and he scanned the area, but couldn’t find the exact reason for Taiga’s restless state. The forests weren’t as green as their parents had seen them in their childhoods, the water from the river not necessarily drinkable and wildlife even in the most remote areas was rare, but there were still some animals left.

“When we met Myuto and the others before it was never outside in the woods, not for long at least. But for the past few days I kept scanning our surroundings and I reacted to every single sound, every water drop, every river, every deer and every bird I could see or hear.”

“And?” Shime asked, still not knowing what he meant, while Aran started walking up to them as he couldn’t hear them from that distance.

“Listen. What do you hear?”

Shime closed his eyes and concentrated, but then he lifted both eyebrows and looked around like Taiga did before and slowly he seemed to tense. So maybe Taiga hadn’t overreacted, but maybe he had waited too long?

“What are you talking about?” Aran asked as he had finally reached them, but when Shime reached out for the other one’s arm and gave Taiga a serious look, there was no doubt that they had to hurry.

“We need to leave, now,” Shime said and tried to sound as calm as possible, but Aran could read the atmosphere and pushed Shime a bit so that they would start moving.

Taiga remained at the same spot for a moment longer, letting the two pass first, as they needed to get down the rocky surface once more.

But then he heard it. He heard something and while it was just the sound of a small branch cracking on the ground, it gave him the worst shiver of his life. This had been the problem all along! Silence! Since they had made it into this area there had been nothing but silence. No birds, no deers, nothing! And Taiga regretted that he had put his fears to the back of his head for too long. Now he regretted not letting his fear take over sooner. Maybe they could have gotten away!

His own thoughts made him grind his teeth as he realized that there was no way he would give up like this. At least he had to try and get the others to safety. They weren’t here to fight, but they needed to be fast if they wanted to prevent a fight and Taiga knew that without a distraction they wouldn’t be fast enough.

With a deep breath, which came out way more erratic than Taiga wanted it to be, he looked up and he saw how Shime had stopped and looked up to him with a scared expression. He wasn’t sure how much of the fear he was feeling was actually visible on his face, but he finally dared to turn around and find the source of the noise he had just heard.

Not even hiding, not even trying to be invisible as he had been until now, there he was. Taisuke, standing right at the forest, with a lopsided sneer, facing Taiga with a triumphant expression. The others were too far down to spot him, but the way Taiga didn’t dare to move, showed them that their biggest fear had come true.

Like in slow motion Aran put his hand up to his ear and while the transmitter connected, he didn’t speak.

“Aran, what is it? Are you done? Aran?” Kochi’s voice sounded already worried about the lack of response, but Aran wasn’t even sure if he could still speak. The tension in the air was so thick that his throat started to rob him of air while Shime tightened his grip on his elbow, waiting for Taiga to decide what to do as he was the only one who could see what was going on.

“Taiga, can you hear me, what is going on?” Kochi asked as he finally connected to his transmitter, but Taiga also didn’t dare to reply.

There was no way that they could win with only three people, but Taiga was still trying to figure out if Taisuke would go after him if he ran in the opposite direction or if he would go for Shime. In the middle of his tries to figure out what to do he got disturbed by more noise and with wide eyes he realized that they were doomed.

“Oh no…” Shime let out, being able to hear it as well and even without seeing them, he realized that now they were in the worst trouble ever.

“Aran, what the hell is going on,” Juri said next after they were obviously all on high alert in the Center and debating if Juri’s team needed to head out or not. But would it even matter?

“We are in trouble…” Aran finally whispered.

“What kind of trouble?”

“The worst…” Aran added, unable to even explain the situation.

 It felt like they had all stopped like this for minutes, but Taiga couldn’t move or take his eyes off all the people which had come out of the forest. Now they were a team of three, against a group of seven.

Seven people who might all be as strong as Taisuke and definitely as crazy and dangerous as him. The one movement which had him finally move was when Taisuke made a step to the front. What seemed so harmless, put Taiga into a state of terror and he swirled around, jumping off the rock he was standing on.

“RUN!” There was nothing more he could shout before he could hear the Fallen behind him moving and Shime swirled around and dragged Aran down the rocks. Even if he got hurt on their escape it was still better than getting killed by those Fallen.

“Taisuke found us!” Aran was somehow able to yell into the transmitter while Shime almost carried him as he was unable to catch up with their speed. “They all found us!”

***

The Capitol was finally getting into sight and Hokuto had to try hard to not speed up as Shintaro and Jesse needed more time to catch up. At some point Hokuto almost asked Kochi to send a truck to pick them up at the city borders as they didn’t have to keep a low profile inside the city.

He was impatiently waiting for the remaining two teams to let them know that they were on their way back. But Myuto’s team was definitely still taking a while and Aran’s team would hopefully soon turn around.

“Do you think we should go with bigger teams next time?” Hagi asked while walking up to the other one.

“We would get discovered easier that way,” Hokuto said.

“But we would also have a bigger chance of overpowering them.”

“You really think they can be overpowered?”

“You always stood a good chance against all of us too, so I think with good teamwork it could be possible.”

Hagi’s words should make Hokuto feel better, yet he could just not see how they were going to win in a head on fight.

The next second he heard the sound of the transmitter getting switched on, but to his surprise the wrist transmitters also got activated. Whatever the reason to contact them all wasn’t going to be good and Hokuto already tensed before Kochi spoke.

“All teams, we need you to head to the north immediately. Juri’s team already left.”

Kochi tried so hard to stay calm and give information without yelling at anyone, but Hokuto already knew that in one way or the other his biggest fear had become true.

“They found Aran’s team.”

“What do you mean they found them?” Hagi asked as Hokuto was unable to voice out any questions.

“I have no details. They were already trying to get away when Aran contacted me. It’s all of them and they appeared out of nowhere. Chances are high that they had realized already that we were looking for them.”

“We’re on our way, but even if I hurry I doubt I will make it before nightfall,” Myuto was heard over the transmitter and he obviously tried to keep it together.

“Juri’s team went with the truck, but the area they are in needs climbing so they will take at least half a day as well and they are the closest.”

“Hokuto, what do we do?” Shintaro asked, but what were they supposed to do? They would need to go to the Center first to get a truck, which would result in them taking at least another day as well.

“We don’t know yet what they are up to, let’s stay in contact and hurry for now?” Hagi said and put his hand on Hokuto’s shoulder, finally making him snap out of it.

“Right, we are wasting time,” Hokuto said and looked up at Shintaro and Jesse with an apologetic look.

“Don’t worry, we will follow as soon as we can, you go first. You are faster,” Jesse said and Shintaro nodded.

Hagi nodded gratefully and pushed Hokuto to the front. It was indeed better that they hadn’t been on the same team. He wasn’t functioning properly even at this distance, how would he have been of any help if he had to panic about Taiga’s safety over his own even though the other one was stronger than him. Now all he could hope for was that Taisuke was in his insane play mode once more, instead of trying to get rid of them this time.

“Aran just told me that they surrounded them,” Kochi let out a bit panicked and that was the switch needed for Hokuto to finally start running. For now all teams could just hurry and they had to believe in the others that they could maybe somehow get out of it themselves or at least survive until they made it to their area.

***

Shime was forced to stop running when he realized that he hadn’t been fast enough and two of the Fallen showed up in front of him after they had been able to jump down most of the rocks.

Aran had immediately contacted Kochi, making sure he knew they were surrounded. Taiga stopped behind Aran, turning towards the Fallen approaching from the side and back. They were completely trapped, in the middle of an open rocky surface with no hiding place nearby. One side was a steep cliff, only the forest behind the Fallen giving a small hope of an escape route.

“So we meet again,” Taisuke let out playfully as he stepped closer to Taiga while Shime had an eye on the Fallen on the other side, but gave his brother an annoyed look over his shoulder.

“Little brother, you brought interesting company with you.”

Taisuke’s words made Taiga feel nauseous once more, but he needed to make sure to protect Aran at all costs or Myuto would never forgive him.

“Taisuke, could it be that you were spying on us all this time?”

Of course Taisuke didn’t give a direct reply, but his teasing smile showed that they had indeed known that they were out to look for them and weirdly Taiga felt relieved that they hadn’t decided to go for the Center to destroy it the same way as they did with the East Center. Maybe they were aware that all Centers were on high alert, but now they had to somehow get out of this situation.

“I see another familiar face.”

Those words made Taiga lift an eyebrow before he looked at Aran, but the boy didn’t seem to recognize Taisuke.

“Aran, right?”

“Why do you know me?” Aran asked.

“Do you really think we let Myuto and the others do as they pleased without checking if they caused trouble or not?”

Another slap in the face for them, because that meant they had been closer than they had thought for all this time.

“It’s a shame what you did to Myuto and the others. You ruined the chance to reunite Nika with his brother.”

When Taisuke looked to the person on his left, Taiga also looked at Nika, Kentaro’s older brother. The same way as Taisuke only had one pink shimmering eye, Nika had a green shimmering one and looking at the other Fallen they also seemed to only have different eye colors in one eye.   

Taiga had seen Nika in Kentaro’s memories, yet he was of course not the same person now that he was a Fallen and he knew better than trying to reason with him now as he wouldn’t care for Kentaro as Taisuke also didn’t care for Shime. Just the fact that Nika knew that Kentaro was with Myuto and never tried to contact him showed how much Fallen didn’t care for emotional connections.

When Taisuke started walking towards them, Taiga’s hand intuitively landed on the metal tube, but then he pulled back once more, knowing that it was a stupid move to use it right away. Taisuke would block the attack and destroy the tube immediately.

“Do you really want to fight?”

“We are not just letting you kill us,” Taiga shot back, but then Taisuke started laughing.

“Who said I was going to kill you?”

“So what, you showed yourself and stopped us, just to let us go?” Aran asked annoyed, but Taisuke’s amused expression didn’t fall.

“Don’t you think after you lost this badly last time that with all the Fallen present here I could kill you in an instant if I wanted to?”

Of course he could and they were painfully aware of that fact and Taiga gave Shime a troubled look, but the boy wasn’t sure either what to do.

“How about we make a deal?”

“As if you would keep your part of it,” Aran shot back at him, but then Taisuke pointed at him with a darker expression this time.

“Careful boy, I have a good day, but I might reconsider my offer if you keep being impolite.”

“Then what is that offer?” Shime asked as he grabbed Aran’s elbow as a warning that he needed to calm down.

“I let you leave, but he needs to stay.”

He should be as shocked as the others, yet Taiga was way too calm when Taisuke pointed at him. After their first encounter he had feared for an outcome like this.

“Sorry, that won’t happen,” Shime let out. “We won’t sacrifice one of our own to rescue ourselves.”

“Who said you would sacrifice him? I promise that I won’t kill him and we won’t chase after you either.”

It all sounded too good to be true, yet Myuto had said it before. Fallen weren’t known to be lying. But even if he promised not to kill him there was still a lot he could do to Taiga if he decided to go with them. On the other hand…

When Taiga stepped away from the other two and faced Taisuke, there was a playful yet dangerous expression on the other one’s face. “If I go with you then you have to promise to not attack the Capitol or any of the members of any Center.”

“Oh so rescuing the lives of your two friends isn’t enough?”

“Taiga, we won’t let you go with them,” Aran interfered, but was there any other way? Taiga wanted to talk to Kochi or hear if any other group was already close, but Kochi wasn’t going to speak now as he hoped that the new transmitter still remained hidden from them. Like this Taiga still had a few tricks up his sleeve and he needed to make the others realize that him leaving with the Fallen would be to their advantage.

“He said he won’t kill me, so don’t you think instead of all of us dying in a fight we are not prepared for, this is the better outcome?”

Taiga’s words made Aran ready to protest, but then Shime pulled him back and what seemed like an accident, was on purpose as he pressed his hand on the other one’s belt on the way. That was when Aran’s look changed as well as he realized that he tried to make him think of Taiga having the serum on his belt.

“I don’t trust them. They will find a way to hurt you anyway,” Aran let out, but made sure that Taiga understood through his look that he had gotten the message.

The transmitter would tell them Taiga’s location and when all groups were gathered, they could head after them and they still had the serum so maybe Taiga could find an opening to use it. Not to forget that even if they found the transmitter he still had the implanted chip.

“I don’t have any reason to hurt him if he follows on his own, but I might hurt you all if you don’t hurry up,” Taisuke said, crossing his arms to his chest with an impatient look, while the Fallen around them also seemed to get a bit restless.

“Remember that he loves games, be careful what you say,” Shime warned Taiga and gave him the indirect okay to go with Taisuke.

“Great, so if you don’t mind I don’t like standing around for nothing,” Taisuke said and made a hand movement for Taiga to get over to him, while the other Fallen retreated. Just one of them actually walked up to Taisuke, making them all tense once more.

Still unsure if this was going to be the worst decision of his life or not, Taiga finally dared to step away from his friends and while he tried to keep some distance from Taisuke, he didn’t dare to step away when Taisuke came way too close.

“So then let’s make sure that your friends are really leaving, shall we?”

First Taiga didn’t understand what he meant until he reached out for Taiga’s face. He tried to pull away this time, but when Taisuke grabbed his arm and gave him a warning look it was clear that he would still kill them all if necessary. After a few seconds he pulled back with a lopsided smile before he left Taiga next to the other Fallen.

“Yokoo, have a look at him for a moment.” The Fallen with one orange eye nodded, but for now Taiga didn’t dare to move anyway as Taisuke approached Aran and Shime.

“I usually never give second chances, but if you want to join me after all then here is your chance,” Taisuke offered his little brother, but Shime shook his head. After all, Taiga going with them was dangerous enough. “Fine, then it’s your turn now to get back to your Center. And don’t worry I will make sure to take good care of your friend.”

Aran intuitively pulled back when Taisuke wanted to stretch his hands out to his face, but Shime gave him a warning look. Taisuke wasn’t known for his patience, but they had no choice but to trust his words. One stupid move could turn the whole group against them and as much as they all would love to fight, they knew that they had no chance against them all.

Taiga tensed when Taisuke used his mind control on Aran while Shime was immune against all his copied abilities, but it was still a smart move to control Aran so that Shime would be forced to follow him if he wanted to make sure that he was going to be okay. “Make sure to tell them how nice it was of me to let you go.”

Taisuke turned to Taiga with a mocking smile before he snapped his fingers and Aran turned around without another word and left towards the forest, Shime giving Taiga another worried look before he followed him. 

“If you try to attack us then maybe I can’t keep my part of the deal either,” Taisuke gave as a last warning.

“So much unused potential, indeed,” Taisuke let out as he opened and closed his own hand, feeling how Taiga’s ability was gone once more.

As if not even realizing what danger Taiga had brought over himself he finally spent the Fallen around him more attention. Different from Myuto's group, they seemed more like subordinates than individual group members. None of them talking or moving if not asked to.

“Okay so first things first,” Taisuke said as he stopped in front of Taiga and held his hand out. Taiga could only give him a questioning look as he didn’t understand.

“Oh come on, think for yourself.”

Taisuke’s patience was indeed not his strongest point and Taiga hurried to look for what he could mean and then he sighed. Of course, what else?

“You didn’t really think we would let you keep those things?” Taisuke asked amused when Taiga took his bracelet off and handed it to Taisuke, followed by his two hilts. Luckily the only one with an Ex2 suit had been Aran and they didn’t seem to have realized the new technology. The older one handed the weapons to Yokoo, but he still turned back to Taiga once more.

“Don’t play with my patience.”

What patience was what Taiga wanted to ask, but he refrained from saying it out loud and reached out for his boots, pulling out the knife he always hid there.

“Those are all the weapons I have,” Taiga announced when Taisuke still didn’t seem satisfied. With a swift movement Taisuke reached out for Taiga’s belt and the metal tube was in his hand before Taiga could react.

“Are you sure this one is not a weapon?”

Was he allowed to lie? Wouldn’t they find out anyway? For now Taisuke threw the tube towards a violet eyed Fallen. “Miyata, make sure to do research on this and Mitsu can help you. I doubt our tough boy will spill answers easily.”

And here Taisuke could just use his own ability against him and find every single secret out through mind reading, but Taisuke seemed to like games way more than the direct and boring way.

“Okay, then we’re almost ready to go.”

Once more Taisuke held out his hand, but this time Taiga didn’t react at all. He had given all his weapons and was even stripped of his only secret weapon. When Taisuke pulled him closer and leant over his shoulder Taiga wanted to push him away, but once more he forced his body to stay still.

“You worked really hard in making such a good transmitter.”

His words gave Taiga a shiver as he realized that their plan was good for nothing now that Taisuke had realized about the transmitter. But for now they had a plan B. “If you have anything to say then do it now.”

Of course they had listened in silence, but then Taiga could hear the sound of the transmitter connecting.

“If we promise to not go after you again, will you give him back?”

As always Kochi was good in making sure to choose his words wisely, yet Taisuke giggled next to Taiga’s ear and his grip on his arm became even tighter when he spoke again, his lips brushing over the other one’ earlobe.

“There won’t be any peace between us, but don’t worry I will give him back to you at some point as long as you don’t come to get him back by yourself.”

“If you don’t stand by your word then we will come for you,” Kochi threatened, knowing that they had to make clear as well that they weren’t going to sit back.

“Maybe you will be busy fighting another fight before you can think about an attack.”

Kochi wanted to say something about that weird threat, yet Taisuke took out the transmitter and stepped on it before there was any reply.

“What do you mean with another fight?” Taiga asked instead, but now Taisuke’s expression showed more excitement once more.

“You will see soon enough,” Taisuke promised before he waved at the blue eyed Fallen who stepped next to Taiga. “Senga will use his special ability on you. I advise you to not move.”

“What is your ability?” Taiga asked and made a step back before Senga could reach out for him.

“It won’t hurt as long as you don’t struggle,” Senga let out in a cold voice when he reached out for Taiga’s face. There was absolutely no way Taiga could win even if he tried to put up a fight, so why waste his energy.

Senga put his hand on his face and first he thought that he also possessed some kind of mind control, but he pulled back after a short time without anything obvious happening.

“What did you do?”

“Can’t you feel it?”

Senga’s words made Taiga concentrate on his own body and abilities, just to realize a familiar feeling. Something he had experienced when Moro used his ability on him. “You took away my abilities.”

“More or less. They are blocked. All of them. Even your special ones and they won’t return for the next 24 hours.”

A smart move, yet Taiga wished he could tell the others about their special abilities. Senga’s might only work once a day as it was a strong ability and definitely needed a long recharge time, but a whole day without abilities was a huge disadvantage. He was nothing more than a Chaser without weapons now.

“Senga will keep taking your abilities away each day for the time being. We don’t want any accidents, right?”

Taiga turned to Taisuke, but before he could say anything there was a sharp pain in his neck and with a hiss he jumped to the side. With Senga’s ability he couldn’t sense his surroundings that well anymore and in shock he realized that the pain had come from an injection the red eyed Fallen had carried.

“What the hell was that for?” Taiga yelled, but his voice sounded more scared than angry. It was more than clear by now that they had known about them approaching this area for the entire time or they wouldn’t have been this prepared. 

“Too many questions. You won’t die ok? There is one more thing we have to change before you are allowed to come with us.”

“Allowed, right,” Taiga let out a bit of mocking on the other one’s words, but once more he just waited when Yokoo reached out for him this time. When the other one put his hand over his eyes though he tensed, but this time it took only a second for the other one to step back.

When Taiga opened his eyes once more he gasped and reached out for his own face.

“You will stay blind for about an hour,” Yokoo explained. “I can also take the blindness away sooner, but for now you are not allowed to see where we are going.”

One smart move after the other and now it was to no one's surprise anymore that they had been able to hide for such a long time. Whatever they had injected him with didn’t seem to show any active reaction yet, but Taiga already had a guess and if he was right then they were now completely unable to track Taiga.

“Shall we then?”

When Taisuke’s voice was right next to his ear again, Taiga flinched, making the other one chuckle before he hooked his arm with his and started walking. “We don’t want you to get hurt, right?”

Right, because Taisuke himself would take care of all the hurting, that was for sure...

Musen 28 - January

It was a miracle that the gates of the Center didn’t break when Hokuto cursed and pushed them open when the automatic system took too long. “Why are they even closed?” Hokuto hissed while Hagi hurried after him towards the lab where Hokuto stormed inside.

“Kochi, where are the trucks? Why is no one getting ready?” Hokuto yelled as he stopped in the middle of the door, but when he saw Genta’s team in the lab as well he became even angrier.

“Why the hell are you still here? Do you think Juri’s team can handle all seven of them by themselves?”

“Hokuto, calm down,” Kochi said as he got up, but it had been the wrong thing to say as Hokuto walked up to him with threatening steps.

“I will be calm when they are all back here in the Center and when that psychopath is dead.”

Luckily Shime’s friends didn’t really get angry on the way Hokuto didn’t seem to care for Taisuke, but at the moment no one could blame him for his harsh words.

“They will be back soon,” Umi explained and for a split second Hokuto’s anger was replaced by relief, but then he shook his head. There was no way Taisuke would have shown up like that just to let them go. Everyone’s faces also showed a troubled expression so this wasn’t the whole story.

“What happened?” Hokuto finally asked directly and Kochi felt more than troubled about where to start and how to explain things. “Kochi, I give you one chance to directly tell me what is going on or I will use my mind reading. I will hunt them down myself if you won’t help me.”

“Then Taiga will die,” Kochi let out without any outrights and it was the worst Kochi could have said as Hokuto’s worst fear had just become reality.

“Come again?”

“Taisuke told them that if Taiga stayed with them the other two could leave and there would be a truce between us as long as we don’t try to go after them. They promised to not kill Taiga and let him go at some point. Juri and the others are picking up Aran and Shime. I heard through the transmitter that Taisuke stole Taiga’s mind control to force Aran to leave so that Shime had to follow him to watch out that he was okay. Unfortunately he also took away Taiga’s weapons, the serum and destroyed the transmitter. So we can’t do anything but wait for now.”

There was a long and heavy silence in the room until Hokuto had progressed what Kochi had just explained. But the snort he let out made clear that he wasn’t going to accept this explanation. With the next step he took Kochi by the collar, but Moro, Reo and Hagi stayed back for now.

“And you thought letting him sacrifice himself was a good idea? Do you even know what Taisuke can do to him?”

“Yes Hokuto, we all know that Taiga is in huge danger, but what were we supposed to do?”

“Wait for us, like it was planned! Damn it, Kochi, you came up with this whole plan in the first place! Juri was on his way, Genta’s group would have been close too and we could have left now too!”

Hokuto started yelling again, but this time Kochi had enough and grabbed the other one’s hands, making him let go of his collar. “Taiga had decided to stay behind so the others could get away.”

“Taiga always does reckless things! Why would you let him do this?” Hokuto’s angry shouting made it difficult for Kochi to find a calm reply and this time his eyes narrowed and he got angry too.

“For god’s sake Hokuto! I know that you are worried for Taiga, but would you think just for a second? You lost against Taisuke with four people, how were they supposed to fight seven of them with three people?”

“They are a strong group. They could have held them off until we came.”

“No, Hokuto they could have not.”

“We could have thought about another way,” Hokuto shouted, but then Kochi finally had enough.

“THEY WOULD ALL BE DEAD NOW!” Kochi’s outraged shouting had everyone including Hokuto fall silent. “Don’t you think I considered all possibilities? I wanted another way too, but damn we can already be happy that Taisuke didn’t just ambush and slaughter them on the spot. Don’t you think Taiga was afraid of what could happen to him if he agreed? But he went with them so that the others could live and we get another chance to make a new plan and face them once more.”

Hokuto took a few steps back, his look now empty and absentminded on the floor. “I am afraid of what they can do to him.”

Hokuto had whispered the words, but they all shared the same fear. Taiga had only told Hokuto about his fears before, but the way Taisuke had already found an interest in the way Taiga was a Fallen, yet so different from them, made him fear for the worst.

“So are we,” Kochi said finally in a calmer voice again before he walked up to Hokuto and put his hand on his shoulder. “But Taiga knew that they had no chance. He didn’t want the others to get as badly hurt as you all got before. Just one try to attack them, would have maybe cost all their lives. Now all we can do is trust Taiga’s strength and wait for him to come back.”

Hokuto understood that of course, but he couldn’t shake his anger off that easily. He was angry at Taisuke for that ambush, the way he had obviously aimed for Taiga from the very beginning. Then there was that stupid anger about Shime and Aran not stopping him, even though he understood that they also knew that Taiga wouldn’t let them fight and risk their lives. His biggest anger was directed at Taiga for risking his life for everyone else.

“What about the chip?” Hokuto asked as he finally calmed down able to think straight, but Kochi shook his head.

“I don’t know what they did or how they found it, but the signal died a few minutes after they broke the transmitter.”

“I swear I will fight my way through every single Fallen in this country if they don’t return him in one piece,” Hokuto hissed and turned around, leaving the lab without another word.

Hagi gave Kochi a worried look, but the other one shook his head. “Give him some space. If you follow him now then you will just get caught up in his outburst and it's better for him to destroy the training room instead of hurting one of us through his anger.”

It was clear that Hokuto needed to calm down first and it would take some time, but his anger would give him strength as well and eventually he would be the one ready to rip Taisuke apart if necessary.

***

This time Taiga didn’t flinch when Yokoo put his hand back over his eyes and he felt more than relieved to be able to see again. The place they were at seemed more of a bunker than a real building, the room they were at showing a half round ceiling and raw stone walls with only one visible metal door at the other side of the room. To his surprise the other Fallen hadn’t come with them, which meant there were more rooms to their hideout or they were guarding around the area.

“Thank you Yokoo,” Taisuke said and the Fallen left the room. The door wasn’t locked as it seemed, but they could lock it from the inside, so it was more for them to keep intruders out than to try and keep Taiga in. He also had gone down a ladder to reach the bunker in the first place so he was pretty sure that they were underground.

“I guess you realized already that even if you tried to get away it wouldn’t work. This hideout is under a mountain. Even if you somehow make it past all the others, you will be completely lost outside and we will find you before you can get away.”

Meant as much as if you try to run, we will find and kill you, but Taiga wasn’t stupid. They had promised to eventually let him go. Even though it wasn’t clear when exactly that would be and why they took him with them in the first place, Taiga didn’t want to ask too many questions for now.

“So Taiga, how about you tell me a bit about the parts I didn’t get to know about yet?” Taisuke asked as he sat down on a wooden chair next to a desk, which seemed to have some research papers on it and when Taiga looked around the room a bit more he realized that they obviously did similar research in here than Aran did back at their hideout.

“What do you want to know?” Taiga asked as he kept standing in the middle of the room as he didn’t see any place he could sit close to Taisuke and the other one hadn’t offered him to sit in the first place.

“Tell me about how you’ve become a Fallen.” It wasn’t a weird question and even if Taiga refused to reply, Taisuke could easily read his mind the next time his abilities came back to find every detail he didn’t get the first time when he had read his mind.

“It was an accident,” Taiga started and Taisuke leant to the front, resting his elbows on the desk with an intense look. “Aran had created a Transfer serum to split Hokuto’s Fallen and Vestige self and the Vestige abilities were meant to be transferred to me, yet it were the Fallen abilities which I got.”

“Mh, I should invite Aran over at some point too. He could help Miyata and Mitsu with their research a lot.” Taisuke said in amusement, not that Taiga saw himself as an invited guest. “Then the serum you had with you was something Aran created as well?”

This time Taiga remained silent, but when Taisuke snapped his fingers to get his attention he looked up again. “You know that I can get all the information I need whenever you think that keeping secrets will somehow help you.”

“It’s the serum with which we helped Myuto and the others to get back in control of their emotions.”

“Oh?” Taisuke said as he leant back with a smile. “And you thought you could use it against us so that we will turn back into the nice little humans you want us to be?”

“The only thing that will change is your access to human emotions. You will keep your Fallen abilities.”

“Why would we want to deal with stupid emotions?”

“Myuto asked the same until I showed him why,” Taiga replied, hoping he could somehow make Taisuke get interested in seeing what Myuto had seen as well, but unfortunately Taisuke didn’t seem to be interested.

“Nice try, but I won’t give you your abilities back that would be too dangerous. There is so much potential in your abilities, which you didn’t even realize until now.”

“So of what use am I to you without my abilities? Why did you bring me here?” Taiga finally asked.

This time Taisuke got up and approached Taiga with an entertained expression as he put his hand with a light touch on the other one’s face, which made Taiga tense, but he didn’t move. “I will teach you how to use your full potential.”

Taiga wanted to laugh on that stupid statement, but he knew better than to make Taisuke angry. “How will you do that without me even having my abilities?”

“Don’t be so impatient,” Taisuke said as he pulled back and told him to follow as he walked up to the door. They entered a long corridor with a few doors, but Taisuke headed to a circular staircase, which lead down to another room. This one was even bigger than their lab.

“You will train here,” Taisuke explained. There was nothing in this room at all, except for a few lights on the ceiling and Taiga wondered how far down in the mountains they were.

“With you?” Taiga asked, still wondering why Taisuke even offered something like this.

“With all of us. First I will test your human strength. You were a Chaser before, right? When I have the feeling you are obedient enough to keep going I will give your abilities back for the training, but maybe you won’t even need them anymore by then.”

“And then what?” This time Taiga had sounded snappier than he wanted to, but he just couldn’t make sense out of the situation. As if he could stand a chance against them without his abilities, no training in the world could help Chasers become that strong, even for Aran this would be an almost impossible challenge.

“You will see that soon enough,” Taisuke let out, but he didn’t make a move to get back upstairs and walked up to the middle of the room instead with an inviting hand movement. “How about you show me what you can do?”

After he had lost as a Fallen against him already, how was he supposed to stand a chance against him as a human?

“Don’t worry, I won’t get angry even if you land a hit, but don’t think I will go easy on you.”

This time Taiga couldn’t hold back a disbelieving laugh, but Taisuke seemed more amused by it than annoyed.

“Fine, but let me remind you that I can’t train if I am hurt,” Taiga said with the broad hint that if Taisuke went overboard he needed to give Taiga his abilities back so that he could heal.

“If I need to get that serious with you without your abilities then you will be the first human to impress me.”

“Then wait until you give me my abilities back,” Taiga challenged, not even knowing how he could speak with this confidence after he had lost this badly once already and was so scared of this outcome in the first place, but maybe keeping Taisuke entertained for as long as possible was his best shot for now.

***

Nightfall had come before Myuto’s group was able to make it back, but Kochi had told them about the situation and as Aran was safe, Myuto was easier convinced to take it slower on their way back now that there was no hurry.

Inside the Center the air was so full of tension that everyone had retreated to their own spaces to not have another fight with Hokuto who was still in the training room, unable to calm down. He had succeeded in not destroying anything, except for some training equipment, but no matter what he did, the anger stayed with him.

When the early morning hours had already arrived and the Center had fallen quiet, Hokuto could hear the Main Gate open, but he didn’t want to go as he could sense who had entered. It wasn’t their fault, yet he feared that he would yell at Shime and Aran. A few minutes later he could hear Noel and Shizu talking to Shime in the corridor, but to his surprise it was Aran he saw first. Juri hurried after Aran as the boy entered the training room, making Hokuto’s look darken.

“I don’t want to talk to-” Hokuto started, but then he fell silent when Aran stopped right in front of him, sank to his knees and bowed so deeply that his forehead touched the floor. Juri stopped at the door, biting his lip and Shime only watched through the glass wall, obviously not daring to get in.

“I’m sorry. I know as the group leader I should have come up with a plan. No matter what, I should have found a way to get us all out of the situation, but I couldn’t. I swear if it had been possible I would have gladly switched places with Taiga. I know you won’t be able to forgive me, but I just want you to know that I feel like a coward and traitor. Whatever it takes to ensure that he can return safely I will make sure to do it!”

There was nothing Hokuto could reply. It wasn’t like he had seen this coming, but it also didn’t take away his anger, not that he thought that Shime or Aran were to blame for it in the first place, but his anger was still too fresh to just accept his apology and act like everything was okay.

After Aran didn’t move from his position, Shime also finally dared to step into the room, next to Juri, but before he could say anything, Hokuto had enough.

“I don’t need you to apologize,” Hokuto let out, but his voice sounded anything, but soothing. When Aran finally sat up, Hokuto’s look towards him could even be called threatening. “Taiga is stubborn and he did what he always does to protect everyone else. And now all we can do for him is to wait and not interfere, right?”

Unfortunately that was indeed the truth so Aran bit his lip with a defeated expression, but that made Hokuto even angrier.

“You know what, if you really feel sorry and want to make up for it then get your ass up and you too!” When Hokuto pointed at Shime, the boy in question pointed at himself with a questioning expression. “Do you think sitting around here doing nothing will help anyone? If we want to kick their asses the moment they show up again, we need to do it right, so get over here and I will teach you how you fight assholes like him.”

Now Hokuto’s intentions were clear and Juri couldn’t hide a small smile on Hokuto’s outburst, which ended up with him forcing the others to train with him, which could end up with them getting hurt, but it was indeed better than just sitting around and feeling guilty.

“Don’t worry I will make sure that the others join your training from tomorrow so that he can release his anger with others too,” Juri promised.

“Who said you are allowed to leave?” Hokuto said and Juri looked at him dumbfounded. “We have more people than them, but they are stronger. So we need way better teamwork than we had until now. That includes you!”

“I need to report to Kochi,” Juri tried to explain, but Hokuto didn’t seem in the mood for excuses. “Fine, then bring him and everyone you see on the way right here to train with us. The sooner we start the better.”

Juri sighed and rubbed his temples before Shime patted his shoulder with a brief smile. “Better he gets his bad mood under control now than later, right?”

“Try not to get hurt and I will see if I can get Kochi to somehow make him rest,” Juri promised while Aran felt down enough to not even question Hokuto’s idea of training through the night. Maybe it was even better for Aran to distract himself as well. And Hokuto had a good point, they would all be angry enough to go for a head on fight the moment they returned Taiga to them. So they should make sure to give them the hardest fight of their lives!

***

It wasn’t like stripping Taiga of his abilities would make him more vulnerable against their attacks, but without even knowing how much time had passed as there was no daylight inside the bunker, there was a limit to how much Taiga could train. Not that it could be called training anymore by now, more a challenge for them who could defeat Taiga the fastest.

“Can I remind you that you are seven people and can take breaks, but I cannot?” Taiga said towards Taisuke who sat on the metal staircase, watching him running away from Mitsu for a few minutes already.

“Your thinking is too much of a human. You don’t have such low limits,” Taisuke said, but Taiga could only roll his eyes. Taisuke had given him a tough fight right at the start already and then he had started calling the others to fight him one by one. Miyata and Tama were the only two without any special ability, but they were still strong and it wasn’t like Taiga could even win any fight. Taisuke would just randomly stop the fight at some point, no matter if Taiga was still able to go on or if he was already defeated on the ground.

“At least let me heal in between,” Taiga complained, but again Taisuke shook his head.

“As I said, you are capable of way more. You just have to realize that.”

Before Taiga could give a snappy reply, Mitsu had shown up right in front of him and another shockwave crushed him with his back into the wall. Leaving him on the ground, coughing.

“How am I supposed to even concentrate on any limits like this?” Taiga hissed, but Taisuke seemed disappointed in his ongoing complaining.

“You keep asking stupid questions. Throw that stupid emotional talk away, maybe then you can concentrate on what is important.”

Mitsu made his way over to Taiga once more, but the boy jumped up and got ready to at least try and counter, but then Mitsu snapped his fingers and Taiga cursed. Once more his movements had been stopped. Mitsu could freeze his movements for several seconds, long enough to kill him in a real battle. But he had only used his ability once so far. Which meant he needed some minutes to be able to use it again, maybe his recharge time also depended on how long he stopped someone’s movements.

“You do realize that I could have killed you a dozen times already, right? I don’t even need to stop your movements for that.”

“Do you all have a thing for games or why the hell don’t you just kill ahead when you are all so invincible? At the East Center you slaughtered everyone without hesitation.”

After he had stayed this calm for as long as possible, Taiga had finally lost the battle and his patience had run out. Mitsu stepped back when the paralysis of Taiga’s body finally faded, but this time Taisuke walked up to him with a dark expression, but the wall stopped Taiga from retreating.

What he hadn’t seen coming was Taisuke grabbing him by the neck and slamming him into the wall. “You prefer if I go ahead and kill you? Then we will head to the West Center, kill off your friends one by one and then we keep going until the whole Capitol and their useless humans are all dead.”

”You promised to not kill me,” Taiga let out between trying to loosen the other one’s grip, but in response Taisuke pulled him away from the wall and lifted him up this time, so that he struggled for air even more, kicking the air.

“Who would care if I kill all the people you know?”

There was not even a doubt that Taisuke was serious. A Fallen wasn’t easy to argue with and if Taisuke decided to change his plans then he would go for it, but this time anger rose inside of Taiga. He had been able to bring back Myuto and the others and for Shime’s and Kentaro’s sake he was still willing to try and reason with them, but maybe Taisuke was right. The human way wouldn’t work with them.

Taisuke had definitely not seen that Taiga would fight back and he was forced to step back when Taiga lifted his knee and even though he had barely scratched Taisuke, it had been enough to make the other one drop him and hold his hand to his chin. “Oh, so I think someone is finally learning.”

“If you teach me too well I might learn how to defeat you,” Taiga growled and once more an amused expression showed on the older one’s face.

“Then let’s see how much I need to corner you to actually make that happen.”

Musen 28 - January

“He has been on it since last night,” Kochi explained after Myuto and Kentaro had finally made it back and where now in front of the training room. Inside they found Hokuto, Aran and Shime exactly where they had been since last night.

When Aran got taken off his feet after Hokuto had sent him flying, Myuto made sure to stop Aran from getting back into their training fight.

“You are going to take a break and I mean an eight hour sleeping break at least,” Myuto warned the other one as he wanted to dash to the front once more.

“Did you just come back?” Aran greeted him and Myuto didn’t miss the lack of reaction. He should be happy to see him, realizing that Myuto had been worried for him as well, yet he was obviously still feeling too restless and guilty to even consider it.

“I can rest later,” Aran added and wanted to turn around, but this time Kentaro walked up to him and pushed him out of the way.

“If Hokuto needs someone to train with then leave that to me. I am angry enough for both of us.”

“You are always angry,” Hokuto said, but turned towards the other one, accepting his offer to train.

Shime sneaked away the moment he got a chance and Kochi made sure that he got some rest too and told him to meet with Chaka and Matsuku who were in the lab.

“Why don’t you update me on the situation instead?” Myuto asked Aran while Kentaro had already ignored them and gave Hokuto the anger outlet he had been waiting for. No one should get into their way now that they were not just training, but fighting for real and Kochi hurried to pull Myuto and Aran out of the training room and into the corridor.

“Don’t get in there for now, okay? I will make sure that Reo or one of the Fallen will take care of Hokuto’s anger if he doesn’t finally collapse after this.”

The next moment Kentaro crashed into the glass wall, but took a run up at Hokuto right away, leaving Kochi shaking his head. “Well I don’t think he will run out of energy soon. And I don’t want to see you two around here until tomorrow.”

Myuto got the hint and pushed Aran towards their living quarters and the boy was already tired enough to not complain, yet his silence also worried Myuto.

“You know that you can also talk to me instead of trying to get your emotions under control in a suicide training with Hokuto. We are all worried after all.”

“I wish I could stop overthinking the whole situation,” Aran let out as he dropped on a chair, while Myuto leant against the closed door. “I know that even with all of us it would have been more than a tough challenge to beat them or even run from them, but I keep thinking what if I hadn’t gone with them? What if Hokuto would have been on that team or you?”

“Then we would have most likely started a fight with Taisuke and they would have killed us and taken Taiga by force.”

That was a truth Aran couldn’t deny, yet he still sighed and looked even more troubled.

“Taisuke was interested in Taiga’s Fallen abilities right from the start. It was our mistake to not consider this outcome and keep Taiga in the Center. But then the Center would have maybe been attacked while the others were out. So I would say we even got the best outcome for now and you know too that Taiga will scold you if you keep judging yourself like this. You did a great job out there and staying calm was the best you could have done.”

“Then why can’t I calm down now?” Aran asked and Myuto finally walked up to him and took his hands, which were slightly shaking before he guided Aran to the bed.

“I can help you with that and to be honest I think you definitely need my help.”

Myuto sat next to the other one and patiently waited for his reply and finally Aran nodded. “I guess I won’t be of any use if I keep exhausting myself instead of actually helping out.”

“That thinking is exactly why we need you back to full strength. Without you, Kochi needs to manage everyone by himself, don’t do that to him.”

Finally a brief almost invisible smile showed up on the other one’s face before he turned his face to Myuto. “Just don’t let me sleep for too long, okay?”

Myuto reached out for the other one’s cheek and leant to the front, placing a kiss on his forehead before he had to put his other hand to Aran’s back to slowly drop him on the bed after he had used his mind control to force Aran to fall asleep. “Just as long as you need for now.”

***

The only Fallen Taiga hadn’t fought yet stepped into the room and his look reminded him a lot of Kentaro, which wasn’t surprising as they were siblings after all.

The only reason Taiga knew that more than a day had passed was when Senga had used his ability on him once more to make sure that he stayed without his abilities for longer.

“This is going to be interesting,” Taisuke let out while he moved forth and back between the staircase and the wall.

“Am I finally getting a break after this?” Taiga asked, because no matter if Fallen or not, he was more than exhausted.

“Stop asking such a human question and I might consider it,” Taisuke mocked and Taiga rolled his eyes before he faced Nika. After Taisuke had freaked out on him before, Taiga had made sure to fight as seriously as he could and while he felt like they were holding back in the first place so that Taisuke could analyze Taiga’s fighting, he didn’t feel as exhausted as he would normally do.

“This will be over quickly anyway,” Nika said in a husky voice as he stepped closer.

“You are so damn much alike,” Taiga said, yet Nika didn’t even react before he dashed to the front, almost with the same speed Taisuke used.

Until now he had realized that Taisuke was indeed the fastest out of them. From their physical strength Senga and obviously Nika were maybe a bit stronger than Taisuke and Nika’s ability just showed Taiga that he needed a plan and that fast, because the moment Nika had reached out for his arm, Taiga found himself on his knees, screaming in pain.

Pain infliction had always been Myuto’s most dangerous ability and Nika seemed to be able to use this ability in an even stronger way.

Luckily Taiga had trained with Myuto long enough to be able to get a grip for the short time he needed to drop to the back and kick up, making Nika back off.

“No wonder you waited with him until the last fight. After this I don’t need a break as I will be unconscious anyway,” Taiga mocked and Taisuke seemed amused enough to clap his hands.

“Or you finally realize your potential,” Taisuke challenged and the next second Nika went in for another attack. Taiga tried to somehow keep him on distance, but what was he supposed to do? Even as a Chaser he still had his suit, Dragnacit blades and crickets to defend himself, now he had nothing.

When Nika got a grip on him this time, he didn’t use his ability and just made him crash into the next wall with a shockwave, leaving him coughing on the ground next to Taisuke. The older one crouched down next to him and stroked his fingers gently over his hair. “Do you remember what I said to your friends?”

Taiga went back up on his elbows and gave him an annoyed look as Taisuke didn’t immediately continue.

“I said I wouldn’t kill you.”

And they could all just hope that he stood to his word, but something on his face showed Taiga that they had maybe miscalculated.

“And I won’t kill you, but he might.”

The realization about that made Taiga want to punch Taisuke straight in the face, but it had been their own carelessness to not calculate Taisuke’s games.

Taiga jumped up when Nika dashed over to him and this time the other one seemed to be done with playing around and he trapped him in the next corner. Unable to even think about a defense move Nika had reached out for his neck and used his pain infliction, not letting Taiga slide to the ground even though he wouldn’t be able to stand on his own anymore if Nika wasn’t holding him up forcefully against the wall.

“There is a small difference to Myuto’s pain infliction,” Taisuke said in a way too calm voice. “From his pain infliction you will usually only black out. Nika’s ability will kill you the moment you lose consciousness.”

“Great,” Taiga hissed between heavy breaths, trying to suppress another scream, but Nika suddenly pulled him away from the wall and slammed him into the ground. Once more Taiga tried to remember any tricks he had learned which could help him, but Nika sat on top of him, making it impossible for him to twist away.

With the next wave of pain he could feel the difference Taisuke was talking about. Nika’s ability seemed more like a combination of Myuto’s and Kentaro’s and it scared Taiga, knowing that without his own abilities he wouldn’t be able to win, maybe even not survive if Taisuke wouldn’t stop Nika.

“Afraid? Such a stupid human emotion,” Taisuke said next to him, flashing him another insane smile.

Fear...the one emotion Fallen felt! It had been that one emotion keeping the others from accepting feelings and other emotions in the first place. But Taisuke and the others could still not accept that. Taiga on the other hand knew how much fear could strengthen a Fallen.

Exactly this fear made Taiga try and struggle even more while he couldn’t hold back another scream, but then his fear changed. For a split second when he closed his eyes he felt like getting a breaking headache and then he saw something, so vague and short that he couldn’t even tell what had happened. But one thing he was sure of, it had been Hokuto’s face which had shown up or more like a feeling that it had been Hokuto. There hadn’t been any clear picture, more like an emotional connection and he could feel so much raw mental pain, so much fear from the other one and then his own fear changed to something he had never felt before.

As if struck by lightning, Taiga jolted and almost lost the ability to breathe before he realized that the pain was gone, but that realization seemed to confuse Nika as he was still using his ability. But Taiga wasn’t afraid anymore of the other one’s ability, he wasn’t afraid of anything.

Without even knowing how he was able to show such confidence he moved his hand up and the next moment Nika was thrown to the back. The impact hadn’t been hard enough to hurt him, but he still needed a moment to find his balance.

As if a weird kind of tension was overflowing within Taiga he jumped up and even his speed was back. He could still not feel his special abilities, but he was feeling stronger, already starting to heal from the wounds and exhaustion the others had caused him. Yet what he felt the most was the urge to rip Nika into pieces. He couldn’t calm down enough though to even realize what was going on and this time he actually managed to have an almost even fight with Nika, not giving the other one any opportunities to use his special ability.

Taisuke kept watching for a while until Nika was forced to jump back towards him. Taiga got ready to attack him once more, but then Taisuke stepped in between them. But even that move didn’t stop Taiga and he lunged out, this time a normal punch though and Taisuke stopped it in his palm.

“Oh? I didn’t expect you to attack me. I guess you are stronger than I thought.”

“What do you mean? What the hell did you do to me?” Taiga hissed at him, but different from Nika, he didn’t feel the urge to immediately fight Taisuke and slowly he calmed down again, stepping back when his clouded mind cleared up a bit. With a groan he put his hands to his head and he stumbled to the back.

“I didn’t do anything, well, maybe only encouraging you to finally find your full potential and you just did.”

“I broke through Senga’s ability?”

“Do you think so?”

No he actually didn’t, but what was it then? His special abilities were still blocked and his movements had been strong, yet different from usual. Maybe he had indeed almost broken through Senga’s ability, but whatever it was he was still not completely in control of it. Also what was this connection he had felt earlier with Hokuto? Had this been part of Taisuke’s intention too or should he keep it a secret?

Before he could keep over-thinking he fell to his knees with heavy breaths and Taisuke crouched down in front of him. “You will need some time to recover now and we can still have a detailed talk later, but you know what your hidden potential was?”

Almost unable to keep conscious, Taiga looked up at the older one who formed a proud smile as if he had taught him a special secret move no one else knew about. “What you just awoke in yourself is the survival of the fittest!”

***

It had become easier to fight against three people at once, but Matsuku, Genta and Shime were actually the ones who needed to work on their teamwork. Hokuto wouldn’t give them a single chance to reorganize after falling apart. They were more indeed, but the Fallen were stronger and luckily Myuto had also volunteered with the others to help prepare the Chasers for what was coming. 

“Take a break,” Hokuto finally announced, making Matsuku fall to his knees with a sigh.

“How can you be a Vestige and not a Fallen? Like seriously you’ve done this for two days straight, even letting Kentaro, Myuto and Reo attack you for over an hour. How are you still standing?”

“That’s exactly what you have to learn then we won’t have any trouble with them,” Hokuto explained, but Kochi gave him a worried look from the door. He had asked him several times now to take at least a small break. It wouldn’t help if Taisuke suddenly attacked them after all and Hokuto would be unable to even stand.

“How about we train without abilities for a while?” Moro offered, but Genta shook his head.

“No way, I am not going to fight you without my abilities. That is even more exhausting.”

“But also more fun for me and who knows what special abilities they have? So you might want to train in any way possible?”

Shime was the only one who didn’t complain about the way too short break and stepped in front of Moro, the others following a bit more reluctantly while Hokuto walked up to Kochi.

“You come with me,” Kochi announced, leaving no chance for Hokuto to even decline. “Let me run a few tests on your stamina level okay? Then I want you to sleep at least for a few hours, please?”

“Fine, but I am really okay,” Hokuto explained on their way to the lab. At least physically he felt fine, mentally he was still too angry to even give any other emotion the chance to break through.

“I have sleeping pills that work for Vestige and Fallen so if you feel like it’s impossible to rest, I can give you one later,” Kochi offered, realizing Hokuto’s struggle.

“I’m really fi-”

As if brought out of balance, Hokuto had to reach out for the wall and he couldn’t clearly see for a moment, but he couldn’t explain what was going on.

“Hokuto, are you okay?” Kochi asked worried, but before he could reach out for him, Hokuto was forced on his knees. It felt like something was pulling on his mind and he put his hands up to his head with a hiss, unable to clearly hear Kochi’s shouting next to him.

It wasn’t actually pain, not the physical kind of at least and then he could somehow feel something. Fear...so much fear and he knew who it belonged to and he started shaking, falling to the front with a scream. His own fear he had tried to hide under his anger was breaking free as well.

“What is going on?” Aran’s voice next to Kochi. Suddenly completely clear again and with wide eyes Hokuto sat up, making both of them step back.

“Hokuto?” Kochi asked carefully, not sure how to react to Hokuto’s sudden forth and back of emotions. “What happened? What is going on?”

Unable to get back up for now, not sure if his shaking legs would carry him, Hokuto tried to explain, but it was difficult to find words.

“I felt something. I felt a huge amount of fear and it wasn’t my own.” Hokuto’s explanation made the other two exchange worried looks. “It wasn’t really like I saw any pictures or faces, but I know that the fear belonged to Taiga.”

“Okay now you freak me out,” Kochi announced and helped Hokuto up while Aran stabilized him on the other side. “Now you will get your break no matter what you say, because it’s research time.”

Hokuto couldn’t even complain, because whatever connection Taiga had established could maybe help finding out what was going on or even find his location.

“Did it hurt?” Aran asked, a bit worried about Hokuto's empty stare, but then the other one shook his head.

“It wasn’t any pain that made me scream. It was more like I felt afraid? I am not sure how to explain it, but if Taiga is feeling so much fear right now then I am not sure if Taisuke will keep his promise and not kill him.”

***

It hadn’t been a comfortable rest, but even lying unconscious on a stone floor was enough for Taiga to finally feel at least a bit better. He was alone in the training room, but the only way out was the staircase and he was sure that someone was upstairs. Carefully he got up and he tried to remember the feeling from before, the instinct Taisuke had awoken in him.

“The survival of the fittest,” Taiga said, but couldn’t actually bring back the strength he had used before, so it wasn’t like his abilities were completely back. He had so many questions, yet he wasn’t sure if he should ask. After all, Taisuke never did something without a plan and there was so much that could backfire in this situation, yet Taiga finally decided to get up the stairs.

To his surprise no one crossed his way on the next floor, but he wasn’t sure if he should just look for another staircase so he made his way to the research room he had been in before.

Inside he found Miyata and Yokoo, but none of them seemed surprised about him walking around this carefree.

“Taisuke is waiting outside for you,” Yokoo let out neutral when he looked up from one of his screens. “The staircase is in the right corridor.”

Now Taiga wasn’t sure anymore if they were making fun out of him or testing him, but then Miyata walked over to him with some glass tubes. “You are kind of in the way.”

First Taiga was close to letting out an apology, but then he bit his lip and stepped back, leaving the room with an unsure feeling. Was he really allowed to walk around alone? And even go outside? On the other hand, it was obvious that Taisuke wasn’t going to be outside alone. Even if the others weren’t right around them, they would definitely be watching and running wasn’t an option, at least not yet.

The staircase on this floor was more of a ladder and a thread had to be turned to open a metal plate, which Taiga pushed up so that he could step out on the forest floor surrounding it. There was no way anyone would find this if they didn’t stumble right on top of it. The color was of the same kind as the surrounding and with all the trees even harder to spot.

Even though it was in the middle of winter the temperature was close to a warm spring day, but with an annoying humidity in the air, yet Taiga preferred that over snow.

The sound of another waterfall made Taiga look up to an opening between the trees where more sunlight made its way on an open surface.

When he walked out to the rocky surface he found Taisuke standing next to the waterfall, looking down into the gorge in front of them. The cliff was way steeper and higher than the one they had been at before with the others and they had walked uphill a lot towards this place so Taiga guessed that Taisuke and the others had been able to spot them coming from up here already.

“Finally back to full strength?” Taisuke asked without turning away from the cliff.

“If you give me back my abilities,” Taiga let out and it made a smile appear on the other one’s face as he looked over his shoulder.

“Not yet or your training will be useless.”

“Why did you teach me about the survival of the fittest?”

“Because I wanted to see if you have it.”

“Don’t all Fallen have it?” Taiga asked, having been taught until now that the Fallen DNA changed their thinking to a primitive and instinct driven way, making them believe in the survival of the fittest and nothing else.

“Have you ever seen a Fallen use it?”

On that question Taiga needed to think for a moment, because had he? Even when the others had been losing in a fight, none of them had shown a sudden strength like the one Taiga had shown.

“The government uses that phrase to look down on us, but it’s more than just a failure in their DNA research as they call it.”

“Do you possess it?”

With a lopsided smile Taisuke finally turned towards Taiga. “Don’t you know the answer already?”

Of course he did, but that made things even more dangerous. With the instinct Taisuke could easily win against several Fallen.

“I felt that you possessed the same instinct when I read your mind, but you weren’t able to use it as your Fallen transition was different. Even under real Fallen it’s more than rare to see someone able to use their full potential.”

“But Hokuto had been half Vestige, the DNA mutation had been transformed so much by that time, how was his Fallen self able to still possess this instinct?”

“That’s something I want to know too,” Taisuke explained and started walking away from the cliff with his hands on his back. “My theory is that his Fallen self had to fight against the Vestige self to even get a place in Hokuto’s new DNA and that was actually what made it so much stronger than other Fallen.”

“So the Vestige have lost the ability to awaken that instinct completely,” Taiga said and ended up deep in his thoughts about what had happened inside his mind while he had awoken that instinct. But Taisuke hadn’t said anything about any new awakening abilities so he needed to make sure to keep his new connection to Hokuto a secret. He flinched when Taisuke’s hands landed on his cheeks the next second, but then he relaxed as Taisuke wasn’t able to steal his mind reading while his abilities were blocked.

“Fallen know when someone is stronger than them, that is why we form groups without having to fight for a leader position.”

“That is why Myuto didn’t fight you,” Taiga knew already and Taisuke clapped him on the cheek before he pulled back, but didn’t step away, making Taiga feel a bit uncomfortable, but he couldn’t step back with the cliff behind him.

“Then tell me why did you attack me?”

That was something Taiga also wanted to ask, but the answer scared him a bit, because what if this wasn’t how Taisuke wanted Taiga’s new found instinct to turn out? “I tested my strength and while I didn’t attack you the same as Nika, I was confident enough to think that I stand a chance.”

“And would you?” Taisuke asked with an excited shine, yet something dangerous as well. What if Taiga was stronger than him? Would he just get rid of him in case he would learn how to overpower him?

“I don’t know. For now I don’t even know how I controlled that instinct,” Taiga replied honestly.

“That’s why your training needs to go into the next stage now. The moment you can control it on your free will you will know where your strength limit is.”

“How do you control it?” Taiga asked, not even sure if he wanted to know, because if he was indeed stronger than Taisuke wanted him to be, then things could turn out way more dangerous than expected. Not that Taiga understood why Taisuke was teaching him in the first place. After all, if Taisuke was the only Fallen with the ability to control the survival of the fittest then he could just rule over everyone alone, right?

“I will show you,” Taisuke said promisingly as he put his hand on Taiga’s chest this time and once more his look changed, but Taiga had no time to react. The shockwave hit him without a warning and he wasn’t even sure if he had screamed or not the moment the rocks under his feet were gone and he realized that Taisuke had just pushed him off the cliff into a freefall to his death.

Musen 28 - January

“Nothing?”

Kochi shook his head on Hokuto’s question, but he wasn’t really sure what he had expected. It wasn’t like he had done something. This wasn’t anything connected to his own abilities, so of course Kochi’s research didn’t necessarily bring any answers.

“So did Taiga get a new ability?” Aran asked, but it was obvious that they all couldn’t really answer that.

“We have absolutely no clue what Taisuke and the other Fallen are capable of and the worst part is that we know that Taiga was of Taisuke’s interest, but the reason behind it is still unknown to us.”

“What’s on your mind?”

Aran needed a moment to realize that Hokuto’s question was for him and he sighed with a thoughtful expression. “Myuto wanted you in our group, because you were almost as strong as him and he wanted to make sure to have your Fallen self on his side instead of having to fight him.”

Slowly Kochi nodded on hearing that, but then he gasped as he had caught up to what Aran had said. Hokuto didn’t seem that surprised as he had already feared for a similar reason.

“So wait, Taisuke is trying to get Taiga on his side?”

“It would make sense, right? Taiga has the strength of Hokuto’s Fallen self and knowing that Myuto and the others wouldn’t return to his side now that they have gotten the serum, he might want to try his luck with Taiga? It’s just a theory though,” Aran added.

“But why would Taiga even think about joining them? Sure I can imagine that they can hurt him a lot, but he even said he will return him to us and not kill him,” Kochi said, trying to somehow make sense out of Taisuke’s actions.

“But he also said we might have another fight before that, right?” Hokuto said, now an even darker expression on his face.

“Do you think he could turn Taiga against us?” Kochi finally asked what they all didn’t want to voice out.

“Taisuke is unfortunately capable of a lot of things. We were able to divide a Fallen and Vestige into two bodies, resulting in the first Fallen who was in control of his senses and emotions. What if Taisuke’s followers have come up with something even more advanced? After all, a lot of them had been part of the research in the first place.”

A shiver went through Kochi’s body just thinking about it, but they should be prepared for any possible outcome.

“Kochi, can you give me one of the sleeping pills you talked about earlier,” Hokuto asked, making the other one blink at him in confusion for a moment before he got up and handed him the medicine. “Let’s keep what we discussed a secret for now, okay? I bet Juri and also Myuto have already caught up on it as well, but we don’t need everyone to worry even more.”

Both of the researchers looked after Hokuto in slight worry as he left the lab without any other discussion and then Aran looked at Kochi with a knowing look. “He is the one who is worried the most, isn’t he?”

“But he matured a lot,” Kochi added with a faint smile. “Just half a year ago he would have stormed out to search for Taiga by himself after such a talk. But I think now he realized that instead of running in his own doom he can make sure to become stronger and get ready for whatever awaits us when Taiga returns.”

***

There hadn't been any time to even think. Now it was really all about an instant reaction, that one instinct that could save Taiga's life, because without his abilities he wouldn't be able to absorb the impact.

Faster than the first time his instinct took over, but at the same time his new found telepathy did too. But there was not much time to even realize what he had felt or shared. His own fear had been of a completely different level this time. No one was able to help him so it was all up to him to rescue his own life. What he felt from Hokuto this time was different. The anger was still there, but somehow suppressed and there was more of a numbness. An empty and scared feeling that made Taiga want to reach out for the other one and tell him that it was going to be okay, because he was not going to die like this!

All his thoughts had crushed on him in a split second, giving him enough time to finally awaken that survival instinct, which allowed him to see his surroundings in slow motion and reach out for the rocky surface next to him. First he wasn't able to get a grip on anything as he was falling too fast, but soon he was able to control his own fall and finally slow it down by somehow stepping on some stones, which broke under the pressure, but slowed him down until he landed on the rocky surface of the gorge.

The impact had still been extremely hard and his legs would need a moment of regeneration to be able to function again, but he had indeed survived.

With heavy breaths he remained in that position for a moment until Taisuke showed up in front of him. Slowly he had jumped down the cliff, following Taiga on a safe distance and now he looked really pleased.

"Such a quick learner."

As before Taiga already felt dizzy, but his anger had reached its peak and this time he dashed to the front the same way as he had done with Nika.

Taisuke seemed startled for a moment as Taiga didn't stop attacking right away. For the first time Taisuke had to actually dodge Taiga's attacks and jump on distance. Taiga was confident enough to keep going even without his abilities, yet his body wasn't used to his instinct yet and again he fell to his knees, unable to get up.

"Mh, interesting. You don't seem to accept me as you leader."

"Give me my abilities back and I'll show you who the leader is," Taiga hissed, not even sure if it was his own voice he heard and Taisuke also lifted an eyebrow.

"Careful with that instinct, if you don't watch out it can also swallow you."

"You're the one who taught me so now you have to deal with it," Taiga threatened and Taisuke still seemed more amused than annoyed, but Taiga didn't miss how he remained on distance.

"Guess it's time to level things up then. You seem more than ready to finally get your abilities back."

It was a chance for Taiga to overpower Taisuke, but with the way the other one still seemed so confident he wasn't sure if Taisuke still had anything else up his sleeve. But for now his body gave up on him once more. This time though he felt like he was able to control his instinct better than the first time and he tried to remember this feeling for the next time Taisuke tried to kill him.

***

When Hokuto had decided to take the sleeping pills it had only been noon, but he didn't care. He realized how messed up he was and sleep would help him get a grip on his emotions for now.

But even in his sleep he felt like he got haunted by all the chaos around them. He felt like chasing after Taiga in a dream even though he couldn't clearly see him. Why was the other one not stopping, even though he was calling out for him?

At one point he felt like he had been pulled out of his dream, but he still wasn't awake, not completely at least. He had been pulled somewhere else, Taiga now closer to him, but when he tried to reach out for him, everything turned upside down and he shouted Taiga's name as he saw the other one falling. As if it was himself falling he screamed, sure that he would die and he wasn't able to neither safe Taiga nor himself.

It was his own scream, which pulled him back to reality and he jumped up, but immediately fell to his knees next to the bed as if the abyss he had just seen was still way too real.

When he could feel a presence closing in to his room he tried to get up once more, but his whole body was shaking. It was paralyzed by the fear of dying.

"Hokuto? Are you okay? Can we come in?"

"Yes... I'm fine," Hokuto let out in a shaking voice, but the door still opened and he saw Shintaro and Juri looking at him with wide eyes.

"What happened? We heard you scream until the training room," Juri explained as he stepped in and helped Hokuto to sit on the bed. "Well at least the Vestige and Fallen did."

"It's hard to explain," Hokuto said, not even sure what else to say. "Something similar happened earlier, but Kochi couldn't find anything so we decided to keep it a secret for now."

"Is it connected to Taiga?" Juri asked as he had of course already somehow connected the dots.

"Wait, you can communicate with him? Did your mind reading ability change?" Shintaro asked, but Hokuto shook his head.

"It's Taiga reaching out to me, I can't control it. I only get emotions and weird pictures I can't make sense of, but it seems that it always happens when Taiga fears something. But this time it was different from the first one."

"What changed?" Juri asked while Hokuto clenched his fists as they didn't want to stop shaking.

"The first time Taiga was afraid yet still angry, but this time he was terrified. It felt like he was afraid of dying."

There was no reply on that statement and Shintaro shifted positions with a troubled expression.

"Make sure to keep this to yourself. The more people will get to know about this, the more restless everyone will get. We don't need anyone to run out and try to find Taiga."

"The first one who would do that is you and as long as you keep it together, we can too."

They looked up to Myuto who had stepped into the doorframe. "As long as Taiga keeps contacting you with whatever that new ability is, we know that he is alive and that means we don't have a reason to go after Taisuke."

"Is he still alive?" Shintaro dared to ask as Hokuto had said he felt like Taiga was afraid of dying.

"I don't know how exactly this telepathy or however you want to call it works, but I feel like I'd know if he dies," Hokuto explained.

"Then don't keep his updates a secret from now on. We are all worried for him," Myuto said a bit scolding this time and Hokuto nodded, knowing that it was maybe also easier for him if the others knew what was going on.

Maybe if they were able to strengthen their connection he could receive even clearer updates, which were not connected to just his fear.

***

It was after Taisuke hadn't let Taiga enter the hideout again that it was clear that he wouldn't get another break. Especially when Nika, Mitsu and Tama joined them when it had already turned dark outside. His abilities had finally returned as well and without Senga on the team he could at least hope that he could keep them for whatever was going to happen.

"This is your final test," Taisuke explained as he walked away from him, stopping next to the other Fallen.

"So what is it this time? You want to try and kill me with four people at once?”

Taisuke let out a chuckle on that, but then he shook his head. "This time it won't be that easy."

Not that it was in any way easy for Taiga to survive and control his instinct until now.

"This is going to be a hunt."

"A hunt?" Taiga asked with a raised eyebrow, yet it already dawned on him what kind of twisted idea Taisuke had planned out.

"The time limit is 24 hours. You get a one minute headstart and then we will hunt you."

"And if you get me, you will try to kill me."

"Don't ruin the surprise!" Taisuke growled annoyed by the fact that Taiga had figured that part out already. "But yes. If none of us catches you and is able to kill you in the next 24 hours then you win."

"What if I get to my Center?"

"You're free to try," Taisuke challenged, but it was obvious that they had the advantage of the area and it would be difficult for him to make it towards the Center with them knowing where he was aiming for.

"What happens if I win?"

That question had Taisuke form a lopsided sneer and he tilted his head. "A surprise!"

"What else," Taiga hissed.

"If you don't want it then feel free to lose," Taisuke said and shrugged his shoulders before he started to count down from five.

There was no way Taiga would get killed this easily and no one said he wasn't allowed to kill them instead, not that he was aiming for that.

"Two...one…"

With a last annoyed look, Taiga turned around from the Fallen and dashed towards the forest.

As they were all Fallen none of them needed any sleep or breaks, yet Taiga finally dared to stop running as he could see the first light making its way over the tips of the mountains. He had eventually chosen to run northwards, because he knew that it was too risky to try and run towards the Capitol or even his Center.

For hours he hadn’t seen any of the others, but while it was an advantage that they couldn’t feel each other’s presence it was also a disadvantage, because he couldn’t use his presence finding with them.

Since the war had started there were almost no people living in the countryside anymore, yet Taiga had made sure to keep his presence finding on alert as he didn’t want to involve any innocent humans in Taisuke’s stupid games.

To not get thrown off any cliff again, Taiga made sure to hide in a gorge between some mountains for now. Next to him a river was flowing, but it was quite deep and fast flowing with sharp rocks so he made sure to keep his distance.

His biggest worry was that they were all going after him in a pack. In that case even his instinct might not be enough to save him. On the other hand...Taisuke was able to fight them all off through his instinct and what if Taiga was indeed stronger than Taisuke through his instinct? With another look around, Taiga finally dared to concentrate on something else. He wanted to see if he could get his telepathy working, but as expected it wasn’t working like a normal ability and he couldn’t just use it at free will, at least not yet. The same as with the instinct itself it felt like Taiga needed to put a certain amount of emotions into his telepathy.

It was the moment when Taiga stepped out of the shadows of the mountain, next to the river that he knew he had spaced out too much and stopped too soon with running away.

The other one had been still too far away for him to hear him or spot him, but unfortunately his ability worked from far away and Taiga’s body was paralyzed in an instant.

He cursed at his body to move, but it wasn’t that easy to get out of Mitsu’s paralysis as with Myuto’s motion control and his instinct wasn’t that easily activated either.

The only good point was that Mitsu had used it when he was still far away and Taiga could hear him jumping down to the river, but right before he had reached him, he was able to jump away.

“Guess now I have to keep you busy until I can use my ability again,” Mitsu let out challenging, but it didn’t seem like he had aimed to kill Taiga this fast in the first place.

What Mitsu hadn’t seen coming at all was Taiga attacking without even bothering with a reply. It took Mitsu a great effort to actually dodge Taiga’s attack and stop him from pushing him towards the river. Before Taiga could hit a shockwave, Mitsu had jumped to the back with a surprised look.

“What? You didn’t really think I was easy to beat just because I am different from you? Remember that I am still a Fallen,” Taiga warned the other one, speaking a bit too arrogantly on purpose, hoping it would make Mitsu hesitate a bit.

“Then I guess it’s good to have an advantage on my side.”

Mitsu’s words didn’t make any sense to him until it was too late. With the noise of the water it was even difficult for Fallen to hear their surroundings and he had missed that Tama had sneaked up on him from behind.

Instead of attacking with a shockwave, he grabbed Taiga’s arms, putting all his strength into stopping Taiga from escaping his grip and unfortunately Tama’s strength was more than expected.

“Now I don’t even have to wait for my abilities to recharge,” Mitsu let out with a lopsided smile as he approached Taiga who tried to twist out of Tama’s grip, but realized that Tama would break his arms if necessary to keep him immobile. After all, Taisuke had allowed them to kill Taiga if they got the chance.

All Taiga needed was one free hand, yet that was the main problem and Mitsu was more careful now as well and didn’t approach him that lightly. When Tama kicked his knee from the back so that he was forced down, Mitsu finally dared to get closer, knowing that Taiga couldn’t easily attack him like this. “So now the question is do we get rid of you right away or are we just playing a bit and leave the rest to Taisuke?”

“Are you so afraid of my instinct or why don’t you try killing me right away?” Taiga provoked them and hissed the next second when Tama almost dislocated his shoulder.

“You won’t even have time to use your untrained instinct. Taisuke can control it at any time, while you only survived until now, because Taisuke let you test your instinct.”

It made sense, after all in each situation he still had a bit time to get his instinct working. On the other hand it was an instinct not an ability, right? So no matter how fast his life was in danger, his instinct should kick in. But a certain amount of control was still definitely part of it. Taisuke wasn’t weakened through it, while Taiga kept fainting after using it.

“If you had full control over it then even my ability wouldn't be any trouble for you,” Mitsu let out and Taiga gave him a confused look.

“Oh you still haven't caught up to that?” Tama asked laughing.

“Then let’s see if you are a fast learner or this will be the end of the hunt,” Mitsu said and the next second he lifted his hand and Taiga could feel how his body was paralyzed once more. What made him panic though was Tama dragging him over to the river.

“If you don’t hit any sharp rocks and can hold your breath long enough you might survive,” Mitsu explained with an entertained expression, while Tama lunged out and hit Taiga under the ribs, making him gasp. “But we don’t want to make it too easy, right?”

With those words Tama threw Taiga into the ice cold water, the stream immediately dragging him away and pushing him underwater. He didn’t even have time to take a deep breath and the first rock he hit with his back, made him lose the bit of air he had left. But with Mitsu’s abilities he would only need to wait a few more seconds to be able to move again, except Mitsu had could use his ability for longer as well with a longer research time.

The next rock he hit in the strong current opened a cut on the back of his head and he intuitively tried to breath in, ending with him swallowing water and feeling like blacking out. He didn’t want to die this easily! But he needed to get rid of Mitsu’s ability or his instinct would be useless.

When Taiga’s panic reached its peak as he was sure that this time even his instinct wouldn’t help him anymore he realized his mistake! The missing part! As if a switch had been pulled down with his thoughts he was able to move. And not because Mitsu’s ability had worn off. This was what Taiga hadn’t realized so far.

At the next stone he was able to turn away and hit it with his foot. With all the strength he could come up with he jumped out of the water and landed on the side next to the river, coughing in pain.

“Oh, congrats you didn’t die.”

The fact that the other two had followed him down the stream to see if he survived made more anger rise inside of him, but while his instinct told him to jump up and fight, he was faster this time and for the first time he was able to shut the instinct out again before he could faint.

“And did you learn anything?” Mitsu asked mockingly.

“Taisuke isn’t immune against any ability,” Taiga let out and Tama clapped his hands in amusement on his right answer.

“The instinct is able to overcome every single ability, but it needs to be focused on the spot. If used too long it will make us faint.”

Against Nika he had already experienced it as he had been able to block Nika’s pain infliction and also Senga’s ability blocking, but at that time he hadn’t even realized what he was doing. But knowing that Taisuke’s immunity against their abilities was only because of his instinct he wished he could tell the others about that secret.

That one thought made him feel dizzy all of a sudden and he shut his eyes for a moment and put one hand to his head.

“Seems like you’re still not good at controlling your instinct though,” Mitsu said, but that wasn’t the case. This wasn’t his instinct or at least not directly. It was his new found telepathy, which didn’t interrupt him this time when he had used the instinct. He tried to get a hold of it as best as he could. Putting all the experience he had with his mind reading into his telepathy. It wasn’t like he was forming clear words in his head, but somehow he felt that whatever he was doing, reached Hokuto.

“Guess we have to fight for real this time.”

Tama’s words made him finally land back in reality and he hurried to get up and jump away before he got trapped once more. This time he didn’t hesitate, knowing that even against two Fallen he should be able to stand a chance. He wouldn’t put all his hopes into his instinct, but at least it was a backup plan.

Not giving them any chance to get behind him, Taiga went straight for Tama first, but he didn’t plan on fighting him for too long. All he did was attack so fast that he could finally find an opening and send him away with a shockwave, so that he could go for Mitsu.

There was no way he had enough time to win against them with only his basic ability, but he needed to play for time.

“If you think you can overpower me then you got yourself the wrong opponent,” Mitsu mocked him, but that wasn’t what Taiga aimed for. All his attempts to get his hands on Mitsu’s face got blocked, but of course Mitsu knew about Taiga’s mind control ability so he tried to stay away.

When Taiga dared to look over his shoulder to see if Tama was approaching again, Mitsu used his opening to attack with a shockwave. But while Mitsu thought he had gotten the upper hand, this was exactly what Taiga had hoped for. The shockwave took him off his feet, but it also threw him right towards Tama who had started dashing towards them again. Unable to dodge, Taiga landed half on him and that was his chance to get his hands on the other one’s face.

“STOP IT,” Mitsu shouted, but it was too late already. His mind control didn’t take longer than a second to work, but neither did his ability to get into his mind. So Taiga used the few seconds he had to try and get as much information as he could.

***

Musen 24 - February

“I don’t care if you have found a mistake in the system. I won’t rewrite this, just because a kid tells me to,” Tama let out and rolled his eyes, but the boy next to him who seemed way too young to be wearing the research clothes Tama was in, wouldn’t just leave like this.

“Fine, then you will get yelled at by the higher ups if this whole DNA series fails.”

With a groan Tama put his hands up to his temples, before he turned back to the boy. “Why do I need to take care of the kid?”

“First, I have a name, it’s Noel. I told you when I introduced myself, which you didn’t by the way, but don’t worry, I have already memorized all the researchers names in this base. And second, I might be younger than a lot of you, but I am the one who is making sure that none of you gets fired for the stupid mistakes you make.”

“Did you just call me stupid?” Tama asked, turning back to Noel, who didn’t even seem to see the need to apologize.

“I called all of you stupid.”

“Makes it so much better,” Tama said sarcastically before he pointed at the screen. “Then go ahead super boy. If you mess up the system, I am so going to put all the blame on you.”

---

Musen 24 - August

 “What do you mean I will get transferred? You can’t get the new system working without me. We are on this for six months now,” Noel complained after he had established the best team work he had ever had with someone, but Tama’s decision was final.

“It is because it took us so long that they took you out.”

“Why me and not you?” Noel asked, but Tama wasn’t getting angry at him anymore. He had weirdly gotten used to Noel’s ongoing arrogant talking, which was amusing him more now than actually annoying him.

“This is not my decision and I can’t reverse it. By tomorrow I want you to have your lab emptied, is that clear?”

“But that makes no sense, let me talk to-”

“No! You are not gonna talk to them. You will go to your new base and that is an order!”

***

Musen 28 - January

Taiga could still feel all the troubled emotions when he released Tama and jumped away before Mitsu could reach him. But when Tama was the one attacking Mitsu, he could finally catch his breath for a moment.

“Tama, snap out of it,” Mitsu yelled at the other one, but Taiga had made sure to use his mind control as precisely as possible. He gave Tama another apologizing look before he took his chance and dashed away from them.

No matter how they were now as Fallen, they all had their own painful past. Shime’s friends were the same as Taisuke’s group. None of them had made any easy decisions back then and even if it seemed like they had pushed the others away, Taiga knew more, could feel more, through his mind reading. He knew that if he looked into all their memories he would find similar stories. They had all protected the younger generation! Pushing them away was their only chance of getting them out, but now they didn’t even remember why they had done it. Luckily Shime and the others did and they would stop at nothing to rescue them, which meant Taiga needed to survive to tell them about everything.

Musen 28 - January

"Once more."

"He'll kill him," Shintaro whispered next to Jesse who feared the same, but Shizu just got up once more and attacked Hokuto. The outcome was another shockwave crushing him into the wall.

The others in the room didn't seem as worried though and Jesse leaned over to Matsuku who was taking a break.

"Don't you want to stop him?"

"Why? He's doing great."

Shintaro snorted on hearing that, but then Genta stopped next to them with a smile. "You've to understand that Shizu knows how bad he is at fighting, but he is a fast learner and he'll be the last one standing if he needs to protect his friends."

Shizu proved that point right away when he was finally able to somehow dodge Hokuto's next attack, but then Hokuto put his hand on the other one's face and Shizu stopped moving for a few seconds, before he gasped and stepped back.

"Good start, horrible follow," Hokuto scolded him. "Always remember our abilities. With someone like me you want to make sure to fight from the distance or attack from behind."

"Then this one is perfect for him," Kochi said as he stepped into the training room with a new weapon in his hand.

"Ohhh," Jesse let out with sparkling eyes, but Kochi gave him and Shintaro a warning look. "You two are not allowed to touch this. You'll just hurt someone."

With a disappointed look they both stepped back again while Kochi handed the weapon to Shizu.

"A bow?"

"More or less," Kochi explained. "The system is mostly the same, but instead of an arrow you have Dragnacit spears in this connected part. It’s way easier to aim with them and they will be way faster than an arrow."

Shizu looked at the thin tube which was put at the place where he'd usually put an arrow.

"You pull the string back as if you want to shoot an arrow. Each time you release it a spear will get fired. You have 10 shots. There was not enough material to make more. I used broken blades for the spear heads, so if you need more then you need to get them back first."

"I want one too," Shintaro whispered, but bit his lip when Kochi rolled his eyes.

"How about you try it out in a fight against Hokuto?"

"Didn’t you just say it fires Dragnacit spears?"

"Yes, but I put training spears in it, don't worry. They are neither out of Dragnacit nor sharp."

"Then let's start training with it so you can master it as fast as possible," Hokuto announced and walked back towards the middle of the room, but when he turned around again everything started spinning and he sank to his knees.

"What a timing," Kochi let out worried as they all made it over to him, but this time it didn't seem like he was going to start screaming like the last times.

In the end they had told all the members about the new connection so that they wouldn't worry for Hokuto each time this happened.

Unlike the last time, Hokuto didn't feel that much fear from Taiga. It was more desperation and will power he could feel this time. Also instead of only emotions he could feel something else. It wasn't directly words, but still some kind of explanation. He could feel his body going numb, just for a few seconds then he was able to move again. The next thing that happened was more confusing though. It felt like he was facing Taisuke, but he was able to use his abilities on him. Then he was facing Taiga, but suddenly he was immune to them.

"What the hell…" Hokuto let out under heavy breathes as he felt like he had just fought with all his strength.

"Any updates?" Kochi asked and Hokuto sat on the floor, needing a moment to even put into words what had just happened.

"I can't say for sure, but I think Taiga tried to give me hints about their abilities."

"Please tell me they are not too strong," Shintaro asked worriedly.

"One of them can use something like Myuto's motion control, but it’s more of a paralysis so he can’t force people to move around."

"Sounds scary enough," Shintaro whispered.

"He tried to tell me something about Taisuke, but I don't get it."

"Try explaining it, maybe I can understand more about it," Myuto said as he walked into the training room with Kentaro and Reo.

"It seems like it's possible to use our abilities on Taisuke, but we can't use them against Taiga and also the other way around."

Silence followed that statement until Myuto let out a sigh.

"That's good and bad news at the same time."

"Mind explaining the details?" Kochi asked.

"Taisuke isn't immune to any ability, neither is Taiga."

"He lost me already," Shizu whispered towards Genta and Matsuku who also seemed slightly confused.

"It's their instinct," Kentaro explained. "The survival of the fittest."

"Isn't that something all Fallen have?" Shizu asked.

"It's how the government explains our DNA mutation, but Taisuke seems to be the only Fallen who is able to use that instinct. The first time we met I already sensed it somehow and Taiga’s explanation just confirms it," Myuto explained and slowly everyone caught up to what he was saying.

"But wait, that means he is using that instinct to block abilities, right? So we can actually win against him if we fight with enough people," Genta said, but Reo shook his head.

"It's an instinct so it will protect him no matter what. Like an ability it needs to be mastered as well, but even if it's not trained it will most likely protect him against all of us at all cost. Except we get him weakened enough that the instinct could kill him instead."

"But what does his instinct have to do with what Taiga said about himself?" Jesse asked, but then Hokuto got up with a dark expression.

"He's the same as Taisuke," Hokuto hissed, gritting his teeth and his anger level made everyone tense. "He has that instinct too and because Taisuke realized that he tries to get him on their side."

The realization of that made them all feel restless, but for now they couldn't help him.

"But it's Taiga. He will be able to master that instinct and fight them off, right?" Shintaro asked, trying to find the good in this mess.

"To master the instinct you have to throw everything away. Your emotions, your humanity. That's why it's only Fallen who can master it," Myuto explained.

"So either Taiga won't master it, which could result with Taisuke breaking his promise and getting rid of him…," Kentaro started.

"Or he masters it and will turn into someone who could actually stand against us," Reo added.

"But he's not always using the instinct, right? Isn't it more like a last resort? Won't he be able to think clearly when he doesn't use it?" Shizu asked, but the others were skeptical.

"That might be possible, but we don't know if they have other tricks up their sleeves if their plan doesn't work out," Kentaro said.

Myuto also looked more than worried by now, but without any of them possessing the instinct they couldn't do any research either.

"What do you think?" Hokuto asked and Myuto looked at him with a thoughtful expression.

"Taiga is strong, but we're talking about Taisuke. I fear he didn't plan this without a backup plan."

***

Taiga had done a good job in running for the first hours until he had run into Mitsu and Tama, but now that it was almost noon and the sun was burning down on the rocks, Taiga had vanished into the forest. He had tried to keep running for as long as possible, but he still felt exhausted after using his instinct once more. In between of some thick forest parts, which unfortunately were deeply covered in wet moss and made it difficult to even walk, he finally dared to stop and sit down for a moment. All he needed were some minutes of rest. This time though he didn't dare to get distracted, even though he felt like he could finally get a better hold on his telepathy. Yet it would still need some time to activate it and he couldn't risk another mistake.

After a few minutes of rest he kept going, but this time he slowed down, taking a look around the forest first before he dared to keep moving. The trees in this area were old their roots already breaking through the forest ground and most of them were covered in a thick layer of moss. The slippery and uneven ground made it difficult for him to move fast, but he also hoped that the others wouldn't move to this area.

After good another hour of walking, the ground got even more unsteady and soon everything in front of him had turned into mud land. He could go back or try to find a way around, but every delay in the same place made him more obvious to his enemies. Going up into the trees was also out of question, because most of them were so old and damaged that they wouldn’t support his weight.

Not wanting to get stuck in the muddy ground Taiga dared to turn back. It was definitely a safer option to face the others on more stable ground. The moment he turned around he could hear someone approaching, so he crouched down immediately. In a hurry he scanned the area, but the forest was too thick to easily spot someone. When he couldn't hear anything anymore he was sure that the other one had also realized that he was around.

In silence they had a hidden standoff, but Taiga knew that no matter who it was he needed more stable ground to fight. Aiming for the way he had come from he dared to dash ahead. He could immediately hear the other one following him, but he didn't dare to turn around. He needed to keep his eyes on the ground, because if he slipped then he'd be done for.

The fact that he didn't get stopped meant that it was most likely not Mitsu. So chances were slim that it was Tama too. But that meant either Nika or Taisuke was behind him and both options weren't really of his liking.

The biggest problem was that the others were used to the area around their hideout, which made it easier for them to run. What Taiga hadn't seen coming though was the sudden pain in his thigh. Without being able to slow down he stumbled and rolled over. When he reached out for his leg he found a knife stuck in it.

He wanted to pull it out, but his distraction cost him another knife in his body. This time he fell to the back, the knife stuck in his shoulder.

Realizing that he had to react faster he jumped behind the next best tree to pull both knives out.

"Even if you hide, you can't run away from me in your condition."

Nika's voice. So now he needed to make a plan how to fight him with two wounds, which would slow him down.

"Let me tell you right away that I won't hold back. I don't care if Taisuke loses his pet."

His pet? Now Taiga felt even more enraged, but while he knew he shouldn't act out of anger, it also helped him to get in control of his instinct. Anger and fear helped him to get a hold of his instinct and now all he needed to do was to control it long enough to keep Nika's abilities blocked. But was he fast and strong enough to win? He didn't have much time to make a plan as Nika suddenly showed up next to his hiding place and tried to reach out for him. Taiga threw one of the knives back at him, but Nika dodged it easily while Taiga didn't have the strength in his leg to jump away in time. Nika kicked him back to the ground, but had to block the second knife with which Taiga tried to lunge out for him. When the familiar pain filled his body he screamed out, but Nika also got the knife back and tried to stab him. This time Taiga reacted fast enough to get his instinct working and the pain was gone, but the knife was still buried right over his hip. Letting his instinct take over for a moment, Taiga kicked Nika away and dashed right into an attack. All he needed was one hand on Nika's face. But the other one was faster and the shockwave that hit Taiga threw him to the ground.

"Guess you got better with your instinct, but still not good enough."

Right, the shockwave should have gotten blocked, yet he had tried to focus on his mind control, not being able to use it in time. Yet he already felt dizzy. He needed to be fast, yet also more concentrated.

"Your brother also always thought he's better than everyone else," Taiga let out annoyed, but once more Nika didn't even react to the mention of Kentaro. Before he could come up with any other distraction, Nika dashed towards him once more and it was obvious that Taisuke had trained them well against the instinct so that it wasn’t too difficult for them to fight against someone like Taiga. Yet he had one advantage on his side. The question was just if Taisuke was nearby or not, because he’d definitely need some recovery time.

For a moment Taiga kept running and dodging, but he slipped on another moss part on one of the roots, giving Nika the small moment he needed to grab Taiga by the neck and slam him into the ground. But this time the pain wouldn’t reach Taiga. He had succeeded in immediately using his instinct and he tried to somehow reach out for Nika’s face, but what he hadn’t seen coming was Nika grabbing Taiga’s wrist, while pulling his arm up and stepping on his shoulder with full force at the same time and with a scream Taiga fell back as his shoulder broke under the pressure.

“Still not fast enough,” Nika mocked him and let go of Taiga instead of trying to attack once more. They all definitely had a sarcastic side that would be to Taiga’s advantage this time. With Nika he wouldn’t succeed in getting to him without his instinct, so he closed his eyes for a moment and allowed it to take full control. Exactly because he wasn't in control of his instinct like Taisuke he had an advantage! His instinct was more brutal and unpredictable.

Just for a few seconds he controlled it well enough to activate his telepathy as well, but then everything got swallowed by the survival of the fittest and while he couldn’t use his right arm, he still dashed to the front.

Nika had seen the change and tried his best to dodge, but this time Taiga was faster and stronger. All he needed was getting close enough. Of course Nika knew that and he started running, but as if another person was laughing in the back of his head, Taiga formed an unfamiliar mocking smile as he dashed past Nika and crushed him into the ground as if he was just a normal human, no challenge for him at all.

The difficult part started at that moment, because his instinct would just rip Nika apart now, but Taiga didn’t want that. Yet it was an immense inner struggle for him to shut his instinct out again and put his hand on Nika’s face instead to use his mind control.

***

Musen 23 - June

“What were you thinking?” Kentaro yelled at his little sister who was already loudly crying and Kentaro had to keep a tight grip on the girl’s arm while bandaging the cut on her lower arm. “I told you not to go outside alone and play around. It’s dangerous.”

“But, you said you don’t want to play with me,” his little sister replied in between her sobs. With a sigh Kentaro closed the bandage and sat back.

“I can’t play with you all the time. Nika is always out to help out in the neighborhood and with food and water for everyone. I need to do my part too.”

“I can help too,” the girl replied and when Kentaro laughed she immediately pouted.

“Don’t get angry, I know you can help,” Kentaro replied as patted the girl’s head.

“Then she can start right away.”

“Nii-chan,” the girl chirped and hugged Nika’s leg as the older brother stepped into the doorframe.

“I am your Nii-chan too,” Kentaro pouted this time, making Nika laugh and their sister stretched out her tongue towards him.

“Nika is the nice Nii-chan, you are the annoying Nii-chan,” she let out, making the two brothers look at each other before Nika lifted his pointer finger in the air.

“One point for me.”

“Nii-chan, what can I help with?” The girl asked and pulled on the boy’s trousers.

“Would you bring this to Chaka’s parents, they are waiting for this,” Nika asked and handed her a small paper bag. As if it was the most important mission in the universe the girl grabbed the bag and started running outside.

“Nika, you know it’s too dangerous for her to go out alone,” Kentaro scolded him and got up.

“That’s why we will follow her, come on,” Nika said and his little brother flashed a smile as they kept walking after their sister to make sure she was fine, a six year old girl out in a war zone was something they both didn’t feel safe about. Luckily Chaka’s family lived just a few houses away, not that anyone was still living in most of the houses around.

“She will definitely ask to help out more in the future,” Kentaro said a bit worried.

“Which means we need to make sure that she is ready to face danger even on her own.”

“As if I will ever let her go anywhere alone.”

“Maybe one day you have to.”

Nika’s gloomy voice made his little brother look up at him with a knowing look, yet he didn’t want to think about that possibility.

“Let’s just make sure we are always there for each other then we don’t have to think about something like that.”

Nika gave him a bright smile on hearing that before he pulled him closer with his arm around his shoulder. Kentaro complained when he ruffled through his hair, but Nika just laughed even more. “Don’t worry, as long as I am here, you don’t have to fear anything.”

***

Musen 28 - January

Another memory that made Taiga want to somehow resolve everything without a huge fight between them. If they all clashed then who knew if they could even use their serum or if they had to go for a life or death fight after all. Something Taiga wanted to prevent at all costs.

The next second Nika stood up and walked away from him as if nothing had happened and that right in time before Taiga felt how his body started shaking. He had let his instinct take over to win the fight and he was better in controlling it now, but the aftermath was still too much to just go on.

He gave up on running for now and leaned against one of the trees, trying to stay as hidden as he could before he closed his eyes. If Taisuke found him next or his mind control wouldn’t last long enough then he was definitely going to die, but for once he could only count on luck.

It was soon time for the sun to set, so all he had to do was to keep staying alive for a few more hours. Everything else he could worry about later.

***

“Hokuto, do you have a minute?”

It surprised Hokuto that Shime was standing in the open lab door, but Kochi nodded at him as they hadn’t been talking about anything important. For now all Kochi and Aran could do was to somehow come up with more effective weapons and improve the serum. But they had all decided that it was better to actually create a strict break time at noon so that they wouldn’t train themselves into fainting, so Myuto had of course dragged Aran out of the lab as well, because the boy was close to working on his screen for twenty four seven again.

“What is it?” Hokuto asked as he stepped out into the corridor to leave Kochi to his work. After all, no one would actually dare to tell Kochi to take a break if he didn’t want to.

“I wanted to talk to you about Taisuke.”

Hokuto could only nod, because the boy hadn’t really made a big deal about talking about his brother or showing him and Taiga a few memories before, so they knew how to face him, but this time Shime seemed a bit unsure and he looked down the corridor. “In private if possible.”

Now Hokuto felt a bit alarmed about that request, yet he started walking down the corridor. The only really private place in their Center was the special observation room as it was made to make Fallen and Vestige unable to even hear what was going on inside and that was most likely what Shime wanted.

“So, what is this about?” Hokuto asked as he shut the door and crossed his arms to his chest.

“I need to tell you another thing about Taisuke, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good timing with everything going on.”

“And what makes you think it is a good timing now?”

Shime bit his lip and walked through the room with a troubled expression for a moment before he turned back to the other one. “The fact that Taiga has the instinct as well made me change my mind.”

“So this is about the instinct?”

“More or less. There is something even Myuto and the others don’t know about it. Maybe even Taisuke hasn’t figured it out yet.”

Without even knowing why that statement made him angry, Hokuto gave the other one an impatient look. “Then you better explain everything you know right now or I can’t guarantee that I won’t get angry, because if you already knew that he possessed the instinct then that would have been a fantastic information before all the shit went down.”

It was obvious that Shime had of course seen that reaction coming, but maybe until now he had hoped that there was no need to even talk about the topic.

“Taisuke of course never told me directly that he possessed the instinct, but I found some data in the Main Center about the early stages of the Fallen research and even though it was more or less still theoretical at that point, later there have been Fallen with the instinct to prove the data and the outcome was…horrible. Some of their behaviors resembled Taisuke’s immunity so I thought that he might possess it.”

“Come to the point,” Hokuto let out, knowing that Shime didn’t feel comfortable with the topic, but he was the one who wanted to talk in the first place.

“The instinct of the survival of the fittest is way more than just a competition of strength. Even under Fallen there is more than a group formation of leaders and subordinates.”

Once more Shime stopped, but Hokuto didn’t interrupt this time as he slowly realized where this talk was going.

“When two Fallen with the instinct clash there are only two outcomes. One is that they will try to kill each other…”

“And they won’t stop until one is dead, so the threat is gone,” Hokuto concluded and as weird as it sounded, at the moment he wanted that outcome way more as he already guessed what Shime was about to say next.

“The second outcome is that they accept each other if they are the same strength, but that also means that they form something like a bond and there won’t be any leadership in it. But if that happens then…”

“Then Taiga won’t come back,” Hokuto let out in a way too calm voice. Maybe in the back of his head this was all still a bad joke to him. There was no way Taiga would even let that happen, right? If they were going to fight until death then Hokuto could still hope that Taiga was somehow stronger, but if they formed a bond...what then? How could he even face Taiga if he stood against them? Especially if he stood not alone, but with Taisuke?

“I just wanted to make sure you know what could await us the moment Taiga returns. Because when Taisuke said he will return him, but we will have another fight before we reach him, he definitely hoped that he could turn Taiga against us.”

“I doubt that will easily happen,” Hokuto finally said after a heavy silence and Shime gave him a confused look. “First, that instinct has to take full control before that could happen, right? And I am sure Taiga has already caught up to that so he will fight against that. And second, since he turned into a Fallen he needed to deal with my Fallen abilities and let’s say they were annoying sometimes before so hopefully they can annoy the shit out of Taisuke as well if they really clash.”

“What do you mean your abilities were annoying?” Shime asked, not getting what he meant.

“Never mind, let’s just say that I trust him, but if Taisuke somehow succeeds in turning him against us then I will be there to get that bond torn again no matter what.”

When he headed back to the door he realized that Shime wasn’t following him and he knew why so he turned back to him with a serious expression. “That doesn’t mean I won’t help you to get your brother back. We will definitely find a way to save both of them.”

This time Shime finally showed a more relaxed expression and nodded before he followed the other one out of the room.

“Spill or I will tell Myuto.”

Shime squealed and flinched when Kentaro leant at the wall right behind the door, while Hokuto just rolled his eyes.

“We will tell you all, don’t worry,” Hokuto let out and even though Shime didn’t seem convinced that it was a good idea to make everyone worry for an outcome they weren’t sure about yet, he understood that Hokuto wasn’t feeling good about keeping secrets anymore. After all he trusted Taiga so the others would do so as well.

“Good, because otherwise-”

In the middle of Kentaro’s sentence, Hokuto put his hand up to his face with a groan and the other two were immediately alarmed.

“Taiga?” Shime asked and Hokuto could only nod before he put one hand to the wall so that he wouldn’t suddenly faint. It felt like the more Taiga got in control of his telepathy the easier it became for Hokuto too. He wouldn’t feel like fainting anymore and things got even clearer. He was able to almost relive what Taiga had experienced, so this time the information he could give the others were even more detailed.

“What did he tell you?” Kentaro asked, but he looked confused when Hokuto pointed at him.

“He is fighting your brother,” Hokuto let out and it was difficult to tell what Kentaro thought about it. He was never easily showing his emotions, so this time as well he only waited for Hokuto to continue.

“Seems like Nikaido is the strongest member after Taisuke, but his speed can be matched by a few of our members. His special ability is the problem.”

“Which is?” Shime asked, already fearing for the worst.

“Pain infliction,” Hokuto replied and this time Kentaro’s expression changed a bit. “But it’s a bit different from Myuto’s and I think Taiga already fought against him before when I connected with him the first time. It feels alike.”

“So what is the difference?” Kentaro asked this time.

“Nikaido’s pain infliction is closer to your ability. It can kill way easier than Myuto’s, when used long enough.”

Now a shadow passed Kentaro’s face and he clenched his fists, but he didn’t say anything.

“Chaka said it before,” Shime said. “That Nika was such a cheerful character and hated to use violence.”

That seemed to have been exactly what made Kentaro’s look darken, but he didn’t seem annoyed by Shime talking about it.

“If we succeed in giving them the serum he will be angry enough at himself for becoming a Fallen and doing all the stuff Taisuke made him do until now, but that ability...it will haunt him forever. Who knows what he has done with it already.”

“You’ve done horrible things with your own ability and now look at you,” Hokuto let out, making Shime hold his breath on his kind of provoking attitude. Kentaro on the other hand showed a lopsided smile on that statement before he walked up to Hokuto, while Shime feared they could actually start a fight now.

“Guess I need to remember that attitude when we face them.”

“You better do or we won’t stand a chance,” Hokuto shot back.

“You definitely won’t without your precious Fallen self.”

“No worries, thanks to him Taiga will give Taisuke a tough challenge now,” Hokuto let out with a challenging smile this time and Shime got even smaller as he kept looking from one to the other.

“Then let’s hope we will have him back on our side or this will become a tough fight.”

“If he stands against us, I am the only one allowed to fight him,” Hokuto said, making it clear that he wasn’t in any way joking and finally Kentaro stepped back, but his playful expression stayed.

“As much as I wish we can get him back without trouble, I can’t deny that I would love to see that fight.”

Musen 28 - January

After what had felt like several hours, Taiga jolted and realized that he had completely fainted in the end, but with a quick look around and a few moments in silence in which he couldn’t hear anyone, he dared to relax once more and dropped with his head back against the tree with a sigh. At least this long rest had taken care of his injuries and he was almost back to full strength.

It was getting darker inside the forest now so it was late afternoon already. A few more hours and Taiga would win the game, but what then? For a while now he had thought about just trying to get back to the Capitol, because he wouldn’t just walk back to their hideout after the 24 hours had passed. Why would he?

After a few minutes more he finally dared to get up and he kept moving towards the edge of the forest, knowing that fighting in the dark was bad enough, but between the trees it would be almost impossible. As Fallen they could see pretty well even in the dark, but night vision wasn’t really one of their abilities.

Trying to not get lost in his thoughts again, Taiga made sure to stay focused, because Mitsu and the others could always catch up to him again, especially after Taiga had been in the same spot for a long time and Nika remembered that spot and he was sure that his mind control couldn’t last the entire day even if it was way stronger through his instinct.

When the forest got replaced by grassland, Taiga realized that the place in front of him was a valley with a lot of rice fields and a few farm houses along the road, which turned from a forest path into a concrete street at some point. It felt weird to walk through the village and get reminded of how calm life had been before this ridiculous war had broken out. Sometimes Taiga wondered how the rest of the world looked like, but there were no news coming in from overseas, at least nothing the general public would get to know about.

“Maybe one day we can go back to these calm times,” Taiga said with a nostalgic look as he passed by a house, which had been most likely a rest spot and restaurant for visitors of the village. He wanted to experience calm times too, but it was difficult to imagine himself and his friends sitting on the wooden benches of a restaurant, their trekking bags on the ground, while they ate some soba before they would go to the next town on a weekend trip.

But alone that simple thought made him smile, because that was the future they were all fighting for at the moment and all of them deserved to finally live in peace.

From one moment to the other Taiga’s smile fell and his look darkened. While his presence finding couldn’t sense Fallen and there was still no sound around him, it was once more obviously his instinct which told him that someone was approaching. But not just anyone and that fact made Taiga realize something even more annoying.

“Let me guess, you knew all this time where I was,” Taiga asked as he turned around when the other one had walked down the street towards him.

“The fact that you realized that means you can finally control your instinct better,” Taisuke replied with a calm expression.

“So instead of just coming after me yourself, you sat back and let the others do the work,” Taiga hissed at him, but the other one just showed him an excited look.

“Through them you found out even more about the instinct, didn’t you? It would have been boring for me to face you right away. I wanted to see your full potential.”

“Then don’t complain if I don’t just win this game, but also set you game over,” Taiga growled as he already went in a defense stance.

“Oh, I see, your instinct is talking for you now already.”

“It’s pretty helpful to let it speak, so I have no reason to shut it out,” Taiga hissed back, but he actually didn’t think that confident about what he was doing. He was feeling the danger. Taisuke had said it before, if he let his instinct take over then he could lose himself and that line was really thin at the moment. But he couldn’t keep running away now, after all he realized now that two people with the instinct could find each other no matter the distance. But that also meant he had to focus and fight with all his strength.

“There is half an hour left,” Taisuke announced. “If I don’t beat you in that time then you win.”

“You better watch out to not lose before that time or I win back my freedom.”

“So confident,” Taisuke let out with a lopsided smile, but then he was the one to actually dash into the first attack.

Without his instinct this fight would end the same way as back at the East Center, but Taiga didn’t feel scared this time. He focused on his instinct and made sure to not waste his energy too much on his abilities, because Taisuke would just block them all with his own instinct.

“You are such a quick learner, really impressive.”

Taiga didn’t react to the other one’s passive self-praising and he tried to get the upper hand through focusing on his speed and swift movements. After all, Taisuke wasn’t taking him as serious as he maybe should and while all they did for the first few minutes was testing each other’s strength and speed, it was difficult for Taiga to keep his instinct under control and that one moment where he felt his dizziness taking over again, Taisuke used his chance and send Taiga straight through one of the wooden doors of a house and Taiga crashed into a wooden pole in the middle of the house with a hiss and slid to the ground.

“You’ve become way better in switching your instinct on and off, but you’re still not using it freely enough. You are wasting your energy on controlling it. Remember that it is your own instinct. All you have to watch out for is that it doesn’t get the upper hand. Everything that happens before that should come naturally.”

As if this was just a normal training lesson, Taisuke stepped into the house with his hands on his back and he waited for Taiga to get up once more.

“Maybe you need a bit more reason to use it properly,” Taisuke let out and before Taiga could even think about what to do, Taisuke had dashed to the front. At the last moment Taiga was able to shift to the side and the shockwave Taisuke used, made not just the wood of the pole rip into pieces, but also pushed the pieces with such a force through the room that they ended up piercing the wall on the other side. With wide eyes Taiga stared at the wall, but he didn’t have much time to get a grip as Taisuke was back to the same style of fighting he had shown them at the East Center.

“You fight better with fear,” Taisuke said in excitement when he ran after Taiga who tried to go on distance, but wasn’t given the chance.

The force Taisuke was able to put in his attacks was obviously coming from his instinct, but Taiga didn’t have enough time to think about how to actually use his instinct that way.

Once more Taisuke reached the other one and this time he kicked him against another wall and broke it when he used another shockwave, but this time it had hit Taiga right in the chest, the force so big that he was sure his bones had taken damage.

“Your fear is too human,” Taisuke complained as he stepped over the younger one who held one hand over his chest in pain. “It stops you from using your instinct.”

When Taisuke leant down and grabbed Taiga by the hair to pull him up, Taiga used his chance and the next moment it was Taisuke who hissed and pulled back, but at the same time he gave Taiga a harsh kick, sending him back to the ground.

“Again so human,” Taisuke said as he looked at the stab wound on his stomach. Taiga had picked up one of Nika’s knives earlier just in case and now he had gotten the chance to use it, but of course now that it was in the open it wasn’t that easy to use it once more. Those small moments in which their instincts didn’t protect them completely were the only chance to actually cause damage to the other one.

“If I can still hurt you while thinking the human way, I wonder if you stand a chance against my instinct.”

This time Taisuke let out a huge laugh before it slowly died down until it was more of a mischievous chuckle which gave Taiga the creeps. “I guess it’s time to show you where your limits are.”

This time Taisuke’s attitude had changed and Taiga didn’t even have time to bring up the knife before Taisuke had made it over to him. Just in time Taiga had somehow made his instinct work and absorbed the first shockwave, but what he hadn’t seen coming was Taisuke reaching out for his wrist and snapping it, so that Taiga screamed out and let the knife drop. The wounds Nika had caused him had healed already, but now he was once more left with the disadvantage of not being able to use one hand.

But he soon realized that this was his smallest problem. Taisuke’s strength and speed had increased even more and he kept attacking until Taiga had to decide if he wanted his instinct to take over or not.

“So naive,” Taisuke growled and reached out for Taiga’s neck and slammed him into the ground before he pulled him back up and made him crash though another wall. This time Taiga found himself out on the street once more, rolling on his stomach with a painful cough.

“Each time you hesitate and struggle with your instinct I could kill you,” Taisuke warned him.

“Then why don’t you?” Taiga shot back, getting back up, but again Taisuke was faster and he pulled him closer by the hair and put one hand to his face. Taiga immediately realized what he was up to and he succeeded in finding a weak moment in Taisuke’s defense when he copied his abilities. But the shockwave he was able to hit on the other one didn’t do the same damage and all Taisuke did was go down on one knee a few meters away to stabilize himself.

“With only one hand it is really difficult for you to use your mind control on me,” Taisuke let out knowingly, but that statement also showed that he had gotten exactly that mind control from his touch. “If your human side is so much in the way I can help you out a bit.”

Just the thought of Taisuke playing around with his mind was scary enough for Taiga to dash away. If he was able to run for long enough then the ability would faint and all he needed was maybe a few minutes longer until this stupid hunt was over.

Unfortunately Taisuke could outrun him even more easily now that he was hurt and stressed out. But this time his fear activated his instinct without him being able to even get into control and he grabbed Taisuke’s wrist before he was able to reach out for his face. With a swift movement he turned to face the older one, before he let himself drop to the back and kicked Taisuke in the stomach so that he was thrown head first over him.

Taisuke hadn’t seen the movement coming, yet his own instinct helped him to somehow land on one knee and an outstretched leg. But without wasting a second, Taiga went right for another attack and jumped on the other one, pushing him to the ground for the very first time.

“Nice try,” Taisuke let out the moment Taiga tried to somehow keep the upper hand, but Taisuke had seen coming what Taiga hadn’t in his rage. Unable to keep attacking, Taiga’s body gave up on him once more, but while he shouted at his body to move and go on distance it wasn’t possible this time.

“This is the moment when you need to take action. When your instinct swallows you, then you will be the one losing in the end,” Taisuke explained before he reached out for the other one’s face, not even bothering trying to get Taiga off of him.

With a shaking hand Taiga tried to stop the other one, but Taisuke easily pulled it away and put his other hand on Taiga’s face.

Usually Taiga would be able to at least try and block the mind control as he had trained against mind control with Myuto and Hokuto for so long already, yet the moment he wanted to put up a block there was something stopping him. Even his instinct should kick in now and just block Taisuke’s try as it also blocked Mitsu’s ability, but without knowing what exactly was going on there was something that seemed to even overpower his instinct or maybe control it was the better word and then it felt like he wasn’t in control of his own mind anymore. Nevertheless the only ability, which still seemed to work, was his telepathy, but even here it didn’t seem like he was the one using it this time. He didn’t feel scared of what was going on as if he had experienced it before, which couldn’t be the case. Yet he decided to leave the rest to whatever was taking over him.

***

“I don’t get how he is still here,” Reo let out with a pouting expression as he took a break and looked through the room at Hokuto.

“Where else should he be?” Yuma asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Out there, kicking the shit out of Taisuke for taking Taiga away from him,” Reo let out with his arms thrown into the air as if it was the most obvious thing.

“You are getting too dramatic,” Hagi said and Moro agreed with a silent nod.

“I would have already left.”

“That is because you can’t sit still for a second. It’s been only a few days and I bet Hokuto is way more restless than he seems,” Hagi added, resulting in Reo pouting even more and falling on his back with a sigh.

“You will get your fight, just wait,” Moro teased and kicked the other one’s leg.

“Just make sure no one of you gets in Hokuto’s way at that time,” Juri was heard next to them.

“At the moment I can’t even see him getting angry as calmly as he trains with the Chasers,” Yuma said, but Juri shook his head.

“Then how about Kentaro?”

On that question they all looked through the room, but the other one wasn’t training.

“It’s rare for Kentaro to take breaks,” Reo said.

“But that’s exactly what shows you how tense he and also Hokuto are,” Juri explained. “They might seem calm on the outside, but they only put all the effort in it so that we won’t worry. Inside they are fighting to stay calm every single passing minute.”

“Makes sense,” Hagi said with an understanding look towards Hokuto who was now finally forced to fight a bit more seriously after Shizu had gotten his bow and Umi and Chaka had joined the training.

“The more time we get to prepare the better,” Yuma said, but they all didn’t seem that excited about it.

“Don’t worry, Taiga knows what he got himself into,” Juri said as he was able to read everyone’s gloomy expressions.

“I’m really impressed by your bonds,” Hagi let out with a smile.

Juri knew that their bonds were indeed pretty strong in this Center, but the help of Myuto’s and Shime’s group was the only reason they were actually able to prepare for the upcoming fight.

“Here we go again,” Moro suddenly let out and the next second they heard shouting from Chaka and the others. When Juri looked over his shoulder, he saw Hokuto sitting on the ground, one hand fisting his hair.

“It’s almost night time and they keep torturing him,” Shizu let out disgusted.

“As weird as it sounds, I feel like what they are doing is training him,” Juri explained as he stepped closer to them, waiting for Hokuto to calm down, but this time it seemed to take longer than usual.

“For what?” Chaka asked.

“So that he can control his instinct. That is Taisuke’s only aim at the moment.”

When Hokuto let out something between a chuckle and a sigh, they all looked down to him after he sat up straight again. “I fear that Taisuke has to come up with something else now.”

“What do you mean?” Reo asked as he had walked over to him with the others as well.

Hokuto looked up to them with a confident smile, which confused them all as Taiga had usually always contacted them when he was in trouble.

“Taiga has gotten backup.”

***

Taisuke didn’t bother to attack as he had used Taiga’s mind control successfully against him. At least that was how it seemed to him.

“You should be able to use your instinct freely now,” Taisuke said in a satisfied tone, but Taiga still didn’t make any move to back off or keep fighting. Just when Taisuke ran a bit out of patience and tried to get up, Taiga reached out for the other one and put one hand on his shoulder and put more pressure on the other one’s hips as he was still sitting on top of him.

“Oh, did your instinct swallow you already?” Taisuke asked with an excited expression which fell a bit when Taiga started chuckling, his eyes still hidden under his long blonde strands.

“Something funny?” Taisuke growled back this time, but when he tried to slap Taiga’s hand away, the younger one put so much pressure in his grip that Taisuke hissed.

“Your confidence just cost you all your advantages.”

This time Taiga lifted his head with an arrogant expression and for the first time Taisuke seemed confused.

“You don’t seem satisfied, yet you wanted to fight against someone who can use the instinct at full force. Here I am.”

Instead of replying, Taisuke finally attacked and forced the other one off him. But he was sure that Taiga had only backed off, because he wanted to, after all Taisuke had been in an inferior position.

“Who are you?” Taisuke finally asked, making the other one laugh as he put his hands on his back and walked the road down a bit.

“You’ve met me before,” Taiga said before he turned back to Taisuke and put his pointer finger to his temple. “In Taiga’s mind.”

Getting reminded of the first time Taisuke had read the other one’s mind he realized his miscalculation, but who would have thought that he was still able to take over even after he had actually sacrificed himself.

“You are Hokuto’s previous Fallen self,” Taisuke said, making the other one snap his fingers with an entertained expression.

“Exactly. Well, with the difference that I am now Taiga’s Fallen self.”

“Why didn’t you show up earlier if you can take over?”

“I couldn’t,” Taiga replied honestly. “Different from Hokuto, I had put myself in the inferior position right from the start. I was more like a passive mind set in the back. To be completely honest I didn’t even think myself that such an outcome was possible. But when you decided to teach Taiga about his instinct it woke me up. And your mind control just gave me the weak moment I needed to break through to the surface once more.”

“So you’re here to help him?” Taisuke asked, but kept his distance as he was obviously feeling the danger.

“Help him? Mh, good question. Maybe? But let’s say it was annoying to watch him try to control something that didn’t belong to him.”

“So the instinct belonged to you right from the start,” Taisuke concluded and that realization also made him reconsider his plans.

“Now it’s ours as he can use it too,” Taiga corrected. “But while I am a full-fledged Fallen and the instinct indeed belonged to me right from the start, Taiga is too weak to not get swallowed by it.”

“And here I thought I could easily control him,” Taisuke let out with an annoyed click of his tongue.

“Oh trust me, even without me you would have had to deal with a stubbornness you might not be able to handle,” Taiga let out with another laugh.

“So then what will you do now?” Taisuke asked, but got his reply right away when Taiga dashed to the front. His speed was powered up by the instinct, which the Fallen self used as good as Taisuke, maybe even better.

There was no long fight, just a stand-off in which they had both collided with their two shockwaves, but with Taiga’s wrist still hurt he had to decide fast if he wanted to attack or retreat. A long struggle could cost him greatly.

“In the end you will help him after all,” Taisuke hissed, but Taiga just showed a lopsided sneer before he pulled his arm back so sudden that Taisuke was forced to make a step to the front, now face to face with Taiga.

“Let’s say I am not here to hurt him, but I can’t say the same about you!”

Taiga proved that the next second when he pulled once more on Taisuke's arm and moved fast enough to give the other one a blow with his knee to the stomach. But of course Taisuke countered immediately and grabbed the other one's leg to bring him out of balance. Their fight kept going without their abilities as they were both aware of the fact that their instincts would just block them.

"Getting tired already?" Taisuke asked after he had landed a kick and Taiga ended up with his back against the stone floor with a gasp.

"Let's say it's been a while since I’ve kicked someone's ass," Taiga said as he got up again. But this time he moved over to one of the houses and took a heavy wooden stick before he broke it in half so that one end was sharp through the broken wood.

"Not confident enough to win against me barehanded?"

"I just like fighting unfair."

With the stick Taiga dashed towards the older one, but of course it wasn't easy to lunge out for him as their speed was about the same. Not to forget that even metal wouldn’t easily cause damage to their skin if it wasn’t extremely sharp, so he would need a really good hit if he wanted to cause damage with it.

Taisuke was able to dodge and step on the stick to grab Taiga by his hurt arm to throw him over his shoulder.

"Damn, that hurt," Taiga complained and looked at his broken wrist as he got up once more. "Guess this one needs a bit longer to heal."

"There will be way more that needs to heal," Taisuke threatened as he had the wooden stick in his hand now and dashed forward.

For a while their fight kept being even. Taiga receiving a small cut on the arm, before he was able to kick the stick out of the other one's hand and this time Taiga had opened a cut and Taisuke jumped back, putting one hand to his cheek.

"Oh what a shame. That might become a scar on your beautiful face," Taiga mocked.

"Enough," Taisuke growled and when he lifted his hand, Taiga tilted his head until he understood what was going on and he clapped his hands in amusement.

"So you actually accept that I'm stronger?" Taiga teased as he saw Mitsu and the others approach from the mountains.

"If the conditions were different then who knows," Taisuke said. "But no matter your mind set, you still have to use Taiga's body and he is in no condition to win."

"He has already won."

Taisuke signaled the others to stay a bit on distance before he lifted an eyebrow at Taiga, but the younger one pointed at the sky.

"Hunting time is over. Taiga won."

That realization made Taisuke chuckle and he shook his head. "So that was your goal."

"If you think so," Taiga said, shrugging his shoulders, but this time he didn't make any move to attack. "You promised Taiga a surprise, don't make me come back to kick your ass if you don't keep that promise."

Before Taisuke could reply, Taiga closed his eyes and suddenly crumbled to the ground as Taiga’s body had indeed reached its limits.

"Maybe I have a surprise for you too," Taisuke let out excited yet threatening.

***

"Your Fallen self?" Kochi asked perplexed, after Hokuto had explained the situation to everyone.

"And here I thought we wouldn't have to deal with him ever again," Shintaro said, but he didn't seem as annoyed as usual after all he seemed to have helped out Taiga. “Didn’t you say he was gone?”

Kochi had indeed thought so, but he slowly shook his head. “To be honest it makes sense. We didn’t know that the Fallen self had the instinct, because he never really needed to use it. But passively it had always been there, so most likely it was the reason that I couldn’t detect the Fallen self even with tests at the Main Center.”

"But is he really here to help?” Jesse asked, still not trusting the situation.

"As long as he is not planning on joining Taisuke, because then it doesn't matter if he wants to actually protect Taiga or just play around," Hokuto let out straight forward.

"But your Fallen self once wanted to join Myuto," Shintaro reminded him.

"But in the end he rescued them," Kochi added.

"So maybe this time too, he is pretending to be just there to get in the way, but eventually he'll never turn against Taiga," Juri said.

"Let's hope that he can control the instinct then or Taiga will have two enemies in his own body," Kochi let out a bit worried, but he also wanted to trust the Fallen self, because it was the only hope they had for now.

Musen 28 - January

With a breaking headache Taiga woke up in a room he didn't know. For the first time he had gotten the luxury of sleeping in a bed, yet he still sat up immediately, closing his eyes when everything started spinning.

"What the hell happened," Taiga tried to remember, but all he could recall was Taisuke trying to mind control him. So he had succeeded, right? But why was he alive then? Had the mind control made him stronger and he had won?

The room he was in was pretty small, only the heavy metal door showed him that he was most likely back in the hideout.

A closer look at his body showed that his injuries had healed and he took his wrist in his hand. So they had let him sleep for at least half a day or it wouldn't be healed by now.

His mood immediately dropped as he could actually feel Taisuke's presence in the hideout the same way he could feel humans through his presence finding. He leaned with his back against the wall and waited for the other one to open the door.

"Finally awake?"

"As if you didn't know that already," Taiga shot back.

"Back to normal, I see."

"What do you mean with back to normal?" Taiga asked and when Taisuke sat on the bed, Taiga shifted even more towards the wall. Then he realized something else and with a mocking smile he looked at the cut under Taisuke's eye.

"Seems like your own plan didn't work out as you wanted it to?"

It was rare for scars to show on their skin, but sometimes it happened and somehow Taiga was satisfied that it was a scar on Taisuke's face that remained.

This time Taisuke didn't show any excitement about the situation and when he turned and grabbed Taiga by the shirt, the younger one didn't even try to fight him off, because the space was too narrow to even put up a real fight and somehow he had learned to be patient with Taisuke, which was the right move this time as the other one reached out for his face once before he pulled back. A few seconds passed in silence before he lifted his hand once more, but this time Taiga pulled back a bit.

"It's not your mind control I got. But your mind reading. You wanted to know what happened, right?"

The way Taisuke spoke wasn't in any way calm and Taiga knew better than to challenge him right after he had somehow lost the hunt. So when Taisuke reached out for his face once more he held still.

Again some time past in silence in which Taiga relived the memories he couldn't recall while trying to keep Taisuke out of any other parts of his mind and then he pulled back with a gasp.

"But...how?"

"You tell me. Are you seriously telling me you didn't know he was still there?" Taisuke asked, his expression almost pouting. Even though Taiga was still confused about the situation he had to hide a mocking smile as he was more than happy about that fact that his Fallen self had actually challenged Taisuke and won the hunt.

"Hokuto and I both thought that it was only his abilities that remained," Taiga explained. "By the way, where is my surprise?"

This time Taisuke's look almost turned to murderous on Taiga's way too teasing expression.

"The situation changed so I have to reconsider if you get it or not."

"Oh what a shame."

This time Taisuke snapped and grabbed Taiga by the collar and pulled him away from the wall.

"Watch it! Just because your Fallen self was able to help you once, doesn't mean that you are miraculously stronger. I can get rid of you if I wanted."

"And here you promised to return me to the others, remember?" Taiga challenged, feeling how his confidence wasn't only his own. It felt like his Fallen self had made it easier for him to use his instinct, yet it made the situation also more dangerous, because he could easily lose control.

"Then you better behave from now on," Taisuke growled, before he slammed Taiga back into the wall and got up. Without another word he left the room and Taiga immediately tried to focus on his telepathy. He couldn't explain why, but Taisuke didn't seem to have noticed about this part yet even while using his mind reading, but maybe he had just been lucky, because Taisuke had focused on showing him memories and not reading them. But Taiga knew that his Fallen self had contacted Hokuto so he wanted to make sure that he got an update of the situation.

***

“A whole day without updates, I wonder if something happened.” Aran asked, but Myuto didn’t seem that worried.

The news about Hokuto’s Fallen self helping out had come the day before, now it was already afternoon of the next day, but Aran had made sure that Myuto would also take a break from training, not that he was as hard to convince as a few of the others.

The wind on the rooftop was strong, but the sky was blue and the weather quite warm. With all the members in the Center it was difficult to find a spot where they could rest.

“I think that Hokuto would know if something happened,” Myuto said as he stood at the edge of the roof and looked over the area of the West Center. The Centers were built in areas with at least one kilometer flat area so that they could always spot people approaching.

“Do you think Taisuke will change his strategy now that the Fallen self got involved?” Aran asked, but it was a difficult question to answer.

“We wanted him on our side as well, but at that time it was different.”

“What do you mean?” Aran asked, but was interrupted by the squeaking sound of the rooftop door.

“He means that my Fallen self didn’t like me in the first place, but he has a special thing for Taiga,” Hokuto explained as he stepped out on the rooftop. “So while he was willing to sacrifice me to get what he wanted, he won’t do the same with Taiga. He sacrificed himself for him once and I am sure he will do everything possible this time as well to get Taiga out of danger.”

“There is just one thing that worries me,” Myuto said and turned to the other one. “What if he thinks that Taisuke is a safer place?”

That thought made Hokuto’s look turn a bit gloomy, but then he shook his head. “Even if he thought like that I doubt as long as Taiga sees Taisuke as an enemy that the Fallen self would in any kind of way go against him.”

“Then we can only hope that Taisuke doesn’t have any more tricks up his sleeve to even get rid of that Fallen self,” Aran let out.

“By the way what are you doing up here?” Hokuto asked.

“Just taking a break. It’s a bit crowded inside,” Myuto explained and Hokuto nodded with a smile.

“I ran off to this place a lot before as well, but Taiga always knew where I was,” Hokuto let out with a nostalgic look.

“It must have been really chaotic for you back then when he was a Chaser and you still had to deal with your Fallen self,” Aran asked and Hokuto couldn’t hide a small laugh.

“Tell me about it. I once threw him off this roof.”

While Hokuto could now laugh it off, Aran gave him a dumbfounded look.

“As you can see he survived. Juri caught him.”

“And even after that incident he stayed by your side, that is exactly why I doubt that either Taiga nor your Fallen self will stand against us,” Myuto said.

Hokuto wanted to agree, but then he moved one hand to the side of his face with a hiss, but this time it was even less painful and he didn’t feel like losing his balance.

“Taiga?” Aran asked with hopes of positive updates.

“He’s fine,” Hokuto let out with a smile. “He seems to be even more in control of his telepathy now, maybe that is also thanks to the Fallen self.”

“Then we can only hope that he stays this supportive,” Myuto said.

***

The next time Taisuke showed up he left the door open and told Taiga to follow him and by now he was tired of this room in the first place so he tagged along. They walked down the corridor to their lab, where Tama, Mitsu and Miyata were waiting for them.

While Tama was behind some screens, Taiga immediately recognized the serum in Mitsu’s hand. It was the one he had handed to Taisuke and now he took it back from Mitsu to hold it up to Taiga.

“You really thought you could turn us into some weird puppets like Myuto and the others?”

“Our understanding of the word puppet seems to be quite different,” Taiga replied.

When Taisuke walked up to him with the serum still in its original metal tube, Taiga took a step back. Kochi had said it couldn’t do anything to him, but he didn’t want to find out.

“Who made this serum?” Taisuke asked and for a second Taiga remained silent, until Taisuke gave him a warning look.

“Two of our researchers,” Taiga explained, knowing very well that with all members present in the hideout he couldn’t start a fight even if he was in better control of his instinct now and he also wanted Taisuke to stay out of his mind.

“And did they by any chance have access to the original Fallen data?” Mitsu asked this time.

“One had,” Taiga replied, knowing that Aran had a lot of access to the first Fallen research. “But it doesn’t seem like you are short on data either.”

Miyata looked up from his desk on hearing that, but Taisuke lifted his hand and he went back to analyzing whatever he was testing on at the moment. They seemed to be careful to not show Taiga too much of their research, but even though he of course recognized some of the research and machines as Kochi was working with similar ones, he couldn’t tell what exactly each one was for.

“Take a seat,” Taisuke suddenly said and pointed at a chair, but Taiga hesitated.

“For what?”

“I need a blood sample,” Mitsu replied neutral as he lifted the empty injection from the table next to him.

“Don’t even keep asking,” Taisuke said before Taiga could ask even more questions about what they were up to. “If I wanted to tell you I would have already, and now get over here.”

Taisuke seemed still in a bad mood from their hunt, but on the other hand he also seemed a bit troubled about the Fallen self.

There was nothing suspicious about what Mitsu did, but Taiga still remained cautious even when the other one walked away from them with the blood sample.

“Don’t get too comfortable there,” Taisuke warned him as he made a head movement, signaling Taiga to follow him once more. This time they went downstairs to the training room from before and somehow Taiga wasn’t surprised to see Nika, Senga and Yokoo waiting for them, but he wasn’t in the mood for another round of fighting to bring out his instinct even though he was sure he could control it way better by now, but somehow he felt like this wasn’t what Taisuke was aiming for.

“Can you switch places with him on your own free will?”

Taisuke’s question made Taiga lift an eyebrow in confusion until he understood who Taisuke was talking about.

“I don’t think so,” Taiga explained as he hadn’t even known until the day before that Hokuto’s Fallen self was even able to still take over in the first place. Even if he could switch forth and back with him, he didn’t know how.

“Then we will speed this up,” Taisuke said and stepped closer, but this time Taiga backed off, not that he could run or put a fight with the others in the room and that also showed why he had brought the others. Talking to his Fallen self was way more dangerous than having Taiga in the room with his abilities, which explained why Senga hadn’t taken his abilities away yet, because for now the only way to make him show up was to use Taiga’s mind control. But the one who had to use it was Taisuke.

“Why do you want to talk to him?”

“Can’t you answer that question yourself?”

Of course more or less he could, but Taisuke’s intentions could be many and so could be the ones of his Fallen self, so it could turn out really dangerous for him if he got shut out once more. Who knew if he was going to be able to come back? That thought somehow passively activated his telepathy, but this time it was different. As if his instinct had kicked in as well to stabilize it he could feel how he was using it in the back of his head, transmitting the full conversation to Hokuto without Taisuke even realizing.

“I warn you even if you use your instinct to block me from copying your abilities I will just use the others to attack you long enough until your instinct forces you down once more.”

Taisuke’s threats were always to be taken serious he had proven that often enough so eventually he just remained at the same spot the next time Taisuke walked up to him, but when the older one pulled back with a low curse, Taiga couldn’t hold back a short mocking smile.

“Didn’t get the ability you wanted?”

“You know it’s annoying enough with two abilities, why the hell do you have so many? And why such a useless one?”

Which meant that he got his presence finding and had to wait a few minutes now to be able to copy an ability once more. But that was also Taiga’s chance to keep his telepathy working while Taisuke didn’t even realize that he possessed a special not copyable ability.

“Do you prefer him, because he can use the instinct better?” Taiga asked while Taisuke kept pacing down the room with an annoyed look, waiting for the ability to fade.

“Can he?”

That reply had Taiga stay silent for a moment, because that wasn’t the reply he had seen coming. “I saw how he used it and it seemed way better than the way I use it.”

This time Taisuke walked up to Taiga with a knowing look. “The instinct might belong to him in the first place, but the reason you think this way is because you don’t want to get swallowed by the instinct so you use it too carefully to use its full potential. Your Fallen self on the other hand doesn’t care so he uses it freely, but who of you will be the stronger one in the end, I fear only you two can find out.”

So in matters of strength Taisuke wouldn’t necessarily prefer his Fallen self, but that still didn’t take the fear away about what could happen to him in the end now that it was clear that Taisuke was in one way or the other interested in the Fallen self.

When Taisuke reached out for him once more before Taiga could come up with any other questions, which could help him understand the situation, he wanted to take another step back, but this time Taisuke grabbed him by the arm.

“Don’t play with my patience. I will be annoyed enough if I don’t get the right ability this time.”

When Taisuke formed a lopsided smile though after he had put his hand on Taiga’s face it was clear that he had gotten the ability he wanted and without even waiting another second he used it on the spot and once more Taiga needed to force his instinct to stay down or Taisuke would just do as he had threatened and use the others and he wasn’t in the mood for another fight.

But instead of the feeling he was so used to when he got swallowed by Hokuto’s mind control before there was something different this time. Usually it was just like a black out and then he woke up seconds or minutes later, not knowing what had happened, but now he was the one in the back of his own mind. He could feel how he had switched places with his Fallen self, but weirdly the telepathy was still active. It wasn’t clear if his Fallen self was the cause for this and if it was something bad or good, but for now he could just be the passive mind set, watching the scene from afar.

“Did you enjoy fighting me so much or why did you bring me out again?” Taiga’s Fallen self asked with a smile after Taisuke had stepped back.

The moment he had said those words though he felt a hand on his shoulder, but instead of pulling away, he only laughed and looked at Senga who pulled back right away.

“So you are afraid of me?” Taiga asked after Senga had taken away his abilities. The Fallen self could have stopped him with his instinct, but it was obvious that he had been waiting for Taisuke to take this action in the first place and he was known for liking games as well, so why ruin the fun?

“I’d rephrase it to annoyed by you,” Taisuke said. “But we didn’t get the chance to have a good talk last time, so I thought we should meet again.”

“Then what do you want to talk about? Remember that even without using the instinct I won’t have a long time to talk.”

“Then what if I offered you the chance for long talks from now on?” Taisuke asked and the Fallen self raised an eyebrow. “You changed from a Vestige to a Chaser and while you are stronger than both of them you are still stuck in the back of their minds, don’t you want to change that?”

In the back of his mind, yes, that was where Taiga was now, listening to everything and now he finally got a bit of what Taisuke was up to and he didn’t like the direction this talk was going.

“Mh, interesting,” Taiga let out with a thoughtful expression. “And how would you help me with that?”

“I heard they used a serum to separate you from Hokuto so you could become a full Fallen. My researchers have a serum that could help you with that way better.”

“And whose body would I use?” Taiga asked, but then Taisuke chuckled and shook his head.

“There won’t be a new body needed, the serum would destroy the entire remaining human DNA.”

It was weird how Taiga could feel his own body tense, while it wasn’t actually him, but the Fallen self controlling it at the moment. Did the Fallen self feel the same way as him or was it just a passive reaction he had somehow shown from the back of his mind?

“So you offer me to take over this body and kill Taiga on the way,” the Fallen self let out more clearly this time and Taisuke didn’t even have to nod. “Then tell me, where is the catch?”

And of course there was a catch. Taisuke showed an excited smile on that question as he walked up to the Fallen self and dared his hand on the other one’s face.

“As a Fallen who can use the instinct I know that you would never become one of my subordinates,” Taisuke said while he didn’t back off, yet the Fallen self also didn’t move while Taiga wanted his body to pull back. “But in exchange for giving you the ability to live as a Fallen in your own body, I want you to stay by my side and fight alongside us.”

There it was, the offer Taiga had feared so much since their conversation had started and if his Fallen self was going to take the offer then he doubted that he could even fight himself back into control to stop them from giving him that serum.

It was rare to see Taisuke so patient with waiting for an answer and he still had his hand on the younger one’s face, his thumb carefully caressing the other one’s skin right under his eye.

“What if I refuse?” The Fallen self asked and put his hand over Taisuke’s, but to the older one’s obvious surprise, he didn’t take it away from his face.

“Is there a reason why you should refuse?” Taisuke asked all innocently. “I think this is a pretty decent offer.”

“Still, what if I say no?” Taiga repeated, this time putting a bit more pressure on Taisuke’s hand as he pulled it down to his chin line, but still kept his playful expression.

“Then I will need to come up with another plan,” Taisuke let out neutral, but that made the other one laugh.

“As if you didn’t already,” Taiga let out knowingly before he pulled Taisuke’s hand right in front of his face and lifted his other hand to caress his fingers. “Let me guess, that serum wouldn’t just get rid of Taiga. It could also shut me out completely or to even get rid of me somehow?”

This time Taisuke’s calm expression fell a bit and he tried to pull his hand away, yet Taiga wouldn’t let him and now it was his turn to show a teasing expression.

“I don’t need my mind reading ability to read people’s expressions,” Taiga let out. “I feel like you have something even more impressive up your sleeve and all you try to figure out at the moment is if I am the better option to go with or Taiga?”

Before Taisuke could reply, the Fallen self took one more daring move as he pulled Taisuke’s hand back up a bit to place a short kiss on the other one’s hand before he released it with a mocking expression.

“I feel like you don’t value your freedom as much as you should,” Taisuke hissed back, but Taiga only shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But now that you already said freedom, yes maybe I value my own kind of freedom, because our definition might be pretty different.”

“So you refuse my offer?”

Taiga thought for a moment about a reply before he formed a teasing smile. “Ask Taiga about it. I really want to know what he is thinking about that offer. Oh, no wait. You will offer him to get rid of me, right? Even more of a reason to wait for his reaction first, then we can have a talk again.”

The Fallen self’s liking for games was making it hard for Taiga to stay calm, not that he could actually move his own body at the moment, but if he could he would most likely slap himself. Yet the next moment he realized how the telepathy finally lost the connection and his own body started feeling heavy.

So now he had to decide how to face Taisuke when he woke up again. Could he hide the fact that he had listened to it all? And would he even get a similar offer as his Fallen self? And even more important, how would his answer be?    

***

After everyone started getting restless as the time kept passing without Taisuke returning Taiga to them, Kochi had put strict rules for all of the members so that even the Fallen had to retreat into their rooms for the night no matter if they needed sleep or not.

For Hokuto it was definitely better to actually sleep a bit now that he was training with the others almost nonstop, but he was surprised how good Shime’s friends actually were with fighting. Of course Matsuku and Genta were Vestige, but Hokuto had already noticed that something was up with Genta. They didn’t talk about it much, but the looks Shime sometimes gave him just confirmed Hokuto’s worries. Even as a Vestige you could have poor health, especially if you had it already as a human, so for Genta that was definitely the case. But luckily he seemed to know when to take breaks, so Hokuto wouldn’t interfere.

The Chasers also slowly got better and even Shizu finally found his strength now that he had gotten a weapon he can use on distance. Umi was also definitely not the healthiest of them, Hokuto of course realizing that he was taking some kind of medication, but for the basic training he seemed more than okay.

Hokuto’s thoughts kept him awake until the early morning hours, but as much as he wanted to get back to training, Kochi had set a time until no one was allowed to train so he closed his eyes and tried to at least sleep a bit.

For a Fallen it was more than rare to dream and while it seemed at first as if he was seeing a dream, there was something different. He felt awake, yet he couldn’t pull himself back into reality, which made him realize what was going on and the next moment he felt like he had been put into Taiga’s place and he was standing right in front of Taisuke.

He couldn’t speak or control any movements, all he could do was listen and he did so as good as he could as he didn’t want to miss any details of what they were talking about.

He could hear Taiga’s voice as well, but because he was seeing everything from his mind he couldn’t see him of course. Yet he somehow realized that something was different from the times when his Fallen self had taken over his body before. It felt like he could feel the Fallen self and Taiga being both present, which he couldn’t confirm, but it made him hope that his Fallen self was indeed not going against Taiga. On the other hand he feared that he just took his games too far and might just want them to feel safe to backstab them in the end.

“Hokuto?”

Like a voice from far away he could hear his name being called, but he still tried to focus on the rest of the conversation until the connection seemed to slowly break.

“Hokuto, wake up.”

This time Hokuto finally opened his eyes as the connection had broken off and he found Kochi standing next to his bed with a worried expression.

“What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t show up for training and I was sure that you’d be the first one to rush into the training room, so I got worried. You didn’t wake up even when I called you and shook you. Are you alright?”

Hokuto finally sat up on Kochi’s worried expression before he put one hand to his face. “I’m fine. Taiga contacted me.”

“Right, the second time he contacted you it also happened when you were asleep. Any updates?”

With a sigh Hokuto thought carefully about what to say, because yes there was an update, but was it positive?

“Taiga succeeded in letting me be part of a whole conversation this time. I could see the people in the room and hear all of their voices.”

“Wow, he gets really good with that ability,” Kochi replied.

“I’m still confused about how much of an ability it actually is,” Hokuto said. “Senga took his abilities away the moment Taisuke brought his Fallen self out again with his mind control, yet the telepathy worked without problems, so it’s obviously instinct related, but Taisuke either doesn’t have it or he didn’t realize yet that he got it?”

“To be honest I can imagine that Taisuke actually has that telepathy too, but there is one huge difference between them.”

Hokuto tilted his head in confusion as he didn’t get what Kochi was talking about, but the older one just pointed at Hokuto. “Taiga has you, but Taisuke has no one he considers important enough to contact in that way. So while he can use his instinct, he doesn’t have any need for that special ability, so he doesn’t even know about it.”

It made a lot of sense and it was also to their advantage, because like that Taisuke couldn’t even know about the telepathy as it also seemed like Taiga was good enough in hiding it from the other one even if he mind read him.

“Is he okay?” Kochi asked, getting back to the topic, but Hokuto bit his lip on that question.

“For now yes, but Taisuke had put him and our Fallen self in a pretty difficult situation and now it’s just a question of time, because they need to make a decision.”

“What kind of decision?”

“Who lives and who dies.”

 Musen 28 - January

There was so much Taiga needed to stay calm about the moment he regained consciousness, yet the worst part was that he immediately realized that Taisuke was sitting next to him. The second problem was that his Fallen self hadn’t completely become passive again. The same as him before, the other one was in the back of his mind, yet it felt like they could feel each other’s presence more actively now, which could be positive as long as Taisuke didn’t realize it.

With a deep breath Taiga turned around and opened his eyes, but Taisuke wasn’t facing him. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, his look absentmindedly towards the wall.

“Had a good talk?” Taiga asked and the older one slowly moved and turned to Taiga.

He’s angry

Luckily Taisuke still hadn’t looked at him when he had suddenly heard the voice in the back of his head, because his eyes had grown wide on the realization that his Fallen self was now able to communicate with him as he did in the beginning with Hokuto.

“Do you think the talk was good?” Taisuke asked and he tried to sound calm, but Taiga could see now too that he was indeed more than pissed, but he didn’t understand why. Sure his Fallen self hadn’t given him the direct reply he had hoped for, but was that all?

“You tell me, I wasn’t there. If you show me then I might be able to tell you,” Taiga replied and sat up. He wasn’t fond of the thought of letting Taisuke steal his ability again, but on that thought something felt wrong. There was no way he had passed out more than a day just through switching with his Fallen self, yet his abilities were already back.

“You might want to think once more about that reply, because my patience has come to an end,” Taisuke growled with a dangerous glare towards him.

“Did he piss you off that much?” Taiga asked, trying to play ignorant until Taisuke would give away the information himself.

“Do you know what I hate most?” Taisuke asked instead and when Taiga didn’t reply, Taisuke’s look turned even darker. “When someone dares to take me for a fool.”

This time Taiga waited with a reply, because he still didn’t understand what Taisuke meant, but what else could he do than keep up the lie?

He knows

This time Taiga failed miserably in keeping a poker face as he stared back at Taisuke with wide eyes.

“Let me guess, he just warned you, didn’t he?” Taisuke’s tone was more than threatening by now and Taiga would have liked to put more distance between them, but there was nowhere to go.

“How did you know?” Taiga asked, knowing that there was no meaning in lying anymore.

“Taking me for a fool, but being stupid yourself? Why do you think I am here?”

Once more Taiga remained silent until he caught up to the situation and gasped. “You read my mind while I was unconscious.”

“Brightspark. You knew exactly that your abilities work when you are asleep or unconscious. Your own fault to not consider that I can copy your abilities when you are unconscious as well.”

Now the question was how much Taisuke had gotten out of his mind. His Fallen self didn’t seem to have been able to stop him neither had their instinct, so who knows how much Taisuke had actually gotten to know by now.

“I won’t take that serum even if my Fallen self disappears through it,” Taiga let out, but then he cursed at himself or more like at his Fallen self, because their connection had grown annoyingly equal, so these words hadn’t been his choice.

“I actually don’t care about your opinion anymore,” Taisuke let out, which didn’t surprise Taiga as he had obviously found out enough to realize that he couldn’t try to get him and his Fallen self to fight about their survival anymore.

When Taisuke turned away from him once more, Taiga relaxed a bit, hoping the other one would leave the room for now. He really needed a moment to collect himself, but things escalated more than he thought they would.

His body only reacted fast enough, because his Fallen self was active and his instinct kicked in, otherwise the injection Taisuke had just brought down on the bed without a warning would have landed directly in his leg.

“What the hell,” Taiga hissed after he had jumped up, but there was nowhere to go. The opposite wall was just one step away and Taisuke was blocking the door. There was absolutely no room to fight.

“You two made it clear. Neither of you would willingly join me, so I will just see who I will end up with after you get this,” Taisuke said and lifted the injection once more. It was in a similar silver container to the one Kochi had made, so it wasn’t going to get easy destroyed.

Driven by panic Taiga activated his telepathy, but it seemed that at least that part somehow still remained a secret to Taisuke as he just dashed to the front once more.

Let me handle this

“Forget it,” Taiga shouted the same moment he collided with Taisuke at full power. They both had their instinct active, but there was absolutely no space to even think about putting up a huge fight. All they were capable of doing was pushing each other from wall to wall, Taiga desperately trying to keep the serum away from him.

“Why won’t you let him handle it? He definitely has a better chance,” Taisuke yelled, half laughing before he threw Taiga over his shoulder and crashed him half into the bed. At the last moment Taiga was able to regain his orientation and grabbed Taisuke’s arm before the injection could land on his neck.

“I can handle you myself,” Taiga shot back, making Taisuke laugh even more.

“Are you getting overconfident or do you want to prevent him from shutting you out in case he gets the upper hand? Seems like you are not just afraid of losing yourself through the instinct, but also through him.”

Trust me

“Leave me alone,” Taiga yelled at both of them and kicked Taisuke away, but before he could even try and get the injection, Taisuke had thrown him into the wall, the injection dangerously close to his skin this time.

“You are still so human,” Taisuke mocked him. “Your fear is eating you up.”

He was right and that fact made tears of rage show in Taiga’s eyes. He didn’t want to be turned into a Fallen completely and he definitely didn’t want his Fallen self or his instinct to take over before that. Alone the thought about being trapped in the back of his own mind made him go crazy. He had never been this afraid in his entire life, especially because if what Taisuke had said was true then he would actually die if he let the Fallen self take over.

“Unfortunately your time is up soon,” Taisuke reminded him and Taiga realized how his vision turned slightly blurry and he would soon lose against his instinct.

I can beat the serum

Sure, when he was still Hokuto’s Fallen self he had proven that he could beat Aran’s serum as well, but this time they didn’t even know what they were up against. Had Taisuke told the truth? If yes then Taiga might just die in the process, but his Fallen self had also already doubted the truth behind Taisuke’s words. But they only had one shot and Taiga was too afraid to put his hopes into someone else than himself.

Let him take over

The words hadn’t come from Taisuke nor from his Fallen self and for a moment time seemed to have stopped and Taiga found himself in someone else’s mind.

Hokuto?

Trust him. We will get you back!

There was no time to actually discuss what was going on and the next moment Taiga found himself thrown against the metal door and with a pained yelp he sank to the ground.

“Ready to accept your fate?” Taisuke asked as he walked up to him, yet Taiga jumped up once more.

“He’ll be really pissed if you don’t keep your word,” Taiga said and Taisuke stopped with a raised eyebrow as he didn’t get what he meant until Taiga’s look changed.

Don’t betray our trust

“Guess I have to play hero now so that none of you will be pissed at me later,” Taiga said out loud the next moment and this time Taisuke let out an excited snort.

“Oh, so he finally admitted defeat?”

“No, he just lets me have the fun,” the Fallen self replied as he dashed right at Taisuke. He could have gone for the door too, but it was clear that the others were waiting outside, just letting Taisuke handle it by himself, because he was pissed.

“Then I hope you will become a good subordinate,” Taisuke yelled while they fought over the injection until Taiga was actually able to kick it out of the other one’s hand, but the next moment he got slammed into the ground and Taisuke sat down on his hips and closed his hands around his neck. “It would be a shame if I have to get rid of you, but it’s not like I didn’t consider it.”

“We have the same thought then,” Taiga laughed, before he lunged out for Taisuke’s face and brought him out of balance so that he could twist away. Before he could get up though, Taisuke had gotten a grip on the injection again and slammed Taiga head first into the metal frame of the bed.

Taiga got his hands up to stop the injection once more, but his body was still not used enough to the instinct to keep the upper hand.

I trust you

“What are you smiling at?” Taisuke hissed, but this time it was Taiga’s turn to laugh.

“At something you will never understand,” Taiga said before he pushed Taisuke away once more.

It had been a huge struggle for Taiga to even bring those words out in the back of his mind, but when even Hokuto said he trusted his former Fallen self after all the trouble he had caused, then Taiga needed to do so as well or they couldn’t go through with that foundationless plan they had come up with. But it was worth a shot after all, they had nothing to lose anymore.

Ready to dash into another attack Taiga jumped to the front, but then his legs gave in at the worst timing, giving Taisuke the advantage he needed and he kicked Taiga under the chin, sending him right to the ground. Taiga tried to crawl to the back, but he hit the wall and when they started fighting over the injection again Taisuke pulled him up and pushed him against the wall.

“You should know your limits,” Taisuke let out calmer this time, knowing that he had already won. The Fallen self still tried to struggle, but Taiga’s body wouldn’t stand the fight any longer and Taisuke’s grip was the only reason he was still standing.

“I won’t become your puppet,” the Fallen self hissed at Taisuke, who gave him a challenging look in return as he pulled his arm free and this time Taiga missed the chance to get a grip on the other one’s arms. With a sharp breath Taiga stopped moving and turned his head to look down at the injection right over his collarbone.

“What a shame, game over,” Taisuke said with the most arrogant undertone he had ever used so far. “Oh how cute, what’s the tear for?”

Taiga flinched a bit when Taisuke reached out for his cheek and wiped away a single tear. It hadn’t been from his Fallen self though. Taiga’s fear had reached its peak the moment he realized that he had to put all his trust into his Fallen self now and hope that Taisuke had lied or he would never see Hokuto and the others again.

The connection to his Fallen self slowly started to fade and his telepathy also broke off. Slowly Taiga realized that he wouldn’t be able to keep his passive mind set and all he could do was leave everything to his Fallen self and his friends now.

***

“Come again,” Shintaro asked after Jesse had already given up understanding the situation the moment Hokuto had tried to explain why his previous Fallen self was now on their side even though it caused so much trouble when it was still with Hokuto.

“Look at it like a love triangle,” Juri said. “Hokuto’s Fallen self only pissed both of them off all the time, because he didn’t want Hokuto and Taiga to be happy, because he wanted to be with Taiga. But in the end he chose Taiga’s happiness over his own.”

When Shintaro raised both eyebrows on that, Juri massaged his temples with a sigh.

“The Fallen self is now in Taiga’s body and he doesn’t want Taiga to get hurt so he will protect him no matter what,” Kochi added and slowly Shintaro nodded.

“Okay fine, let’s say we got that part,” Shintaro said while Jesse only snorted on that and sat down on the platform of the lab. “But one of them will disappear if Taisuke uses that serum, so will he sacrifice himself for Taiga in that case too?”

“I think Taisuke is lying about that,” Hokuto explained as he kept pacing up and down the lab after Kochi had made him explain the situation to everyone.

“I think so too,” Aran added from behind his desk while he had kept searching through a lot of his data.

“Why would he do that?” Jesse asked. “I thought Fallen don’t usually lie?”

“He most likely wanted to know if the Fallen self would betray Taiga or the other way around, so that he could see who was easier to control,” Myuto explained.

“Now the question is how well Taiga can handle the situation,” Hokuto let out with a worried look, because the truth was that in such a situation it was more than difficult to even think straight.

“Do you think your brother would prefer the Fallen self?” Kochi asked, but Shime couldn’t give a direct reply.

“As a Fallen with an instinct I think he most likely has a masochistic part, which would definitely go for the challenge to go with the Fallen self,” Shime said.

“As long as he still tries to keep one of them,” Shintaro said after Hokuto had explained to all of them earlier what Shime had told him about the connection of two Fallen with the instinct.

“Aran, what do you think that serum is?” Myuto asked. The one in question put some DNA data on the screen for everyone to see.

“This is the original data for the first Fallen mutation. Through the research Tama, Noel and a few of the others did back at that time, we found out that they are in possession of the original serum.”

“So they researched on it to make a new serum?” Juri asked, but Aran shook his head.

“To be honest I think they didn’t actually change it. The original serum is the only one, which has the mutation necessary to keep the instinct intact. If they changed even one mutation then it could all get lost.”

“And Taisuke wouldn’t risk that,” Myuto concluded.

“But Taiga already got a serum to turn. Will this one even affect him?” Jesse asked.

“I bet they somehow tested it and there is actually one factor they can add, which could strengthen their connection if they succeed.”

“Which would be?” Shintaro asked, a bit anxious.

“Adding their blood,” Kochi explained instead. “Both of their blood mixed with the serum will make their connection even stronger afterwards, so it will be extremely difficult to get Taiga out of that instinct mind set.”

“But Hokuto will definitely still be able to reach him, right?” Shintaro asked, but when he didn’t get a reply he waved his hand in front of the one in question. “Hokuto?”

“Taiga?” Shime asked, turning everyone’s attention to Hokuto who was weirdly still able to communicate with both sides this time.

“Kochi, I need you to connect me to the antenna again,” Hokuto let out, his body slightly shaking.

“What, why?”

“KOCHI, NOW!” Hokuto’s yelling made them all move and Juri walked up to Hokuto, stretching his arms out to him.

“You need help?”

“Thanks,” Hokuto said gratefully as he took the other one’s hands, while trying to keep the picture in front of him as clear as possible. But things were chaotic and he could hear not just Taisuke and Taiga, but also his Fallen self.

“Get them connected to him,” Kochi yelled at Jesse and Shintaro after he had thrown a pair of cables at them while Aran tried to establish the connection.

“Hokuto, what is going on?” Myuto asked when Hokuto’s grip on Juri turned stronger and his hands kept shaking.

“Taisuke found out about Taiga knowing about the talk he had with our Fallen self. He decided to leave it up to them who will stay with him.”

“So he is trying to force the serum on them?” Shime asked and Hokuto only nodded as he kept his eyes closed and concentrated back on their fight.

“But what will the antenna help? Isn’t it only helping with the presence finding reach?” Jesse asked as he stepped away from Hokuto.

“We will see soon,” Kochi said. “Everyone except Hokuto and Juri, get off the platform. Hokuto I will turn it on, okay?”

Hokuto nodded once more, trying to put all his abilities into one try to somehow reach out towards Taiga. Similar to his presence finding he hoped that he could trace the connection back with the antenna so that he could use something like a wide range mind reading.

The others could only wait in silence while Juri tried to somehow support Hokuto with his try to find a way to reach Taiga from his side this time.

“He will be fine, right?” Shintaro asked, but everyone seemed as worried as him.

“They are losing,” Hokuto let out, making them all exchange worried looks.

“Aran, what do you think,” Myuto asked. “Would it be better if Taiga received the serum or the Fallen self?”

“If we can really trust the Fallen self, then he is the better choice,” Aran explained without delay, as they were running out of time. “The Fallen self might be affected by the serum if they really added blood, but he could still be strong enough to fight it. He is also in control of the instinct, while Taiga would get swallowed by the instinct and the serum at the same time.”

“Taiga refuses to switch with him,” Hokuto updated them.

“Understandable, I bet he wants to stay in control, afraid that Taisuke didn’t lie and he could die if he loses the battle,” Juri said.

“Hokuto, if you can reach him somehow, please try to convince him to let his Fallen self take over,” Myuto said.

“Are you sure?” Jesse asked, still remembering all the chaos the Fallen self had brought upon them before.

“I know you explained things before, but he can easily lie and turn against us,” Shintaro backed up Jesse.

“Then do you prefer losing Taiga to Taisuke for good? Do you want to fight your friend in the next battle, knowing that he won’t be able to return to his previous self? Our serum might not be able to turn him back if they really mixed their blood into it,” Aran’s harsh words had them all fall silent until Hokuto went down on his knees, Juri somehow trying to stabilize him, but he was feeling exhausted as well as Hokuto needed to use a lot of his strength.

“Come on, both of you,” Myuto hissed in a low voice, knowing that they couldn’t do anything to help.

“Let him take over.” Hokuto’s words weren’t meant for any of them and they all kept staring in silence while Hokuto was trying his best to keep the connection he had somehow established. “Trust him. We will get you back!”

His words made them all tense and Shime let out a shuddering breath, knowing that they would have to face their biggest challenge from now on.

After a few more moments in silence, Hokuto crumbled to the front, Juri catching him. “Did you reach him?”

“Yes, he let him take over, but-”

The but was already enough for all of them to know that they had to get ready, because a new battle was about to begin.

“But they lost.”

***

Their fight had stopped in an instant and Taisuke stepped back with a satisfied expression when Taiga kept his head low after a moment of struggling with the pain of the serum, his eyes more or less empty for a moment.

“So, how do you feel?”

At first Taiga didn’t reply, but he slowly lifted his head up, moving as if he had rediscovered his own body and mind. He let out a long sigh and closed his eyes before he looked right back at Taisuke.

“How I feel?” Taiga asked in a low voice, while Taisuke patiently waited. When Taiga formed a mocking smile and grabbed Taisuke by the collar the other one didn’t even flinch. And he didn’t have a reason to as he knew that the transition was a success and the way Taiga attacked him this time was to Taisuke’s obvious liking. The younger one crushed their lips together, Taisuke’s lips immediately curling up against his.

“I hope you realize that I will annoy you for a long time from now on as I will definitely not consider becoming your subordinate,” Taiga said, more threatening than promising when he pulled back, but kept his hands in the other one’s collar so that Taisuke couldn’t back off.

“I would be disappointed if it was any other way,” he replied with a challenging smile.

Taiga didn’t get stopped when he pushed Taisuke out of the way and left the room and as expected he found Nika and Senga down the corridor, but when Taiga walked up to them, they stepped in his way when he wanted to enter the lab.

“Are you sure you want to keep standing there?” Taiga asked and both of them looked up at Taisuke as he stepped out of the room.

“I fear you have to figure out your position yourself from now on,” Taisuke said and Taiga was more than willing to do that as he stepped right in front of Nika with a serious look.

“Move.” He didn’t say anything else and for a moment Nika’s anger seemed to get the upper hand and Taiga could tell that he was almost as strong as Taisuke so at first he might have challenged him as well, but Taiga was a different case now.

“If you prefer it the hard way, I am always up for a challenge,” Taiga let out and gave a side glance to Senga, but the other one slowly stepped to the side, leaving only Nika in his way.

“So what will it be?” Taiga asked more daring this time and the way he stepped way too close to Nika, made it difficult to say who would actually lose their patience first. But to Taiga’s obvious satisfaction Nika was the one to make a step back and he didn’t even flinch when Taiga stepped next to him with a lopsided sneer and put his hand on his shoulder. “I am really pleased that you know your place.”

When Taiga stepped into the lab, the others didn’t pay him much attention, but of course he realized the side glances he got when he dared to take some documents from Taisuke’s desk without even asking.

“You will make a lot of enemies if you keep this behavior up,” Taisuke said as he stepped next to him and leaned with his hip at the desk, but didn’t stop Taiga as he picked up some of the papers.

“I don’t need to make friends as long as I am stronger than my enemies,” Taiga let out before he put the papers back on the table and stepped in front of Taisuke instead. He didn’t actually leave much space between them, but Taisuke didn’t complain, even when Taiga’s hand landed on the other one’s collarbone. “Maybe I can even dare to make you my enemy.”

Taisuke formed a knowing smile on hearing that before he lifted his knee up a bit, but Taiga didn’t step back. Slowly Taisuke leant to the front and stopped with his lips next to Taiga’s ear.

“You have to prove to me first that you would be a worthy enemy,” he whispered before he pushed Taiga to the back, which made a pouting expression show on the younger one’s face.

“Yokoo,” the other one said and the one in question handed him another injection before he held it out to Taiga. “I have a task for you.”

“Oh, I am all ears?” Taiga said, excited about Taisuke’s challenging tone.

“I want you to go back to your Center.”

“And here I thought making enemies wasn’t what you wanted,” Taiga teased.

“Indeed, I want you to bring us a new comrade.”

This time Taiga tilted his head in light confusion as he wasn’t completely sure what Taisuke meant. But then the older one lifted the injection up. “This is the same serum I gave you and while it is not mixed with our blood, it will still turn anyone into a Fallen as it is the original Fallen serum and stronger than any other serum in existence. No matter if human, Vestige or changed Fallen, the outcome will be the same.”

 “We analyzed their serum and tested it. While it can overwrite the original mutation, it can also be overwritten once more,” Miyata explained.

“These two serums have something like an identical pole, so they will keep overwriting themselves,” Mitsu explained.

“Then who do you want to add to our team?” Taiga asked as he finally took the metal tube from Taisuke.

“That is totally up to you.”

A test that was for sure, but Taiga just gave the older one a confident look as he knew exactly who would make a pretty good new member for their group or at least he would cause as much trouble as Taiga did and why ruin the opportunity to have some fun?

Musen 28 - January

“It’s been three days,” Reo said judging as everyone seemed way too relaxed while being at their lunch break as Kochi still made sure everyone would be forced to take breaks.

“What did you expect?” Kentaro asked. “We have no clue what is going on, but no matter if Taiga’s Fallen self has lost to the instinct and serum completely by now or if he just chose to not contact us yet to play safe, we can’t do anything about it, but be prepared.”

“What if his plan failed already?”

“Then Hokuto would know,” Myuto said, looking over at the Vestige who was sitting at a table with Juri, Shintaro and Jesse.

“Knowing that there is still somehow something left of Taiga’s real personality will make it difficult for him to fight when they attack,” Kentaro said and even though no one commented on it they knew that Kentaro was jealous, because Nika and the others were as lost as they had been before and they only had two choices. Give them the serum or if that wouldn’t work out…

Kentaro’s look didn’t stay dark for long though and he snatched away a slice of bread from Yuma who immediately yelled at him, while Reo laughed at both of them, not that any of them actually needed the food.

Their good mood was interrupted by Kochi dashing into the big common room and Juri was up immediately when he stopped next to their table.

“We have a problem,” Kochi announced, making them all turn their attention towards him. “We just got contacted from the North and South Center. They are both under attack.”

“Cowards,” Moro hissed under his breath and already got up, but Kochi stopped them all.

“I know that you all want to go. We need to send someone so that they won’t end up like the East Center, but the Main Center is also informed already and sent out people to assist.”

“Which means, we can’t go,” Myuto concluded.

“What? But I don’t want to stand around doing nothing,” Reo complained.

“Just think about it, if we go then we will just be seen as Fallen as well and also blow the West Center’s cover,” Hagi explained.

“Right, the other Centers still don’t know about us or the serum,” Yuma said, but was also disappointed that he couldn’t help.

“Don’t worry, you will be of help here,” Aran said, with a supportive smile.

“Right, as long as we know that you are here in case they come for our Center too, we can send out more people,” Juri said.

“You know that this is most likely a trap,” Shime said, but everyone was obviously thinking the same already.

“That doesn’t change the situation unfortunately,” Kochi said, knowing that they needed to calculate a direct hit on their Center too and maybe even bigger than at the other Centers. “They said two Fallen are at each Center, so there are three others that could attack here.”

“Four others,” Hokuto let out as he stood up and the room fell silent for a moment.

“Right…” Kochi let out with a gloomy expression.

“If you want then our group can head to one Center,” Shime said.

“Are you sure? I am really grateful for the offer, but Taisuke…”

“Will either show up here or not show up at all. We don’t know and we can’t let other people die while waiting. You can still contact us if things turn bad here,” Shime said as the other Vestige and Chasers also stood up.

“We should hurry, even if it’s not Taisuke, the others can also cause a lot of damage,” Noel explained.

“I will get my bow,” Shizu said and dashed out of the room while the others also got ready.

“Okay, then I would like you to go to the South Center, I will give you some transmitters and a truck,” Kochi said as he looked at the other people in the room.

“Guess we are going to the North Center then,” Shintaro said and clapped Jesse on the shoulder and the boy nodded and got up. A lot of the other Chasers from their Center were also getting ready to help.

“I will join you,” Juri said and turned to Hokuto. “You stay here.”

“What?” Hokuto let out confused as he was also already getting ready. “You can’t go there as the only Vestige,” Hokuto complained.

“Then I will go with Juri,” Genta offered. “But I agree with Juri, you should stay here.”

“We have six Fallen in the Center, there is no need for me to stay here,” Hokuto complained.

“So noble, aren’t you,” Kentaro teased and earned a death glare from Hokuto as he stepped closer to the Vestige. “Maybe your calmness is taking over a bit too much? There is no way that you haven’t realized by now that Taiga is not with one of those two groups.”

“And as Kochi said, it doesn’t matter. Lives are in danger.”

“Is that a weird kind of Vestige pride talking?” Kentaro mocked and the next second Hokuto took him by the collar.

“Just because you don’t seem to feel responsible for anyone but yourself, doesn’t mean that I can’t put personal feelings aside for others.”

“Enough,” Aran interfered and pushed Kentaro to the back. “Everyone, leave now. We are wasting time.”

Aran turned towards Hokuto with a calm expression as the latter didn’t seem okay with their decision. “Hokuto, we all know that there is a possibility of Taisuke and Taiga or either of them showing up here, so just stay here, okay? As much as you want to help, it’s obvious that you would be distracted out there and that could cost people’s lives too.”

There was nothing logical Hokuto could put against that and he had to let the others leave, while Kochi made sure to head back to the lab to check the security cameras before opening the gate and fence for them, after all the Fallen definitely had this planned through.

“What a shame, no fighting for you today,” Kentaro mocked, but this time Hokuto didn’t get triggered, but Myuto still gave Kentaro a warning look and the smaller one left the room with most of the other Fallen to guard the Center.

“You know that he is right, even though his way of saying it isn't the nicest,” Myuto said as he walked up to Hokuto and the Vestige let out a sigh and sat down.

“I don’t want to be the one who can’t fight, because I am emotionally unstable,” Hokuto let out, but Myuto knew that he was the strongest of them all over the past weeks.

“It is exactly because we know that you can handle the situation that they want you to stay,” Myuto explained. “Do you really think they would leave you here, knowing that Taiga could show up, if they didn’t think you were strong enough to face him even when they are all out fighting?”

Of course Hokuto had caught up to their behavior too, but the truth was that he was more than afraid of the possibility of facing Taiga. Even worse if he showed up with Taisuke and the remaining Fallen, because then they wouldn’t stand a single chance.

***

“Are you worried for them?” Juri asked while giving Genta a few side glances while driving the truck down the dusty road as fast as possible, while two more trucks with Chasers were following them.

“I’m worried about who they will face,” Genta replied.

“But don’t you think that Taisuke won’t just randomly show up for a distraction?”

“It’s not Taisuke I am worried about,” Genta explained. “We all have our connections to them, but they are Fallen now so no matter what we say or do they won’t listen to us.”

Juri nodded with a knowing look as they had seen how far Myuto had gone even though he knew Taiga. “So you think that some of them might not be able to protect themselves, because they don’t want to fight them.”

It wasn’t a question, it was obvious and Genta nodded. “It’s mostly Shizu and Umi I am worried about. If Senga shows up at the South Center then I fear he won’t know his limits.”

“And let me guess, Shizu is too emotional in case Miyata shows up, so he won’t fight at all.”

Juri’s words had been right and it was of course good that they had Shime and the others with them so they could make sure they were safe, but it was definitely difficult for Genta to not be with them.

“Thank you for joining my team, I know that it’s difficult to fight with others instead of your own group,” Juri said.

“We trained for this long enough. No matter who we face or whom we are with, we all need to stay focused.”

That was indeed the case and that sooner than they thought as they had been still around the last ruins before the open area around the North Center started as their truck hit a hidden mine that shouldn’t be there and got thrown on the roof.

“JURI! GENTA!” Shintaro was heard seconds later as the other trucks had stopped and the Chasers immediately spread carefully around the area, looking for the Fallen and possible other traps.

“All good,” Juri said as he pulled himself out of the truck, while Genta had somehow ended up in the back and Jesse pulled him out unharmed. “Everyone stay on high alert and don’t get out of sight.”

“They knew we would come, so they put traps so that we can’t easily make it to the Center,” Genta hissed.

“Seems like we will be walking from here,” Juri said and told everyone to follow him. He wasn’t going to get scared by a few traps, but it had been a wise decision of Genta to only put the Vestige in the first truck. Now they also had to walk in front to make sure that the Chasers wouldn’t get hurt before the actual fight even started.

***

“Why are we stopping?” Shizu asked, but Shime told them to stand back while he took a wooden bar from the ground and threw it ahead. With a huge explosion a mine on the road got activated and Noel whistled in astonishment.

“As expected of them, so annoying,” Matsuku said, while Shizu had slightly panicked through the explosion.

“Okay, let’s leave the truck here,” Shime announced and started moving forward before he put his hand to his ear. “Kochi, there are mines on the road to the Center and not the ones we know about. The others should get informed as I bet they use them over there too.”

“Too late, they wanted to tell you the same right now,” Kochi was heard from the transmitter.

“Are they alright?”

“Juri’s and Genta’s truck got thrown over, but they are fine.”

“Show offs,” Chaka joked after Shime let them know.

“Is everything alright at the West Center?” Shime asked.

“So far it’s calm,” Kochi replied. “We will update you if anything goes on here, please stay focused on your side.”

“Your focus is indeed needed right now,” Matsuku said as he could of course hear the conversation, but his eyes were straight ahead.

All of them stopped when someone blocked the free space before the Center as they made it out of the last ruins.

“Tama,” Noel let out in a low voice, but the other one didn’t even react as he looked at all the members.

“Two Vestige, the rest are Chasers. Then we are at least even for the number of people who could survive.”

Which meant that the other Fallen was still at the Center and the next moment they heard an explosion from the South Center, which they could see from afar.

“Who is with you?” Shime asked, but Tama only shrugged his shoulders.

“If you get past me you will find out,” Tama challenged them and Shime released one of the Dragnacit blades, giving the others a signal.

There was no time to waste and they hadn’t come without a plan. The moment Shime dashed towards Tama, Noel and Chaka backed him, while Matsuku, Shizu and Umi dashed away from them.

“Oh, fighting unfair? Fine, I can play with you then,” Tama announced and let the others escape towards the Center.

“Noel, whatever happens stay concentrated,” Shime warned the other one.

Luckily Noel wasn’t known for getting too emotional and he knew how risky it was to stand against Tama and not see him as the enemy he was at the moment. With a tight grip his hand landed over the tube with the serum they had brought with them. With them split up it was a good opportunity to try and get at least some of them back on their side if possible.

***

“Okay so the summary is that Juri’s truck got hit by a mine, but they are fine. Unfortunately it took them pretty long to make it on foot to the North Center. They have to face Senga and Yokoo. Shime’s team also encountered trouble. Tama tried to stop them, but they split up and Matsuku’s group is now up against Miyata.”

Hagi’s explanation had them all in silence for a moment, but what else had they expected? They had been almost sure that Taisuke wouldn’t show up at any of those Centers and now they were certain that it was only a distraction.

“I hope they can keep their calm,” Yuma said.

“Must be pretty tough to fight against people who you once knew as friends,” Moro added.

“For them it definitely is, for our kind you know that it doesn’t matter,” Myuto let out a bit too coldly, but he was still a bit bitter about the way he had treated Taiga.

“I will head back to the lab to get more updates from Kochi and Aran,” Hagi announced and Yuma and Moro joined him this time.

“Can we do something? Like seriously anything is fine, but I hate sitting around,” Kentaro complained, but Hokuto didn’t move from the table he was sitting at.

“Go and see how Reo is doing. He is up at the rooftop for hours by now. You could take his place for a while,” Myuto said and while it didn’t sound like an order, Kentaro knew better than not to go.

“Still nothing?” Myuto asked, but Hokuto’s ongoing silence was the reply already.

Myuto knew that there was no meaning in nagging so he leant back and lay down on one of the benches.

“Do you think our Fallen self has shut him out completely?” Hokuto asked after a while of silence.

Myuto thought about it for a moment, but didn’t bother to sit up again. “He shut you out before, right?”

“But they were able to communicate if I got that right,” Hokuto said, his eyes fixed on the white wall with a serious expression.

“You want him to shut Taiga out?”

“I was just thinking, in case the serum was stronger after all…”

There was no need to say it out loud, Myuto understood his worries the best. “I will never forgive myself for all the trouble I have brought up on you and Taiga.”

That was exactly what Hokuto didn’t want Taiga to feel like. So if he had to face his Fallen self then so be it, but what if Taiga was watching everything from the back of his mind, unable to interfere? It would rip him apart.

“Our best chance is the serum for now,” Myuto added. “We can’t say for sure if it will show any effect on Taiga, but Aran said that it should be possible.”

Different from the normal Fallen, Taiga’s DNA was a special case, so it was difficult to tell if he had lost against the original Fallen serum and if their serum could actually turn him back in that case.

“I fear we will soon find out,” Hokuto said in a low voice and this time Myuto moved his head to look at the other one and he could feel that he had tensed. Just seconds later the Fallen alarm went off.

The way Hokuto stood up way too calm didn't match how he was feeling. He was everything but calm, yet he knew that there was no need to panic. At least not yet.

"TAIGA IS HERE," Reo was heard shouting down the corridor before Myuto had even had the chance to ask anything.

"Did he contact you?" Myuto finally asked as he got up too.

"Not like usually. It was more like a feeling," Hokuto replied as he left for the lab where Kentaro and Reo had headed too as well.

"Is he alone?" They heard Kentaro asking.

"Seems like it," Kochi replied.

"What do we do?" Aran asked, but it was a difficult question. When Hokuto and Myuto stepped inside the room, they all looked at Hokuto as if he was the only one who could reply to that question.

"We could all go out and attack?" Kentaro suggested. "I mean just to overpower him in case he can't switch back? Then we can keep him here and give him the serum."

The idea wasn't that bad, they had Hokuto and six Fallen, but…

"He can use the full potential of his instinct now. If he can't switch back then we stand no chance even with our number," Myuto explained.

They kept discussing strategies, while Hokuto looked at the security camera. Taiga casually got closer to the fence until he stopped and looked up at the camera.

"I'll go," Hokuto said and made everyone fall silent.

"If you want to talk to him first then we can back you up and we can stay inside the fence," Kochi offered, but Hokuto shook his head.

"I will go alone. Beyond the fence."

"Now he is in suicide mode," Kentaro complained, but Hokuto was already getting ready to leave and when he picked up the transmitter and weapons from the shelf, Myuto raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do you want to fight him alone?" Myuto asked.

"I don't want to fight at all, I want to talk," Hokuto explained, his heart hammering like crazy in his chest. "But if he doesn't give me a choice, then I'll fight."

"We can't just sit here and watch. If he really is a full Fallen now then he'll kill you," Aran complained.

"In case I want back up I will let you know. For now I want you to stay inside."

"This is ridiculous," Kentaro complained, but Hokuto walked up to him with a serious expression.

"If it was Nika, what would you do?"

The question was left hanging in the room for a while until Kentaro sighed and stepped aside. "Fine, but don't play hero. I know you have hope, but let us know when you can't handle the situation alone. We will make sure to be on standby."

Hokuto nodded gratefully at Kentaro before he gave Kochi another look.

"You know that I won't stop you, but you also know that I won't watch you die out there."

Kochi's words made Hokuto smile and as a member of this Center they wouldn't let anyone die so he needed to bring Taiga back to safety as well.

"Remember what Taiga taught us about the instinct," Myuto said when Hokuto turned to head to the main gate. "You can use your abilities on him if you time it right."

And his abilities were the key to this upcoming fight. As he was already sure that Taiga wasn't here to talk. His look had changed so drastically that Hokuto's legs didn't want to carry him outside at first, but he knew that he had to go. He had to figure out how much was played and how much was lost!

***

"Remember what Taiga told us," Juri warned the others as they had encountered Senga and Yokoo at the North Center. Luckily this time the Center was still standing, but they had already seen heavily wounded Chasers on their way into the Center.

"Yokoo can blind you and Senga can take away your abilities," Genta said.

"Leave Senga to us then," Shintaro said more confident than he was feeling. "Jesse and I trained enough with all the Fallen to be able to handle him."

Juri and Genta exchanged a skeptical look, but they told the other Chasers to take the wounded Chasers out and protect the outside area in case there were any other Fallen around.

"We can handle him, Juri," Jesse said now as well and with a sigh Juri nodded.

"Fine. With two Vestige we have better chances against Yokoo, we'll come to help you as soon as we can."

The two Chasers seemed proud that they were trusted with such a dangerous fight, yet they were of course nervous as well.

"Take care," Genta said as the two dashed down the corridor to the training room where they had seen Senga run off to earlier after a few remaining Chasers had retreated.

Juri and Genta went up the stairs. They could still hear fighting noises when they were close to the roof. On the next staircase they had to jump back as one of the Vestige Yokoo was fighting against was thrown into the wall. Juri immediately took a look at him, but he seemed ready to faint.

"Take a rest, we got you," Juri promised. "Don't follow us if you don't feel like you can help."

The other one just nodded before the others dashed up to the rooftop where the door had been broken through the last attack.

When they arrived at the rooftop they had no time to interfere when Yokoo grabbed the other Vestige by the neck and threw him over the edge of the roof.

Genta reacted immediately and dashed to the front, only able to jump after him because Juri had caught up with the situation as well and blocked Yokoo's way before he could reach Genta.

"Oh how cute, to the rescue? He can definitely need some help though. Falling blindly might be tough for you Vestige."

That was exactly what they had feared that the Vestige had his eyesight taken away, so the fall could easily kill him.

Juri had no time to look if Genta had been able to catch him as he knew that he couldn't get distracted with Yokoo. They didn't know how much recharge time he needed for his special ability so they needed to be careful.

"Tanaka Juri, right?"

It didn't even surprise Juri that they knew about the members of the Centers. All this time they had stayed hidden, but they definitely did their research.

"You are here for a distraction, aren't you?" Juri asked, but Yokoo wouldn't spill their plan that easily.

What Juri hadn't seen coming was Yokoo dashing into an attack without a warning. At first Juri was able to jump back, but the other one was faster than him. At the last second Juri grabbed the other one's wrist before he could put his hand on his eyes.

"I see, you are aware of our abilities? I wonder why?"

This time it was Juri who remained silent. Taiga's telepathy needed to stay a secret for as long as possible.

With a side glance Juri looked at the rooftop entrance, but again Yokoo attacked and ripped his wrist free, giving Juri a heavy shockwave, which almost threw him off the roof.

"Can't handle me by yourself?" Yokoo asked as he was aware of the fact that Juri hoped for Genta to get back up to them soon.

"We have no time to play around with you," Juri growled, but alone he wouldn't be able to get the upper hand easily.

To not waste time though he jumped into an attack this time and was able to push Yokoo a bit to the back, but his special ability made it difficult to stay close for long. Another shockwave crushed him into the edge of the rooftop and he was finally able to have a look down, but no one was there anymore on this side so Genta and the other Vestige should be fine.

"Juri, are you able to talk?" Kochi's voice was heard over the transmitter.

"What is it? I'm quite busy," Juri replied as he got up and had his eyes on Yokoo who approached him slowly.

"Taiga showed up."

"Alone?" Juri asked.

"Yes. Hokuto went out to him."

Juri could only shook his head on hearing that, but he of course understood why Hokuto risked this much to talk to him alone.

"Update me if anything goes wrong. We're trying to get back as soon as we can."

"You won't get back at all," Yokoo said with a lopsided sneer as he could of course hear what was said on the transmitter.

"Concentrate on your fight. We'll update you," Kochi said before Juri was able to concentrate back and that just in time, because Yokoo seemed to have gotten even faster and Juri ran out of places to run to. He could of course jump off the roof, but then Genta would get delayed even more and the other Chasers were also somewhere down there and he didn't want to risk involving them.

"Worry about yourself," Yokoo said as he had obviously realized that Juri had a lot to think about while fighting, but that was also what made it difficult to concentrate.

This time Juri somehow managed to push the other one on distance with a shockwave, but Yokoo didn't seem much affected by it. He used his chance nevertheless and tried to somehow get the upper hand and Yokoo started backing off. In matters of strength Juri was able to keep up with him, but Yokoo was faster. There was a moment of hesitation in Yokoo's next attack and Juri sent him right into the wall next to the broken door. But what he hadn't seen coming was Genta showing up at the rooftop at exactly that moment.

"Genta, watch out!"

Juri's warning came too late as Genta had dashed out the moment Yokoo had gotten up again and the older one jumped on him before Juri could reach them.

It was such a short moment, yet the damage had been done. Yokoo had used a shockwave while jumping, to crush Genta into the ground and just for a second his hand had landed on the other one's face before Juri tried to kick Yokoo off him so that the older one was forced to back off.

"That wasn't how I wanted this to go," Genta growled as he sat up and put one hand to his face.

"Can you see?" Juri asked, but the other one shook his head.

"Now this is going to get interesting," Yokoo said with an entertained look as he got ready to attack once more and Juri dashed to the front as well, yet at the last second Yokoo jumped away and aimed for Genta instead.

***

Even when the heavy front gate opened Taiga didn’t move an inch. He was standing on a safe distance from the fence, of course also aware of the fact that they had weapons on the roof so if he made his way too close to the building he could get into trouble.

“Promise me to not play hero,” Kochi said over the transmitter as he closed the main gate and kept watching with the others from the lab.

“As long as you don’t rush out here before I tell you to,” Hokuto replied as he waited for the fence gate to open.

“Show off,” Kentaro was heard in the back.

After Hokuto had stepped outside the safe area of the Center, the fence gate closed behind him, leaving him alone against Taiga who showed him a calm smile.

“What a welcome,” Taiga said, but still didn’t move. Hokuto stopped at a safe distance, not sure what to expect from the other one.

“You told me that you were coming,” Hokuto said and while Taiga didn’t let out anything that would confirm it, there was also no confusion on his face, so Hokuto was sure that he hadn’t imagined the small input he had gotten right before the alarm had gone off. So there was hope, wasn’t there?

“What do you want?”

“Oh, no how are you? What did Taisuke do to you? And here I thought you’d come running at me and throw your arms around me.”

“Definitely not around you,” Hokuto replied, making Taiga laugh in a way he had never heard him laugh before and it gave him unpleasant shivers.

“And here we went through so much until now, so ungrateful, aren’t you?”

The Fallen self’s behavior was as always so it was difficult to say if he was putting up an act or if he had played them after all and had taken full control of Taiga’s body and the instinct.

“Where is Taisuke?” Hokuto asked this time and Taiga pouted on the ongoing questions.

“Are you jealous or why do you want to know?”

“Could it be that you are also just here for a distraction?” Hokuto asked, this time a bit skeptical, because that could mean that Taisuke had planned something bigger. Maybe going directly to the Main Center? Nika and Kitayama hadn’t shown up at any Center either, so they were either also on the move or they were on back up in case things wouldn’t work out.

The brief moment in which Hokuto was trying to figure out if they had miscalculated was enough for Taiga to close the distance between them at a speed that made Hokuto gasp as the other one reached out for him. Instead of an attack though, Taiga put his hand on the other one’s face and gave him a rushed kiss.

There were several reasons for Hokuto’s immediate reaction of pushing the other one away. First, the Fallen self only did this as a mocking and if it wasn’t Taiga’s body he would have punched him already and second, he was of course aware of Taiga’s mind reading and mind control abilities.

“Poor sports,” Taiga let out with a played disappointed expression as he brushed his thumb over his bottom lip. “I guess Taisuke gets the points for being the better kisser then.”

The expression Hokuto showed on that statement made Taiga burst out laughing once more, but this time Hokuto had enough and he went in the offensive and to his surprise he was able to tackle Taiga down, but the way the other one didn’t even try to defend himself made clear that he was just playing around. Hokuto sat on top of him and took him by the collar, but again Taiga only smiled. “Jealous after all? Feel free to look for yourself if I am lying or not.”

First Hokuto wanted to yell at him, maybe finally punch him, but then he realized what Taiga had just offered. Was he for real? Why would he let Hokuto in his mind?

“I won’t offer this again,” Taiga said, fisting Hokuto’s shirt around his chest to pull him down. “Your choice.”

Calculating his chances of this being some kind of trap, Hokuto reached out for the other one’s face. He didn’t even want to see that one moment Taiga had talked about, but if he wanted to find out what was going on at their hideout then he had to look through it all, but his anger just rose at the way Taisuke was playing around with Taiga’s poisoned mind as he relived Taiga’s memories.

“You are so slow at getting hints.”

The voice that echoed in his mind made him jolt or maybe he just jolted inside his mind, which was also a weird feeling as he was somehow part of the memory he was watching and Taiga was standing next to him, while he was also still part of the memory. Hokuto looked forth and back between them, but while Taisuke and Taiga just left the room and the memory changed to the talk in the lab, the other Taiga remained next to him with crossed arms and an annoyed look.

“I don’t have much time to explain. So here is the summary. I can’t use our telepathy as openly as before, Taisuke will notice now that we are connected. So I can only give you small hints like before when I arrived. This mind reading memory won’t be accessible to him as you are the one actually doing it. I just combined your mind reading with the telepathy.”

“So you are in control after all? Where is Taiga?” Hokuto asked, finally catching up to the situation.

“Taiga is trapped in the back of our mind. As long as the serum is active it’s too dangerous for him to take control. The instinct will swallow him whole. I am barely able to stay in control.”

“Why did you come here?” Hokuto asked, knowing that this was his only chance to get explanations.

“Taisuke gave me a mission and I need you to form a plan with me, so that we can all get out of this alive.”

There was not much time to mistrust his Fallen self. After all, the instinct could have also taken over and used their memories to create a lie, but somehow Hokuto’s connection to his Fallen self was still strong enough to believe that this was real.

“I need you to play along from now on, no matter how difficult it is, okay? Taisuke will get to know about it all and even a small mistake will cost me his trust.”

Hokuto only nodded, listening to Taiga’s plan and as much as he knew that it would hurt a lot of them at first, it was to save them all in the end!

Musen 28 - January

“Shizu, for god’s sake, concentrate!”

The boy wanted to, but the moment they had walked right into Miyata, his will to fight had left him. Not that Matsuku and Umi would wait for him to get a grip as Miyata had just proven right in front of their eyes that he was as ruthless as Taisuke and the two dead Chasers in front of him were the best proof of that.

They had heard from some injured Chasers that two of their three Vestige had not been present at the Center at the attack. One was on his way back from a mission and another one was at the Main Center. But the fact that they didn’t spot the remaining Vestige didn’t mean anything good.

Matsuku took the lead and attacked straight on, making sure to get Miyata away from the injured Chasers next to a collapsed wall where they had most likely thrown a bomb to make the Center’s gates crumble.

“Umi, back me up,” Matsuku shouted and made use of his speed, through which he was able to land a hit on Miyata, which crushed him into the wall at the end of the narrow corridor ahead of them.

The moment Miyata wanted to counter and had his focus on Matsuku, Umi threw a Dragnacit knife from behind, missing Matsuku’s face by inches and hitting Miyata right into the shoulder.

“If you think those toys will help you, then you came way too unprepared,” Miyata laughed and drew the knife out, just to throw it right back at them, but Matsuku was faster and caught it before it could hit Umi. They didn’t have much time to relax though as Miyata went right into the next attack, forcing Matsuku to back away as he couldn’t make much use out of his speed in the corridor. Umi tried to dash back first, knowing that if he got trapped in between them, Matsuku wouldn’t be able to fight. But the next moment Miyata had gotten a grip on Matsuku and used a shockwave to crush him right into the ground and jump at Umi who drew his hilt, but was stopped right before it touched the bracelet.

“Nice try,” Miyata laughed at him, but was forced to let go when Umi let himself drop to the ground and kicked upwards. The next moment Miyata let out a curse and Matsuku, who had been back on his feet, fell back down with his hands covering his ears.

Using the Cricket while Matsuku was present wasn’t the best move, but for now it was his only chance and he got his blade out this time and lunged out for Miyata. The other one was still able to jump away, but he received a heavy cut on the shoulder. The moment the distance was big enough for Umi to get away he picked up the Cricket and closed it again, giving Matsuku a moment to recover as well.

“You’ll pay for that,” Miyata growled at him, but it wasn’t easy for him to get back up, but the same had happened to Matsuku so he had to leave it to Umi for now. Ready to dash into another attack Umi lifted his blade, but he got stopped by an insecure grip on his arm.

“Shizu, this is not the time to get emotional,” Umi warned him, but Shizu gave him a serious look.

“Give me at least one chance, okay?” His voice didn’t sound begging, yet he also didn’t seem confident as he reached out for the metal tube on his belt.

“Even wounded he is still dangerous,” Umi reminded him.

“You’re talking too much,” Miyata let out and dashed at them as he had recovered from the effects of the Cricket. 

Umi pushed Shizu out of the way as Miyata dashed right at them and he got thrown to the ground, his blade landing a few meters away from him. Matsuku took a run up at them and was almost fast enough to reach Miyata in time, but just almost. The heavy shockwave Umi had to take in on such a short distance made him turn on his stomach and cough blood, right after Matsuku had tackled Miyata off him. Kochi had offered them some suits, but they had left them with the West Center members just in case of a direct attack.

Matsuku got ready to attack again after he had been pushed away, but a Dragnacit arrow landed in the back of Miyata’s shoulder, making him curse and turn towards Shizu. “Too weak to fight close combat?” Miyata mocked and the comment hurt more than it should. Shizu knew that he shouldn’t get this affected as Miyata still remembered him of course, yet he didn’t care and that was the difference to the caring person he once was.

Matsuku attacked once more, but now they had made Miyata more than angry and he pulled the arrow out and slammed Matsuku into the wall before the sank the arrow right into his thigh, making the other one scream out before he was thrown off his feet by another shockwave. A second arrow flew right past his face and opened a small cut on his cheek and this time Miyata let out a dangerous growl as he turned back to Shizu.

“You do have a death wish, don’t you?”

Shizu didn’t reply anything, instead he drew the bowstring back once more with slightly shaking hands. Miyata only had to move his head slightly to dodge the next arrow and then he started running towards the other one who threw the bow to the ground at the last second.

“Shizu, what the hell are you doing?” Matsuku yelled at him and Umi tried to get up to help, but he had at least a few broken ribs and was unable to get up.

Shizu hadn’t tried to stop the other one from attacking. He had actually attacked as well, but his plan had miserably failed.

“Oh, I remember this tube,” Miyata said as he looked at the metal tube in Shizu’s hand, which Miyata was taking a hold of right in front of his collarbone. “Did you really think it would be this easy? We know what this serum can do and we’re not going to become your new puppets.”

“You are a puppet already,” Shizu let out with more disgust and disappointment than he thought he could ever feel towards the other one.

“Then let me show you how good I move on my strings,” Miyata said and yanked Shizu’s arm to the back, making the other one hiss and let the tube drop. Miyata immediately stepped on it, breaking the canister. Instead of releasing Shizu, he pushed his arm even more into a weird position, making Shizu scream out as his arm was about to break. Luckily the next second Matsuku jumped between them and hit a shockwave, which made Miyata end up crashing through a metal door at the side of the corridor.

Shizu went down on one knee and held his arm in pain, before he hit the floor with his other hand. He knew that the serum wasn’t that easily used on them, but them even knowing about the serum meant their chances of succeeding were even less.

“Umi, Shizu, are you there?” Kochi’s voice was heard over their transmitters.

“Kochi, what is it. Any updates?”

“I wanted updates from you, but Shime just yelled that he can’t talk and Matsuku is not responding.”

“Matsuku is busy with Miyata,” Umi let out.

“Are you two okay?” Kochi asked.

“Not really, I have some broken ribs and Shizu has a hurt arm, but we need to hurry after Matsuku.”

“I heard that one of their Vestige is close, so maybe he can help out soon. The other one won’t make it back that soon unfortunately.”

“We can use any help,” Shizu replied as he carefully got up on unsteady feet. “How is the situation at the West Center?”

“Taiga showed up, but while things started calmly, it has escalated now,” Kochi explained, the worry clearly in his voice.

“Hokuto went out to talk to him and he made us promise to not interfere until he needs us, but…”

“But you think that he needs you and he is still not saying anything?” Umi concluded. “Is Taiga attacking him?”

“Taiga is ripping him apart,” Kentaro was heard from the back. “I’ve to say it’s an interesting fight, but I want to have some fun as well.”

The next moment they could hear Kentaro curse and Myuto scolding him, so he had most likely gotten hit by the other one.

“We will try to get back as soon as we can. Make sure none of them dies,” Shizu said as Umi was up as well, ready to head after Matsuku.

“Same for you. Prioritize your own fight for now! Don’t be reckless.”

“We have the reckless part already behind us,” Umi said and gave Shizu a scolding look.

***

“He will kill him,” Myuto said in a way too neutral voice as they all remained petrified in front of the screen after out of nowhere Taiga had attacked Hokuto. As expected the Vestige didn’t stand a chance.

“Are you sure he doesn’t want us to interfere?” Moro asked, but Kochi shook his head.

“Let’s wait a bit longer.”

“A bit might be already too long,” Aran said, but of course he wouldn’t go against Hokuto’s request, but it was still difficult for them to remain calm while Taiga seemed more than serious about killing Hokuto.

“Is there something about Taiga that makes you want to wait?” Myuto asked and Kochi slowly nodded.

“You said that Hokuto somehow realized he was approaching, right? So the telepathy might still be intact.”

“But what if it’s just a distraction? Something he can still use even when swallowed by the instinct just so that he can pretend to be on Hokuto’s side so he will let his guard down, because that is how it looks to me,” Reo said.

“That could be indeed the case as well, but there is one more point,” Kochi said. “The minefield.”

“What’s about it?” Moro asked impatiently. “We went through it as well.”

“Not without my mine detector,” Aran realized and then his look changed. “Taiga remembers.”

“So what he knows the way through the minefield and he can still use the telepathy, but it’s not like he has lost his memory through the serum, did he?” Yuma replied.

“I know, but while it’s just a small hope I think that instead of a trap there is just something going on we still haven’t figured out yet.”

Kochi kept his eyes on the screen with a thoughtful expression, but he couldn’t wait much longer as Hokuto’s chances of getting out alive if this was indeed a trap were less than zero.

“What is it, already getting tired?” Taiga asked, but instead of a reply, Hokuto could only get up on his elbows and knees and let out a painful cough. “And here you stood a chance against me before when I was threatening your oh so happy relationship. Where is that energy now?”

Hokuto bit the inside of his cheek way too hard on that comment and with the taste of his own blood in his mouth he dashed to the front once more. None of his attacks would even get close to Taiga and the other one was obviously still only playing around while Hokuto wasn’t holding back. Their strength and speed was way too different to call this an even fight.

When Hokuto’s try to hit a shockwave ended as all his tries before and Taiga didn’t take any damage, the older one let out another laugh before he grabbed Hokuto’s wrist and tightened his grip so much that Hokuto was forced on his knees with a hiss.

“Remember when Myuto did this to you and you weren’t strong enough to handle him? Now I wonder why you even try fighting me.”

“You are not invincible,” Hokuto let out between heavy breaths. When Taiga pulled him back up on hearing that, Hokuto almost lost balance, but Taiga pulled him closer so that they were standing so close that Taiga was able to lean over to his ear.

“But I will live longer than you, that is for sure,” Taiga whispered. “And what’s with all you down there in the lab? Do you enjoy seeing Hokuto suffer or why do you hide?”

First there was no reply, but with Taiga’s next move they finally interfered as Taiga bit Hokuto harshly onto the neck, making the other one scream out, but he was unable to push Taiga away.

“Taiga, for god’s sake, stop!” Kochi yelled over the transmitter and the one in question pulled back with a loud laugh, blood dripping from his mouth corners, while Hokuto fell to his knees, his whole body shaking. Taiga crouched down next to him and grabbed him by the hair, pulling his head a bit to the side.

“Then come out here. I bet the others want to rip me apart by now.”

“Oh I will gladly do that,” Kentaro was heard in the back.

“Shut it, Kentaro,” Aran warned him.

“Oh so harsh,” Taiga said. “But you know what. A challenge is exactly what I want, so bring it Kentaro. I am waiting.”

First silence followed his statement, but then Taiga stood up and kicked Hokuto to the ground, stepping on his ribs, breaking at least one with that move. With a groan Hokuto reached out for Taiga’s leg and tried to make him step off him, but on that move Taiga lifted his leg once more and this time Hokuto’s scream was interrupted by blood filling his mouth and he had to turn to cough it out.

“I am waiting or do I need to kill him first so that you come out?”

“I will fight him,” Myuto was heard.

“Shouldn’t we all go? It’s clear that he will totally kill us all if he gets the chance,” Hagi said.

“You are totally right,” Taiga said as he crouched down once more and let his pointer finger wander over Hokuto’s face, the other one shivering under his touch, but he was unable to even lift an arm. “But I chose my opponent already. If you send anyone else, then I will kill Hokuto the moment I see someone else stepping out of the gates.

“I have enough, open the gates,” Kentaro said, but of course Kochi and also Aran immediately complained. But then Taiga clicked his tongue in an annoyed manner. “You really know how to take away the fun. Fine, then I will give you a time limit.”

With that statement Taiga put one leg over Hokuto and sat down on his hips before he played with the other one’s sweaty hair strands for a moment before he placed a short kiss on his forehead. “Let’s see if they will risk their lives for you, shall we?”

Hokuto realized what Taiga was up to when he let his hands slide down to his neck and he immediately had his hands on the other one’s wrists, but there was no chance of overpowering him and in barely seconds he started struggling for air.

“What do you think, how long does he have? A minute? Maybe two?”

“Kochi, open the gates, now!” Kentaro yelled and this time Kochi didn’t have any arguments left.

“Hard to breathe?” Taiga asked with a mocking smile when Hokuto lifted one hand up to Taiga’s head and got a grip on his hair, but the other one didn’t even move on his desperate attempt to make him let go. To make it even more painful for Hokuto, Taiga closed his knees, causing pressure on Hokuto’s broken ribs, but he had no air left to scream out.

Seconds later they heard the gates open and Taiga looked up with a satisfied expression as Kentaro dashed towards the fence.

“LET GO OF HIM,” Kentaro shouted and almost got himself injured at the fence as it didn’t open fast enough.

“Make me,” Taiga challenged, but Kentaro was obviously more than willing to do so as he jumped at Taiga without any hesitation and forced him off Hokuto, who immediately took a deep unsteady breath, interrupted by another painful cough.

“Kentaro...get away from him…” Hokuto warned the other one, but Kentaro knew of course that being on a close range with Taiga was dangerous and after he had landed on the ground, on top of Taiga, he immediately tried to land a punch, but Taiga was of course trying to reach out for him, so Kentaro jumped up and went on distance.

“Silence on the substitute bench,” Kentaro complained and Hokuto couldn’t even argue as it was hard enough to talk in the first place.

“So let’s see if you can entertain me a bit. You sucked against Taisuke let’s find out if you can even stand the slightest chance against me.”

“I’ll make you regret this arrogant behavior,” Kentaro hissed at him. “I almost killed you several times already, I can do it for real this time.”

“Now I hope these are not just empty words, because I am really looking forward to you trying,” Taiga said and dashed into the next attack first.

***

"Nice try," Senga said after he had stopped Shintaro's blade midair and kicked the other one into the wall.

Jesse remained on distance as he had already lost one blade and had a heavily bleeding head injury after Senga had used a shockwave on such a short distance to the wall that it was a miracle that he hadn't blacked out. They had left the Ex2 suits with the West Center members, so their heads were still vulnerable with the ExD suits, but they still had better chances as without them.

"For Chasers you're really tough," Senga praised him before he grabbed the blade on both ends and shattered the second blade.

Both of the boys still had one blade left, but that was it. Senga had been aware of the serum and the Cricket and had gotten rid of them right at the start, leaving the two boys out of options.

"Jesse, are you two okay?" Juri was heard over the transmitter.

"More or less. How is it going up there?" Jesse replied, not taking his eyes of Senga who walked over to Shintaro who was luckily back on his feet and drew his last hilt.

"Genta is blinded, so I fear we'll need a bit longer up here, but the Center’s Vestige is back on his feet."

"No worries, concentrate on your fight. We'll be fine."

That's what Jesse hoped at least. Because Senga was as strong as Myuto and he was the strongest Fallen they had trained with so far. If there were even stronger Fallen in their group then he wondered if they even stood a chance all together.

A scream from Shintaro made Jesse finally dash to the front as Senga had gotten a grip on the blade and had stabbed Shintaro with it in the shoulder.

Even though Senga had his back towards Jesse he kicked to the back. Jesse blocked the kick with the blade, but was still forced to step back and this time Senga turned his attention to him. Unable to land even one clear hit with his blade, Jesse was forced to keep retreating until he hit the wall. Senga lunged out for a punch, which hit the wall after Jesse had ducked away, but the next second he got a blow with a knee to the stomach and at the same moment Senga grabbed his hand, forcing him to turn the blade right back at himself. The force Senga used was too much to stop him from bringing the blade close to his neck so Jesse put his other arm in between the blade and his neck.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Senga mocked and put so much pressure that the blade cut deeply into Jesse's arm. Luckily Senga was forced to jump away when Shintaro lunged out for him from the back and this time he at least hit the Fallen on the arm.

"Fine, you seem to want to play serious," Senga said with a darker look this time. "Let's see how long you can survive."

***

Their teamwork was the only thing that made it possible for them to overpower Tama, but a single mistake could cost them greatly, so Shime tried to keep the focus on himself as much as possible.

Chaka jumped at Tama from the side after Shime had taken in a shockwave on purpose. Tama barely moved out of the way before the blade hit the ground, but he immediately kicked Chaka so that Shime had to catch him. Noel hit a strike on Tama's back next, but the Fallen immediately swirled around and grabbed the other one by the neck before he could get away.

"And here you were so much against violence before," Tama laughed at him, but Noel lunged out again so that Tama had to let go.

"And you weren't?" Noel asked, lifting his blade once more, but his attack was fake as Shime jumped between them the next second, taking Tama by surprise and hitting a shockwave.

Chaka had waited for that move and stabbed the blade down before Tama could get up again. The Fallen somehow avoided a fatal hit, but the blade still sank deeply into his body.

Tama was faster when Chaka tried to pull back and kicked his legs, getting a hold on the blade at the same time.

"Chaka!" Shime shouted and tried to make it in time, but Tama had turned the blade around already and pierced it into Chaka's upper body.

Shime reached them in time to kick the blade out of Tama's hand before he could sink it even deeper. He had been too close though to avoid Tama jumping up and going for him this time.

"Playtime is over," Tama hissed and slammed Shime into the ground. Noel was right next to them the next second, but Tama hit a shockwave on Shime to keep him down before he turned to Noel and ripped the blade out of the other one's hand with such a speed that Noel couldn't even get on distance when Tama turned it towards him.

"You really thought I'm that easily defeated?" Tama asked as he had obviously just played them so that they thought they had gotten the upper hand.

Shime was up on his feet once more, but then he froze when he saw Noel's wide eyes. Tama was right in front of him, but the blade was now in Tama's hand and it was painfully visible on the back of Noel's body.

"NOEL!" Shime shouted out for him and Tama drew the blade out before Shime could reach them.

"You'll never be strong enough to beat us," Tama said as he stepped closer to Noel, who was unable to even move and would have fallen if Tama hadn't put his hand to his shoulder.

"We don't want to beat you. We want to rescue you," Noel let out in a weak voice, tears of pain and anger shining in his eyes.

"So arrogant as always," Tama laughed at him.

Even though it didn't make much sense anymore, Noel reached out for the serum with shaking hands, but Tama only watched him with a mocking smile and the moment he lifted it up he stepped back so that Noel lost balance and fell to his knees, the serum landing in front of him.

"I'll show you that this arrogance can save you," Noel whispered before he fell unconsciously to the ground.

Shime jumped at Tama next, but the other one got the upper hand after a moment and kicked Shime away. With a panicked expression Shime looked at Noel who was losing way too much blood and Chaka wasn't moving either.

Right before Tama was dashing into the next attack there was the sound of a firework exploding and they both looked towards the forest at the border of the Capitol where one dusty line was visible in the air.

"Guess this time you were lucky enough to survive," Tama said before he retreated without any further explanation.

"Noel, can you hear me?" Shime asked as he sat down next to the other one as he was sure that Tama had really retreated.

As there was no reply, Shime hurried to take his jacket off and put it over the wound of his stomach.

"Chaka! Chaka, please wake up!" Shime yelled over to him and luckily he got a groan out of the other one.

"I'm fine," Chaka replied in a shaking voice, but he was only able to turn on his back and he also had a heavily bleeding wound, so they needed to make sure that their wounds got treated fast. Shime started healing Noel, but he needed to hurry.

"SHIME!"

On Matsuku's voice, Shime turned towards the South Center as the other Vestige ran over to him.

"Where are Shizu and Umi?" Shime asked as Matsuku went over to Chaka to help stop the bleeding.

"They are with the remaining Chasers at their medical station. Miyata retreated without any explanation."

"Same with Tama. That firework was definitely a sign for them to head back," Shime said before he looked up at the other direction where two trucks came into sight.

"What a timing," Matsuku let out as one of the Vestige and several Chasers from the South Center had finally made it back, but were too late to actually help.

"Aran, are you there?"

"Yes, are you okay?" Aran asked, but his unsteady voice made Shime and Matsuku exchange a worried look.

"More or less. The Fallen retreated on a signal coming from the forest. How is it going at your Center?"

"Not that good. Taiga almost killed Hokuto and is now fighting against Kentaro, but it doesn't look good."

"Why are you not all going against him?" Matsuku asked as he lifted up Chaka to get ready to head inside to treat their wounds.

"Hokuto is still out there and he threatened to kill him if anyone else showed up at the gate."

"What the hell is Taisuke up to," Shime hissed, but he knew that they couldn't be of any help for now.

"We'll keep you updated. Please make sure to treat everyone first and come back when everyone is safe," Aran said. For now it was too dangerous to get any back up. They wouldn't risk Hokuto's life over trying to somehow beat Taiga. If that was even possible.

Musen 28 - January

"Are they all okay?" Reo asked after Aran fell back in his chair with a sigh.

"More or less. Some are badly wounded, some Chasers of the South Center died and they even killed a Vestige."

"And that all for a stupid distraction," Yuma let out annoyed.

"Yokoo and Senga also left on the same signal," Kochi explained a moment later after Juri had contacted them. "And that just in time, because Genta got blinded and Juri had quite a tough fight, but managed thanks to the North Center’s Vestige while Jesse and Shintaro somehow stayed alive against Senga."

"Then what is Taiga up to?" Myuto asked and kept watching the screen. "He didn't react to the signal."

"I fear we will soon find out," Kochi explained.

With a curse Kentaro was forced to jump back again as he just couldn't find any opening to get any of his abilities working against Taiga.

"Having trouble?" Taiga asked as he wasn't even out of breath while Kentaro had already gotten some heavy hits.

"So funny," Kentaro shot back. "You're the one who told us-"

Before Kentaro could end his sentence Taiga had taken a run up at him and slammed him with his back into the ground. He tried to keep his hand on his face, but Kentaro struggled with all his might so that he wouldn't get mind controlled.

"Stubborn, aren't you," Taiga complained before he let the other one break free just to kick him right next to Hokuto.

Kentaro got ready to dash into his next attack when Hokuto pulled him down by the sleeve and whispered something in such a low voice that even Taiga couldn't hear it on that distance.

With a confused look Kentaro faced Hokuto, but he didn't have time to say anything as Taiga dashed up to him and sent him flying with another shockwave.

This time Kentaro yelled some inaudible curses before he went straight at Taiga, both of them trying to get the upper hand, ending with them standing face to face, their hands trying to break the other one's arms in a pushing battle.

"So confident. Do you really think you could overpower me?"

"Shut up, if you keep playing around like this I will find an opening to punch the shit out of you."

Taiga's look changed just for a split second on hearing that and then his eyes went dark. So dark that even Kentaro knew that playtime was over.

From one second to the other Taiga got the upper hand and he put so much pressure on Kentaro's wrists that the other one screamed out and went to his knees. "If you don't want to play anymore then I guess it's time for you to see how real fighting looks like."

Taiga released the other one, just to grab him by the hair and slam him head first into the ground. Before Kentaro could get his orientation back, Taiga put his hand on his back and sent a shockwave through his body, making the other one cough out blood.

"Now where is your confidence?" Taiga laughed at him and forced the other one on his back so that he could put his hand on his face. What he hadn't seen coming was Hokuto tackling him off the other one and trying to keep him down.

"What an unnecessary rescue move," Taiga complained and kicked Hokuto off him. The Vestige was barely able to get up into a standing position again and he looked over to Kentaro who struggled as well.

A second firework made them all look over to the forest and Taiga formed a lopsided sneer.

"I guess now it's really time to end this."

"Why? Are you running away now like the others too?" Kentaro mocked him as he got back up on unsteady feet.

The next second Taiga was already right in front of him, so fast that Hokuto hadn't even seen the movement and Kentaro could only gasp.

"I will, but not alone."

Kentaro saw the movement and he tried to jump back, but after an unsuccessful try to make his abilities work against Taiga when the younger one got a grip on his collar, there was no time for Kentaro to react when he felt the sharp pain of an injection on the side of his neck.

Taiga stepped away casually while Kentaro lifted one hand to his neck. "What did you do?"

"You'll know soon," Taiga mocked and seconds later Kentaro fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

"Taiga, what the hell did you do?" Hokuto yelled and tried to reach Kentaro, but Taiga stopped him and pulled him closer on the collar. "If I were you, I wouldn't approach him now, that could cost you a lot."

Hokuto lunged out for a punch and to his surprise Taiga didn't dodge and let go of him. While Hokuto went down on his knees next to Kentaro, Taiga put his hand up to his own face.

"Time to leave," Taiga said after Kentaro's screams had calmed down, but he didn't move.

"Kentaro, can you hear me?" Hokuto asked, but when the other one sat up, there was just a blank stare ahead for a few seconds.

"Kentaro, I said let's go," Taiga said a bit impatient and this time the one in question got up, but Hokuto blocked his way when he wanted to walk over to Taiga.

"What are you doing? Snap out of it."

But he didn't and the next moment Kentaro grabbed Hokuto by the neck, making the other one gasp for air.

"You don't tell me what to do, worthless Vestige," Kentaro spit out before he crushed Hokuto into the ground with a satisfied expression. "Damn, I can't believe you made me go through such a weak phase. What was I thinking when I took that stupid serum."

"What…" Hokuto whispered as he understood what had happened. "That serum was the original Fallen serum?"

"Bright spark," Taiga said as he walked up to Kentaro and put his arm around his shoulder. "Today I unfortunately don't have time to play with more of you, but thanks to you we have one more strong comrade now."

Once more Hokuto tried to get up when Kentaro was about to leave like this with Taiga, but Kentaro immediately turned towards him and used his special ability on him. With a scream Hokuto went on his knees, but Kentaro wouldn't stop. Luckily Taiga forced him to let go of Hokuto in time before he could actually try and kill him.

"Don't waste your time with him. Who knows maybe we can turn him into a Fallen at some point too," Taiga said and gave Hokuto another arrogant look when he put his hand under the other one's chin. "If he survives until we meet again."

With that Taiga shoved Hokuto to the back and he was unable to get back up. All he could do was watch the two Fallen dash away from the Center.

Hokuto’s body was ready to give up on him, but he knew that he couldn’t faint, not yet. Seconds later he heard the gates opening and he turned on his stomach, seeing how Myuto and the others dashed out of the security fence. While Aran and Kochi were aiming for him, the Fallen were obviously trying to get after Taiga and Kentaro.

“Myuto, don’t go after them!” Hokuto shouted over to them.

“What are you saying? We are not going to let them get away,” Reo shouted over to him while Myuto had stopped.

“Myuto, come on. Together we can stop them,” Yuma shouted as well, but at least Myuto seemed still calm enough to read the situation.

“If you follow them, then the plan won’t work out,” Hokuto let out between heavy breaths while Kochi and Aran helped him sit up.

“What plan?” Hagi asked as he and the others also finally stopped, but still kept looking towards the area behind the minefield where Taiga and Kentaro were already out of sight.

“Taiga is in control,” Hokuto said, making them all look at him in confusion.

“I hoped for that, but how can he be in control? He almost killed you,” Kochi argued, but Hokuto shook his head.

“It was an act. Taisuke will mind read him later so he had to put up a real fight or Taisuke will know.”

“But why did he take Kentaro?” Moro asked.

“Taisuke told him to bring a new comrade, but it was Taiga’s choice who he would bring.”

“Wait,” Myuto said as he walked up to him and told the others to not chase after them as it was too late now anyway. “How do you know all of this? If Taiga told you directly then Taisuke will know, won’t he?”

“I mind read Taiga and his Fallen self was able to communicate with me in my mind so that Taisuke has no access to that memory. We came up with a plan at that time.”

“So he decided to take Kentaro, but why?” Aran asked.

“Because there is more to this plan and having Kentaro on their side makes more sense,” Hokuto explained, but it got difficult for him to keep explaining.

“But if he is in control why didn’t he just stay here with us? Taisuke isn’t close, right?” Reo asked, but Hokuto shook his head.

“They would immediately come to attack if they figured out that Taiga was still on our side.”

“And even though the Fallen self is in control of Taiga’s body right now he tries to help create an opening in Taisuke’s group so that we can rescue them eventually,” Kochi concluded when Hokuto couldn’t keep his eyes open.

“Let’s talk about everything when the others are back. For now we can’t do anything, right?” Aran asked and Hokuto nodded, forcing himself to look up towards the forest once more.

“We have to get ready, because Taiga will give us an opportunity to attack.”

***

Shime had his hands full healing everyone after they had come back from the South Center and luckily Juri’s condition was good enough to help him transfer some energy so that he could heal more people. Noel and Chaka had offered to help at the South Center for now and return later while Matsuku, Shizu and Umi had made their way back to the West Center.

Juri and Genta also returned without the Chasers, as they had also offered to help out at the North Center and Shintaro and Jesse had stayed there as well for now.

“I’m fine, don’t use all your energy on me,” Hokuto complained as Shime kept healing him, even though he would be fine in two or three days by himself.

“We need to get ready, right? And if you are not at full strength then we are in trouble as well,” Shime said, but remained on the chair next to Hokuto’s bed as he also needed to take it slow after he had used his ability way too much already.

“I got everyone here, so no need to get up,” Kochi said as he walked into the room, followed by Juri and the others. Juri sat down on Hokuto’s bed and squeezed his hand, but didn’t say anything, while Reo jumped on an empty infirmary bed. Shizu and Umi sat down next to him, while Myuto and the other Fallen remained closer to the door. Genta’s blindness had finally faded away as well and he stopped next to Kochi and Aran.

“So what is up with that plan,” Juri asked, now that everyone was there to listen. The remaining members could get told later.

“As I explained before, Taisuke will mind read Taiga later as he didn’t trust him fully yet, so any small mistake could cost his cover.”

When Hokuto remained silent for a moment, Juri gave his hand another squeeze. “Did anything not go as planned?”

With a sigh Hokuto nodded. “I made the mistake and told Taiga before the mind reading that he told me that he was coming. I didn’t know about his plan at that time, so Taisuke will most likely get suspicious about that part. He doesn’t know about the telepathy yet, but Taiga can also not use it that freely now that Taisuke used the serum with their blood.”

“So their blood was mixed in after all,” Myuto said with a worried expression. “Taiga will need to be on top of his game if he doesn’t want Taisuke to know that he is still overpowering the instinct and the serum.”

“That’s why we put up the most believable fight after getting up with that plan. Taisuke will believe that I freaked at him after the mindreading and that Taiga went on with the plan of getting one of us on their side.”

“Then why Kentaro?” Reo asked, obviously worried for his friend.

“Taiga plans on using Aran’s serum to turn him back when his plan reaches the last stage. It will be pretty difficult to go through with it, but if everything works out as we planned then Kentaro can help Taiga against Taisuke while we split up and face the others at different locations. But this time we can plan on who is facing who so it will be easier.”

“He wants to mind control them?” Aran concluded and Hokuto nodded.

“That’s the plan. As soon as he feels like he can move around a bit more freely now that he brought Kentaro with him, he will try and lure them all out of the hideout with his mind control and turn Kentaro back with the one remaining serum they have in their lab and then he will face Taisuke.”

“That’s a really risky plan,” Kochi said, but there was not much they could do to help. “And how is he supposed to mind control that many people at once without Taisuke realizing.”

“He said to trust the instinct,” Hokuto explained. “I guess his abilities got a lot stronger now that he can use it, so hopefully he is not overestimating himself.”

“Did Kentaro know?” Myuto asked and Hokuto nodded.

“More or less. I didn’t have a chance to explain much without Taiga hearing us. I told him to trust Taiga, so he also put a show up at the end. Otherwise Taiga wouldn’t have been able to use the serum that easily.”

“Right, I was wondering about that as well,” Reo said. “Usually Kentaro would have beaten the crap out of Taiga even if he was badly hurt himself.”

“For now Kentaro is back to being our enemy, so without Taiga he would have most likely killed me out there,” Hokuto explained and it hurt them all, knowing that Kentaro didn’t want to go against them, but for now he had no other choice.

“How will we know where to go?” Genta asked.

“Taiga told me the places already. He will give me a hint over his telepathy when to go. But he already said he will try and give us some time to rest, but he couldn’t tell when exactly he could make a move.”

“He will be fine,” Myuto said towards Shime who hadn’t even realized that the words were for him at first.

“I hope so,” Shime said with a gloomy expression.

“You don’t have to feel sorry,” Kochi said with a knowing expression. “I know there is still a lot we don’t know, but I doubt the Fallen self would have decided to go through with this risky plan if it hadn’t been on Taiga’s mind in the first place.”

The other members of Shime’s group also looked a bit down, but while they were grateful for Taiga’s plan they also knew how much he was risking for their sakes.

When Kochi clapped his hands, a few of them flinched and looked up at him.

“Enough with the gloomy faces. We have to prepare. Aran, we need to go back to the lab, maybe we can somehow find a more effective solution for the serum.”

Aran nodded and moved over to the door, where Myuto joined him. “I will go back to training with the others. We need to use the information we got from the recent fights to work on our teamwork.”

“I will head over to the North and then to the South Center to heal the remaining Chasers. The more people we have, the better,” Shime said and got joined by Shizu and the other boys.

“We will go with you,” Umi said with a smile and Matsuku and Genta also nodded.

“Just be careful what you say, I got contacted by the Main Center earlier and they were a bit too mistrusting when I lied and said we also got attacked, but I told them the security system broke down so that they couldn’t see the data of it.”

Kochi had been manipulating their own systems for weeks already so that the Main Center wouldn’t get to know about the Fallen at their Center, but now things were getting out of hand.

“We’ll lay low,” Shime promised.

“You should rest a bit more,” Juri said, but still remained on the bed while the others left the room until it was just them who remained.

“Shouldn’t you rest a bit too?  You didn’t get out of your fight unhurt and still helped Shime with some energy transfer instead of getting some rest,” Hokuto said, but Juri shook his head.

“I’ll be fine, but you are not.”

“What do you mean? Shime just healed most of my wounds,” Hokuto said, playing confused until Juri reached out with his free hand for Hokuto’s chest and pressed his hand lightly against it.

“I don’t mean the physical pain. I know you two well enough to understand that this situation is harder on you than you want to tell everyone.”

First Hokuto stayed silent on that statement before he squeezed Juri’s hand a little bit too tight. “He won’t forgive himself.”

Juri understood what he meant so he only nodded.

“Now Taiga is trapped in the back of his mind like I was when my Fallen self took over. He doesn’t even know what is going on, but he won’t leave it at an explanation when everything is over.”

“And you don’t want him to see all the things he had done while his Fallen self had to play along with Taisuke’s plan,” Juri concluded and he could feel how Hokuto’s body was slightly shaking.

“I fear it will break him…”

Juri clapped the other one on his thigh so that Hokuto snapped out of his gloomy mood and looked up at him with a confused look as Juri showed him a smile.

“But you will be there for him, so don’t worry. Alone he will break, but with you at his side he will be fine. Have faith in your connection,” Juri said and while Hokuto wanted to believe in their bond as well, he just didn’t know how long it would take for Taiga to forgive himself, if he even made it back to them...

 ***

The first thing that happened when Taiga walked up to Taisuke's hideout was Kentaro walking up to Nika who was waiting with Mitsu and Taisuke for their return at the entrance of the hideout. But when Kentaro punched Nika straight in the face, Taisuke started laughing and kept watching Kentaro getting angry at his brother.

"That's for just disappearing like this," Kentaro hissed before he stepped back towards Taiga.

"So even a Fallen can get emotional, interesting," Taisuke teased while Nika gave his little brother a pissed expression, but didn’t say anything. Taisuke stepped in front of Taiga and put one hand on the boy's cheek. Taiga didn't flinch, but he still gave Taisuke a warning look. No matter if they were connected or not, their instincts would turn them into eternal rivals.

"You did a good job, nice choice," Taisuke said and pulled back before he turned to Kentaro. First Taiga thought he hadn't gotten the mind reading ability from him, but when he reached out for Kentaro he panicked. A stupid miscalculation as Kentaro had definitely heard from Hokuto about the telepathy and if Taisuke found that memory then his plan would immediately fail.

Before Taisuke could put his hand on the other one's face though Kentaro stepped back with a warning look.

"Oh? Do I see disobedience here?"

"I’m never obedient, but I choose who I trust and right now you’re not on that list," Kentaro replied and stepped behind Taiga.

"Interesting," Taisuke said with a raised eyebrow before he turned to Taiga once more. "Then he's your responsibility for now, but you also take the punishment if he does something stupid."

"Good luck trying to punish me," Taiga replied arrogantly, which made Taisuke's look darken, yet he reached out for Taiga once more and put his hand a bit too tight around his chin.

"Such a confidence," Taisuke praised him before he leaned into a kiss, but Taiga noticed that he was also reading his mind so he needed to concentrate on not blocking him out too obviously from some memories.

"Nope, I'm out," Kentaro said kind of disgusted before he walked over to Nika who still didn't even talk to him yet. "Show me the hideout."

"Such a demanding little brother," Mitsu teased and received a death glare from both brothers in return, making him laugh. "And so alike."

Mitsu waved at them to follow him inside the hideout, leaving Taisuke and Taiga alone.

"Mh, you didn't go easy on them," Taisuke said, satisfied after he pulled back.

Taiga licked his lips before he shrugged his shoulders.

"They had it coming."

"Then what if I told you I have another mission for you?"

Taiga let out a sigh on hearing that as he lifted one hand up to the older one's collarbone. "Then I'd say give me at least a day to rest. I'm not your puppet after all."

It sounded playful, yet it was also a warning, which Taisuke understood of course.

"Then let's test our new comrade for now?" Taisuke offered and Taiga pulled back with a lopsided sneer.

"You'll like his fire," Taiga said as he started walking.

"As long as he doesn't try to burn us, I'm sure I will."

***

“So you are saying that we do the same as before and this time our chances are better because?” Shintaro was a bit skeptical after he had come back to the Center with Jesse and also the rest of the members from the South had come back the same day.

“I didn’t say we have better chances,” Hokuto added after he had gotten everyone who was involved in this upcoming mission together in the training room. Most of the Chasers had said they would stay behind to protect the Center and this time they also had another problem to face.

“But it will also be our last chance,” Kochi said. “We will be in huge trouble over the next few days.”

“Why is that?” Jesse asked.

“Through our fight at the South and North Center the Main Center started to move out to do a check up on all Centers. They were busy with restoring the East Center, but now we are in their focus, because I lied to them about the situation.”

“Wow, evil Kochi,” Jesse joked.

“We will make sure to head out today and wait for you at the border of the forest as soon as Taiga gives you the signal,” Myuto explained. “If the Vestige of the Main Center finds us here then there will be huge trouble.”

“Aren’t you three from the Main Center too?” Yuma asked and Shime nodded.

“Noel, Matsuku and I were part of the Main Center until we gathered the other Vestige and Chasers from the other Centers to form this unit,” Shime explained.

“It’s not like we told the Main Center our original plan, but thanks to Noel who came up with some really good outrights, we were able to switch Centers all the time and move more freely to do our research,” Matsuku explained.

“That’s how you came to our Center,” Juri said and Shime nodded.

“But we have to watch out, there are some really strange Vestige at the Main Center at the moment,” Noel explained, making them all look at him in confusion.

“What do you mean with strange?” Reo asked.

“They are super obedient towards the government and don’t tolerate any mistakes, but they act pretty high and mighty.”

“Sounds like an annoying bunch of kids,” Shintaro growled.

“Yes they are kids, but they are dangerous,” Genta added. “I’ve encountered them once and trust me they are not playing around. They are Vestige, but they behave a lot like Fallen just towards the direction of the government.”

“So they changed the serum?” Aran asked.

“Possibly, but they are keeping everything quite a secret at the moment,” Noel explained.

“How much longer do we have until we need to go?” Shizu asked.

“Taiga said he was aiming to give us some days to prepare and today is the second day.”

“Any new weapons we can use?” Umi asked, but Aran and Kochi gave each other an unsure look.

“We tried to come up with something, but we didn’t have much time and materials,” Kochi explained. “But for now we upgraded the Ex2 suit and the Dragnacit weapons.”

“And also this one,” Aran showed them the new transmitter they had been using recently, but it looked slightly different. “The suit gets activated through the transmitter now, so they won’t be able to destroy it as easily as before.”

It was an upgrade they were all thankful for, because while fighting it was always easy for the Fallen to pull anything from their wrist.

“Also the Excidium bracelets are not needed anymore,” Kochi announced and put the transmitter in his ear and activated the suit. “The suit is stronger than before and harder to destroy. It also has a higher part of Excidium included so now you can do this.”

Kochi took a hilt and put it on the back of his hand to release the Dragnacit blade.

“Damn, that’s cool,” Reo said, making Hagi laugh.

“You can create illusions and you find their weapon cool?”

“The blade can be activated from every part of your body as long as the suit is active. Also your combat clothes got upgrades. You have two knife hilts in the heel of your boots so in case your blades and regular hidden knives get taken away you can still use them.”

“We also had time to make one more bow in case you want to use it,” Aran said and Jesse immediately yelled that he wanted one.

“To be honest we wanted to equip you all with the new gear, but the Fallen have to go without as we didn’t have enough material to make enough,” Aran said with an apologizing expression towards Myuto.

“Don’t worry, we can handle them without the suit,” Myuto said.

“And you also won’t have many Crickets, because I couldn’t take the risk to ask for more material from the Main Center and unfortunately we often lose the crickets on the battlefield, so making new ones is kind of tricky.”

“And as most groups will have Vestige or Fallen it might also be safer to not have them with you,” Aran added.

“And the last upgrade we have is the serum,” Kochi explained and he held up a glass tube, way smaller than the one they had before and without the injection. “They know we have the serum and they are aware of the injections. So as a cover we will still carry the injections with us, but our main focus will be on this new type.” Kochi held up the hilt from the Ven-blade they had used before and a small part of it opened where he inserted the glass bin before it closed again, making the serum disappear from their view. “The Ven-blades had poison in it, but they were a last resort weapon. Luckily I was able to use the serum for the same type. There is a button on the bottom, which will push the serum into the blade. You only have about 20 seconds to land a hit on them after you activate it or it will start dripping to the ground and be useless.”

“But it’s definitely easier to use as they don’t expect it to be part of the blade,” Hokuto said with a grateful nod towards the researchers who spend night and day to create their new gear.

“We also slightly changed the serum,” Aran explained. “We couldn’t test it, so we can’t say for sure if it will work, but we tried to use a mutation that made the progress slightly less painless and faster. But we’re really just talking about a bit.”

“Then we will get ready to leave now,” Myuto announced. They all scattered into smaller groups at first, getting ready and talking about a few more strategies, while Hokuto remained lost in his thoughts. Restless about the possibility that he could miss Taiga’s signal.

“He will be fine.”

Myuto’s voice next to him made him look up with a confused expression, but who was he kidding, it was written all over his face.

“I’m sure for now he will be,” Hokuto replied honestly. “But when his Fallen self lets him take over again, then…”

“Then you are there to make sure that he will be alright,” Myuto encouraged him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t live in a future that is yet to be written. It won’t change the presence.”

Myuto was right, yet Hokuto needed to have the strength to change their presence enough to create their future together in the first place.

Musen 28 - January

“Oh that’s a nice ability,” Taisuke let out as he pulled his hand back from Kentaro’s face after Taiga had convinced him on the second day that it was okay to trust Taisuke, not that he would easily let him mind read Kentaro, that would ruin his plan.

“Nika, let me show you what your brother is capable of,” Taisuke said and while Nika didn’t seem pleased by it he stepped next to their leader. Taisuke took the other one’s arm and just a short touch made Nika gasp and fall on one knee with one hand clutching his chest.

Taiga saw the small movement from Kentaro, but luckily Taisuke was still too concentrated on Nika to realize. No matter if Fallen or not, they were brothers after all and Kentaro was known to be one of the rudest and most impatient Fallen, after Taisuke at least.

“Such a strong ability, you chose really wisely Taiga,” Taisuke praised him as he walked up to him and stroked with the back of his hand over his cheek, making Kentaro roll his eyes and walk over to his brother instead.

“If you train him well enough then he can get even stronger I am sure of it,” Taiga said before he wanted to walk up to Kentaro, but Taisuke’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. Taiga had realized it the day before already and now it was even more obvious, there was something restless in Taisuke’s eyes and he had held back the whole day already, but now he was obviously running out of patience. “Mitsu, would you mind giving out tasks for our new recruit?”

The one in question nodded and made sure to gather the other Fallen in the downstairs room for now while deciding who was going out to patrol, while Taisuke stepped back and made a movement with his arm towards the stairs.

Taiga gave Kentaro a side glance when he passed him and to his surprise their eyes met. Was it because Taiga had won against him? Had Kentaro really chosen him as a leader over Myuto and Taisuke? Whatever it was, it was difficult to talk about as long as the others were around.

“Why did you choose him?” Taisuke asked as they were back at the main floor. Taiga kept walking towards the lab, because Taisuke didn’t tell him where to go. So he talked without looking back at the other one.

“Kentaro gets all aggressive when it comes to fighting, so while he isn’t as strong as Myuto, it was easier to win against him instead of Myuto and he also was a pain in the ass about how much he wanted to look for his brother, so I did him the favor to reunite him with Nika.”

Before Taiga could make it to the lab, Taisuke turned him around by the arm and stepped in front of him, putting his arm next to his head on the wall.

“But this means you left a strong threat on the enemy’s side,” Taisuke said with a warning look.

“You won against all of us before. Don’t you think Myuto can be beaten?”

“Next time it won’t be just Myuto,” Taisuke added, but Taiga knew that of course and he put one hand up to Taisuke’s collarbone before he smiled up at him.

“But this time it will also not just be you. This time you have me.”

The impatience had been visible in the other one’s eyes the whole time already, so Taiga was prepared for the way too rough kiss following. Taisuke’s hand was almost violently pulling on his hair and his body was keeping him in place as if he feared the other one could try and escape him.

“I was just gone for a day,” Taiga teased after he was finally released again, but Taisuke didn’t bother stepping away.

“And yet you didn’t really give me the attention I need on any of the other days either,” Taisuke let out as his hand wandered around Taiga’s hip with a greedy touch. As much as Taiga wanted to deny it he could feel how their new established connection was making it difficult for him as well to stay away from Taisuke and if he wasn’t in control then he would definitely behave the same way as Taisuke and that was indeed the problem, because Taisuke knew that as well. If he pushed Taisuke away then his cover would be blown for good.

“Then how about I give you that attention now?” Taiga offered. His hand now up on the other one’s face with an inviting smile and there was no way Taisuke wouldn’t take that offer. For the older one it didn’t even matter where they were, but Taiga somehow managed to make Taisuke follow him to the room he had been resting in before.

Taisuke’s impatience was at fault for Taiga almost landing next to the bed instead of on it and while he wanted the other one to slow down at least a bit, he knew that his hesitation would make Taisuke suspicious, so even when Taisuke reached out for his shirt and ripped it in half, Taiga didn’t resist.

“Now I need you to get me a new shirt,” Taiga said playfully while Taisuke threw his own shirt next to the bed.

“If you don’t move then I might need to get you new pants too,” Taisuke warned as he took a tight grip on the seam of the other one’s pants.

Instead of giving Taisuke the satisfaction of getting the upper hand, Taiga resisted this time and sat up, placing his hands on the other one’s chest. “I fear I won’t be that obedient.”

“Of course not, that would take away the fun.”

It had been a last minute warning on Taiga’s mind that he shouldn’t just let Taisuke have it his way, because even that could blow his cover. Their strength was even, maybe Taiga was even stronger, but he would definitely not let Taisuke obediently take the lead in any part of their new connection.

“But I don’t think I will leave you in one piece if you don’t hurry,” Taisuke warned and Taiga let out a laugh on that, but moved from the bed on hearing that. It was his turn to reach out for the other one’s pants this time and Taisuke didn’t stop him as he opened them, but didn’t pull them down just yet. Instead he moved closer once more and sat down on Taisuke’s hip, the other immediately pulling him down for another greedy kiss, while his fingernails left marks on the other one’s exposed back.

“Don’t get too excited or we will need a new bed next time,'' Taiga teased, but the next moment he was thrown on the mattress, Taisuke getting rid of his own pants instead of waiting for Taiga to do so.

“There are still enough other rooms we can use,” Taisuke replied before he finally pulled the younger one’s clothes out of the way as well and this time Taiga figured that any delay would make Taisuke even more impatient and with that more violent.

The older one was too excited to care for a long foreplay or any kind of preparation that was obvious, but then Taiga reacted once more when Taisuke sat back between his legs. With a swift movement he had his arms around the other one’s neck, pulling himself up in a sitting position. This time it was him who took the lead in a messy kiss and when Taisuke tried to push him back down he bit the other one harshly on the lip.

“Who said I would let you top?” Taiga asked and this time Taisuke’s look was difficult to interpret. His impatience was obviously taking the upper hand, but he was also slowly getting angry, while he still somehow enjoyed Taiga’s games.

“If you want to decide who tops through a physical fight then we will need more than just a new bed next time,” Taisuke said warningly, his lips slightly touching Taiga’s and his hand warningly grabbing the other one’s thighs a bit too roughly. “But if you believe me when I say that the next time goes to you, then we can keep the room intact.”

A promise Taiga wasn’t that fond of, but of course he couldn’t let even the slightest insecurity shine on his face so instead of replying he let himself slowly drop down to the bed, but this time he pulled Taisuke with him, making sure he wouldn’t get in an even advantageous position.

There was no hesitation from the older one when he took Taiga’s silence as a reply and pushed in, making the other one arch his back and burry his fingernails in the other one’s shoulder blades.

“Oh, aren’t you used to this anymore? Or are you lucky enough to be the topping one with your Vestige boyfriend?”

“Maybe you are just better than him?” Taiga replied as he tried to get out of his tense state and rocked his hips up, making Taisuke’s eyes turn even greedier.

“Let’s find out then, shall we?” Taisuke whispered next to his ear while his thrusts got deeper and Taiga tried to figure out what the best thing to do was. For now he just shut his eyes, but stayed active himself.

Just when both of them started to move a bit more desperately, Taisuke finally moved his attention back to Taiga’s lips, but this time their kiss didn’t last long as they were both already breathing hard.

“Just tell me one more thing,” Taisuke said with his lips on the other one’s chin line.

“You’ve such bad timing for talks,” Taiga complained and reached out for the other one’s hair to get his attention back while he also moved his hips up a bit more demanding on the lack of attention he was getting for his own needs.

“Maybe it’s the best timing, because it’s easier to reply honestly,” Taisuke said before he finally reached out for Taiga’s erection, making the younger one arch his back and throw his head back with a low groan.

He could hear Taisuke’s chuckle next to his ear while he kept his eyes closed and the back of his hand over his mouth to muffle his own noises.

“Then tell me,” Taisuke whispered. “What did Hokuto mean with you told him that you were coming?”

That was indeed the worst timing and the worst question he could have asked, but the reason Taiga couldn’t reply was exactly because of that bad moment. He reached out for the other one’s hair once more, keeping him down next to him with his eyes closed while he was reaching his climax before Taisuke, but the other one didn’t care for that at the moment and Taiga needed to get back into control of his emotions as fast as possible, because Taisuke was definitely not going to take silence as an answer.

With another deep and erratic breath Taiga finally opened his eyes, Taisuke’s look piercing him on his reaction.

“You really went through the whole fight, didn’t you,” Taiga said, trying to sound between teasing and annoyed about all the details Taisuke had seen in his mind.

“Maybe there was a reason for it?” Taisuke asked and instead of leaving it at talking he started thrusting once more, lowering himself closer to Taiga, but he stopped right before his face. “So what did he mean?”

“You were the one to tell him,” Taiga let out, still unable to speak up clearly as he was still not down from his climax. Taisuke on the other hand was moving even more rushed now and it was getting difficult for Taiga to even keep up with his movements.

“When was that exactly?” Taisuke asked, but didn’t give Taiga the chance to reply right away as he gave him another rushed kiss, but pulled back to bite him on the chin line.

“When you said they had another fight before they were facing you,” Taiga let out way too weak, but all he could do now was trying to help Taisuke to reach his climax as well so that he could relax too. While the other one’s lips formed a smile against his skin, Taiga tried once more to thrust his hips up and reach out for Taisuke’s back with his hands and when Taisuke let out a low moan next to his ear and arched his back he knew that he would finally be able to get a moment to calm down.

Taisuke remained right next to him instead of getting up after reaching his own climax. His eyes glued on the other one’s expression while Taiga tried to not avoid his look too obvious.

“So he already guessed at that time that I would send you?” Taisuke asked after a moment in silence and stretched his hand out, caressing Taiga’s cheek so that the other one moved his head and faced Taisuke with a more concentrated expression this time.

“Maybe at that time he hadn’t realized it, but the more time passed the more obvious it must have been to them. Especially because Myuto and Shime knew a lot about you already.”

“I wonder how much they already figured out. I guess it’s time for you to take on your next mission.”

This time Taiga’s look turned annoyed as he faced the other one. “You really know how to make me angry.”

“I know how to keep you focused,” Taisuke replied before he got up, but mounted over Taiga for a moment with another teasing expression.

“But fine, for once I will wait with the serious talk for later. You did a great job this time after all.”

When Taisuke wanted to get up from the bed, Taiga pulled him down on the hair once more and gave him another rushed kiss and put his hand on the other one’s cheek before he gave him a small clap on it. “Do you mean at the mission or with you?”

“Maybe both,” Taisuke replied before he took Taiga’s hand away and got up.

“Don’t forget that you promised me something,” Taiga said as he remained on the bed, turning on his stomach while Taisuke got dressed.

“You will get your new clothes, don’t worry. I won’t let you run around half naked in the hideout.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know that. On the other hand I wonder why you wouldn’t? I bet you’d enjoy seeing me shirtless every day,” Taiga said and the other one couldn’t hide a lopsided smile.

“Let me consider that after you’ve trained some more,” Taisuke teased back before he headed to the door. “And yes I meant what I said.”

It was a promise Taiga needed to act excited about, yet when the door fell shut his fake expression fell and he let his head drop to the bed with a sigh.

“You won’t forgive me for this,” Taiga whispered low enough to know that outside the metal door no one could hear him. Even as the Fallen self Taiga wasn’t in any way happy about what he had done. He was aware of the trouble he had brought upon Taiga and also Hokuto, but there was no way of avoiding this outcome. For now he had to play along, but he hoped that he could finally make a move for them to go on with their plan for their hopefully final battle. 

***

“Are we not going to train?” Shizu whispered as everyone was in their own thoughts and scattered around the Center the next day so Shizu had tagged along Noel and Chaka who were the only ones heading to the training room for now.

“It’s not like one day of training can help now,” Chaka said with a sigh and Noel put his hand supportive on his shoulder.

“We will be fine and Kentaro will be too.”

“I just wish he and Nika could have had a better reunion,” Chaka explained as they sat down on the floor to stretch as they weren’t really aiming for a hard training session.

“I wonder if Nika is even happy to see him?” Shizu asked and got thoughtful looks from the others.

“In one way or the other I think he might?” Noel said. “It’s not like their emotions are that open when they are in their original Fallen state, but I can’t imagine them being totally neutral about it.”

“Right, they also help each other in fights, so even though it’s mostly out of fighting purposes they share some kind of bond and protect each other.”

“So for now we don’t have to worry about Kentaro,” Noel reminded Chaka on his own words and the other one nodded, but his smile wouldn’t last long. The tension in the Center was making it difficult to stay positive, but they needed to be ready for this fight and thanks to Taiga they also knew who to face where and they had already decided their teams. Now they could only hope that their strength was enough this time.

***

“All together?” Taiga asked as if he hadn’t understood what Taisuke had just told them the next evening after he had suddenly made them all gather.

“Kentaro fits pretty well in our team and I am sure that with him and you we can easily beat them,” Taisuke said while they were still down in the training room.

“But such a direct attack could cause the Main Center to show up with immediate back up,” Taiga said skeptical on Taisuke’s sudden plan. The older one stepped in front of him with an amused yet slightly doubting expression. “You stood all on your own against your Center, don’t you think we can take three Centers down with 9 Fallen?”

“Taiga wouldn’t even need your help to take them all down by himself,” Kentaro said, but got a warning look from Nika the next moment, but Taisuke didn’t seem to feel offended.

“I don’t doubt that, but for him I have another task,” Taisuke said with a lopsided sneer.

“So do I get the fun part or the boring part?” Taiga asked with crossed arms to his chest and waited for Taisuke to tell him about that mysterious mission.

“I want you to kill Myuto.”

The calm expression on Taiga’s face wasn’t even fake as he had expected such a task at some point. Even though Myuto didn't stand a chance against Taisuke before either, he was still a threat as he was the leader of another Fallen group. If he was gone then Taisuke was most likely aiming to get the remaining Fallen under his control too.

“Fine, but there will be a lot of other Fallen and Vestige you have to take care of if you want me to succeed,” Taiga said and of course the other Fallen seemed more than sure that their leader could hold the others back all by himself if needed.

“Nothing easier than that,” Taisuke said with a satisfied smile before he turned to the others. “Get ready, we are leaving tonight.”

“Tonight?”

The question came maybe a bit too fast, but Taiga still succeeded in immediately getting his emotions back under control.

“Any objection?”

Tons that was for sure. The East Center had barely been rebuilt and the other three Centers had a lot of injured people, not to forget that the West Center was definitely getting ready for Taiga’s signal.

“Only one,” Taiga replied as he walked up to Taisuke with a challenging expression. “If we leave right now then you owe me two rounds.”

First Taisuke seemed slightly startled until he started laughing, but gave Taiga a knowing look before he stepped so close that Taiga could feel the other one’s breath on his face. “Let me see if you are good enough to consider a second round.”

They got interrupted by Kentaro making a fake throwing up noise next to Nika and this time Nika lunged out and hit Kentaro a bit too harshly against the back of the head.

“Oh come on, you can’t tell me that you are not disgusted by them?” Kentaro complained, but Mitsu made sure to push him towards the stairs before Taisuke could actually get angry at him.

“So am I getting this right, you are coming with me to the West Center?” Taiga asked as they also got ready to leave.

“We can make a challenge out of it,” Taisuke said as he put his pointer finger under the other one’s chin and Taiga knew immediately that it was more than just a playful look he was giving him. “Let’s see how many people I can kill until you are able to kill Myuto.”

It was indeed difficult for Taiga to keep a straight face, but he seemed to have succeeded as Taisuke stepped back the next moment and walked up to the stairs. “But you can of course try and kill more than me after you are done with Myuto.”

Taiga was disgusted by the smile he was forced to form on that challenge, yet he still acted all excited about killing the West Center members. “Am I going to become the new leader if I kill more?”

“I fear for that you have to kill me,” Taisuke said and turned back to Taiga before he reached the stairs.

It was that moment and no other Taiga could use. Taisuke’s eyes immediately narrowed as he could of course feel when Taiga was using his abilities now that they were connected, but his telepathy wasn’t exactly a real ability so the confusion on the leader’s face was obvious. Taiga had only used it for a split second, the one hint he needed to send Hokuto, but now he had to make their plan work before they could split up and get away from him.

“You really like to challenge me, don’t you?” Taisuke growled, this time obviously not as calm as before. But the reason for that wasn’t because he had seen through Taiga. All he had realized was that Taiga’s instinct had kicked in the moment he had talked about killing him. It was like a passive challenge so of course Taisuke was immediately on high alert.

“Let me decide if I want to challenge you after this mission is over,” Taiga replied as he walked up to the other one. “Show me that you are worth following and I won’t challenge you.”

Taiga passed the other one and wanted to step on the stairs, but Taisuke grabbed his upper arm, giving him a warning look. “Don’t think I will go easy on you, just because you have the instinct too. If I feel like you are growing into a threat I will still get rid of you.”

“Good luck trying,” Taiga whispered next to the other one’s ear before he pulled his arm free and walked up the stairs.

Challenging Taisuke at such a critical moment could turn out to be helpful and Taiga walked up to the lab as if nothing had happened, finding the other Fallen talking about the upcoming attack while Kentaro stood with his back against the wall and gave Taiga a weird look as he entered the room.

Taiga looked back at the corridor, but Taisuke was still not at their floor. There was not much time, but he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to use his mind control on all of them without them realizing what he was up to. He had thought he had more time planning that part through.

“This will take too long,” Kentaro complained and ripped one of the maps from the table and held it up right in front of Taiga who gave him a questioning look. “You were at all the Centers before, right? You can use your mind reading on them so that they know the layout and weak parts.”

“We went there already,” Tama complained.

“And you really think they didn’t change their weapons, gates and security system by now? Don’t underestimate them, they can come up with new stuff in barely days,” Kentaro complained. “So the more you know about the Centers, the better.”

They all exchanged a skeptical look when Taiga heard Taisuke coming up the stairs. Would Taisuke allow him to mind read them without him checking on what he was doing?

“Perfect timing,” Kentaro said and pressed the map against Taiga’s chest before he went out to the corridor and pulled the door closed behind him. “Taisuke, I want to join you and Taiga at the West Center.”

Taiga could hear how Taisuke was now arguing in the corridor with Kentaro so he used his chance to turn to the others. “It will only take a few seconds to show you the most important security parts of each Center, I think it will help you way more than these useless maps,” Taiga said and he had to watch out to sound more demanding than asking as he was still stronger than them and had also made his position clear to them.

The Fallen still hesitated, but his plan would fail if they wanted to talk to Taisuke first so he stepped in front of Mitsu with a serious expression. “Do you want to delay our mission or do you want to take the responsibility when some stupid Vestige overpowers you this time, because you didn’t listen to my warning?” Taiga asked and this time his threatening tone did the trick and Mitsu nodded.

“Fine, but hurry. Taisuke will rip Kentaro apart if we don’t get going,” Mitsu said as he volunteered to be first.

Taiga put all his concentration in hiding his mind control under his mind reading so that none of them would even seem mind controlled to anyone else, but of course Taisuke would realize that he was using his instinct to back up his abilities so he had to hurry. At the last second Taisuke finally slammed the door open, right when Taiga took his hands from Yokoo’s face.

“What are you doing?” Taisuke hissed while Kentaro walked up to Taiga and pointed at the maps at the table.

“Taiga showed them where to watch out at the Centers and his mind reading ability is way more effective than wasting time explaining it,” Kentaro said.

Taisuke turned to Miyata who was standing the closest to him and was getting the serum ready for Taisuke to take to the West Center as he was of course not aiming to kill the other Fallen, but to bring them on their side. “So are you prepared now?”

“Yes all set,” Miyata said and handed Taisuke the serum before he waited for the others to get ready to leave as well. Taisuke still seemed a bit skeptical, but he also didn’t want to lose time so he told them to leave the hideout.

“And you,” Taisuke said, pointing at Kentaro. “If you leave with me and Taiga then only under the condition that you listen to what I say, is that clear.”

Kentaro seemed more than okay with that condition and he gave Taiga a challenging look. “Leave the Vestige to me, I still owe them a lot of payback,” Kentaro let out and walked out of the lab after the others.

Once more Taiga got ready to panic, because the plan didn’t have Kentaro with them and he had no time to use the serum on him or mind control him to follow the others. So now he had to fight Taisuke and also watch out for Kentaro as he would of course stand on Taisuke’s side the moment he realized that Taiga was betraying them. But for now he had to play along and hope that at least the rest of the plan would work out.

***

There was no way that Hokuto was even thinking about sleeping, but he also didn’t want to train or talk to anyone as he was so tense and feared missing Taiga’s signal that all he did for the whole day was sitting in his room and staring at the wall. At some point Kochi had checked up on him, but he had of course understood that there was no way to get him out of there.

“You know that you can’t keep this up for days,” Juri said as he suddenly stood in the open door.

“I hopefully don’t have to,” Hokuto replied as he gave Juri just a short side glance before his look went off straight to the wall once more.

“But seriously if there is no signal until the morning then you need to rest for a bit,” Juri added as he sat next to Hokuto on the bed. “Not to forget that you even got his messages when you were sleeping, so you won’t miss it.”

“But this time he can’t use it as obvious and it was really just a small input when he let me know that he was approaching the Center,” Hokuto let out, now sounding a bit irritated by the fact that Juri didn’t leave him alone.

“And still you realized it while you were talking to Myuto,” Juri said, but didn’t get mad when Hokuto didn’t reply.

“Even if something stops Taiga from going through with his plan then we can definitely come up with something else. We only have to watch out for the Main Center. If they get in our way then we might be in trouble,” Juri said, but talked more to himself than to Hokuto.

“I’m more worried for the Main Center itself,” Hokuto said after a moment and Juri lifted an eyebrow at him. “I bet Taisuke knows that his attacks will make people from the Main Center spread out to the other Centers.”

“So it would be the perfect timing to attack it,” Juri concluded. “On the other hand I doubt that Taisuke will go directly for it. He likes games way too much for that.”

Once more there was no reply from Hokuto and Juri let out a sigh. “Guess we can’t do anything else, but be patient and keep an eye on our security cameras.”

When Juri stood up, Hokuto reached out for his wrist, making the other one turn towards him with a questioning look.

“No need for that anymore,” Hokuto said as he gave Juri a stern look and the other one formed a knowing smile.

“Then I guess it’s time to gather everyone,” Juri said.

They knew that Taiga’s signal couldn’t tell them how fast the Fallen would be at the locations he had given them, but they had to be there fast enough before the mind control was wearing off, so they definitely had to hurry.

Musen 28 - January

The moment the forest turned familiar to Taiga he knew that he had to do something. They were so close to the Capitol and it was a pitch black night so if they really made it to the Center then it would end in a catastrophe.

As planned they all split up at some point, Taisuke unaware of the fact that Taiga had forced the others to other locations than Taisuke had planned for them. But one problem remained, Kentaro! He was supposed to head to the same location as Nika, but already turned back with the serum and that hadn’t worked out.

“You don’t really seem that excited,” Kentaro said next to him and ripped Taiga out of his thoughts.

“It was boring fighting against you, so I just think this will be over way too fast before it can get even exciting,” Taiga lied, making Kentaro laugh. Taisuke kept walking in front of them and didn’t react to their talk.

If they showed up at the West Center now then there were most likely only Kochi, Aran and a dozen of Chasers left to protect it as it hadn’t been part of the plan to even get close to it.

Of course Taiga could still try and fight Taisuke there, because the leader would definitely realize that something was off as soon as they arrived at the Center, but Taiga feared that facing Kentaro and Taisuke at the same time could bring trouble to the Center after all.

“And here it was always exciting to fight with you.”

First Taiga didn’t reply, but then he tilted his head and looked at Kentaro with a curious look. “With me?”

“Yeah, with you,” Kentaro let out once more, but this time the way he said it made Taiga realize that he hadn’t imagined the double meaning in his words.

When Taiga brought him back to Taisuke’s hideout he had made clear that he didn’t accept Taisuke as the leader, yet he still trusted Taiga. A sign that his memories affected him and that meant something even more important.

“We are at the Capitol’s borders, start concentrating and stop talking so much,” Taisuke said, giving them both a warning look, but when his look rested a bit longer on Kentaro, Taiga got even more skeptical.

“This is the last part without citizens,” Kentaro let out, totally random, at least that is how he wanted it to sound, but then Taiga abruptly stopped and looked at him with wide eyes. Kentaro stopped as well and turned to Taiga with a piercing look.

“What the hell are you two doing?” Taisuke growled. Taiga’s thoughts were racing and if he miscalculated then even with the instinct he could be in huge trouble, but this was his last chance. As Kentaro said if they kept going and fought later then citizens or at least Center members would get hurt. All Taiga could hope for now was that Kentaro’s statement really meant fighting together with Taiga and not against Taiga.

“Kentaro, who is your leader?” Taiga asked, without any outrights and he realized how Taisuke caught up to the situation and narrowed his eyes, yet he didn’t say anything.

Kentaro crossed his arms to his chest with a lopsided smile before he turned towards Taisuke. “No other than Myuto.”

***

"Is this really a good idea to not have a Vestige or Fallen with us?" Jesse asked and Umi nodded while driving the truck down the rocky surface of the path that headed right into the forest.

"Against Senga we have better chances than the Vestige and this time I am on your team as well."

"I'm not sure if one person more will make a difference," Shintaro said, holding his wrist that was luckily healed thanks to Shime, but he knew that Senga had just played around last time. They all got equipped with Ex2 suits as they were all Chasers in this group, but three Chasers against Senga didn’t sound like a good idea.

"At least Taiga thought of this outcome with Hokuto and arranged a place which we can reach by truck or we wouldn't be able to make it in time," Umi added. "I also have a request if you don't mind."

Both boys looked at him with a questioning look while Umi didn't take his eyes of the street. "Please give me the chance to rescue him."

First they remained silent until Shintaro clapped him on the shoulder. "We won't kill someone you want to rescue. As long as there is hope we will do anything possible to get him back."

Shintaro checked on the knife hilt in his belt as he was carrying the serum in it while Umi had one capsule in his blade and Jesse had finally gotten his desired bow together with one serum in it. As the Chaser group they had been equipped with most of the serums and weapons they had been able to produce in such a short time.

They could only hope that they would even stand a chance long enough to be able to use them.

***

"We'll have to watch out to not get blinded," Matsuku told Juri as he dashed through the ruins of the border of the city towards the river bank. "Yokoo knows that we will protect each other so he aims for the blind one."

"Then we should definitely come up with a plan for the worst case," Juri said, but then Matsuku slowed down and raised his arm. Juri immediately followed his look and put his hand up to his ear. "We found Yokoo. He's on the other side of the river."

"Remember that Taiga's mind control will most likely wear off the moment he sees you," Hokuto warned them over the transmitter.

"We'll try to sneak up on him. Just if something goes horribly wrong we'll contact you," Juri said and nodded towards Matsuku. Juri got the serum blade ready while Matsuku had a tube with him.

"Please be careful," Kochi said from the Center. "All of you."

***

"This is so damn embarrassing," Chaka growled, but Reo just laughed and turned his head a bit to look at him.

"We offered you to enter the Senga team of Chasers, but you wanted to come with us and this is the only way for you to not slow us down."

Chaka knew that of course, but it was still embarrassing to get piggybacked through the forest by a Fallen.

"Everyone, slow down," Hagi warned and Shime also slowed down his hand immediately on his serum knife. "We're almost at the location. We need to watch out that Nika won’t see us first."

"Let me down if we slow down," Chaka complained.

"Poor sports," Reo complained and let Chaka drop without a warning so that the boy hit the ground butt first and loudly complained while Reo laughed at him.

"Shut it, both to you," Shime hissed. "Listen, what do you hear?"

They all listened for a moment, but Hagi shook his head. "I hear nothing."

"Exactly. That was how it was when Taisuke found us," Shime whispered.

"Everyone, be extremely careful," Hagi said as they slowly approached the location. The forest around was thick, but ahead was a wide fork where they had space to fight and a good view of their surroundings, they just had to make it there without getting ambushed.

"I wouldn't even hear anything special if no Fallen was around and by the way you two are Fallen too so he will most likely also realize the silence around you," Chaka reminded them.

On that reminder they all exchanged a knowing look and all turned to Chaka. "What?" The boy asked, already knowing that there was something going on he wouldn't like.

***

"I'm sorry that you're stuck in a team with me," Shizu apologized as the first thing Yuma had to do when it was Miyata who found them first, was to bring Shizu out of the line of continuing attacks as Miyata was aiming for him to get rid of the weaker member first. Without any special abilities and against Yuma’s strength they had decided that they should be able to handle Miyata as long as Shizu would get a grip, but as always he was causing more trouble than actually helping.

"Don't worry about that now. Make sure you concentrate," Yuma said. "I'll keep him busy, so make use of those bow skills, but don't you dare shoot me."

Shizu couldn't laugh about the teasing attitude the other one showed, but he would give it his best shot and he wouldn't aim to kill Miyata that was for sure.

“We found Miyata or more like he found us,” Shizu contacted the others while Yuma kept Miyata away from him.

“Update us in case something goes wrong,” Aran said. “The others also found or got found by the Fallen. Just a few of them are still looking.”

“Ok we will-” at the last moment Shizu jumped away when Miyata suddenly showed up in front of him and he was fast enough to get one of his knives out of his boots to make Miyata jump back. Yuma jumped into another attack right away to give Shizu another moment to gather himself.

“Sorry, he was faster than I thought,” Yuma shouted over his shoulder and tried to hit one of his special shockwaves on the other one, but Miyata needed to slow down for that, so Shizu had to back him up.

“Are you okay?” Aran asked after Shizu was too distracted to explain the situation.

“Yes, sorry, just a bit chaotic here. I will keep you updated.”

***

Kentaro had been fast enough to actually outrun Taisuke’s instinct and hit a shockwave on him as the other one had obviously not seen his betrayal coming, not that Taiga had, so he also didn’t move, even when Kentaro launched himself at Taisuke and ripped the serums from his belt on the way, so that they landed somewhere on the dark forest ground.

“Are you just going to watch or actually help?” Kentaro yelled and finally Taiga snapped out of it, right in time to prevent Kentaro from getting thrown into a tree after Taisuke had blocked his special ability and used a shockwave on him.

“Why are you helping me?” Taiga asked confused, but Kentaro immediately shoved him away.

“First I am not,” Kentaro said warningly and pointed directly at Taiga’s face. “I'm only helping myself. I just know you and your Vestige friends well enough to know that I have better chances with you and even with the serum I still remember everything, bright spark. Not to forget that I won’t let him just run off and kill Myuto.”

That made Taiga remember that Hokuto had whispered something towards Kentaro and no matter if he had turned back into a full Fallen he would still remember that part and stay loyal to Myuto. So for now Taiga could be relieved that he had interpreted Kentaro’s words the right way.

“You have to trust him, go with him. That’s what he said to me,” Kentaro said while his eyes were fixed on Taisuke whose look had turned to the hunting stare of a wild animal as he looked up at Taiga.

“I should have gotten rid of you after all,” Taisuke hissed. “Who would have known that you can overpower the serum?”

“Luckily you didn’t know,” Taiga let out and finally concentrated on their fight, but he gave Kentaro another side glance. “Don’t get in my way when I get serious.”

“As long as you don’t get in mine. I don’t care if you get hurt.”

Both of them exchanged a mocking look before they showed a brief smile and dashed right at Taisuke.

***

Tama had found them before they had even gotten the chance to look around the area to search for him. They had taken too long to the location and the mind control had already vanished and Tama had ambushed them before they had arrived.

Moro had luckily been fast enough to jump in front of Noel and use his special ability on Tama for long enough to make it possible for Noel to attack as well.

It was Noel’s strength knowing when to use a chance and while Tama had thought he had the advantage of surprise he hadn’t immediately realized that Moro’s ability had stripped him of his own and so Noel jumped right at him, knowing Tama would rely on his shockwaves. Noel immediately pulled out his blade and pushed it down on his bracelet as he still needed to use it as he had only gotten equipped with an ExD suit. He was fast enough to actually use the blade the moment Tama had been confused about his shockwaves not working, but he didn’t have enough time to try and get the tube from his belt to use the serum as Tama kicked him away before he jumped back, keeping his eyes on both of them.

“Interesting. The same ability as Senga? Or at least similar, because I feel like my abilities will be back soon,” Tama said before he suddenly dashed away, waiting for his abilities to come back.

***

Their team was supposed to be the strongest one, but Mitsu was dangerous with his movement stopping ability so even with two Vestige and a Fallen it was difficult for them to attack as usually at least one of them was trapped.

Mitsu’s recharge time was taking a bit longer than the time they weren’t able to move, but of course it was difficult to find the right opening in those few seconds they were all able to move.

“This is really getting on my nerves,” Myuto hissed as he had been stopped in his movements for the third time in a row, unable to even lift his arm in time to use his motion control.

“Just the fact that the other two try to get my attention, shows me that you have the most dangerous ability,” Mitsu laughed while he tried to fight off Genta and Hokuto.

Hokuto was using his Dragnacit blade while Genta waited for a good moment to use his special ability, but he would need quite some recharge time for a second attack. Hokuto also needed to find a good timing to use the serum. The tube on his belt was real yet he hoped that Mitsu would go for it instead of for his blade as he didn’t know yet that Hokuto also had one serum in his blade.

“Do you really think you stand a chance against a Fallen?” Mitsu laughed at the Vestige, but of course they knew that without Myuto it would be a difficult fight, yet they wouldn’t just rely on him.

“We have something you don’t have,” Genta said while he jumped at the other one with kicks and punches this time, making the other one focus on him, but even with his back turned towards Hokuto he was still able to kick the other one away right before Hokuto could land a hit.

“Let me guess you wanted to say teamwork? What a shame that I am stronger than your teamwork,” Mitsu replied after sending Genta to the ground right in front of Myuto.

“Then it’s good that I didn’t want to say that,” Genta let out with a smirk as he looked up at Myuto who formed a smile and nodded. Exactly that small movement made Mitsu lift his hand towards him, but Genta was up right in time to take the hit of Mitsu’s ability. “We have the stronger ability,” Genta said after he was unable to move, but made it possible for Myuto to step in front of him.

Myuto lifted his hand and Mitsu gritted his teeth as he tried to fight the motion control. “You are difficult to fight against when you are together, but as a Fallen I know that teamwork is something we are bad at and it can cost us greatly.”

Mitsu forced his head to look to the side where Hokuto had drawn out the serum in the tube as he didn’t want to use the serum in the blade if he had another chance.

“You don’t really think your stupid serum will change the situation,” Mitsu hissed at Hokuto, but the Vestige gave him a stern look.

“You will be able to judge that in a moment,” Hokuto said calmly as he put his hand on the other one’s face before he could rip himself out of Myuto’s control. He couldn’t give him the same help Taiga could while receiving the serum, but at least he could calm him down with his mind control before they were finally able to use the serum on the first Fallen of Taisuke’s group.

***

Everything had been a setup and the others had been there in time, yet Chaka was still sitting on the ground with a pouting expression while Shime and Hagi were trying to fight Nika.

“I won’t forgive you for this,” Chaka yelled and slapped away the hand Reo had stretched out towards him. Now the Fallen laughed at him, but he also felt a bit sorry for the Chaser. They had realized that Nika was hiding close by, but with all of them around he wouldn’t easily show himself so they had sent Chaka ahead, the Chaser unaware of their plan until Nika had almost killed him with his special ability.

“Feel free to sit here and let us handle the situation. I think we will be able to handle him,” Reo said, but the next moment Hagi was thrown next to them into a tree and they heard Shime scream out as Nika was using his pain infliction on him.

“If you include yourself into that ‘we’ then yes, so move your ass,” Hagi scolded the other one who immediately used an illusion to make it possible for Hagi to get Shime out of Nika’s grip, but when Hagi tried to use a soundwave on Nika, the other one didn’t seem affected.

“Great, he is immune against my ability. I should change the team,” Hagi growled while Nika didn’t spend him any attention and dashed to the other direction instead, breaking through Reo’s illusion way too fast for the boy to react and this time Reo had to make use out of his speed to escape Nika as his recharge time for his special ability seemed quite short.

“Okay, this might be tougher than I thought,” Reo said, needing some time to recharge for another illusion.

“Wait,” Hagi said as he looked around.

“What is it?” Shime asked alarmed, but he couldn’t spot anyone else around.

“Where is Kentaro?”

“Right,” Reo said as he remembered that they had been told that Taiga had planned to send Kentaro with Nika, but because they thought he would be back on their side they hadn’t spent his absence that much attention at first.

“I guess this means something didn’t work out,” Hagi said and bit his lip. “Should anyone of us go?”

“To where?” Shime asked. “We don’t even know where he could be.”

“But Hokuto might,” Hagi said. “Reo, use an illusion to cover Chaka.”

The boy in question was sitting behind them, tilting his head on that move, but it wasn’t like Nika was giving them much time to discuss so they had to act fast.

***

“You don’t learn, do you?” Senga said as he held Umi up against a tree, the boy struggling for air, his kicks not showing any affect against the Fallen.

Jesse had ended up stuck inside the truck after Senga had thrown it over before they had even reached the location. The truck had fallen down a steep abyss for several meters, but luckily they had their suits on already so they hadn’t been too wounded, but a part of the metal had trapped Jesse’s leg and they had started fighting without him. The boy tried his best to cut himself free as Dragnacit could cut normal metal, but it would still take some time and that was exactly what they didn’t have.

Senga moved his head to the side at the last second when Shintaro had fired an arrow at him with Jesse’s bow, resulting with Umi yelping as he was the one who got hit by it in the shoulder.

“Oh you want to spare me the work?” Senga laughed and let Umi drop who held his shoulder in pain and grabbed the short arrow with shaking hands before he pulled it out. Their suits would shield them from Fallen attacks, but while it was an incredible strong material it wouldn’t hold off Dragnacit on direct impact, but luckily it would close over the wound and stop the bleeding.

Instead of getting distracted, Shintaro fired another arrow and kept walking backwards.

“Even if you try to run, you can’t outrun me,” Senga mocked as he dashed towards Shintaro, but the boy threw the bow to the ground and changed to his hilt, yet his hand got stopped midair before he could release the blade. Senga used a shockwave to crush him into the ground, but his suit was still fully intact so he didn’t take any damage.

When Senga put his hand down for another shockwave, Shintaro reached out for his belt and activated his cricket, making Senga stumble to the back with a hiss, giving Shintaro the time he needed to get his blade out.

Senga was weakened enough for Shintaro to dare and activate the serum in his knife as he lunged out for him several times with his knife and blade at the same time, but even weakened, Senga was still able to get away from the Cricket enough to stop Shintaro’s attacks and kick the boy to the ground right on top of the Cricket so that it broke.

“You and your toys,” Senga hissed at him and stomped on Shintaro’s ribs, making them almost crack under the pressure even with the suit on. Right before Senga could cause even more damage as he lifted his leg once more, another Cricket rolled up right next to him, making the Fallen curse and turn.

“You annoying son of a bitch,” Senga yelled at Umi who was back on his feet and had now drawn one of the knives and threw it towards Senga so that the other one had to step away from Shintaro. It was a chance for the younger one to use his knife, but even though he had been able to cut Senga on the side of his leg it had been too late to make use of the serum, which had already leaked on the ground.

“Fine, you seem to not want to get out of this alive,” Senga roared as he kicked Shintaro so hard against his side this time that he slid several meters away from him, unfortunately moving the second cricket with him so that it was easier for Senga to move again and he immediately dashed up at Umi who threw another knife, but had to get out his blade right before Senga reached him. The Fallen was more than angry by now and grabbed the blade, breaking it in two and turning the broken part at Umi, stabbing him right under the ribs with it.

“UMI,” Shintaro yelled, but he wouldn’t be up fast enough to help anymore.

“Guess you are the first one I will get rid of,” Senga said as he kept pushing the blade deeper, making Umi groan and reach out for the other one’s wrists, but he wasn’t able to stop him from pushing the blade deeper.

The next moment Senga hissed when he hadn’t been able to completely dodge an arrow coming his way. It got stuck in his shoulder and he let go of Umi who sank to the ground with the blade still half sticking out of his upper body.

“What did I miss?” Jesse asked as he got up the steep side of the street, slightly limping.

“Please tell me you used the serum on that arrow?” Shintaro asked and when Jesse’s eyes grew wide it was clear that he hadn’t thought of that move after picking up the bow. “Idiot that was our best shot.”

Jesse looked apologizing towards his friend, but then Senga moved towards him, making Jesse shoot another arrow towards him and to his surprise Senga didn’t dodge it or more like he hadn’t been able to move fast enough?

“What is going on?” Senga asked, his hands shaking as he moved one hand to his head as if he had gotten a headache.

“I got a small surprise for you on my blade,” Umi whispered in a weak voice. “You were so busy trying to kill me that you didn’t mind getting hurt yourself.”

The other two realized what he meant when they saw Senga’s bloodstained hands from breaking the blade and at least one of them had been fast enough to actually make use out of the situation.

When Senga broke down screaming, they knew that they had won this fight, but it wouldn’t mean anything if they couldn’t win the whole battle!

***

“Hokuto, can you hear me?”

First, no reply. Then another try of Chaka to contact him, but then there was the sound of a transmitter connecting.

“Hokuto is busy, what is it?” Myuto asked and it surprised Chaka that he sounded this calm.

“Are you guys okay?” Chaka asked a bit alarmed.

“Better than okay,” Genta was heard from the back and this time Chaka formed a relieved smile as he heard the shaking in his friend’s voice.

“Good for you,” Chaka said, knowing that his friend needed some time now to get his thoughts straight and face Mitsu after all this mess.

“How is it going against Nika and Kentaro?” Myuto asked.

“That’s the problem,” Chaka replied. “Kentaro is not here.”

“What?” Both of the boys asked and exchanged a worried look.

“We already contacted all other groups and he is nowhere to be found so maybe he is with Taiga. By the way we already got two out of seven with Mitsu.”

“Who succeeded?” Genta asked, as excited about the others as about his own situation.

“Umi,” Chaka replied with a bright smile. “We still have some trouble here, but we need to hurry because Umi got badly hurt. I just have to hurry as Reo’s illusion will fade soon.”

“Make sure to concentrate on Nika, we will tell Hokuto about Kentaro and hurry to help you over there,” Myuto promised.

***

They had the moment of surprise on their side and also the fact that Yokoo was still mind controlled had helped them a lot and while Yokoo had somehow ripped himself out of the mind control at the last moment and jumped back, there was no time for him to even get close enough to Juri or Matsuku to use his blinding. The two Vestige attacked nonstop, knowing that a long fight could cost them a chance to use the serum.

Juri had drawn Yokoo’s attention as he had pulled out a tube with a fake serum as he chased him down the metal bridge at the river. Juri had come up with that idea at the last second before leaving the Center, because they would still look more on the tubes than on their weapons.

“Leave it to me,” Matsuku said as he held Juri back as the boy wanted to attack with his serum blade. The boy was able to see on the other one’s face that he had a plan so he stood back, only making sure that Yokoo was feeling enough pressure from both of them.

At some point Yokoo jumped up on one of the metal wires so that he could get to the metal bar on top of the bridge and Juri hurried to block his way while Matsuku did the same on the other side.

“You need to get close to me if you want to use that and I will be able to blind you faster than you can aim,” Yokoo warned them, but Matsuku still walked closer to him with the real serum tube.

“You want to bet on that?” Matsuku asked while he attacked Yokoo once more and the Fallen got his hand on the other one’s face, making Juri gasp, but he still stood back, but as he saw a chance as well he activated the serum in his blade knowing that it would be of no use in a few seconds, but he needed to be ready in case Matsuku’s plan failed.

“Told you,” Yokoo laughed as he stopped Matsuku’s hand and also blinded him at the same time. What he hadn’t seen coming was Matsuku grabbing the other one around the waist with his free hand before he put all his weight to the back and jumped, dragging the other one down the bridge with him.

Juri was left staring in shock as Matsuku had jumped backwards from the highest point of the bridge, dragging them both down into the river with a ten meter free fall. First Juri had lifted his blade, but as it wasn’t a knife it would be difficult to throw it. But his Vestige eyes were able to see their fall slower than a human eye and with a calm smile he stepped back when they hit the water surface.

“You really know them so well. They can be glad to have you.”

Musen 23 - June

“Wait, so you never went to the Capitol?” Umi asked with a surprised look towards Senga who stood at the riverbank with his hands resting on his hips while Umi was sitting down on the rocks.

“To the military bases, yes, but there is nothing for me in the Capitol,” Senga explained. “They provide food and shelter, right? So the people in there will be as safe as the soldiers and the government can keep them, but there are people out here as well and while they are not part of the main attacks and bombings they are all by themselves.”

Senga’s words left Umi stare at the older one with a fascinating expression. Umi had been out of the Capitol for the first time and he was surprised to even find people left in the countryside. Of course there was not much bombing going on out here, but after all these years of war there was not much left outside of the city either, poisoned water and dying plants made a life in the countryside extremely difficult. Senga's way of living had opened Umi’s eyes towards another direction. He could protect people without actually risking his life overseas in this endless war as he had actually planned as he felt like he couldn’t be of any help inside his own country. Yet a health test at a military base had made his plans crumble as he was diagnosed with some health issues that wouldn’t affect his daily life, but could get him killed in case he got wounded overseas. But seeing how hard Senga worked to provide people in need with water, food and shelter, he felt like he wanted to choose that path as well.

“You are so young and I can understand that you think about joining the army with no family left, but I also am on my own, yet I want to care for the people here first as I know not many others will try to help those who have been left with nothing but their lives.”

“Yet as long as they have their lives that is all that matters,” Umi said, smiling at his own words. When Senga held out his hand to him the boy tilted his head.

“You came here to see the country once more before you decide what to do, right? I showed you around, now it’s your turn to show me the Capitol before you decide what to do.”

With a bright smile Umi nodded and let the other one drag him back up to his feet.

“Luckily I know that even if I decide to fight in one way or the other, you will be still here fighting for our people no matter what happens to me.”

At least that was what Umi had hoped for at that time. Never had he imagined that bringing Senga to the Capitol would ruin both theirs lives in the end.

Musen 28 - January

“I was supposed to protect the people, yet I murdered them…” Senga whispered after he had almost lost consciousness through the pain, but luckily with Kochi’s new update of the serum it would still work even in that case.

Now Senga’s thoughts were clearer than ever before and never had he thought he could share tears again. With all his might he punched the floor, making Shintaro and Jesse flinch, but the two boys remained on distance, still not trusting the situation enough to say something.

“In this war there is no one without blood on their hands,” Umi said and as if Senga had forgotten that he was there, he sat up and turned to face the boy who had turned pale and sweaty, his body shaking under the pain.

“You shouldn’t forgive me,” Senga scolded the other one, knowing that his words meant exactly that, yet Umi formed a shaking, yet bright smile.

 “No matter if friend or foe, in war there will always be death, but that doesn’t mean that we cannot keep living for the ones we lost.”

Senga slowly got up and walked up to the other one, while the other two Chasers kept watching him carefully just in case. When Senga crouched down next to Umi, the boy lifted up one hand and Senga immediately squeezed it and pulled it up to his forehead.

“You know that I will never forgive myself for this,” Senga said, but Umi freed his hand and put it on Senga's shoulder to give him a small scolding slap.

“Then you have to live with me being angry at you forever,” Umi tried to joke, but it got harder for him to breathe and he knew that there was not much time for him to make his point clear. “For now all you have to promise me is that you will keep living, also for all of the people who died.”

It was a hard promise for Senga, yet he knew that he should stay true to his own words and he nodded, but then Umi’s hand fell from his face and the older one panicked as Umi didn’t respond to him as he shouted at him to stay conscious.

“Do you have any bandages with you or medication?” Senga shouted at Jesse and Shintaro who finally dared to get over to them as well.

“We don’t, but if we pull the blade out the special suit he wears will stop the bleeding,” Shintaro explained.

“That won’t work in Umi’s case,” Senga said and took off his jacket to rip it into slices and somehow stop the remaining visible bleeding around the blade. “Umi has a rare condition where the bleeding must be stopped internally with either special medication or a surgery.”

Now Jesse and Shintaro completely panicked as they had of course heard that the boy had some health issues, but that was new information for them too. Senga started looking through Umi’s gear and with a relieved sigh he pulled out a small bag with capsules.

“Did you worry I would go full suicide mode to get to you?” Umi joked in a weak voice and Senga would have totally hit him if he wasn’t in such a bad condition.

“With you I can never be sure,” Senga scolded him before he looked at Jesse. “Get someone here to help him or get him back to your Center, because even with this he won’t be in a stable state.”

Jesse nodded and hurried to find someone he could contact for help, because their truck was of no use anymore.

***

Taisuke gave Kentaro a straight punch into the face, but the other one just stumbled back with a loud laugh and wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand. “Surprised?”

The Fallen was definitely surprised as Kentaro had lost so easily against him the first time and now he had been able to even use his special ability on Taisuke for the first time. Yet he caught up fast and gave Taiga a death glare.

“You hid more from me than just the fact that you were in control.”

“Indeed,” Taiga said as he watched a bit from the back, knowing that Kentaro had enough anger stored to actually hurt Taiga if he was getting in his way, so for now he let the other one get off some steam. “The instinct comes with something you will never be able to make use of.”

“And why is that?” Taisuke asked and turned towards Taiga, but of course Kentaro was getting annoyed by the lack of attention and dashed into another attack, but this time Taisuke was focused enough to send him straight back into the forest with a shockwave.

“An ability that will connect you with the people important to you, but there is no one important enough to you to awaken that ability.”

Taiga’s mocking look had angered Taisuke enough to turn his anger right against Kentaro when the boy dashed up at him again and this time Taisuke had caught him off guard and stopped him before he could even think about attacking. He had grabbed him right over his mouth, slamming him head first into the ground, making Kentaro unable to even get his lunges filled with air for a moment. To keep him down Taisuke sent another shockwave right through his body, crushing Kentaro’s body heavily under the pressure before he kicked the younger one away.

“Weird, I guess he doesn’t seem important to you or that amazing ability could have warned him,” Taisuke mocked, but Taiga knew Kentaro well enough to not worry for him. At least not yet.

“It’s not working that way, but even if I explained it to you, there is no one you could share this telepathy with.”

“Telepathy?” Taisuke let out with a mocking laugh. “And here I thought your instinct was just different to mine. I didn’t think of such an outcome when I sensed something slightly different from your instinct.”

“Thanks to your stupidity we got all the information we needed to attack and overpower your stupid group,” Kentaro yelled as he somehow tried to get up again, but it was obviously getting difficult for him to keep fighting.

“So let me guess, the rest of my group is up against your friends? Your mind control is indeed impressive,” Taisuke praised Taiga, while Kentaro gathered himself for another attack, yet he couldn’t make his abilities work on Taisuke anymore as his speed had decreased and Taisuke was angry enough to actually kill him if he got the chance.

When Kentaro had to take in another shockwave, crushing him into a tree, Taisuke stopped him from falling to the front and lifted him up by the neck. “And here I really thought you and your brother could be a really strong combination for my group.”

Kentaro laughed on hearing that, but when Taisuke tightened his grip and used Kentaro’s special ability against him, Kentaro let out a scream before Taisuke pulled him up right to his face.

“If you are not with us even with the serum then I have no use for you.”

Once more Kentaro formed a mocking smile before he spit the other one in the face. A move that made Taisuke turn into the true demon he was.

***

Shime had to go through the pain of Nika’s pain infliction as he kept breaking through Reo’s illusions. With a scream he went to the ground and Hagi hurried to attack so that Nika would let go of him. After all they knew that Nika’s ability could kill them way easier than Myuto’s pain infliction or Kentaro’s ability.

“Are you okay?” Chaka asked as he pulled Shime out of the fight when Reo jumped in front of them to create another illusion.

“I would like to say yes, but his special ability is having heavy after effects,” Shime explained and Chaka realized that the other one’s body was shaking. So it wasn’t easy to recover, which meant they should try their best to get away from that ability.

“Did you get a hold on Hokuto?” Shime asked.

“They succeeded in using the serum on Mitsu, but Hokuto was busy mind controlling him through the change. Umi’s group also succeeded, but they were still suspicious about Senga so I didn’t hear much yet,” Chaka explained. With a relieved nod Shime got up and pulled out the knife with the serum as he wanted it to be undiscovered as long as possible.

“Chaka I need you to contact them once more,” Shime said right at the moment when Nika went for Reo this time to get rid of the illusion and while the boy was fast, it was just a matter of time before Nika would actually be able to use his ability again. “We will need some backup as fast as possible.”

Shime got ready to dash into the fight, his finger already right over the serum activator, but then his transmitter stopped him.

“Shime, can you hear me?”

“What is it Jesse?” Shime asked with his eyes still on the other two who struggled quite a lot even with two Fallen against one.

“We need you over here as fast as possible.”

Chaka looked at Shime with wide eyes on hearing that, because if they asked for Shime then that meant trouble. Umi had been hurt, yet Chaka had hoped that it hadn’t been that bad.

“What happened?” Shime asked, taking a step back. He needed to find out which situation to priorities.

“Umi is heavily hurt and our truck is destroyed so we can’t bring him back to the Center. He will die if you don’t come here,” Jesse explained in a hurry.

“Senga offered to bring him to their hideout, but as Fallen they don’t really have much emergency supplies, so I doubt it will be of any help. For now we gave him the capsules he carries with him, but they won’t last long,” Shintaro added from the side.

For a moment Shime remained silent and then Reo’s scream made him snap out of it as Nika had finally gotten him.

“Hagi, catch,” Shime said as he threw the knife with the serum towards him and Hagi nodded. He had heard the conversation and he seemed to understand Shime’s decision.

“Chaka-”

“I know what to do, go!” Chaka said and pushed Shime towards the forest. “We will be fine.”

With a grateful nod Shime turned around and dashed away, luckily not getting stopped.

***

Musen 24 - January

“It’s okay, I will take care of him,” Mitsu said with a calm smile at the security guard who had pulled Genta down the corridor of the military base. The guard seemed skeptical as Mitsu was new in this facility, but eventually he luckily left Genta to him.

Mitsu pushed the boy towards his lab and waited until the guard was out of sight. The boy flicked his tongue and crossed his arms to his chest as he looked after the soldier. “Who the fuck he thinks he is? I am not a trash bag he can take out.”

His attitude made Mitsu lunge out for him and he gave him a harsh resounding slap on the cheek, making Genta stare back at him with wide eyes.

“Do you even know how much trouble could have awaited you?” Mitsu scolded him loudly. “What madness made you believe that it was okay to sneak around a military base? Not even my own little brother would be allowed in here without permission.”

“But you didn’t show up at our base for weeks now and when I asked they told me they couldn’t give me any information.”

“Of course they can’t, idiot,” Mitsu yelled, but pushed the boy towards the desk chair so that he could sit down and wasn’t that visible to people who might pass by the lab. Officially Mitsu was still a soldier, but he was also taking part in new studies for which he had taken on some research tasks in the lab as well through which he got transferred, but he couldn’t openly talk about it.

“But I found out on my own that you have been transferred here, so I came to visit,” Genta said with a bright smile even though Mitsu was still angry at him.

With a sigh the older one put his hands up to his temples, but what else had he expected. Genta was still too young to enter the military, but Mitsu had spent his time off from the base helping the civilians around the area and Genta was one of the boys taking care of the orphans, even though he was an orphan himself. He reminded him a lot of his own younger brother except that Genta was way calmer and when Mitsu had been transferred to this new facility, which meant he wouldn’t be able to visit his little brother for a long time, everything had crumbled between them and his little brother had pushed him away, not even sending him off into this new environment.

Genta had somehow made Mitsu his own older brother over the past months and Mitsu just couldn’t push him away. The boy had so many questions, but as he seemed willing to learn, Mitsu kept explaining even difficult research and military strategies to him and the boy had remembered them all. As his body was also not made for physical activities Mitsu tried to keep him interested in research, but of course the boy also wanted to help more actively.

“Then I guess I have to teach you how to sneak around a military base without getting caught the next time,” Mitsu let out neutral, on which Genta’s smile grew even wider, but in return Mitsu hit him on the head. The boy first whined, but then he started laughing loudly, because Mitsu was the closest he had to a family and the fact that he had gone through such a danger to find his new location was proof enough of that and Mitsu wanted to make sure to protect him as well as he could.

Musen 28 - January

Hokuto pulled back with a shaking breath. It became easier for him to keep mind reading while using his mind control and he couldn’t even feel embarrassed about getting emotional over the other one’s past.

Mitsu had ended up sitting on the ground and while Hokuto retreated, Genta made it over to the other one and crouched down in front of him with a calm look.

“Mitsu?” The boy asked and while the older one had been staring absentmindedly to the ground, he now looked up at the boy as if he hadn’t even realized that he had been part of this fight. Slowly Mitsu reached out for the other one’s face and Genta gave him a faint smile, unable to form a wider one as he knew that he would start crying. The moment Mitsu’s hand moved to the back of the boy’s neck and touched the part where the microchip was implanted Genta shivered and closed his eyes for a moment, this time unable to hold back his tears and sobs.

Without any hesitation Mitsu pulled the other one in a hug, showing teary eyes himself now. “I wanted to protect you and here you had to go this far to rescue me. I told you that you shouldn’t fight with your body’s bad condition,” Mitsu let out, knowing that Genta wouldn’t have chosen to become a Vestige if it hadn’t been for Mitsu’s sake.

With a shaking smile Genta pulled a bit back and then he hit the other one on the forehead, making the older one look up dumbfounded. “Idiot, I told you I will always find your whereabouts, right? You were the one who taught me how to sneak around and find you, but I needed a little bit more strength and a few more people this time.”

Genta’s laugh wasn’t as cheerful as Mitsu remembered it, but he still smiled at the boy and pulled him into another hug.

“Hokuto, we got some trouble going on,” Myuto whispered next to him, making Hokuto step back to him with a worried expression. “Kentaro wasn’t with Nika’s team and all other teams didn’t see him either.”

“So he is with Taiga,” Hokuto concluded, not sure if that was good or bad.

“You know his location, right? Should we go and check up on them?” Myuto suggested and one look back at Mitsu and Genta made clear that they were okay on their own so Hokuto nodded, but then their transmitters connected.

“Sorry to bother again,” Chaka said quite out of breath. “Are any of you free to assist us?”

“How bad is it?” Myuto asked.

“Shime had to dash over to Umi’s group, because he is heavily wounded, but Nika keeps breaking through Reo’s illusions and he has used his pain infliction several times on him already and Hagi has trouble keeping him busy as Nika is immune against his soundwaves.”

“Go and help them,” Hokuto said and handed his serum blade to Myuto as he knew that the other one had the best chances against Nika. “After Taisuke, Nika is the strongest out of them. You can still come and help when you are done. I will let you know the location.”

“Just don’t take any risks, okay? Kentaro might be even more dangerous than Taisuke at the moment,” Myuto reminded him.

“We will go and assist Senga and the others, but we will make sure to send as many people over to help as soon as we can,” Genta said as he got up.

Myuto gave Mitsu a doubting look and the Fallen understood his worries. “Don’t worry, Taisuke is our leader and that won’t change through the serum, but we won’t join your fight against him. I promise you to keep the others away from their fight.”

They were relieved to hear that and Hokuto hurried to explain the location Taiga had given him.

They immediately split up after that and Hokuto had to make sure to keep calm when he got closer to the fight. As long as he was hidden from Taisuke and Kentaro, he could maybe start a surprise attack if needed.

***

Shizu’s first tries to shoot Miyata from the distance went nowhere as he constantly feared to hit Yuma or kill Miyata with a direct shot, so in the end he wasn’t sure what to do anymore. He cursed himself for not being able to solve the situation as well as the others. He had been contacted over the transmitter about Senga and Mitsu and while Umi also got badly hurt, Shizu wasn’t even strong enough to go for such a direct fight.

Yuma seemed to have good chances against Miyata on his own and maybe if enough of the other teams succeeded they could hope for backup, but his own thoughts made him tighten his grip around the bow. He was still unharmed, not even directly involved and yet he hoped for backup? How pathetic could he be?

With a determined look he recharged his bow. Ten shots! Yet he took one of the arrows out and exchanged it. “The fourth shot,” he whispered to himself before he took another deep breath and lifted his bow.

The first shot went right next to Miyata’s face into a tree after the Fallen had of course moved out of the way. With an annoyed look he looked up at the boy, but needed to focus back on Yuma who tried to use his special ability, but Miyata had been able to avoid Yuma’s special shockwave at the last second as he jumped back. Right in the middle of that jump Shizu’s second arrow went right into the ground in front of Yuma who gave him a scolding look, but Shizu wouldn’t apologize, not yet.

The third arrow was caught by Miyata and thrown towards Yuma who ducked away as he kept chasing after the Fallen. Shizu held the bow with the fourth arrow steady in his hand and released it.

And it hit! But the wrong person and Yuma hissed, grabbing the arrow on the back of his shoulder, but his distraction cost him greatly as Miyata was able to hit a shockwave on him before he was able to pull the arrow out and Yuma got thrown down an abyss, vanishing out of their side for now.

Shizu didn’t react though and he released the fifth arrow, getting Miyata’s full attention after he dodged it. “You do have a death wish kid, don’t you?”

Instead of replying, Shizu shot the sixth and seventh arrow while Miyata kept walking up to him, not even bothering with picking up speed, especially because Shizu wouldn’t move.

The eights arrow was caught by Miyata once more and he threw it back at Shizu with such a force that the boy hissed and fell on one knee as it hit him in the thigh.

The ninth arrow went way off track and wasn’t even a danger to Miyata and when he pulled the string back to shoot his last arrow, Miyata stopped right in front of the bow. “Do you really think you could hit me with any of these?”

Shizu wanted to reply something, but he fell back as he couldn’t put pressure on his leg.

“So vulnerable, aren’t you?” Miyata laughed and tried to take the bow from the boy, but Shizu put all his energy in pulling the string once more and this time Miyata caught the arrow as he was too close to dodge it. “What a shame, right? I wonder why you put your fourth one with the serum?”

Of course Miyata had heard him whisper those words and now he held the arrow out towards his face, ready to stab him with it. But Shizu had waited for exactly this moment and he lifted his hands, closing them around Miyata’s with the tightest grip he could form. The arrowheads had blades on all four sides and nowhere to grab it without getting hurt so the moment Shizu had closed his hands they had both cut their hands on the blade.

“Such a desperate move,” Miyata laughed before he pushed the blade to the front and pierced it right into Shizu’s chest. The boy gasped, but finally let his hands drop so that Miyata pulled back. “Let me be nice and give you a quick ending.”

A whistle behind him made Miyata turn and Yuma was standing back at the top of the abyss with the fourth arrow in his hand and a pretty pissed expression.

“Oh how cute, so now you want to try your luck?” Miyata joked and turned towards him, but then he stopped and his look turned confused.

Yuma threw the arrowhead to the ground with a lopsided smile. “No need for that. This arrow was nothing special, but the one you just touched, was.”

“You played me,” Miyata hissed as he looked back at Shizu who pulled the arrowhead out of his chest, where it had luckily not caused too much damage as it had only hit his ribcage. Kochi had still not been able to make enough new suits and while Shizu was actually wearing one of the older ExD suits, it wouldn’t help him much with stab wounds.

Miyata went down on his knees with a hiss unable to attack so Yuma could help Shizu with his wounds. But he also scolded him for actually shooting him with an arrow after he had warned him to not do so.

“I might be weak, but I can still come up with plans you cannot see through,” Shizu said after his idea of making Miyata believe that the serum arrow was the one he shot at Yuma had worked out.

Yuma had luckily also heard what Shizu said and realized his plan, vanishing long enough for Shizu to use the serum arrow.

***

Musen 28 - January

Moro had to catch Noel as Tama had used a shockwave on him when his abilities came back for the second time already and Moro needed more time to recharge to use his special ability once more.

“I have a request,” Noel whispered next to Moro and the boy listened, but of course he was giving the other one a scolding look, yet he couldn’t actually judge his emotional connection to Tama.

“Don’t underestimate me,” Tama warned them as he dashed right at them and as they both jumped into different directions, Tama went for Moro and the boy tried to bring even more distance between himself and Noel.

Knowing that their plan was risky, Moro used his chance to cause as much damage as he could and he succeeded in landing some good punches before he crushed Tama into the ground and used a shockwave, making the other one gasp for air, but Tama wasn’t the type to give up easily and he kicked the other one off him. Just when Moro had nowhere else to run to, Tama went for a straight on attack and the way Moro didn’t even try to escape the shockwave made Tama halt for a moment, but that was exactly what Moro needed and he grabbed the other one around the upper body, keeping him close as long as he could.

“Taking the damage just for such a useless move,” Tama yelled at him as he was finally able to break free, but as expected he couldn’t use his abilities anymore, yet he still kicked Moro into the next wall and the boy slit to the ground. The direct last hit had already caused a lot of damage, but after using his special ability with such intensity he needed a rest.

“He’s all yours,” Moro said and made Tama turn around to Noel who had his Excidium blade pointed at the other one.

“Oh how cute, do you think just because I can’t use my abilities for a while you can beat me?”

Noel didn’t reply, instead he dashed to the front. Tama couldn’t use his speed, so he indeed was nothing more than a human enemy for a few minutes and Noel needed to use that chance. At some point Tama had kicked the blade out of the other one’s hand and kicked the boy to the ground. They struggled for a while until Tama pulled back and with wide eyes Noel realized that the Fallen had taken the second hilt and the serum from his belt and threw it into the forest. “Oh what a shame. Out of options?”

With a swift movement Noel lifted himself directly up from his back to his feet before he grabbed the knife hidden in his boot to dash into the next attack.

“I see you are turning desperate,” Tama laughed as he easily stopped the knife and he still had enough strength to turn the boy’s wrist and force him to let the knife drop. What he hadn’t seen coming was Noel lunging out for a punch so that Tama stumbled to the back.

“You chased me away so often,” Noel said in a low voice. When Tama only gave him a mocking look Noel pushed him to the back this time. “So often you acted annoyed by me, yet all you did was protecting me.”

“Oh how cute,” Tama laughed, making Noel turn even angrier. When he tried to punch Tama once more, the Fallen dogged and punched Noel instead, but the boy only turned his head away a bit before he lifted his leg this time and tried to kick the other one.

They kept their fist fight for good some time, Noel taking way more hits than Tama, but he would get up every single time until Tama had enough and threw the boy over his shoulder and stepped on the side of his head so he wouldn’t get up again. Noel had gotten one of the ExD suits, so at least the damage of Tama’s attacks wasn’t too bad, but of course his head still remained unprotected with the older suit version. “You don’t really realize in what a mess you are, do you? In a few seconds I can smash your skull with a single touch of my hand,” Tama reminded him, but Noel was of course aware of the time limit he had.

Noel grabbed the other one’s leg and moved his own legs up to the other one’s body, bringing him out of balance. With his last strength Noel crawled on top of him and started punching as hard as he could. Tama cursed at the other one, but each time he tried to counter or turn away, Noel found a way to stop his movements. “You know, one thing hasn’t changed,” Noel let out in between his ongoing attacks, his fists already bleeding as he hit the stone floor in between as well, but he wouldn’t slow down. “I will always be the one with the better ideas.”

Tama didn’t understand what the boy meant until Noel changed positions and Tama hissed when a sharp pain hit his leg, on which he pushed Noel away and this time Noel took a way bigger impact than before, showing that Tama had gotten his abilities back, but it was already too late.

In between all their struggling Tama hadn’t realized that Noel had another knife hidden in his boots, but different from the other one he had been able to use it on the top of his boots. With a tap on the ground with the front of his boot the knife would jump out. A last minute change he had used on his own boots to make a better use of the serum knife and the strong point was that the moment it got activated the serum would automatically start working too.

Tama tried to get up and attack, but he fell back to the ground and started screaming. Noel tried to ignore the other one’s suffering and walked up to Moro, helping him up.

“Shouldn’t you be with him?” Moro asked as he looked at Tama who seemed in a lot of pain while he tried to fight the serum off, but Noel just shook his head and didn’t even turn around to Tama and that was when Moro understood and clapped the other one on the shoulder.

“You did amazing, don’t feel weak for not wanting to see him suffer,” Moro said while Noel started crying in silence, waiting for Tama’s screams to stop.

***

Musen 22 - December

“Matsuku for god’s sake get down from there,” Yokoo yelled at the young teenage boy who would daily hurt himself by pulling another stupid stunt somewhere on the ruins around the city.

“I’m fine,” Matsuku yelled down from the metal bar he was balancing on, but Yokoo bit his lip in worry.

“If you want to follow me to the military in a few years then you have to stay healthy. We don’t need people without a leg or arm.”

Matsuku laughed on hearing that and pretended to lose balance, making his senpai yell at him even more.

“You could just come up and help me if I really lost balance,” Matsuku said as he finally came back down.

“You know exactly that it would end up in even more chaos,” Yokoo said as they started walking towards the military base in which Yokoo would start his soldier life from today.

“Don’t you think your fear of heights will make it difficult for you?” Matsuku asked, but the older one shrugged his shoulders.

“I think every human is afraid of something and it’s not like I am afraid of all high places, it’s more of a fear of falling.”

“Then what would happen if you fell?” Matsuku asked while he kept jumping on and off some rocks on the way.

“Most likely I’ll be petrified, but-” Yokoo said with a warning look at the younger one. “I am not willing to find out, so don’t you dare pull a prank like that on me, I warn you.”

Once more Matsuku laughed and his look already told that he was thinking about exactly such a prank. Yokoo immediately scolded him and chased him down the main road.

Yokoo’s family had known Matsuku’s for a long time already, but at some point Matsuku had ended up all by himself and Yokoo’s family had taken him in. Now that Yokoo left for the military, Matsuku had promised to do the same as soon as he was old enough.

Musen 28 - January

In the end Juri had to jump after them as none of them seemed able to make it to the shore by themselves. Matsuku was still blinded and Yokoo was screaming in pain, slashing wildly around him so that Juri yelled at Matsuku where to swim to while he tried to somehow drag the other one with him, without them both drowning.

“You could have told me about your stupid plan, you know?” Juri scolded the other one, but Matsuku only smiled.

After Yokoo had turned away from them for a moment, coughing out some water and needing a few minutes to calm down he finally looked up at them and Juri still needed to figure out if Matsuku had been able to use the serum correctly in his blind state, but when Yokoo only sat up with an empty stare he relaxed, realizing that the danger was indeed over.

“I can’t believe that you actually still remembered my fear of heights,” Yokoo said and Matsuku sat back up, but of course all he could do was guess where the other one was sitting. “Your fear of falling was it, right? Lucky for us that we actually had a place from which I could throw you down and that fear still remains with Fallen.”

Juri stepped out of the way when Yokoo crouched down in front of Matsuku to give him his eyesight back and the boy immediately showed his senpai a bright smile.

Juri gave them some space before he decided who he should contact. All he had heard so far was that Chaka was looking for Kentaro.

“Kochi, can you hear me?” Juri asked as he had decided that the Center was the safest choice for now.

“Hey Juri, Kochi is talking to Hokuto at the moment. Everything alright?” Aran asked.

“We were able to turn Yokoo back. Did you get any updates from the others?”

“It’s a bit chaotic at the moment,” Aran explained. “Shime is heading to heal Umi and if I got this right from Hokuto’s transmitter just now then Myuto is on his way to assist Hagi and the others against Nika. Mitsu is turned too and on his way with Genta to Umi’s location as Senga is also turned back. I also heard earlier on Kochi’s transmitter that Tama is also turned back.”

“And Hokuto?” Juri asked a bit concerned and then he could hear Kochi’s transmitter connecting to his.

“Hokuto is heading towards Taiga’s location, he just told me,” Kochi said. “Would you do me the favor and join him? I want both of you to keep your distance at first and just have a look at why Kentaro is with them and how the fight is going. Remember that two Fallen with the instinct can easily kill you, accidently or not.”

Which meant as much as don’t get into Taiga’s way and just take care of Kentaro if needed and keep Hokuto out of trouble, but that was something Juri was able to do so he agreed to head over to their location after making sure Matsuku and Yokoo were taken care of too.

“Shizu just contacted me that they also succeeded,” Aran rejoined the conversation. “But Shizu is also hurt so Shime will head over to them if necessary.”

“They will pass here, right?” Juri asked.

“Yes, why?” Kochi asked.

“Do they have any serum left?” Juri asked, after they were out of serum and luckily Kochi told him that they had indeed one tube left so he would get it from them on the way to Taiga’s location, because with Taisuke they would need as many serums as possible.

***

With a pained yelp Kentaro landed right in front of Taiga and this time he couldn’t get up easily again.

“Want some help?” Taiga asked with a teasing smile on which Kentaro threw some leaves and dirt from the ground at him before he dashed back at Taisuke, but the Fallen had run out of patience and Taiga had seen the dangerous change so this time he dashed to the front as well and right after Taisuke got a grip on Kentaro, Taiga jumped in between them, forcing them apart. He had to rely on his instinct immediately as Taisuke was going with full force as well and they clashed right next to Kentaro who luckily realized that getting in the way could turn out deadly for him so he jumped a bit to the back.

“I will rip you to pieces for your betrayal,” Taisuke growled and put so much strength into his arms that Taiga was forced to take a step back and bend his wrists, but he was still showing a teasing smile.

“I was never on your side in the first place, so I never betrayed you,” Taiga mocked him and in response Taisuke pulled him to the front and gave him a harsh kick into the stomach before he turned and pulled with such a force on his arm that Taiga had no other choice, but to roll over the forest ground for several meters before a tree in his back stopped him.

With an annoyed flick of his tongue Taiga got back up, but what he hadn’t seen coming was Taisuke aiming for Kentaro instead.

The boy tried to fight as seriously as he could, but the difference in strength and stamina was just too obvious and Taisuke tossed him around like a child. Once more Taiga made it between them, but having to protect someone else made it difficult for him to fight as concentrated as he needed, to stand a chance against Taisuke. This time his rescue move cost him too much as Taisuke jumped directly on him and succeeded to steal one of his abilities and send him away with a shockwave.

Taiga got up immediately, but it was already too late and he gritted his teeth when he saw that Taisuke had Kentaro in a tight grip and the boy’s eyes had turned blank.

“Good luck fighting now,” Taisuke mocked as he stepped back and seconds later Kentaro dashed at Taiga. With his instinct Taiga should easily be able to take the mind control off his friend, yet he hadn’t enough time to even get a grip on him as Taisuke jumped into the fight at the same time, making it impossible for Taiga to find an opening.

“Damn it, Kentaro snap out of it,” Taiga yelled as the boy had dashed behind him and tried to get a grip on his arms while Taisuke tried to steal another ability from Taiga, but this time the instinct blocked that try and Taiga was able to kick Taisuke away before he threw Kentaro over his shoulder. “I’m sorry, so don’t yell at me later,” Taiga said before he grabbed the boy and threw him with a huge force into the next tree, hoping that he would be out for at least a bit.

Right away Taisuke had lunged out for him once more and this time they were both back on high alert, their instincts taking over the fight, but Taiga got the upper hand this time and forced Taisuke to back off a bit before he pulled the same trick on Taisuke and pulled the other one back. Taisuke had obviously thought Taiga would try to throw him and tried to stop that move, but what he hadn’t seen coming was Taiga slamming their heads together, leaving Taisuke stumbling back with a hiss, but Taiga also needed a moment to get his orientation back. He tried to be faster and dashed forward, but once more he got tackled to the ground by Kentaro.

“Why weren’t you this tough against Taisuke?” Taiga scolded him, but when he tried to get Kentaro off him, Taisuke tried to step right on his face so Taiga had to lift his arms, but got a heavy blow to the ribs from Kentaro in return.

“I wonder which of you will win if I mind controlled you too?” Taisuke asked and Kentaro tried to hold Taiga down while Taisuke crouched down next to him and put his hand on his face.

 Once more Taiga’s instinct took over, but Kentaro had crawled up to his face and was now trying to strangle him, making it difficult for Taiga to stay concentrated on all fronts.

Just when Taiga thought he needed to give up on one side, Taisuke fell back with a hiss and went immediately on distance. His hand went up to his shoulder where a knife was stuck.

Taiga used the distracted moment to kick Kentaro away and jump up looking towards the direction the knife had come from. Before he could spot anyone, Kentaro dashed towards him once more, but the next moment Kentaro was forced on one knee as another knife hit him right in the thigh.

Taiga had to concentrate back on Taisuke though as the other one threw the knife at him and he only dodged it by inches. Kentaro also pulled his knife out and tried to dash at Taiga once more, but then someone jumped in between them and threw Kentaro to the ground.

“Hokuto?” Taiga said a bit confused, but when Taisuke attacked head on, he had to make sure to somehow get Taisuke away from them. “Don’t hurt him too much. He is mind controlled by Taisuke at the moment.”

“I’ll try not to kill him,” Hokuto promised and still gave Kentaro a heavy shockwave so that the other one’s ribs took some damage. “Concentrate on Taisuke.”

With an annoyed snort Taiga did exactly that and he tried to force Taisuke to step away from them. “Now I even have to listen to a Vestige.”

Taiga’s whisper was meant for Hokuto, but the teasing was obvious. For now he was grateful for the help even though he wished Hokuto had thrown a serum knife, but he didn’t seem to have a serum on him. So for now they could only try and keep Kentaro busy until he was back to normal.

***

Musen 20 - November

“Try this one,” Miyata said and held out a capsule to the boy who had clenched a pillow against his chest and pouted.

“Shizu, the doctor is here to help you and not to hurt you,” Shizu’s mum told the boy. It wasn’t like he was in a critical state, but even a cold could kill children now that there was not much medicine left and even water and food contained dangerous bacteria if not received directly from the government after a cleaning process.

“I promise you that even if this one doesn’t change much for you at the moment that you’ll be back on your feet in a few days,” Miyata promised and the boy snatched away the capsule from the doctor, but hid right away under the blankets.

“I am so sorry about his attitude,” his mum apologized. “It’s the first time he fell sick, but he seems to feel really guilty about it. He even tried to hide his fever from me.”

“Please don’t worry,” Miyata immediately told her and put his hand on the blanket, knowing of course where the boy’s head was and he ruffled through his hair once before he got up. “I am still a young doctor and even though I love helping I know that it is difficult for people to put trust into military and government workers.”

“You are always welcome at this house,” Shizu’s mum promised as Miyata had helped her family with medication and also food for some time already.

“Then I will gladly check up on Shizu’s condition and see if I can help out with better medicine later and soon you can go out and play with your sisters again.” Miyata turned to the boy once more when he stood in the doorframe and Shizu looked at him from under the blanket. “Stay strong Shizu. A cold holds you back for some days, but if you keep fighting, then nothing can stand in your way.”

Musen 28 - January

“You kept one promise,” Shizu let out as a whisper when Miyata had finally calmed down, but just kept sitting in front of the boy, while Yuma remained on distance and used the transmitter to let the others know that they were more or less fine.

“You helped with better medicine. Umi and a lot of other people relying on medicine you invented.”

Miyata clenched his hands into the dirty forest ground while Shizu leant back against the tree with a nostalgic expression. “But no medicine in the world would have helped me to play outside with my sisters ever again…”

That statement had Miyata in tears and he punched the ground. “I should have been there,” Miyata let out in a shaking voice. “I was so close yet I couldn’t even be there for your family in the end…”

Shizu stretched his hand out and ruffled through the older one’s hair as the older one had done so often on which Miyata looked up with wide eyes. “What happened to my family is not your fault. The endless war took away a lot of our beloved ones, but I am one of the lucky ones who actually found someone I thought I had lost.”

Shizu’s words made Miyata tear up again, but Shizu also didn’t look any better.

“Shizu, do you want Shime to come over? He healed Umi and they can make it over here.”

“If they are needed elsewhere then it’s okay,” Shizu said, but then Miyata pressed his hand against the boy’s chest, making Shizu whine.

“Right, totally okay? Not under my watch,” Miyata said and turned to Yuma. “Please tell him to come. It’s not an emergency, but I’d be happy if he got treated.”

“I’m fine,” Shizu pouted and pushed the other one’s hand away, making Miyata smile at him and stretch his hand out this time to ruffle through the other one’s hair.

“Still the spoiled child, I see!”

***

“HAGI, GET HIM OFF ME!” Reo yelled, unable to keep it together with the pain filling his body, but Hagi had gotten a few heavy blows as well and it was difficult to overpower Nika.

What Nika hadn’t seen coming was the knife Chaka had thrown at him, but his throwing skills hadn’t been that great and eventually the knife hadn’t even cut him, but just landed flat against his shoulder.

“You’re next,” Nika threatened while keeping a tight grip around Reo’s arms who couldn’t even try to kick the other one away.

“I fear you have to catch me for that first,” Chaka said as he dashed away, but of course he knew that Nika wouldn’t follow him, it was all a distraction and the next moment Hagi used a shockwave on Nika so the Fallen was finally forced to let go of Reo.

“Chaka, get him out of here,” Hagi shouted and Chaka immediately ran back towards them and grabbed Reo by the shoulders, dragging him away from the battle. The boy was almost unconscious by now.

“You chose the wrong opponent today,” Nika threatened and went straight for Hagi who kept running away more than he was attacking. Just when Nika almost caught him something changed and Nika didn’t chase him as Hagi jumped up instead of back, landing on a thick tree branch.

“Oh, another one who wants to play?” Nika growled and all eyes went to look for the one who had just appeared.

“Playtime is over,” Myuto said as he kept his focus on his motion control. “Hagi, get down here and help.”

The one in question immediately did as he was told and jumped into Nika’s reach to use a shockwave, but Nika was even strong against Myuto’s motion control and Hagi had to jump back when Nika was almost able to move fast enough to grab him.

“Can’t you use your soundwaves?” Myuto asked.

“He seems immune against them.”

“Try again.”

Hagi raised an eyebrow on that, but did as he was told and there was actually a reaction from Nika this time. He didn’t seem to suffer as much as others would, but it showed at least some effect.

“My ability makes him more vulnerable,” Myuto realized.

Chaka put a hand on the serum on his belt, but he didn’t have the time to use it as Nika broke free from Myuto’s motion control, which also forced Hagi back as his soundwaves showed no more effect. Nika used that moment to dash towards Myuto, but the boy threw the blade he had gotten from Hokuto towards Hagi and then he clashed with Nika, both pushing and pulling on each other’s arms, but nothing happened.

“Interesting,” Nika said as he went for a knee up towards Myuto, but the other one let go and jumped back before he could get hit.

“Seems like our abilities are too similar to work on each other,” Myuto concluded as they couldn’t use pain infliction on one another, which could be positive or negative, depending on who had the better stamina.

***

Musen 24 - February

“I can’t believe this,” Tama hissed and threw the papers on the table, while Noel put down the glasses he usually used in the lab and looked up at the other one.

“Did they refuse the trial?”

“It’s the third time already, I don’t get what else they want me to change,” Tama said and rubbed his eyes as he had been working on the trial documents for weeks without a break.

“Want me to have a look?”

The death glare that followed made Noel raise up his hands and turn back to his computer. “Never mind.”

For a few more minutes they remained silent while Tama had gone back to his desk, but the older one kept looking towards the door.

“There is something else, right?” Noel asked, but didn’t lift his eyes from the computer screen.

“Just a disagreement,” Tama said and tried to play it down.

“And I bet it’s one that has to do with human rights?”

“How did you-?” Tama stuttered and gave the door another look.

“Don’t worry I made sure that there are no microphones in the room and none of the security cameras are actually recording any sound so as long as you keep looking at your screen, they won’t even know that we are talking.”

“You know that I hate you, right?”

On Tama’s words Noel chuckled, but still kept his eyes on his screen.

“They are so against the trial and I feel that they don’t want to bother with the paper stuff, because the mutations could work with a bit more research, but I feel that they are doing something behind closed doors.”

“They definitely are and I am pretty close to their secret data, but it’s hard cracking their passwords and security system.”

“You are what?” Tama yelled, immediately trying to calm down and acting as if everything was normal.

“Hey, I never told you to be part of this, so as long as you don’t throw me to the wolves you don’t have to fear for anything.”

Musen 28 - January

“And in the end you were the one who had been taken by the wolves,” Noel said in a low voice as he kept calmly sitting with his back at one of the stone walls after Tama had calmed down. The older one had turned on his back and was looking up to the sky.

“And you know exactly that I threw myself there to protect you,” Tama explained, knowing that it was no secret.

“Yes, because you are an idiot,” Noel complained, but it was difficult for them to speak openly as they both hated talks like this.

“Guys, I just got contacted from Kochi and there is a lot going on, if you don’t mind I will head out to help where I can?” Moro asked and Noel immediately nodded.

“Let us know if there is anywhere we should help with and we will be on our way,” Noel said. “Maybe we should try and find the remaining serum tube.”

Tama looked a bit apologizing towards the forest where he had thrown the serum earlier, but Moro started looking for it immediately as it was definitely better to have it with him.

***

Musen 28 - January

Loudly cursing, Hokuto kept running away from Kentaro, trying to get him as far away as possible from Taiga's fight.

"Could you finally snap out of it?" Hokuto yelled at the other one after Kentaro hit a shockwave right next to Hokuto on a tree and kept dashing after him without a break.

At some point Hokuto had to stop abruptly as he had reached a river which was running with a fast flow down the mountain and it had a lot of sharp rocks breaking through the surface. Of course Kentaro immediately tried to push him into the river, but Hokuto was able to escape the other one's grip and grab the boy's arm while throwing himself on the ground and kicking Kentaro so harshly into the stomach that he got pushed over him directly into the river. But as Hokuto didn't want him to drown he kept a tight grip on the other one's arm and Kentaro broke through the surface with a loud curse, which made Hokuto raise an eyebrow.

"Dude, do you want to kill me?"

"Are you back?" Hokuto asked carefully, but the reply came immediately as Kentaro pulled Hokuto to the front so that the boy landed in the river as well. They were luckily right between two huge rocks and wouldn't get dragged down by the stream. Hokuto gave the other one a death glare, but Kentaro ignored it as he made it out of the river.

"Where are you going? Taiga is fighting over there," Hokuto said as Kentaro started walking off to another direction.

"I don't care where he is fighting. Taisuke is out of my league."

Once more Hokuto was more than confused, but slowly he realized what was going on. "Taiga didn't use the serum on you, did he?"

"Bright spark. Taisuke threatened to kill Myuto so of course I'd go against him, but I guess leaving it to Taiga is the better choice for now."

"Do you want to be turned back?" Hokuto asked, knowing that the other one's reply decided how Hokuto would proceed too. Not that he had a serum with him for now.

"I'd love to say no, but I'm tired of all this anger," Kentaro replied way more honestly than Hokuto thought he would.

"Then what if you fight for someone who still doesn’t know how much that anger controls him?"

Hokuto's words made Kentaro look at him skeptical until Hokuto took his transmitter out and held it out to him.

"Myuto, Reo, Chaka and Hagi are up against your brother. If you want to use that anger in a good way then here is your chance."

First Kentaro hesitated, but then he flicked his tongue and took the transmitter from the other one.

"Don't get into Taiga's way," Kentaro said while he already walked away. "Taisuke will use you to make the fight difficult for him. If you want to help him, do it from a safe distance."

***

“I told you he is strong,” Hagi said as he helped Myuto up after Nika had tossed him around for several minutes like a punching bag, while Myuto needed time to recharge to use his motion control once more and couldn’t get close enough to get any mind ability working.

“Seems like the anger lies in the bloodline,” Myuto joked, but he needed to come up with a plan, because while Reo somehow helped them out with some unstable illusions, they knew that Nika wouldn’t get tricked by them for long and Chaka could only attack from the distance as it was way too dangerous for him to even get close to Nika. His pain infliction was already dangerous for them. It was unpredictable how easily it could kill a human.

“Myuto, we are out of time,” Reo said and jumped away when Nika aimed right for him as he knew that Reo was in the weakest state at the moment and an easy target.

Myuto nodded at Hagi and they both went for Nika, Myuto using his motion control so that Hagi could try and get close with the serum, but the problem was that without Myuto using his mind control there were low chance of them being able to hit with the serum. Hagi had already tried with the blade before and they had lost the serum so now they only had the knife and one tube left.

“You should come up with better ideas,” Nika mocked when Myuto and Hagi failed again in timing Hagi’s attack. Myuto wasn’t able to use his ability if he jumped into the soundwave, but Hagi couldn’t attack with the knife or use his soundwave long enough to make Nika stay down. Also Nika’s strength against his motion control was a huge disadvantage.

In a moment where they needed to recharge Nika dashed at Myuto and grabbed him by the neck, slamming him into the ground, knowing that he couldn’t use his pain infliction. Yet he could still use brutal force as he had realized that Myuto was immune against their shockwaves.

“Don’t move.”

The voice had been in his ear and so low that Nika hadn’t even realized it. The Fallen kept lunging out for Myuto and the boy had trouble protecting himself and usually he would try to roll away or kick the other one off him, but now he halted, waiting for whatever was going to happen.

Chaka seemed to have heard it as well as he pulled Hagi and Reo closer so they could hear the voice from his transmitter. After all they barely had seconds before Myuto would be indeed fighting for his life.

“Reo, we need an illusion. Myuto use your motion control so that Hagi can use a 3 second soundwave right after that. Myuto, keep a tight grip on Nika through that and don’t move. Chaka, the moment Hagi stops his soundwave I want you to throw your serum tube right at Nika. Ready? Now!”

There was no time to discuss and they all did as they were told, Nika kind of surprised by the sudden interference, but as expected he didn’t take their attacks for full and all he did was try to make Myuto let go of him. Reo’s unstable illusion was luckily enough for Myuto to make his motion control work as Nika hadn’t seen it coming so Hagi’s soundwaves showed at least an effect now, making it easier for Myuto to keep a tight grip on Nika.

Two seconds, three… on the third second Hagi stopped his soundwave and without any warning someone dropped down from the trees right above them, landing on Nika’s back and for the first time Nika screamed out in pain as Kentaro’s special ability was something that could actually hurt him. Myuto put all his strength into keeping at least a grip on one of Nika’s arms, while the Fallen reached out for Kentaro, trying to use his pain infliction. But the next moment Kentaro caught the serum in the air, barely, as Chaka’s aim had been the worst, but the scolding could wait for later.

“You’ll thank me for this later,” Kentaro said as he slammed the injection right into his brother’s neck. Myuto crawled away from him, while Kentaro slit to the ground next to his brother as he fell to the front. They had both used their special abilities on each other, both seeming in heavy pain, but different from what a Fallen would usually show, Nika was fighting the pain. He was clenching his hands into the ground, refusing to let out a scream and his struggle continued for good some minutes until he collapsed completely to the ground with heavy breathes.

“Does anyone else have a serum left?” Hagi showed the knife he had gotten from Shime and took the tube outside of the handle, which could be used separately from the blade as well.

“Hand it to me.”

“Do you think one serum is not strong enough?” Chaka asked, but Kentaro didn’t reply. Hagi didn’t hesitate to throw him the second serum and then Chaka gasped when Kentaro slammed the serum in his own thigh.

“Wow, that was unexpected,” Hagi let out.

“And still so much like Kentaro,” Reo laughed, understanding the situation, but Chaka was still a bit lost.

“Wait, if you were still under the original Fallen serum, why did you help us? And why would you use the serum on yourself? Shouldn’t you be our enemy at the moment?”

Chaka’s panic made Reo sneak up on him and grab him by the shoulders, making the boy flinch. “Maybe we are all your enemies and you haven’t noticed?”

Reo’s creepy smile made Chaka squeal and stumbled to the side, but then he landed face first on the muddy forest ground making them all laugh.

What made them fall silent again was Kentaro muffling his screams into his arms, while he turned on his stomach. But he was used to it and the pain wasn’t as bad as the first time as Aran and Kochi had upgraded the serum already.

“And here I thought you’ve finally become stronger.”

Nika’s calm voice made them all turn to the Fallen who was now slowly getting up on his knees and turned to his brother who was biting his screams back, but gave his brother an annoyed look on that.

“Shut up or I’ll punch you,” Kentaro hissed, but Nika only gave him a challenging look.

“Good luck trying, as much as I can tell you can’t even get up.”

The provoking between them made Reo smile, but then Myuto told him and the others to walk away and while Reo of course pouted, Chaka was still a bit concerned about their safety, but Hagi promised him that they were going to be fine.

With a groan Kentaro finally sat up and turned towards his brother, but Nika’s mocking expression hadn’t vanished yet. He had stayed completely silent through his transition, something that showed how much he could handle pain, yet it also annoyed Kentaro.

“You were supposed to be the strong older brother,” Kentaro let out with a snappy attitude.

“So you accept that you are not strong enough to make it on your own,” Nika asked, this time his look getting a bit darker while Kentaro crawled up to him and grabbed the other one’s collar with shaking hands.

“I lost you both on that day! I thought I had lost Chaka too. I was alone for so long and here I am still alive, so tell me who of us is the weak one?” Kentaro spit the words out like a poison that had been sitting in his body for too long. It was that moment that Nika realized that his little sister was gone. A cruel truth he hadn’t even realized until now and wouldn’t have cared for even if he had known.

“Yet you ended up exactly like me. Beaten by the government, which should have protected us. And you even surrendered to Vestige without a fight.” Nika let out instead, trying to keep his strong front.

Nika’s words would have turned Kentaro furious a few weeks ago, but now he knew that his decisions had been proof for something really important. He sat up straight and lunged out to give his brother a punch, which the older one didn’t block and at first they just sat like this until the sound of the first rain drops was heard on the leaves of the trees as the weather changed.

“Strength is not fighting against half a Dozen of Fallen and Vestige and taking pride in winning. Strength is to accept that we Fallen are not superior. Strength is to accept that we have weaknesses too!” Kentaro tried to keep his voice steady, but he realized how it started breaking and he shook his brother on the collar as the older one kept looking to the ground. “Strength is to accept defeat! Strength is…” With the rain getting heavier it got harder for Kentaro to keep his eyes open as the rain made his hair strands fall right into his eyes, but he wasn’t done. With another shaking breath he forced his brother to finally look up at him. “Strength is to ask for help! Strength is- STRENGTH IS TO DARE TO REACH OUT FOR THAT HAND THAT OFFERS YOU HELP, SO TAKE IT!”

Shouting was the only way for Kentaro to even bring out any words in the first place and sobs immediately replaced his try to add anything else, but there was no need to say more.

When Kentaro wanted to pull back and turn away, ashamed of his own tears, Nika reached out for his arm and pulled him harshly back, pulling his little brother in his embrace. Kentaro’s sobs grew even louder on that move, but even though he hit Nika against his shoulder, he knew that he wasn’t allowed to run away.

“Then strength is to accept your emotions as well,” Nika added and rested his chin on the other one’s hair. “And I also have to learn that my little brother has become a person who has grown strong through the worst hardship. And while I was part of that hardship I will make sure to be part of your strength from now on.”

***

"Out of ideas now that you've no one to throw in my way?" Taiga provoked the other one and different from usual Taisuke seemed indeed more stressed out. To Taiga's advantage as he was finally able to use his instinct with full force against the other one.

It was difficult to balance when to use the instinct and when to take a breather for his mind so that it wouldn't get taken over by the survival of the fittest, yet Taisuke seemed to be the one who couldn't stabilize his instinct this time.

"Remember what you told me?" Taiga asked as he had found an opening and actually landed a pretty good shockwave right at Taisuke's chest while he had pushed the other one into a tree, leaving even the wood bend through the force and for the first time he saw Taisuke wounded in a fight, yet his death glare didn't change. "You said that I couldn't use my instinct freely, because of my fear."

Taisuke didn't react on that mocking and tried to break free, but Taiga pushed him back against the tree and leaned next to his ear. "The fact that I'm overpowering you right now means that you fear me more than I feared you in the beginning."

This time Taisuke attacked with all his anger loaded in every single punch, yet Taiga could easily escape all attacks.

"You'll never be as perfect as you want to be," Taiga mocked again and this time Taisuke started screaming and while Taiga kept enraging him, he suddenly got a pretty heavy hit from the other one's leg right against the side. He didn't feel like he had been unconcentrated so had Taisuke sped up?

He got his reply when Taisuke dashed right up to him once more and this time he realized the change. Taisuke had sped up and his attacks were stronger than before, but the reason for it was way more dangerous than his usual annoyance.

"Taisuke if you don't stay in control the instinct can kill you," Taiga warned the other one of his own words, but Taisuke's anger and Taiga's strength had made his mind go blank and he had most likely not lost control without realizing, but had given up on fighting with logic as the instinct could win the fight for him, but it could also cost his life.

Unable to keep reasoning with Taisuke, Taiga needed to take the fight more serious again as he was the one who was going to be overpowered in no time. Taisuke kept cursing at him and every single attack was so heavy and fast that Taiga needed to start running away if he didn't want to get ripped to pieces.

"HOKUTO!" Taiga's shouting got heard, yet the other one was quite at some distance, watching from a high branch of a tree. "GET ME A SERUM! NOW!" Right after shouting at the boy, Taisuke had finally gotten a grip on Taiga and the way Taisuke tried to immediately go for his throat showed how urgent the situation was.

Hokuto started jumping from one tree to the other, only daring to get down after he was sure that Taisuke wouldn't try to attack him. He had given his transmitter to Kentaro and he had no serum left so now he had to figure out where he could find someone with a serum left.

He immediately activated his presence finding and was hopeful when he felt Shin's and Jesse's presence nearby. Just a few minutes later in which a heavy rain started pouring down he spotted them on a path a bit down the mountain and he jumped right down to them to not waste any time.

"For god's sake don't scare us like this," Shin immediately complained.

"No time for apologies, do you have any serum left?"

When Jesse lifted his bow Hokuto felt relieved that he had found the right people.

"Jesse, give me your transmitter,” Hokuto said after the boy had already handed him the tube from the bow as they couldn’t risk using the bow on Taisuke.

"Where is yours?" Shintaro asked.

"I gave it to Kentaro." Hokuto replied snappier than he wanted, but he was running out of time.

"Is anyone on the way to Taiga's location and has serum left?" Hokuto asked over the transmitter.

"We have one, but we are still looking for it,” Noel was heard. “It ended up lost in the middle of the fight.”

"I gave my knife to Hagi, not sure if he used it, how is Taiga doing?" Shime definitely also wanted to ask if his brother was okay, but of course he knew that everyone would priorities Taiga.

"Taisuke lost control over the instinct. We don't have much time to help out with the serum or I fear Taiga needs to fight for his life."

He didn't want to say out loud that he needed to kill Taisuke, but they all got what he meant.

"I'm close by too and I got a serum from Yuma on the way," Juri said. “He was heading over to assist Myuto and the others, so he is a bit further away than us now from Taiga’s location.”

"I give you Taiga’s location," Hokuto explained. "I'll meet you there."

"We'll also come as soon as possible and join you," Myuto said. “Moro just made it over here too, so we can all head over together. But we unfortunately don’t have a serum left.”

Hokuto was grateful to hear that they had at least a bit of serum left and enough people to fight, but they were running out of time. He doubted that Taiga could last long enough until they were all at his location.

"I know it's hard for you, but please stay here?" Hokuto asked of the Chasers and for the first time Shintaro didn't try to discuss and just nodded, knowing that in this situation they couldn't help anymore.

***

Their fight had gotten to a stage where it was indeed all about the survival of the fittest as Taiga needed to go to the limits with his instinct as well to keep up with Taisuke who was behaving more like an animal than a Fallen by now. With the heavy rain the ground had also started getting muddier and it got difficult to see.

Taiga had gotten a lot of claw marks from the other one and when Taisuke dragged Taiga to the ground he got another one right through the face when Taisuke lunged out for him, barely missing his eyes. Taiga tried to make any of his abilities work, but Taisuke's instinct was an unbreakable armor and it didn't seem like Taisuke would break down soon.

Unable to push the other one off, Taiga screamed out when Taisuke bit him on the neck. Taiga couldn't do anything else, but fight the same way and he tried to claw the other one's eyes, finally making the older one jump back. The way he licked the blood from his lips gave Taiga the creeps, yet he needed to focus or he'd lose more than just the fight.

A sound from the upper part of the mountain made them both look up and Hokuto appeared the next moment. He was exhausted as he had used the maximum of his abilities to come back with the serum as fast as possible. He stopped and looked at them with wide eyes. They must indeed look like animals to him.

"Hokuto, get away," Taiga yelled up to him, but Taisuke was already trying to get up the mountain towards him, but luckily it was a steep slope with a rocky surface so he wasn’t that fast. Taiga dashed after him, but his speed wouldn't be enough this time.

What Taisuke hadn't seen coming though was Hokuto jumping down to them and his timing had been perfect as he was able to grab Taisuke by the shoulders and bring him out of balance on the steep slope.

The result was both of them falling down back to the forest with a hard impact, but Taiga hadn't been able to follow them as Hokuto had thrown something at him at the last moment. The serum!

Now Taiga had to think fast how to use it and he had to do so while dashing back towards Hokuto, because Taisuke had already gotten on top of him, lunging out with heavy blows.

Hokuto tried to protect his face and neck, but Taisuke's strength could easily break his bones and the moment Taiga dragged the Fallen off him, Hokuto hurried to run away. Yet Taisuke's focus was unfortunately still on the Vestige, as his instinct would kill anyone in his way now.

Taiga tried to wrestle the other one down to get a chance to use the serum, but once more Taisuke escaped his grip and he slammed Taiga into the ground and dashed after Hokuto who had made it close to the river and tried to jump up to the trees, but Taisuke reached him too fast and pulled him back down on his legs, making Hokuto collide harshly head first with the rocky surface around the river.

"You're the reason he betrayed me," Taisuke hissed under his breath, but Hokuto didn't want to waste time in a meaningless conversation as words wouldn't reach the other one anyway.

Out of ideas, Hokuto picked up a stone and threw it at the other one so that he got an opening to land a kick. Yet Taisuke only grabbed his leg and that was when Hokuto realized that he had messed up.

"Stop it!"

Taiga's words reached them, but he was too late to stop Taisuke from breaking Hokuto's leg with one powerful movement.

The boy turned to the side with a scream and tried to kick with his other leg this time, but just before Taisuke could try to break that one as well, Taiga jumped right at them and tackled the Fallen to the ground.

Desperately trying to end the fight he had the serum raised already and he had somehow gotten it on Taisuke's shoulder, but the instinct was too strong and Taisuke's body reacted too fast for it to get activated. Taisuke ripped the tube out of his hand and crushed it in his palm as if it was just a plastic toy.

Now they needed to wait for another serum, but the question was if the others would make it in time or not, because Taiga was wishing for nothing else than for Taisuke to finally crumble under the pressure of the uncontrollable instinct.

“You’re still thinking too human,” Taisuke hissed under his breath and before Taiga could even think about retreating, Taisuke had grabbed him by the hair and pulled him down to the side before he kicked him harshly into the chest. The lack of air made him want to take a deep breath, but then he hit the ice cold water of the river and immediately had to fight against the strong stream and try to make it back to the surface.

It took him quite an effort to finally find a rock from where he was able to pull himself back to the surface and with a few painful coughs he dragged himself to the riverbank. Another scream from Hokuto made him search for the other one immediately and he had ended up several meters down the river and was out of reach while Taisuke had gone for Hokuto once more. As a last resort Hokuto had taken out the last knife hidden in the heel of his boot, yet it had been to his disadvantage as Taisuke had overpowered him immediately and pressed the knife with such a force down to his neck while he stepped on Hokuto’s broken leg that Taiga wasn’t sure if his speed was enough to actually rescue him this time. Nevertheless he jumped up and dashed towards them, yet right before Hokuto could end up with a slit throat, someone else pushed Taisuke off the other one.

There was no time to think about complicated plans and Taiga met Juri’s eyes just for a split second before he had to jump right on Taisuke so that Juri could help Hokuto away.

“You took everything away from me, now I will do the same to you,” Taisuke roared as he tried to pass Taiga to get to the other two, but Taiga wouldn’t let him get away.

“You can have it all back, if you cooperate,” Taiga hissed as he pushed himself to the limit of his instinct as well and grabbed Taisuke’s face. To everyone around them it must look as if their fight had stopped as Taiga was able to actually mind control Taisuke, but he knew that he couldn’t hold it up for long and if he didn’t watch out he would end up just as the older one.

It was difficult to say how many seconds he had been holding the mind control, but when Taisuke forced him out of his head there was a movement right next to them and Taiga cursed himself for not being able to hold on for a few seconds longer, because Juri had the serum risen in his hands already, but he was forced to stop right before he could reach Taisuke. The Fallen had immediately turned towards him and Taiga needed to jump in between them, but in the end he ended up falling on Juri, while Taisuke tried to rip them both to pieces.

“Juri get away,” Taiga shouted, while he tried to hold Taisuke back and the boy jumped up, but once more Taisuke reached out for him and while it seemed as if he had missed him as Juri just stumbled back, there had been another aim for the Fallen and unfortunately Taiga hadn’t thought that he was still able to think this strategical. So when Taisuke had suddenly turned back to Taiga there had been a movement the boy hadn’t seen coming and with that his instinct had also missed to protect him.

“TAIGA!” Hokuto shouted from a few meters away, unable to get up and then Juri swirled back around as well with wide eyes. Taiga was unable to even react as he looked down at his chest where Taisuke had just stabbed him with the injection.

“Now try to stand a chance against me,” Taisuke let out with a creepy laughter while he stepped back, which showed that he wasn’t as strategic thinking as he should after all, to Taiga’s advantage.

Taiga pulled the injection out, but after the first step back he already fell to his knees. While he had been in control over the Fallen serum it was still part of him and the new serum would now bring him as much pain as every other Fallen while going through the transition. If Taisuke had thought logical enough to actually do this so that Taiga would lose control over the instinct was questionable, but for now the challenge was to stay conscious over the transition and to not get killed by Taisuke.

While biting back a scream, Taiga fell to the front, but he tried to keep his eyes on Taisuke who was now approaching him with a satisfied smile.

“You weren’t worth the effort after all,” Taisuke mocked him. “You’d never be as strong as me.”

With a painful groan Taiga was forced to close his eyes for a moment as he sank almost completely to the ground, but he tried to force his instinct to wake up once more or he was going to die. Just before Taisuke was able to reach out for him, Taiga succeeded in jumping to the back, but he immediately broke down once more. Taisuke kept laughing at his attempts to crawl away from him, but then his focus was taken off Taiga once more as Juri jumped the other one in the back, hurting him successfully with his last remaining knife.

“Juri, no…” Taiga scolded the other one, but he wasn’t even able to get back up to help him. Hokuto also yelled over at Juri, but he couldn’t help and all Juri could do was try to somehow dodge and run away from Taisuke. It was obvious that his goal was to keep Taisuke as distracted as possible until Taiga was out of the painful transition, but Taisuke was just too fast and still too instinct driven. As soon he got a grip on Juri, Taisuke was able to crush his arm just through his grip, forcing Juri to drop the knife before he used a shockwave and crushed him into the ground. With the next move he grabbed Juri by the hair and slammed him head first into the stone floor close to the river.

“STOP IT! STOP!” Hokuto roared at him as Taisuke was aiming to crush Juri’s skull on the hard surface as he kept slamming him down. Juri tried his best to somehow twist away or loosen the other one’s grip, but his head was already bleeding too much, his vision giving up on him and he knew that it was just a question of time for Taisuke to actually split his skull in half.

Just when Juri lost consciousness and it was clear that the next impact would actually kill him, Taisuke was thrown off balance when a heavy stone crashed into the side of his head. With a curse he fell to the side, but when he looked up Taiga was standing right above him, still heavily breathing and in obvious pain, but different to what Taisuke had predicted Taiga was now lifting Taisuke up from the ground on his neck, making the other one struggle against his grip.

“You were the weak one right from the start,” Taiga growled and used a shockwave, which went straight through Taisuke’s try to absorb it and the tree he hit cracked under the pressure.

Hokuto crawled towards Juri while Taiga walked slowly towards Taisuke. But Hokuto realized the change, yet there was nothing he could do in this situation so he hurried and ripped one of his sleeves off to somehow stop the bleeding of Juri’s head, but the boy wasn’t even reacting to his touch.

Taisuke started laughing almost hysterically as he got up and touched his head from which blood was dripping to the ground. “You talk about being strong, yet you need to let the instinct swallow you to keep up with me.”

Taisuke’s words were true, yet they applied for him as well, but Taisuke was already so far gone that he didn’t even realize that he wasn’t in control anymore. Taiga on the other hand was taking a gamble.

“And yet there is a huge difference between our instincts,” Taiga said so calmly that it pissed Taisuke off immediately and he went straight for another attack, but Taiga stopped it in his palm as if Taisuke hadn’t used any force. The older one seemed slightly startled, but his instinct was forcing him to keep fighting, yet all he did was exhaust himself while Taiga dodged without any problems until he moved so fast that Taisuke stumbled to the front while Taiga reached out for the other one’s face from behind.

“Even if I let my instinct take over it won’t swallow me the same way as you, thanks to the serum you just gave me,” Taiga said next to the other one’s ear before he pushed his instinct to the limit to use his mind reading and control at full force.

To make it through the transition faster Taiga had let the instinct take over completely, but the reason why he wasn’t losing it the same way as Taisuke was because through the serum Taiga had woken up in the back of his mind, giving him a last hold.

Musen 18 – June

One tombstone, two names…

A boy crying his eyes out and his older brother unable to find any supporting words.

The rain was slowly stopping, but it wasn’t like anyone else had been there to bit their farewells in this weather. The two boys had come on their own, a small family with not many friends left as war had scattered people all over the bunkers and safe areas of the city for years already.

“They fought so bravely, yet they will never see the end of the war,” Taisuke whispered as the last raindrops fell from the long strands of his hair. The boy on his knees next to him still kept crying, but now his sobs finally died down slowly.

“I will make sure to create a new era in which the kids can grow up without war,” Taisuke said.

When the small boy next to him grabbed his leg, Taisuke looked down at him with a smile. “What is it, Ryuya?”

“I- I don’t want you to go to war…” the boy stuttered under his last sobs while he didn’t dare to look up at his brother. With a faint smile Taisuke crouched down next to the boy and ruffled through his hair before he pulled him gently against his chest.

“I won’t leave you behind. Our parents’ generation did the first brave step into a brighter future, now it’s time for my generation to surpass them and bring peace.”

“But what is my generation going to do?” Shime asked while he tried to wipe away the last tears. Taisuke chuckled and placed a kiss on the boy’s hair before he squeezed his shoulder gently. “Your generation needs to learn how to smile. Your generation will live in peace again and no matter how big the sacrifices are now, I need you to learn how to look ahead and smile no matter what!”

***

Musen 28 - January

The moment Taiga’s abilities had taken out the last bit of energy out of his body he released Taisuke and fell to the back the ground under him already more of a puddle than forest ground, but Taisuke also fell to the front as they both had reached their limits.

Taisuke started screaming, but not out of physical pain. Finally Taiga had been able to do the same he had done with Myuto and he had thrown all of Taisuke’s human emotions hidden in the back of his mind, right back at him and now Taisuke needed to handle them over his instinct. The positive effect was that he was able to actually get back into control through those human emotions, but the negative effect was that he would now get even more aggressive through them.

“GET THEM OUT! MAKE THEM GO AWAY,” Taisuke screamed as he tried to get up, but fell down to his knees several times until someone stepped in his way. Ready to attack once more, Taisuke looked up with a hiss, yet his eyes grew wide when it was Shime who was standing in front of him.

“I won’t let you keep running away,” Shime said, almost coldly, but it was obvious that as much as he was shocked about how brutally Taisuke had fought against the others, he knew that he couldn’t blame a Fallen for what he was doing.

Taisuke tried to retreat instead of attacking, but he could only crawl to the back and Shime pulled out their last serum after Noel had luckily found it and handed it to him on his way. Slowly following his brother the rain turned into a thunderstorm, leaving the forest with almost no light and loud thunder.

“Get away from me,” Taisuke hissed under his breath, but now under all the anger there was exhaustion and fear visible. His eyes were tearing up and his body was shaking under the fading influence of the instinct. His memories were eating him up.

“I will never leave as long as you’re in this stage,” Shime replied as he stepped on Taisuke’s shoulder, forcing the other one to the ground and even though Taisuke cursed and clawed the other one’s leg he wasn’t able to harm even a Vestige now. Shime went down on one knee and lifted the serum. “I have to fulfill a promise towards you and for that I can’t let you go on like this.”

Taisuke tried to get a grip on the serum and they started struggling, but Shime put his whole body weight on the other one as he forced the injection on Taisuke’s shoulder and at first the whole forest seemed to have fallen silent until with the next thunder Shime started crying. At the same moment Taisuke started screaming. Unable to keep his calm facade up, Shime clenched his hands into his brother’s shirt and hid his face on his chest while Taisuke’s pain grew bigger through the transition and he grabbed Shime’s arms, burying his nails in the flesh, but the boy didn’t complain.

“Hokuto...HOKUTO!”

Hokuto had almost missed Taiga’s shouting over the heavy rain and he finally looked back at the other one and the same as Taisuke he wasn’t able to get back up, but there was another struggle visible. “I can’t control the instinct any longer…” Taiga yelled under painful groans as he clawed his own skin and curled up on the ground. “If Taiga gets back into an active mindset now then the instinct will swallow him and if I lose control now then he will disappear.”

That warning had Hokuto on high alert and he dared to crawl away from Juri, but then Taiga pointed towards the river. “Bring me the knife.”

The boy bit his lip with such a force that he drew blood as he somehow got up on his unhurt leg to make it over to the river as fast as he could. He wasn’t even questioning the other one’s intention anymore at this point. With a lot of curses and under erratic breaths, Hokuto finally fell down next to Taiga with the knife in his hand.

“Don’t hand it to me, I will hurt you,” Taiga warned him as he forced his own body to turn away from Hokuto while it was obvious that his instinct wanted to attack Hokuto.

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“Stab me,” Taiga hissed, but all Hokuto could do was stare back at him in shock. When Taiga reached out for Hokuto’s collar the next moment, the boy gasped and made sure to keep the knife away from him as Taiga pulled him down to his face. “I’m not joking. I will kill you if you don’t hurry and I will kill Juri, then Shime, also Taisuke and then I will find the rest and kill them all.”

Taiga’s words were a warning, yet Hokuto could see the instinct talking as well as Taiga showed an excited smile while speaking as if he was looking forward to it. With another groan Taiga fell back to the ground and started clawing his face.

“Trust Shime…” Taiga hissed under another painful groan and that was when Hokuto understood what he was aiming for, but as much as he knew that this drastic move was necessary, his hands were shaking way too much to bring his hands even up to lunge out. Not to forget that Juri also needed healing so Shime needed to heal two people in a short time and who knew if he was even able to focus in a few minutes.

With another low curse Taiga rolled on his stomach and then his look changed as he faced Hokuto and he launched himself at the other one. Both their reactions had been intuitive and Hokuto fell on his back with Taiga’s full body weight on him and then he realized that he couldn’t free his arms from under the other one, but that meant something even worse and Hokuto started panicking.

“Idiot! What did you do?” Hokuto used his free hand to somehow lift Taiga a bit off him, but then he realized that Taiga had moved this fierce on purpose and Hokuto was unable to even let go of the hilt of the knife he had pushed right into Taiga’s chest. “Damn it, don’t be so reckless you asshole.”

His words were for the Fallen self, but he still needed to fear for Taiga’s life now as well, as they had almost no time to heal him and everything depended on Shime and if he was still in the right mindset to help and what if...what if Taisuke’s transition didn’t work? What if the instinct had somehow blocked it?

All the panic made Hokuto scream out as he wasn’t sure what to do anymore and as he couldn’t move away under Taiga all he could do was shout at Shime for help, but his focus was on Taiga and he put his hand to the other one’s face, putting his last energy into his mind reading, hoping that he could reach him somehow.

***

As if waking up from a long sleep, Taiga opened his eyes, but he immediately realized that he wasn’t awake in the way he wanted to be. He was trapped in his own mind. Right, he had given his Fallen self the right to take over. When had that been? A minute ago? A day? Time didn’t seem to work in his mind and all he knew was that he felt blind to the outside world, but then he could feel something, hear something. As if his own mind was trying to go against him a huge pain took over him and all Taiga knew was that he wasn’t allowed to give in to the pain. Whatever was going on made him feel like vanishing and he wouldn’t let that happen.

“Taiga...Taiga!”

A voice echoing in his mind, yet he felt like finding the right direction was an impossible task and all he could do was shouting and asking the other one to find him. He tried so desperately to use his telepathy, knowing who was looking for him, but he couldn’t. Something was blocking his abilities and all he could do was wait.

“Hokuto, please don’t leave…” Taiga whispered, feeling like the pain would swallow him whole this time, but then everything changed to a weird numbness and he could feel warmth and while he couldn’t actually see a clear picture, he knew that Hokuto had found him. With a smile he tried to tell the other one that he would be fine with his help.

Their communication got slowly blocked by the instinct, yet they were still somehow able to at least let each other know that they were fine and together they could fight the instinct long enough until something else changed. The pain got less and Taiga felt like his mind was turning stronger again.

“Can I ask you to wait just a bit longer?”

Taiga understood the meaning of Hokuto’s question and even though he didn’t know of the reason behind it he nodded, knowing that all he could do for now was trust Hokuto.

“I will wait for you to pick me up,” Taiga promised, knowing that no matter how long he had to wait, for him it would only be another moment of numbness.

***

As exhausted as never before Hokuto woke up not knowing where he was and how much time had passed. But while he immediately panicked he didn’t jump up as he realized that he was still too weak for that. His leg seemed almost okay, but that also meant that Shime had most likely not healed him, but that Hokuto had healed on his own, so how much time had passed and how had their battle ended?

With a deep breath to calm down Hokuto first looked through the room, which had nothing but a bed in it and a heavy metal door. Then he closed his eyes and tried to find any Chasers around and to his surprise he could indeed find them. Shintaro, Jesse and also Shime’s friends. So they had to be safe, right?

With the heavy metal door he couldn’t really hear anything around the place, so he knew he had to get up to check on the others. With a low curse he sat up, realizing immediately that he would barely be able to walk. Not just his body, but also his mind seemed still way too exhausted.

When he remembered his try to get into Taiga’s mind he realized that he must have blacked out right after that as he didn’t remember anything else.

On unsteady feet Hokuto made it to the door and luckily it wasn’t locked. The corridor was narrow and seemed like an underground bunker. After a few steps down the corridor while stabilizing himself on the wall he could hear voices behind him and for a moment he panicked as those were voices he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear them here. But all he could think of was opening another metal door on the side to vanish into the room, but then he stopped dead in his tracks, still standing in the open door.

“Oh already up. Are you sure you shouldn’t rest a bit more?”

The harmless question made Hokuto calm down as Yokoo and Miyata showed up behind him, so they had succeeded, right? There was no need for him to worry for his friends, was there? But then why was the picture in front of him hurting him so much?

The room was the same as his, Juri resting on the bed, Shintaro and Jesse next to him on the ground in a sitting position, deep asleep. Juri’s head was heavily bandaged and he looked so pale, so...human.

“Shime tried to heal at least the life threatening wounds, but he was too exhausted after rescuing Taiga to help more. Taisuke made him rest for now as well. He will definitely help with the healing as soon as he is awake again,” Miyata explained and as in slow motion Hokuto tried to understand what they had said and then he turned towards them with wide eyes. “Where is Taiga?”

Just the fact that they didn’t look too worried as they pointed down the corridor, Hokuto’s heartbeat calmed down once more, yet he hurried to close the door as silent as possible, wanting to give his friends a bit more of a rest.

“Taiga is resting in the room over there,” Yokoo told him, but they didn’t follow him to the room and entered another room at the end of the corridor instead where Hokuto could spot Mitsu and Senga together with Kentaro and Hagi. So most likely a lot of the others were also wounded and rested, but a summary of what had happened had to wait until he had seen Taiga.

Carefully he opened the door to the next room and the same as Juri, Taiga was lying asleep on the bed, but the only bandage he had was on his chest area. Yet there was something else that made Hokuto stop once more. Taiga wasn’t alone. Next to the bed was a chair and the one sitting there turned towards Hokuto with an unreadable expression. Even if they were now all on the same side there was something that made Hokuto tense immediately when he spotted Taisuke.

“Why are you here?” The question was spoken before Hokuto could bite it back as he had actually planned to.

“Taiga’s condition was critical even after Shime healed him, but Shime refused to rest if no one watched after him in case his condition got worse,” Taisuke explained

“You are hurt yourself, why are you not resting and leave it to someone else?” Hokuto couldn’t even explain why he was so snappy towards Taisuke. It wasn’t like Taisuke was different from other Fallen so he had to forgive him for what he had done, yet it just didn’t come as easy as with the others.

“Then I guess I can leave him in your care?” Taisuke asked as he got up and Hokuto had been right. He was hurt and he should definitely have rested like the others. The Fallen stopped in front of Hokuto for a moment, but it was so difficult to read the other one’s expression.

“I’m sorry.”

Taisuke’s words needed way too long to get processed by Hokuto and when he finally did, Taisuke had already stepped out of the room, closing the door.

With a confused expression Hokuto sat down on the chair and took Taiga’s hand in his. It felt way warmer than he thought it would as his whole body was pale. When he touched his face the body temperature was different and then his look changed to angry as he looked over to the door. He knew that it wasn’t the time to overthink the situation, but he just didn’t want Taisuke close to him.

For a moment longer he left his hand on the other one’s face, but then he pulled back, shaking his head as he knew that he shouldn’t read his mind now. He was irritated enough and if he saw something he shouldn’t, then who knew how much he would freak.

For now he had to try and stay calm so that they all could head back together soon, which reminded him that he didn’t have his transmitter with him and he needed to check back with Kochi about the situation as soon as possible, but for now he remained egoistic and waited for Taiga to wake up.

***

It was when Hokuto heard a lot of voices that he realized he had fallen asleep again and rested with his upper body on Taiga’s bed, but the other one was still asleep.

“What do you mean he said we can’t come back?”

Genta’s voice.

“We can actually head back without getting into trouble, but the members of the West Center and also the Fallen can’t head back now,” Matsuku explained out in the corridor.

A bit confused about the situation, Hokuto finally decided to get up and head towards the corridor. Everyone turned towards him when he stepped out of Taiga’s room, but no one knew what exactly to say.

“Whatever it is, can we discuss it somewhere else?” Hokuto asked and then the door behind him opened and once more his mood dropped as he faced Taisuke who came out to the corridor.

“Let’s gather everyone who is awake downstairs at the training room,” Taisuke suggested and they all hurried to do so.

The only ones who were still asleep were Juri, Taiga and Shime, but the situation was still awkward for Hokuto. Of course Jesse and Shintaro immediately bombarded him with questions about their fight, but Myuto stepped in between, promising to get all the information from Hokuto’s memories later to show them so that they would be quiet for now.

“What was that talk about us not being allowed to head back?” Hokuto finally asked.

“Kochi gave us an urgent call, but then the connection broke off in the middle,” Chaka explained.

“I think Kochi actually shut off our transmitters,” Myuto explained. “He said something about Vestige from the Main Center and that no Fallen were allowed back and that the members of the West Center shouldn’t return for now either.”

“And since then we couldn’t even ask what was going on,” Shizu said, the worry obvious in his eyes.

“Did you try to contact any other Center over the transmitters?” Hokuto asked, but then a weird silence followed until Mitsu stepped forward.

“We destroyed all the transmitters after the connection got lost.”

“What? Why the hell would you do that?” Hokuto asked, not even looking at Mitsu, but at Taisuke instead. As the leader of this group he needed to take responsibility.

“If they find a way to track us down here then the next battle won’t end as harmless as this one.”

Taisuke’s words had Hokuto on the edge and no one stopped him when he stepped right in front of the other one with a dangerous glare. “You call this harmless? Are you proud of yourself because you didn’t kill anyone this time? Let me remind you that you have a pretty long death list on your hands.”

“Hokuto, that’s not fair,” Hagi interfered and he was of course right, but somehow Hokuto could just not let Taisuke turn back towards Shime’s beloved brother like that. There was just too much he couldn’t forgive him.

“Then what the hell do we do now?” Hokuto asked into the round, but most of them seemed as lost as him. Then he also remembered something else and he looked at his arm, confused to see a healing cut.

“We took it out,” Umi explained before Hokuto could get even angrier. “Kochi was actually the one to remind us that your tracking device in your arm was still working and it was too dangerous to leave it in.”

Hokuto flicked his tongue, but he couldn’t actually be angry at that move as it was definitely a safe move as they didn’t know what was going on at the West Center.

“So what now?” Hokuto asked once more into the round.

“We head back while you wait here.”

The voice came from the stairs and they all looked up at Shime who still looked extremely exhausted, but was luckily not as wounded as Juri or Taiga.

“But if we go to the West Center they will definitely try to question us about where we were all this time,” Noel said, but Shime shook his head.

“We are not heading to the West Center directly and we will split up. All of us will try to gather information at different Centers. Noel and I will go to the Main Center, because after what you said about Kochi’s contact I think they took him to the Main Center.”

“What about Aran?” Myuto finally dared to ask as he had obviously tried to not sound too worried about the other one.

“I bet Kochi came up with an idea to help him hide or escape, but without us going I doubt we will find out anything,” Shime explained. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but I want all Fallen to stay here and wait for us to return.”

“We can give you a device which the government cannot track then you can update us on it,” Tama suggested and Shime was happy about the help.

“I don’t want to stay here,” Shintaro let out and Jesse also nodded. “We know the West Center the best and if they took Kochi to the Main Center then there are only Chasers left at our Center right now. There are still other Fallen out there who could take advantage of the situation and attack now.”

“But chances are high that the West Center is under the watch and control of the Main Center now,” Umi said.

“Then we have to come up with a good excuse why we were gone all this time,” Jesse suggested.

“Like what? You want one of us to play hostage so that you can make them believe you had been hunting down Fallen?”

On Reo’s words everyone looked at him and the boy raised an eyebrow on all the attention. “You know that this was a joke, right?”

“Too late to take that back,” Kentaro said and clapped the other one on the shoulder before he pushed him to the front. “Guess here you have your hostage.”

“Kentaro!” Reo scolded the other one and pouted, but Myuto seemed to approve as well as he gave Hokuto a serious look.

“As a Vestige from the West Center and the only Vestige able to move immediately, it would be the best if you leave with them.”

It wasn’t like Hokuto hadn’t figured that out already, but of course everyone knew why he hesitated, but he also didn’t want to put everything on Shime as he had only been at their Center for a few months and was needed at the Main Center more. Not to forget that he would get delayed if he needed to fully heal Juri and Taiga now.

“I promise you to look after Taiga and Juri. I won’t let anything happen to them while you are gone.”

It was only because Myuto was the one who said it, that Hokuto considered their plan, yet he wished he could speak to Taiga once before they left.

“We will prepare our contact devices,” Tama said and went upstairs with Miyata and Yokoo first.

“If you think it is safer to not all be in the same hideout then please feel free to head to another location,” Taisuke offered and the other Fallen exchanged a questioning look. Was it safer to split up?

“Let’s form groups instead to scan the area in case they actually already somehow located us?” Kentaro suggested and Nika immediately agreed on his idea. Luckily Yuma, Hagi and Moro also seemed okay with that idea as they didn’t really liked sitting around doing nothing.

“Then I will divide my team into four so that we can head to all other Centers,” Shime said and made the others hurry upstairs to get their contact devices, while Kentaro told the others to get outside to start patrolling.

“Hokuto, can I talk to you for a moment?” Myuto asked and luckily the others got the hint and Shintaro pushed Reo towards the stairs, but of course the boy still complained about their hostage plan as he hadn’t actually thought they would go with that idea.

Taisuke gave them both an apologizing look before he also headed upstairs, but Hokuto just couldn’t see anything he did as honest.

“Hokuto, I know this is a lot to ask, but please stay concentrated?” Myuto asked with an urgent tone in his voice. “Taiga will be fine, but we don’t know about Kochi, Aran and the other members of your Center. You are the only one they can rely on right now.”

Of course Hokuto realized that. Letting Shintaro and Jesse go on their own wouldn’t make sense. They would immediately realize that their story was a lie. Never would two Chasers capture a Fallen on their own. “And about Taisuke-”

“Let’s not talk about him,” Hokuto cut the other one, but Myuto couldn’t even be angry. It had been difficult enough for Myuto to forgive himself for what he had done as a Fallen and he still felt extremely grateful for Taiga and the others for forgiving his group for all the pain they have caused, but Taisuke was another case. He had murdered so many people just for what a Fallen considered fun and Taiga had suffered a lot under him as well, so it was just natural for Hokuto to be skeptical.

“Then just trust me, okay? No matter how much you worry at the moment, please trust me with Taiga’s safety so that you can concentrate on the safety of the others. After all, I put my trust in you to get Aran out of there too.”

Hokuto slowly nodded, realizing that he was indeed not the only one who feared for the safety of a loved one and he was still able to actually actively help, while Myuto couldn't do anything but stay behind and wait for them to contact him.

“I promise you to make sure everyone in the West Center gets out without trouble, no matter what the Main Center is up to,” Hokuto promised. “But in exchange I want you to promise me something as well.”

Myuto nodded immediately as he could tell that Hokuto was putting all his trust in him so that he could concentrate on his own mission.

“Whatever happens, never leave Taiga alone with Taisuke.”

Musen 28 - February

It took everyone until the next sunlight to prepare, but then they were all on their way after Kentaro and the others made sure that their hideout had not been discovered yet.

Having two different Fallen groups at the same hideout was nerve-racking for all of them, especially after their not so harmless past together. Myuto made sure to tell his members to stay out of trouble and just get out patrolling if it all felt too much.

Luckily Taisuke seemed to have done the same and most of his members were in the lab, staying in contact with the others heading towards the Capitol.

"Do you want me to take a look at Juri?" Hagi's offer made Myuto nod as Yuma went out for patrolling with Moro, and Kentaro was of course with his brother and as much as Myuto wanted to make sure that Juri was okay as well, he knew that he had to focus on Taiga.

"Thank you. Please let me know when he wakes up. I'll be in Taiga's room."

The whole day he stayed in Taiga's room in silence. He had no clue what had happened over the time Taiga had been with Taisuke, but after everything they had heard about the serum and the connection of the instinct, he feared for the worst.

"He won't forgive me."

The words had been spoken so low that Myuto almost missed them as he had fallen asleep on the chair next to Taiga as he was also still exhausted from the battle. When he looked up he found the other one looking up at the ceiling, but he immediately realized that it was still the Fallen self, which was definitely for the better.

"Why is that?" Myuto asked, already knowing who he was talking about.

"I did what I had to do to protect my cover, but the moment Taiga takes back over he will demand his memories and I fear it will crush him and with that Hokuto as well."

Heavy words, yet Myuto had feared exactly for that. "Let's keep those problems for later though. How are you feeling? Is Taiga's mind active as well?"

The other one shook his head, but didn't make a move to sit up. "Hokuto made sure that Taiga was going to be shut out for now. He knows he has to wait a bit longer, not that it will make much of a difference."

"After all the shit you threw at those two I'm pretty sure they will understand that you did everything possible to protect them this time. You even risked your own life fighting Taisuke, while you could have just betrayed us and stayed on his side."

Taiga remained silent as he didn't feel like anyone should thank him for anything.

"Where are the others?"

"You want me to tell you or show you?" Myuto asked as he lifted his hand and Taiga accepted the mind reading as he didn't feel awake enough for a long talk now and he was sure that Myuto would stay out of his memories.

"Right into the next mess," Taiga let out after Myuto pulled back his hand from his face. "But you know that I won't allow you to babysit me the whole time, right?”

Myuto had to smile on hearing that, but of course he knew that even though he had promised to watch out for Taiga he couldn't be with him all day long, especially when the other one was ready to get up and walk around.

"Just do me the favor and keep Hokuto's promise?"

Why was it suddenly so hard for Taiga to nod? All he had asked for was not to be left alone with Taisuke, right? That shouldn't be a problem, yet something told Taiga that there were indeed problems lying ahead.

***

The chaos at the West Center was as expected, but they had to try and stay as calm and logical as they could. Shintaro and Jesse stood next to a truck, which Chaka had gotten them from the East Center. Luckily with the East Center still rebuilding there were no Main Center Vestige around and Chaka knew who to trust. But that could easily change so they had to hurry.

Hokuto made it to the security fence, but he wasn’t surprised when his own Center didn’t immediately let him enter and that was because when the main gate opened there were two people stepping out he had never seen before.

“Oh what a surprise, the troublemaker Vestige found his way back home and you even brought a present?”

It wasn’t just the mocking tone one of the boys used, but also the fact that they both were way younger than Hokuto and other Vestige he had seen until now, so they were obviously of the new Vestige generation, but Hokuto already didn’t like them.

“Did you bite your tongue?” The Vestige with long black hair over his shoulders asked, one of his strands of hair had changed colors to green. Hokuto gave him a closer look and with his high black boots, black trousers and weirdly cut white leather jacket he looked more like an annoying teenager than someone who was actually working for the government.

“In case you did, I still see two Chasers we can ask, as the ones here are not really talkative,” the blonde Vestige who was a bit shorter than the other one, said. But he looked as ridiculous as the other one. White trousers, a black and white striped long sleeve shirt under another jacket that looked more ripped than intact. The pink strand falling into his eyes showed that he was of the same generation of Vestiges as the boy next to him.

“They didn’t say anything, because we ordered them to not say anything,” Hokuto finally replied. “Juri and I went out to look for some Fallen who gave us a tough time recently, but we knew that their information system is extremely advanced and they would have immediately retreated if they knew about us hunting them down.”

“Oh so you think people from the Government are actually working together with the Fallen?” The black haired Vestige asked.

“Maybe it’s you?” Hokuto shot back and this time both of them gave him a death glare. “How about you introduce yourself before you dare to deny me entrance to my own Center.”

“Oh how rude of us,” the blonde boy said and stepped a bit closer to the fence with an unnecessary bow to the front. “I am Konno, you can call me Konpi. This is Katsuki and we are Elite-Vestige from the Main Center and got told to report back to them about any weird activities in any of the Centers.”

“Elite-Vestige?” Hokuto asked with a raised eyebrow, but then he remembered that Kochi had actually told them about a new research and Shime had already encountered them before too at the Main Center, so here they were putting them into charge already. The Main Center had finally put their focus on the West Center and that at such a critical time.

“Then is there anything you want to report back?” Hokuto asked, trying to stay as calm as possible and not let it show that he already knew what was going on.

“Kochi is actually reporting back to them at the moment,” Katsuki said.

“You left the Center without its person in charge without us being back?” Hokuto scolded them.

“Well as much as I see only you are back, where is Juri?” Konpi asked.

“We split up in two groups with just some Chasers so that we could cover bigger territory. If he isn’t back yet then he is still looking for them.”

“With only one Chaser?”

Katsuki’s words showed Hokuto that they weren’t to be underestimated as they had done their homework and checked which Chasers were in the Center and which weren’t. But that made Hokuto immediately worry for Aran.

“Kochi gave us a lot of new gear with which it is safe for the Chasers to head out with us even in those numbers. As you can see we brought a Fallen back with us and I would like to bring him into our special observation room before he is back to full strength and can hurt anyone.”

“Oh so you are mind controlling him at the moment?” Katsuki asked.

Of course they had already realized about Hokuto’s new abilities, but beyond that they shouldn’t know anything as they still thought Taiga was a Chaser out with Juri and that Hokuto was still half Fallen. But how much had Kochi been able to hide?

“Fine, let’s put him into the room so that we don’t have to watch him, but we need to have a talk with you three about where you were exactly and then I have another request.”

Hokuto nodded on Konpi’s request as he knew that he shouldn’t behave too skeptical of them for now.

“After Kochi left the Center it seems like the lab automatically locked itself,” Konpi said and Hokuto could feel his mouth corner twitching a bit. Kochi had thought one step ahead. Hokuto knew of that automatic lock system and it was actually impossible for anyone other than Kochi to reopen the lab. The only other person he had ever entrusted information about how to open it in case something ever happened to him was Juri. “And well the Chasers said they weren’t allowed to say anything as long as you guys weren’t back so I think now is a good time to talk.”

“Then let us in and I will see what I can do,” Hokuto promised, finally calming down as he realized that they had a huge advantage on their side, which the Vestige didn’t know about. And that was Aran being inside the lab, watching and listening to them over the cameras. He was their trump card!

***

The next morning Taiga finally decided that it was time to get up and while Myuto still tried to be on high alert he also didn’t want to be too annoying so when Taiga first went outside and talked to Kentaro and the others he remained inside, knowing that Taisuke was in the lab.

When Taiga actually entered the lab later he gave Myuto a warning look when the boy seemed ready to go after him, but a reminder that Mitsu and three other Fallen where inside the lab as well made Myuto stay behind and on Taiga’s request he actually dared to go outside for a bit as well. He could come back worrying in case the other Fallen suddenly showed up outside, until then there was no chance for Taisuke to actually talk to Taiga alone. At least not as long as Taiga didn’t want that. But the atmosphere between them was too tense to even exchange more than a few words with the others present.

Feeling well enough to patrol himself after another rest, Taiga and Myuto went on an evening patrol for a few hours, but as expected no Government members had found their hideout yet and Hokuto and the others would make sure to send them to Myuto’s old hideout in case they wanted to know where they were hiding.

“Don’t you think you should rest a bit more?” Myuto asked as they made it back into the bunker, but Taiga rolled his eyes.

“I know the instinct is difficult to understand, but I am fine, okay? My physical wounds have healed as always, so no need to tiptoe around me and with the serum gone I won’t lose control of the instinct either. It was just the transition that made me lose control that one time.”

Myuto should be happy to hear that, but it was obvious how much Hokuto’s request was actually making him feel restless instead. Taiga stopped abruptly in the middle of the corridor and put his hand on a metal door. “Then how about this. I will stay here for the night. I bet Juri will wake up soon anyway, so it’s better when I am with him if he does. Deal?”

Myuto gave a skeptical look towards Juri’s room, but he knew that Taiga was right.

“You didn’t rest properly either recently,” Taiga scolded the other one and Myuto was surprised how much the Fallen self actually sounded like Taiga, but after all they shared the same memories now that the Fallen self had taken over and had free access to Taiga’s memories. “And Taisuke went out patrolling with most of his members for the night so that you and the others can rest. So the problem is solved, right?”

Finally giving up, Myuto nodded and let Taiga enter Juri’s room and he retreated to another room to get some rest before the other Fallen would return.

Taiga sat down next to the other one’s bed and no matter if he as the Fallen self wasn’t as emotionally connected to them, it just hurt to see Juri needing so long to recover even with Shime’s help. For a moment he thought about making it easier for him to wake up through his mind reading, but then he fell back in the chair with a sigh. That wasn’t why he had entered this room and he knew that he was acting ridiculous. Nevertheless he just sat there for some hours, not moving, not sleeping, just waiting.

He didn’t need any signal, all he needed was that one connection. A connection that would always be there and no matter if under any kind of serum or not, this part had been there before already and had been strengthened through the serum and the blood connection would never fade. Now Taiga wanted to find out if he was the only one still that irritated by it or if it was a mutual feeling.

So against everyone’s wishes and hopes, Taiga sneaked out of Juri’s room and the bunker to make it through the forest until he reached the cliff. That one cliff from which Taisuke had pushed him down. A fall he had barely survived and the first time he had challenged Taisuke and realized that he was stronger than him.

Yet he halted when he saw the other one standing right at the edge of that cliff, looking above the forest below. “I wondered if you’d go against your promise.”

“I didn’t promise anything, Myuto did and he doesn’t have to find out that I came here.”

Taisuke turned towards Taiga with one of those really hard to interpret looks, yet all that anger and arrogance was gone and it made Taiga walk up to him and take a deep breath of the cold night air.

“I know they are afraid of our connection and I can’t blame them. I brought so much trouble over Taiga and Hokuto already. I don’t want to make them suffer any more.”

“And still you know that you might not be able to keep your word,” Taisuke added and unfortunately he was right. The Fallen self hated their connection by now, knowing that if it wasn’t for him, Taiga would have already given in to this connection way more often than him and that would have broken him even more than it eventually would. Yet he still felt like he had betrayed Taiga the entire way.

It was the hurt visible in Taisuke’s look that made it so difficult for Taiga to just draw a line and say that they could just stay away from each other. It wasn’t like he wasn’t feeling hurt, but he knew that he needed to fight his instinct in the hardest way ever for the sake of Hokuto and Taiga.

“I might not be as strong as you,” Taisuke admitted. “I don’t have anyone to protect in that way and I fear that we already figured out that I am way weaker towards my instinct than you are.”

“As soon as we head back to the Capitol it will get easier,” Taiga promised. It was the confusion in the older one’s eyes, which had Taiga tilt his head. “You didn’t think we would stay longer than necessary, right?”

“I don’t really know what I was thinking. I know that Myuto’s group can’t stay much longer as the tension is growing too big between both groups, but there are so many decisions to make. Nika and Kentaro have to decide what to do. Shime...I don’t even know if I want him to stay in the Capitol or not.”

“Would you fight together with us in case the Main Center goes against us for what we did?” Taiga asked and Taisuke needed a moment to show a slow nod.

“I doubt I will ever go back to the Capitol completely at least as long as this war is going on, especially inside our own country, but your Center gave Fallen hope that we can change and I want to help and find the remaining Fallen out there.”

“The first noble words I hear from you,” Taiga teased the other one and the smile he showed made Taisuke immediately stare at him so Taiga hawked in embarrassment and turned away.

“Anyway, I think we made our points clear and for everyone’s sake we should keep this meeting a secret.”

When there was no reply, Taiga made a few hesitant steps away from the other one, but his body just felt so heavy. Why couldn’t he just be happy about the calm outcome of their talk and head back? No one knew, no one would ever know, so why was he waiting?

Yet Taisuke had realized the boy’s hesitation and he finally turned around and grabbed Taiga by the arm. Yet he didn’t have to pull much to make him turn back as Taiga had moved on his own already.

He cursed himself when he reached out for Taisuke’s hair as the older one did as well and they crushed their lips together in a messy and impatient kiss. They were pulling and pushing, knowing that it was so wrong, yet their instincts made it feel so right!

It was actually Taisuke who pulled back with a guilty expression and Taiga who wasn’t strong enough to do the same moved forward and tried to pull the other one back, but after a light contact of their lips, Taisuke put his hand up to the other one’s chest and that was when Taiga let out a shuddering breath and finally stepped back, realizing how stupid this move had been and how easily he had actually already broken his own promise.

“This will stay a secret too, so don’t worry,” Taisuke let out in such a hurt voice as if he had done the worst thing to both of them right now, not that Taiga wasn’t feeling any different, but this time he was strong enough to turn around and walk away before he could actually lose against his instinct once more.

It was going to stay a secret, yes, but there was one person who would get to know about all of it and that was Taiga!

***

“Any news from them?” Kentaro asked as he entered the lab, followed by Nika as they had just come back from a patrol on the morning the next day.

“From Hokuto we didn’t hear anything yet, but they had to hide the contact device in the truck in case they get immediately taken to the Main Center, so we can just wait and see what will happen at the West Center,” Miyata explained while he went through some photos and some notes. “The East Center is the only one not monitored at the moment. There are some Main Center Vestige at the North Center, so most likely also at the West Center. I am still waiting for Shime and Noel to contact me.”

“Why are you looking so down if we still didn’t get any bad news?” Kentaro asked Myuto who was the only one besides Miyata, Taisuke and Yuma in the room. The others were out on patrol or scattered somewhere around the bunker.

“I’m just worried that’s all,” Myuto replied, but Kentaro raised a disbelieving eyebrow at him.

“Fine if you say so.”

When he wanted to leave the lab again he stopped when someone was about to enter and he stepped out of the way. “What’s wrong with all of you? Did Juri die or why are you looking so down too?”

Taiga didn’t even react to Kentaro’s stupid question as he just looked through the room at the people who were gathered and while he tried not to behave too obvious he made sure to not look at Taisuke or Myuto for too long, yet he could already feel Myuto’s burning look on him, not that he felt like Myuto had spied on him the night before, yet he was good in reading his expression, no matter if Fallen self or not.

“Juri is fine, he started talking in his sleep so I think he will wake up soon. I just wanted to ask if we have any updates.”

“Nika and I will have a look at him, take your time,” Kentaro offered and left the room while Yuma went over to look at Miyata’s contact device, which had a connection for them to send voice messages, videos and photos and something was loading on the screen.

“Did you get some rest?”

Myuto’s question made Taiga look up at him with a way too confused expression and he bit himself into the inside of his cheek for his stupid reaction. He hadn’t asked if he had run around or met with Taisuke.

“Not much, but at least Juri seems to be getting better,” Taiga replied. When a weird silence followed in the room Taisuke stepped away from his desk where he was hiding behind some totally unrelated paperwork just so that he didn’t have to face the scanning looks of Myuto.

“I will switch with the others on patrol,” Taisuke announced, but when he was on the way to his door, Miyata raised his hand.

“You might want to call them all back instead.”

Taisuke stopped right next to Taiga when he heard that and their looks met for a moment too long and Taiga was more than sure that the way they both felt it so difficult to look away, Myuto had already sensed that something wasn’t right. But it seemed like explanations and a round of scolding had to wait for later.

“What is it?” Taisuke asked as he finally turned to the other one.

“We got something from Shime and look at this. He wrote in the message that what they found out so far is that there is a group of young Elite Vestige taking care of the investigation of the Centers and the boy here seems to be their leader. They found-”

“Can you zoom in on that boy?” Myuto interrupted him as he walked up to the screen with a scanning look.

“Sure?” Miyata said and put a focus on the boy, even though he had way more important information for them.

“Taiga, come here,” Myuto said and the boy felt weirdly relieved when he finally had a reason to step away from Taisuke without it seeming too desperate. Taiga looked over Myuto’s shoulder at the picture which Shime had taken from a hideout spot near the Main Center. The boy in the picture had red hair with only one blonde strand, a bit shorter in the back and long enough in the front to almost cover his eyes. His clothes were of white trousers, a white jacket with a black hoodie underneath and a white and black cloth half tied over the trousers. He looked way too young to be a Vestige and his clothes also didn’t make him look dangerous, but their new Elite-Vestige seemed to be all of the younger generation, yet that wasn’t what Myuto wanted him to see and when Miyata finally zoomed in as much as possible, Taiga gasped.

Now this fight was going to end up in an even bigger disaster than they had thought. This was not going to be easy for them or the other side. Yet Taiga had so many open questions. Were the others still alive too? Were they with him? Had they become Vestige too? How would the boy react when he saw Myuto and Taiga as Fallen? All questions they would soon find the answers to, but Taiga wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Reia?”