Chapter 22: Lightning

*Shika*

I warped to my brother's room. Kanade was looking around frantically. "Mora... I don't sense his presence."

"Give up," I commanded. I lifted several objects into the air. "If you do, you won't need to fight me."

Kanade closed her eyes. Tears stained her cheeks as she fell to the floor. "Mora... where did you go?" she cried.

I kept the objects in the air. One mustn't let their guard down around her.

"We'll find him, but you're coming with us," I said.

My cousin opened her eyes. "I'll find him, no matter what." She warped away again. I tried to follow her, but something blocked me from teleporting to her destination.

"This power... it's uncle's!" I spat. "I got to tell brother about this."

"Shika!" Sehun yelled as he ran into the room. He was pushing himself too much. Didn't he trust me to handle this? "Where is Purpura, I can't sense his presence."

"Mo... I mean Purpura seems to be gone."

Brother furrowed his brow. "That guy probably woke up and left while we were fighting the angel." He sighed. "Perhaps it's for the best."

"Is he that important to you?"

He shook his head. "No, but I know someone who might care for him."

I tilted my head. "That so? Who?"

*Kanade*

I looked around and found myself in my room, but not my usual one. It was the room I would use whenever we went up to Fuyuyama. Had dad brought me back here? The power I felt seemed to be his. But where was he? Did he bring me back as he felt I was taking too long?

"Dad?" I called out, walking into the long hallway. Where could he be? His office?

"Your father is busy," called out a boy with electric blue eyes. He was around my age.

I pushed him out of the way. "I got to tell him about Mora!"

He grabbed my arm. "Your father is resting right now."

"If he's resting, why did he bring me here?"

He sighed. "He told your mom he would."

So, he brought me here at Mom's request?

I glared at him and kicked him. "I see. Now, let go, Mr. Lightning!"

He unhanded me. I took the chance to run and search for father. This was only the third time I had been here. Father built the place at the base of the mountain that hosts Quartz Pillar, the place where my ancestors sacrificed themselves to create the Ethereal Stones.

"Father!"

"Kanade?" Mother yelled as she hid under the covers.

I turned away, my face bright red. "Sorry..."

The boy walked over, a smug grin on his face. "I told you that he was busy."

I grabbed him by the collar of his coat and press him against the wall. "You should've been more obvious. You secretly wanted me to barge in, didn't ya?"

He scoffed. "As if. I wouldn't have stopped you and gotten kicked if I did."

"What do you want?" asked Father as he came out of the room wearing his fluffy white pajamas. He was obviously angry that I had interrupted him and Mom.

"Uh... I couldn't recover Mora." I glared at him. "I was almost caught and killed while you were here!"

He smiled. "Ah... sorry about that."

"Kanade, did you contact your brother?" Mother asked as she came out of the room, wearing her fluffy pink pajamas.

I puffed my cheeks. "Only one I care for is Mora. That stupid Sekin can stay with his sickly girlfriend or with that boy he likes."

Mother sighed. "You shouldn't be this way. One day you might find yourself having to rely on him. Besides, there's nothing wrong with being bi-sexual." She glanced at my father and kissed him. "Right?"

Father glanced away.

Weird, it's almost as if she's saying that Father is bi... though do bi people even exist? Aren't they all closeted gays? Though... Purpura seems to be one himself... maybe bi people do exist?

Dad grabbed Mom's hand. "Let's go back to sleep."

I walked off.

The boy chuckled as he followed after me.

"Shut it, Mr. Lightning."

"I got a first name, too," he stated, glaring at me. "It's Arion."

"A...ari..." My face turned red. "Hmph, that's an awfully cute name for a guy like you."

Arion snickered. "Come on, don't be that way."

I pushed him up against a wall. "Listen here, you little..." I felt warm lips press against mine. The taste of his lips wasn't as disgusting as I would've imagined, not that I would.

He grinned once he moved away. "There, that quieted you down." He ran off, snickering like some annoying pixie.

I curled my hands into fists. "You are so dead now!" I ran after him. As I turned the corner, a sharp pain coursed from my legs up to my brain. I felt the hall start to shake. Expecting to fall on the ground, I held my arms out in front of me.

Instead of feeling the cold, hard floor, I felt something warm, a tad soft yet hard.

"You alright?" asked Arion. That was when I realized that Arion had caught me. The thing I felt was his chest.

"Let go of..." My eyes fluttered as everything went dark. W-what was going on?

"Princess Kanade," he yelled. "Princess! Wake up..."

***

"Mmmm?" I said, opening my eyes. Suddenly the door opened, Arion walked in with a bucket of water.

He put down the bucket by the door and ran over to me. "Do you need anything?" He frowned. "Listen. It's my fault that you fainted. I shouldn't have made you chase after..."

I hit him upside the head. "You jerk. This is what you deserve for kissing me!"

He gave me a large smile and laughed even as he rubbed his forehead. "Sounds like you're fine."

I turned away. "Idiot..." Sometimes I wonder why I even helped him in the first place. It was two years ago since we had met, the first time I visited this secluded place.

***

[Two Years Ago]

"Mom," I called out as I put on my winter coat. "I'm going to go out!"

"Alright," my mother said with a smile as she swept the floor by the entranceway. Even though we had people to do all that, Mother still insisted on doing it. I guessed that was what being born a country bumpkin would do to a person. Uncle Saku was the same way...

I put on my pair of pink snow boots and rushed outside to play in the snow. Big brother was already racing around in it with his friend, Souta.

"Got ya," Sou yelled, hitting brother directly in the chest with a giant snowball.

Sekin brushed off the snow and threw his snowball, but it missed Sou by a few inches.

"Work on ya aim!" Sou taunted.

Sekin smiled, a smile I hadn't thought him capable of making. Something about Souta made my brother smile genuinely. Was that what being in love with someone else meant?

I gazed at the gray sky. Though, I never recalled smiling that way around my darling Mora... I glanced down at the ground and smiled.

"Hey, Kanade, want to join us?" Souta asked, walking over. While he might have been a goofball, he was rather handsome. It was a shame he was gay.

I shook my head. "I'm going someplace else." I ran off into the forest and prepared myself to climb higher up the once-sacred grounds.

I didn't make it too far up before seeing a blond head faceplanted against the snow. His arms were spread out as if he had fallen. The snow around his left leg was dyed crimson. I dug out his leg, confirming it the red to be blood.

Suddenly the leg moved slightly. I glanced at the owner and noticed he was smiling. "Are you an angel?" he asked. "Is my time in this godforsaken land over?"

I pushed the snow on his back off. "No. It's not," I responded. "I'm also not an Abomination."

"Abomination?" the boy asked as he put his head back against the snow.

"That's what father calls the angels in addition to other beings." I put a hand under his chest and pushed him up. Wrapping his left arm around me, I began my trip back.

The boy closed his eyes.

"Hey, don't fall asleep," I commanded. "You might die if you do."

The boy smiled cynically. "Does it matter? No one cares for me. The only ones who did died long ago..."

***

['Present']

His electric blue eyes back then were a dull shade, looking more icy blue. It was hard to believe that the boy who didn't care about living was smiling like an idiot before me.

"Hey, A...Arion. What happened to your parents?" I asked.

His smile faded, and the color on his face drained. "My parents?"

I nodded. "When I found you, you said that the only ones who cared for you were gone. I assumed you meant your parents."

He stood up and walked over to retrieve the bucket of water. "They both died of illness when I was seven. My father was the first to die, and my mother followed soon after. I was an only child. The ones who took me in were the neighbors as mother's family lives far away."

Right, he had mentioned that.

***

[Two Years Ago]

The boy opened his eyes, taking in the sight of all the pink. "Heaven sure is colorful."

I sighed. "Silly boy, this isn't heaven. This is my room," I corrected him. I handed him a cup of hot chocolate that my mother had made.

The boy glanced up at me. His face flushed a little. "Uh, thanks."

"No need to thank me," I responded, sitting down next to him. "Now, if you're feeling better, let's take you home."

He stared at the chocolate. "I have no home... not anymore."

"What do you mean?"

He shuts his eyes. "The demons...they're coming."

I gasped. What demons?