Again

"Juel, can you hear me?" Shiroi asked.

As he listened through his ear piece gawking around the corner of a building he heard nothing but the sound of his own heavy breathing. He felt sick to the pit of his stomach. The air was too hot and stuffy for comfort.

His throat tightened with the feeling of claustrophobia as well as the anxiety that rose in him. The fear that he was going to do something he would regret.

He swallowed hard, hoping his mouth wouldn't betray him. It didn't. With the way his body was shaking thinking how usually he isn't nervous when it comes to fighting, he wasn't sure he had ever been this terrified in his entire life. He wasn't sure if he should have left the Garrison when he had realized what a coward he had been and had resigned from being part of the team.

"I am fine! Let's get this stupid document and leave already!" Juel announced.

It was a barren warehouse completely empty of all personnel or signs of human occupation aside from himself and Shiroi. There were a few boxes stacked on one end of the room as well as an old desk covered with dust. A dusty light bulb hung from above them.

The silence in which they talked was eerie even though he could hear the soft rustling of papers in the background. He tried not to move his head.

"Shiroi, why would they want us to go to an abandoned warehouse?" Juel questioned.

"There is literally no one there?" Shiroi asked.

Garbage lined the sides as glass crunched under his feet making his way through the maze of debris. He could see the outline of furniture inside the crates along the wall as well as the occasional dirty shoe peeking out. He couldn't make out anyone else in the space besides them, so it was safe to assume that nobody was actually in here.

Juel accidentally kicked a pair of cuffs attached to a chain and sent a sharp crack echoing through the room. As much as he tried not to look at the broken chains dangling in front of him like the skeletons of dead people, he found himself staring down at the shackles.

Grey stains pave his way across the warehouse floor. It is open, but its hinges are rusted from disuse, preventing him from pushing it open further.

"Come here," Shiroi ordered.

He pulled the door with him and turned the handle. It opened with a groan of protest. They stepped into the dark space, the faint light from outside barely penetrating the dim hallway. Shiroi pulled the door close behind her and Juel as he followed through the hallway.

Juel walked a step behind him, careful as he stepped over piles of trash. "Shouldn't we just call an officer first?"

Shiroi ignored him. He walked forward, careful to avoid stepping on any fallen items of trash.

When he came upon two sets of footsteps leading down the staircase at the other end, he stopped.

They both hesitated before following the footprints. something knocked him back several steps, but he regained his composure by taking a deep breath in and letting out the air slowly.

"We're supposed to be coming for a document and nothing more!" Shiroi shouted.

"Someone is here, but it is best we get that item and leave…" Juel responded.

"No!" A voice shouted.

Coming at him was the same boy with white hair angrily before he knocked the dagger from Juel's hands as soon as he raised the weapon up against him. Shiroi jumped back to avoid being hit as well as the knife hit the wall with a loud clatter. Before the boy could turn to face him however, Juel swung his other knife at his neck. Shiroi dodged again, running down the stairs after the kid.

"This time you will remember none of this!" He shouted.

A force once again drew Juel back throwing him to the wall, the momentum causing the knife to clatter across the floor. The kid quickly grabbed the dagger and made his way up the stairs, leaving Juel alone in the hallway below.

He could feel his mind being overloaded and overwhelmed by the amount of information that flooded into him in such a short period of time. Juel was felt his mind blur from the overload and the pressure he felt in his ears, his vision began blurring and the world seemed to spin around him as he struggled to find his footing. His legs wobbled as he reached the stairs to see his dead friend sitting on the concrete floor with the dagger still clutched tightly in his right hand.

Blood dripped from his nose onto the cement. Shiroi rushed to him, ignoring the pain in her left ankle.

"What happened? Where did the attacker go? How many did he take out? Are you alright?"

"They were all gone. I don't know where they went..."

"I can't let your friend remember either!" The boy claimed.

Her body automatically hit the floor unconcious. He felt a sense of déjà vu. Whoever this kid was he was much more than what he had originally thought as he started to fade out of his sight. His eyes glazed over as he watched Juel stumble away from him towards one of the metal tables scattered across the warehouse before losing his awareness entirely.

Juel awoken back in the hospital ward of the police station as he gasped for breath. He sat up abruptly, looking around the room in confusion before realizing he was in his bed. In fact, he was in the hospital and everything around him was covered in medical equipment including IVs dripping fluids into his arms.

"Juel, you gotta listen to me, Juel! Juel!" Drake called out.

His name echoed off the walls, bouncing off the ceiling until eventually dying down to a whisper. He looked towards Drake who stood over him.

"You...are you okay?" Drake whispered.

"How long have I been out? In fact how did I even get here?" Juel whispered.

He forgot Drake was a spirit in his dagger form. Or maybe his thoughts weren't clear enough to recognize anything except for a single person in his mind. Maybe they had taken his consciousness before they had taken him here.

Drake frowned. "That boy you were so nuts over duped us again! He knocked you and Shiroi out! Don't you remember anything?" Drake asked.

Juel shook his head. He recalled nothing of the incident except for a blurry glimpse of the knife that was pointed at his heart. All of his memories were blocked out.

He blinked and focused on Drake. Staring blankly at him. He was aware that he might have passed out, but for whatever reason it was as if his mind was still stuck on the events earlier that night. The images of the scene flashed before his eyes like a movie reel on fast forward. But there was one memory lingering in his subconscious that he could hardly comprehend it.

"Wait, no….I don't know what happened sorry Drake...." Juel murmured.

"You mean you don't know what happened last night?!" Drake exclaimed.

"What happened? What about Shiroi? Did she get hurt?" Juel asked urgently.

Drake sighed. "She is fine. You and Shiroi was only knocked him unconscious,"

"But why am I hooked up like this?"

"They want to make sure your system is flushed out," Drake noted.

Juel nodded his head. He didn't understand. He was completely confused with everything going on in his mind and his body. Everything he saw and experienced felt surreal. The events of last night were like flashes in front of his eyes but he had a hard time believing that he actually did what was supposedly done to him.

They heard footsteps approaching then the door clicked open revealing an unfamiliar man dressed in a white lab coat and a pair of surgical gloves. He held a small paper cup in his right hand.

"Juel, glad to meet you and Drake. I am Doctor Raul Mendoza. I'm sure you're wondering why you were brought here?"

Juel's stomach churned as his thoughts raced in circles. This man didn't seem normal in any sense. Drake moved closer towards Juel as if he sensed the fear and distress coursing through him.

Doctor Mendoza placed the coffee cup on the metal table beside him as he sat down on the chair opposite of them.

"To start, do you know where you are?" the doctor asked.

"The police station?"

Doctor Mendoza nodded. "And why exactly are you in our station?"

"Because you found Shiroi and me I think in a warehouse," Juel replied.

Doctor Mendoza leaned back in the chair, his expression unreadable as he stared straight into Juel's eyes. The doctor's gaze was piercing, almost as if it could pierce the very fabric of reality itself.

The room began spinning again as Juel felt his entire world shift beneath him. Everything seemed to be changing and yet not at the same time.

He couldn't hear Drake or Mendoza talking anymore. He couldn't make out what they were saying anymore. He felt himself falling and unable to keep his balance.

"Why does a police station have a hospital anyways?" Juel whispered.