Chapter Three

I had been there for two weeks already. During that time, Usagi was asleep; whatever that bastard Alabaster had done was keeping her asleep. Being inside for so long was suffocating, it felt like I was in a prison. "We are going out." Remi said suddenly appearing in front of me. How did she get there?

"We as in me too?" I asked raising an eyebrow. "You can't just stay here for free without helping out." She glared. Um....technically I didn't come here by my own free will, isn't it basically kidnapping? "Sure…." I replied putting my hands behind my head, "So where we going?" Remi turned to me. "We found the others, all of them."

"I'll assume you're talking about the something heroes." I said. Come to think of it, if I'm one of these heroes then what does that make Remi? "Hey Rem, what's with the heroes anyway?" I asked absentmindedly. I hoped she didn't mind the nickname, it wasn't going away anytime soon. She sighed. "Have you listened to anything we've said?" She probably knew the answer to that from my blank stare. "There are seven, you and I are a part of them. Although you can say that we are second generations since the first ones died in the dark ages. We emit a certain energy which makes it easier for Alabaster to find us."

"Cool, so who's the new guy?"

"I don't know."

"Is Alabaster a licensed guardian, he looks kind of young?"

"He's over a hundred years old."

"Whoa. Hey Rem, do we get to live that long?" She ignored my question but the bright smile on my face remained.

"Since we are going undercover, can I get some shades?"

"Gosh! You're so annoying." I burst out laughing at that and put my arm around my shoulder.

"Let's be good friends, Remi." It was risky, to be honest I was afraid of her judo flipping me but instead all I got was glare.

"For your safety, I'd take your hand off my shoulder right about now." I laughed awkwardly but complied nevertheless. How violent. I looked at Remi whose face looked flushed. I smiled to myself, well she didn't say no.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked. "Oh nothing, it's just a beautiful day." We reached Alabaster's study and the door opened. We were met by Alabaster who as usual was wearing black robes. Behind him his study looked like a mess, everything was in pieces. Sometimes I worried about his mental health...…what did the table ever do to him? 

"I see that you two are finally here, did you have enough time to look at the flowers on your way?" He said smugly. We're not the ones who suddenly demanded for your presence out of nowhere. It's considered polite to send notice a day before. I maintained the smile on my face. "In any case I found the other five heroes. The crystal ball whispered to me and showed me their locations."

"Crystal ball?" I whispered to Remi.

"Just ignore him, that's what I do." She replied

"One of them is fairly close, I want you to go to him. You will be able to sense him when you get close enough." Before I could speak up, Remi was quick to answer. "We understand." The conversation ended there. I packed my backpack and dressed up. I was wearing black ripped jeans with a grey hoodie. Before leaving I had a chance to speak with Alabaster, I sighed remembering the conversation.

"Hey Alabaster, what are you going to do about my sister?" I asked after Remi left. "She is currently sleeping peacefully but when she wakes up, all the memories will come rushing back. Of course if you want I can erase the memories of your parents' death."

I flipped the pocket knife over in my hand. That was another issue I had to solve when I came back.  Remi was waiting for me outside. She was wearing blue jeans with a big black jersey. Her hair was tied up and it seemed to have some sort of Japanese ornament. My mother loved stuff like that, my smile faded and was replaced with a big sting in my heart. "Let's get going then." Remi said. "Yeah....sure." I replied. The mansion was surrounded by trees so I didn't know if there was public transport nearby. "Rem, how are we getting to our destination?"

"Beyond these trees is a road. There's a bus that usually stops there." Bus? How the hell didn't they find us?

"Oh." Remi was right and we were right on time for the bus. The bus was empty. I guess not a lot of people had any business in a forest, I expected it. I definitely wouldn't live in horror movie like place if I had the choice. It was bad enough that I had to hear creaks and cracks in the mansion all the time. We dropped off at the last station. Remi had woke me up and it took some seconds for me to register that the bus had stopped. "Oh, right." A few people were on the bus but none of them paid any attention to two students who should have been in school. We got off the bus and I was hit by the burning rays of the sun. "Geez, it's way too bright." I complained. "I prefer this to total darkness." Remi said as I shielded my eyes. "Yeah, yeah I know." I ran under a tree. There was a paper stuck there, a paper with Usagi's face and mine. 'Missing, if seen please report to Police Station.' 

I subconsciously pulled my hoodie down my face. "Now I'm a celebrity." I laughed awkwardly.

******

"Can we take a break?" We had looked around for while but no results. Is this what they went through to find me? Truth be told, I don't even know exactly what I'm looking for, I have no idea about this 'energy' we emit but this guy better be worth it. More importantly, how come Remi didn't even break a sweat? Damn it, I need to work out more. "Tired already?"Remi asked smugly. "Shut up, leave me alone." I sat down on a bench. Remi burst out laughing. "Sorry, I didn't expect you to be so frail."

"Oh so now you feel like talking?" I rolled my eyes. "Usually you're so quiet."

"That's because I prefer to observe your actions."

"What am I, a science project?"

"Something like that." She smiled. I scoffed, "Anyway are we getting any closer?"

"Uh, I don't know."

"What?!"

"I said I don't know, I'm sure it will work out eventually." She yawned. I could not believe this girl. I couldn't even say anything, my energy was drained. It was beginning to get dark, I didn't like it. "Let's keep moving." I stopped in my tracks and turned to the left at the same time as Remi. There was something telling me to go in that direction. Is this the energy? This is getting weird, I feel like I'm in a fantasy manga or something. "Um.."

"That way." Remi said. I mean I'm all for it but what if it's a trap? The place was really quiet with no people; I wasn't willing to take any chances. And then, just as if the gods had decided to pull a prank on me, it suddenly got dark. "Seriously?" Remi sighed as four dark walls surrounded us. Our way was blocked and apart from us only the bench seemed to be within the walls. I started panicking, "What just happened? What is this thing?"

"Relax."Remi said calmly.

"Um…what do you mean? Isn't this a shadow creature?" I asked wondering if she had gone crazy.

"Not really, it must have found its way here because of us though."

"More reason not to relax." I wasn't ready to die yet, I could already imagine what would be written on my certificate:

Arthur Hikari. Cause of death: hit by a wall.

"It's just going to block our way nothing else." Remi said folding her arms. "So it's completely harmless?" I asked relaxing a bit. "Yep."

"Ok then, let's chill till it goes away." I said lying down the bench, I could use a quick nap. "You adapt way too easily!" Remi exclaimed. "Hakuna Matata."  I said turning to my other side. Unfortunately, my nap was cut short. I heard a sound like glass cracking, it was coming from outside. I looked towards the direction. Tiny rays of light were shining through the cracks. "What the- I started. The entire wall broke and I shielded my eyes from the light. Remi looked as shocked as me; we both definitely saw the silhouette of someone. It became clear and we could see the person. It was a boy who looked to be my age. He had dark hair and seemed to be slightly taller than me. For some reason, I immediately felt irritated. Unmistakably, he was one of us. He tilted his head, "Well this is a surprise, I simply followed my instinct, didn't think I would bump into two heroes."