Chapter 13: Oni Tomodachi

I decided to drop my mother off at home before going to Mune's house for more answers. Coincidentally, so did everyone else. Jay opened the door, his face full of fear. Before I could say anything, he grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. "You need to see this."

He took me to the living room to find Michael on the couch, his throat red with slight cuts. "What happened to him?"

"We don't know." Lina said, trying to clean the infection on the wounds. "He just banged on our door and fell as soon as we opened it."

My hands slowly turned into fists. There was only one person who could have done this. "This isn't Karma's doing, if that's what you're thinking." Nico said, looking outside the window.

"We really are cursed." Jay said, collapsing on the couch.

Mune rolled his eyes. "Would you quit it already? You've been saying that ever since we left that house."

Nico's eyes widened at the window. "Uh, guys…" He pointed at the window. Puzzled, I got up to see what he was pointing at. A young boy was standing outside. He wore a mask and held a katana in his belt. His eyes showed no mercy as he glowered at us.

"It's Vanitas," Lina said behind us. I jumped, then immediately relaxed. She stared outside. "There is only one person who has those kinds of eyes."

Nico pointed at the window again. "If that's Vanitas, then who's that?" There was another boy standing beside Vanitas. He however, looked like a military soldier. In his hands, he was twirling a knife.

"Lina," Mune said, staring at the window with us. "Pack both our things. We're leaving." Lina didn't think twice, and ran upstairs to get their things. Mune decided to help her, since he needed his laptop and everything. As he did, the lights flickered.

"Now can we agree that we're cursed?" Jay said in a weak voice. I wanted to agree, but I was too terrified to say so.

Something groaned, causing us all to jump. Michael looked around, confused. "Where am I?" He asked, rubbing his head.

"In the Devil's lair. Why?" Nico said bluntly. Jay and I glared at him. Michael looked at him, terrified.

"What?!" He yelled.

Mune came behind him and covered his mouth. "Quiet. There's someone outside," He glowered at the window. "And you may be the reason."

He slowly uncovered his mouth and told us the plan Lina and him made. "We'll walk out the back door, since they're at the front and there's no one in the back."

"Why would there be?" Jay asked. Mune ignored him as usual, and continued.

"We'll try to walk around them through the forest, since it's easier than facing them head-on." He picked up his bag. "Let's go, before they blow up the front door."

We followed Mune and Lina as they helped us pass the two soldiers. I couldn't but feel the presence of someone following us. I turned to look at the soldiers-I froze.

One of them was missing. I frantically looked around, wanting to know where they were. The others continued, not noticing. Nico, however, looked at me and asked me. "Hey Oni, you okay? You look more terrified than normal."

"One of them is missing." I whispered. We heard a scream ahead of us. Nico recognized that scream.

"Lina." We both ran as I hoped for the best and that the soldiers didn't find them.

I stopped at the edge of the forest, staring at the rows of soldiers, one holding Lina by her hair, while Mune and Jay were held back and Michael remained still with a knife at his throat. I stared at Vanitas, his mask missing, standing beside a man.

The man looked like he was born from hell. Everything about him struck me as monstrous. His eyes, his clothes, his smile. He placed a hand on Vanitas's shoulder. "Well done Vanitas," He kept his eyes on mine. I felt like I couldn't move, couldn't turn my head, do anything that would make me look away from that face.

"Now, since you haven't killed him yet, I suppose you made the choice to kill him in front of our new fighters, hm?" He asked Vanitas. He said nothing, he only looked at me with pleading eyes while keeping a brave face.

"I'll take that as a yes," The man said, removing his hand from Vanitas's shoulder. His eyes kept telling me the same thing; Run. Why was he telling me to run? Was he going to chase me if I did?

Nico, on the other hand, yawned, and scratched his head. "This is boring. Could you get to the chase? And what are you doing there, Vanitas? What are you, his son or something?" Vanitas stiffened, but said nothing. Nico waited for an answer, but all he got was a glare from him.

"What? Did I say something wrong? If I did, you can tell me, if you're not too busy staying quiet." I turned my head-thankfully-and asked what he was doing. He looked at me with a goofball grin. "What does it look like? I'm trying to get a reaction from him." He turned back, only to be pushed into a tree by Vanitas.

Vanitas gave a look full of sadness as he whispered something into Nico ears. Nico's angry face changed into a look of fear. Vanitas looked at me and mouthed me three words; Get out, NOW. He removed the blade he had placed on Nico's neck and stood beside the man.

A thought came to my mind-correction, a memory came to my mind-of the fire I saw four years ago. Of the boy and the man in front of the fire. These were the same people. Vanitas was the kid, the man as, well, the man.

"Clever boy," he said to me, as if reading my mind. "I asked Vanitas to try to bring you along a few years ago, but it seems I'm not too late."

He came closer as he spoke. I tried to back away, but I ended up bumping into a soldier behind me. I turned around to see the same soldier that followed Vanitas.

I looked carefully and realized that it-it looked both a girl and boy I couldn't tell-was smaller than me, but definitely more experienced in fighting that I was.

I felt someone grab me and place a cloth over my mouth. I tried to scream, but it was muffled. I tried to remain conscious but failed and gave up after falling asleep. The last thing I saw was the strange boy/girl looming above me.