Darkness fell upon his world so suddenly. A cold hand wrapped his eyes closed leaving him blind. Numbness surrounded his body, losing any sense of weight. Balance collapsed next for him until he felt turned around and spun upside down. Any sense of direction disappeared along with time. He no longer knew what happened to him. The world vanished utterly.

‘Brother!’ yelled a voice repeatedly, that only became clear recently. The voice sounded desperate and panicked pulling at him. He didn’t recognize the voice, but it gave him direction again. ‘Brother!’ Repeating as it had before; he tried to search for it with his mind becoming more aware of his surroundings. His body suddenly gained weight and feeling with his eyes opening.

His eyelids widened a little in surprise and confusion. ‘Where am I?’ Adjusting to the new space, he could finally make out shapes. The entire region he floated in stretched on as far as he could see. In the distance, a bright light shined providing illumination to all. It carried warmth, baked his skin, and soothed his muscles. About him as he scanned, he saw scattered furniture, toys, papers, dolls and clothes. It looked as though someone shook out an entire house and left it to gather.

The strange space distracted him, dragging him closer and losing the voice. He took hold of the edge of a table finding that it held him still. ‘What is all of this stuff? Why is it here?’ Near him, a smaller accessory shifted around as though on a current. A passing doll bumped into his hand. Before it rebounded too far away, he grabbed it. ‘This is familiar…’

‘Brother!’

‘Huh?’ He spun his head then body around. The voice became deafeningly loud suddenly. It pulled at him again. He felt compelled to follow the voice. The table shrank away as he floated towards the sound. ‘Who’s calling me?’ Each second made the feeling strong until it pounded in his chest. ‘I know this…why can’t I remember?’ He moved to the light, but it never seemed to get any closer to him.

‘Brother!’

‘Argh!’ A needle-like pain stabbed him in the head making him stop. He turned around feeling a dark chill breathing down his neck. All of the light from behind no longer existed, not even shadows. He looked down at his feet seeing gray where he stood. It suddenly felt as though a blizzard blew in freezing the air he tried to breathe. ‘What’s happening?!’

‘Brother!’

He turned back feeling the desperate pull of the voice. The eerie void behind him didn’t make him want to stay. He tried to escape, but it followed him and seemed to be gaining on him. His eyes caught the blackness encroaching at the ends of his vision even staring forward. ‘I can’t outrun it!’ The light in front of him began to fade, losing out to the overpowering crushing pressure. However, close to him he saw an outline of something still blurred. ‘What is that?’

‘Where…’ The voice seemed to cut off or come through muffled preventing him from understanding the rest.

His hand reached out towards the object trying to see it clearly. Everything became dark again with only a small flicker of light from the object. In the empty void, he could see it better. It gained form appearing like half of a star.

‘Where are you, Brother?’

An outside force grabbed him away before he could grab on to it. He strained at the pressure trying to get back. He didn’t understand what was going on. Nevertheless, he knew he needed to reach it. The force was too strong for him. It was all nearly gone. ‘Yumi!’

Chapter 124 – Dividing Paths

“Brother!” gasped Yumi, throwing herself up. She looked around trying to get her bearings. Next to her, Yuki rested with his head tilted down and eyes closed. ‘He’s been here the whole time?’ Time became lost to her after she started crying. She didn’t know how long it had been, but felt as though hours had passed. Yumi stretched up her hand towards Yuki’s face feeling a little comfort from seeing him.

“Where the hell have you been?!” snapped a distant voice.

It was enough to make Yumi jump. She immediately retracted her hand thinking that they were speaking to her. However, as Yumi started to wake and she looked around at the camp she realized what happened.

Seiji towered over Ayumi, having only suddenly appeared. The time of recovery for him had restored his energy and anger. Ever since they realized that Ayumi vanished no one knew what happened to her.

She tossed some packs to the grass to land at their feet. “I was out finding more supplies. We’re burning through food quickly. And knowing you, figured replacement clothes would be needed.”

“You went shopping?! Why did you leave in the middle of a fight?”

Ayumi picked up the long tunic shaped a little more like a dress. She carried it over to Yumi seeing the blood that coated the one she wore. After she finished, her eyes caught Seiji glared down at her still expecting an answer. “My presence isn’t needed. There were enough of you to deal with them.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“That isn’t for you to decide! If we’re attacked, we fight together!”

Yuki felt the shaking from Yumi’s body. He saw the worry building up from the two arguing and the other problem that weighed on her. “Enough!” he shouted over both of them. Once he had their attention, if only partially, he held a hand on Yumi’s shoulder. “We have more important matters. Ayumi’s safe, but we’re still missing someone!”

“What are you talking about?” Ayumi counted through everyone, noticing the quick flip of emotions. The air became cold and still, almost surprisingly so. “Where’d the brother go?”

No response came to Ayumi’s question. They avoided the subject as much as possible knowing the reactions. However, Yuki knew that someone had to tell her. He carefully let Yumi go and stood up. “We can’t find him… He’s been missing since the end of the fighting.”

An awkward stirring from Yuki’s last words filtered through everyone. Ayumi narrowed her eyes from her observations. She felt a difficult pull inside that she ignored. “Where was he the last time you saw him?”

“Near me,” Saki stated quietly, stepping forward. “He didn’t move for most of the time they had us surrounded.”

“How did he disappear after the fighting finished?”

Yuki’s eyes glanced over quickly before meeting Ayumi’s gaze. “I was healing Seiji and Yumi. We were focused on that…”

She narrowed her vision to the blood on his arm. “Would seem you’re bleeding too, unless that’s theirs. Ayumi walked over while a ripple expanded from her feet.

“Oh right, I patched it up the best I could. Forgot our powers can’t work on ourselves.”

While she healed him, Ayumi looked around at the others. “So they captured him?” She knew it to be a land mine, they couldn’t ignore the truth forever. They needed to face it head on if they were to move past it. “It’s regretful, but you knew this could happen. We need to move on.”

“What?!” exclaimed a few of the teens.

A painful gasp came from Yumi making Yuki turn back towards her. He took a hold of her when her body lost the strength to support her. His eyes slid in their sockets towards Ayumi in disappointment and anger. If he weren’t with Yumi, he would have confronted her.

Acting as a stand-in, Seiji barged forward, no longer feeling the lightheadedness from his blood loss. He grabbed the fabric of Ayumi’s tunic and lifted her up off the ground to come to eye level with him. “You cold unfeeling—“

“Seiji!”

The angry teen turned his head, still holding onto Ayumi. “Yuki, you can’t be serious! I can’t let her so selfishly dismiss what’s happened!”

“…I know…” Yuki’s head fell down darkening a little with his thoughts. His hands shook a little, even while he tried to keep himself together. “I’m angry too, but…”

Ayumi’s flat expression remained unchanged, even restrained by Seiji. She lifted her hand up to his wrist gripping it tightly, but realized that his strength exceeded hers. “As a soldier, emotions only cloud your judgment.”

“Shut the hell up, right now!” snapped Seiji. “You’re not one of us! We aren’t soldiers!”

A slight thinning of her lips to a grim touch washed over her briefly. “We have a purpose. A goal that doesn’t have the time for us to waste.”

The hand that held Ayumi up began to shake. Seiji’s hand tightened audibly for Ayumi to pick up. “Your goal doesn’t matter right now! Someone’s been taken! It’s more important to rescue them! Any time lost you can make up with your powers!”

Amongst the yelling, Yumi felt like she shrank away. She wanted to do something, but felt so helpless. Ever since Yori disappeared, she could not find her strength. Even at that moment, she relied on Yuki’s aid. ‘…Brother…where are you?’

‘Damnit! Why are you acting so helpless?’

Yumi turned her head within her mind remembering the voice again. The same voice that spoke to her during the fight she had with the Atlantean woman. ‘It’s you!’

‘So annoying…why are you doing nothing?’

‘Huh?’

‘You know what I mean!’

‘But…what can I do?’ She thought through all of the past where she tried to be assertive. She wanted to change, but nothing happened. Everything remained the same for her. ‘I’m not…’

A loud sigh came from the disembodied voice. ‘I’m really getting tired of this! You can’t keep shrinking back to this hole when things get a little difficult! Stop making others stand up for you!’

Yumi staggered a little from the forcefulness of the tone. She knew the truth that they spoke, but still hesitated. ‘I didn’t ask them to… They’re doing it on their own…’

‘So that makes it alright for you to not do anything!? I thought he was your brother!’

‘Yori is my brother!’ The tone in Yumi’s voice sharpened a little in response. She leaned forward a little, not quite lifting from her folded legs. Her back straightened a little more bothered by the voice.

Even though there was nobody there, the tone of the voice almost sounded like they shrugged in disbelief at Yumi. ‘Really? I find that hard to believe. Does a sister just cower away making others speak for her when she has the power to do something herself? Doesn’t sound like a sister to me.’

Yumi jumped up to her feet, no longer able to remain still. She threw out her hand in the best direction of the voice. ‘I am his sister! And I would do anything I could for him!’

‘I only believe actions, not words!’ The condescending tone in the voice stayed as strong as before. Almost a mocking grin seemed to surface in the words.

‘Then I will!’ She disappeared from the space of their communion.

A vague shadow surfaced from the void with no clearly definable form. ‘Such a troublesome individual. Was that good enough for you?’ The anticipated response never came to the voice. Starting to fade away into the air the shadow almost completely dissipated. ‘You won’t be able to remain quiet forever…’

Yumi’s eyes snapped open with reality slamming into her chest enough to make her gasp. She took in a deep breath and examined her surroundings. In front of her, Seiji still held onto Ayumi and Yuki held back, staying by her side. They still fought as though almost no time passed. Yumi felt the strength suddenly surge through her body. ‘I’ll show you! I’m not weak! I’m here now and I can’t be useless!’

When Yumi pushed off Yuki’s hands, it pulled his attention back to her. His face changed to confusion seeing the shifting emotions in her eyes. “Yumi? Is something wrong?”

“No,” she sternly stated. Yumi stood up once freed from her crutch in Yuki. “This is something I must do.” She walked over to Seiji and Ayumi locked in a debate still. His voice yelled over top of Ayumi’s calm, even tone. Yumi lifted up her hand between the two and placed it on Seiji. “It’s time to let her go.”

Seiji’s eyes widened in shock. It made his hand tighten further onto the tunic. “Did you not hear what the hell she’s been saying?!”

“Yes, I’ve heard. And she’s right.”

“What?!” shouted most of the group in unison. Even Ayumi gave her a questioning look while still having the calculating expression buried behind. Yuki ran up to Yumi putting his hand on her shoulder trying to understand her.

Yumi looked over at Yuki. “Ayumi’s right. You have something important that you need to do, Yuki. Which is why I will go and find my brother alone.”