The Prince and The Pauper

Chapter 7

Deep in the center of a forest, underground from all prying eyes, was THEM. They had Akari chained on the wall and Black Mist on a table. Black Mist had tube coming from his head that were connected to a machine that was slowly and painfully draining his dark energy. Unconscious, he could do nothing but grit his teeth against the pain. Small whimpers escaped him.

Akari was awake, though, and she had no tubes coming out of her. She strained and struggled against the chains that kept her to the wall, cursing at the people in cloaks.

"Someone shut her up," one of them said. "She's making too much noise."

The one who spoke was not in a cloak. It was a woman feline. She had orange fur on her back and sides with white on her front paws, hind paws, tail, belly, and nose. Her eyes were emerald green. Her tail was long and slender, curled around her delicate body. Her ears perched at the top of her head among her dark orange and white hair, which reached up to her shoulders.

The feline stood from her throne as some of her loyal people gagged her. She placed her paw under Akari's chin and stared into her eyes.

"Don't make this hard for us, honey," she purred. "We'll be needing you once we extract what we need from him." She gestured to Black Mist with her head. "However, if you can't be a good little kitten, we're gonna have to put you on the same drugs as him."

Akari glared at her. She couldn't do much like this. She looked over to Black Mist, and a twinge of sympathy struck her chest. Why were they doing this to him? It looked so painful.

~.Royal POV.~

How did he get stuck with this human? Sure, he helped him, but still! He didn't need someone to slow him down.

Yuma didn't seem to be having a hard time catching up, though.

"Hey, what's your brother like?" Yuma asked, falling into step with him.

Astral didn't hesitate to answer, which surprised him. "My brother is virtually harmless when he is calm, but if he is provoked, his darkness will take over him and manage to harm everyone it comes across until the vessel is out of energy. That is why I try to stay by his side at all times."

Yuma nodded. He was probably thinking about his sister and if she was safe.

He felt the sudden need to know what his sister was like.

"Yuma..." It felt strange addressing a human at all, much less by name! The name seemed strange coming from him, and he even made a face as he said it.

"Yeah?" Yuma didn't seem to notice this.

"I wanted to know..." Why couldn't he get the words out? Was it because he wasn't used to asking humans questions? "How...how is your sister like...?"

Yuma was surprised he would even ask. "Well, she's a good sister in terms of keeping us safe. Sure, she scolds us a lot, but that's only because she wants to make sure we know what's right and wrong. She's even sort of a sister to my friends. She had a job in journalism, and it was going quite well." He smiled. "She's a really good sister. That's why I have to go find her. Grandma and I are worried that something may happen to her."

Astral nodded. He knew the feeling of getting his brother out of the clutches of THEM ASAP. He didn't wonder if he was okay. He knew nothing was alright.

"We need to go faster," Astral stated bluntly. "Who knows what unspeakable things they are doing to Black Mist at this moment?" He leaned forward and flew faster, making Yuma have to run to catch up.

"Where do you think they are?" Yuma asked as he ran next to Astral.

"I do not know. THEIR base is always changing! First, it was on my home world, then some other world, and now here!" He knew his voice had a hint of panic, but that didn't matter at the moment. Any brother or sister who knew their sibling was in danger would also be panicking.

Just then, more of THEM appeared. Astral stopped dead in his tracks and looked for a place to hide, but it was too late.

"Looks like we missed one," the one on the far right commented with his synthetic tone.

"Lady Shila will not be pleased," said the one next to him in a monotone voice.

"We shall dispose of him," said the one in the middle.

At that comment, Astral unsheathed his sword. "I will not allow that!" he growled. "I will find your base, and I will get my brother back!"

The one up front laughed. His voice was distorted, but it was obviously a mocking laugh. "You think you can beat us? What a joke!" Under his cloak, he seemed to be gripping a weapon. "We are Lady Shila's best fighters. Not even the king could beat us!"

One of the cloaked beings in the back giggled like a hyena. "Yeah!" he practically screamed. "And-and we know!!! We killed him!"

~.Human POV.~

Yuma's eyes widened. He knew that Astral was the prince, and his father was the king. That meant that they killed his father!

Astral's grip on his sword tightened. Yuma saw that his anger was clearly reflecting on his gaze. He knew he was going to fight.

Well, Yuma didn't mind a good fight. Though he preferred duels, fights were okay, too.

"Do you intend to mess wit us, human boy?" the leader chuckled.

"Stay out of this, Yuma," Astral growled.

"Sorry, no can do." Yuma cracked his knuckles. "If they're your enemies, then they have Akari. I can't stand around and do nothing."

Astral looked at Yuma, scrutinizing the boy for many seconds. Then, a smile came to his face.

"If you get killed, do not expect me to save your sister," he said jokingly.

"Oh, I won't die," Yuma laughed. "Akari's counting on me to get her back."

"Fools," one of the cloaked animals scoffed. "Looking for a death wish. Very well, then. We shall give you death if you want it!"