^^^***Soul concept art included***^^^
Nyx was the last to wake up the next morning, she opened her eyes as she was laying on her side. The previous night was still fresh in her mind, and her emotions were still frayed. What the hell was I thinking? She thought to herself after she sat up straight in bed and ran her fingers through her hair. She ran through the previous night in her mind once more. She remembered that originally, she just went for an innocent walk through the woods. The rain had a cooling effect on her hot and flushed skin. She remembered that once she had gotten to the edge of the ledge and squatted down, she watched the scenery before one singular impulsive thought took control.
She had almost made the worst mistake of her life, but Danny saved her from it. He leaped off that ledge after her. Her mind was still reeling, she knew that Danny was smart, but originally she thought what he did was a stupid decision. Thinking about it more though, he was a genius. He knew her pretty well by this point, and knew that she would never want someone to die for her.
Nyx shook her head to clear the cobwebs before she got out of bed. She left her room and went into the bathroom, she flicked on the light and looked into the mirror. She stared at herself for a moment before turning on the faucet, she ran her hands under the water for a moment before cupping them into a bowl. Nyx leaned down and splashed the water onto her face before looking back up into the mirror. The water stuck to her lashes and dripped in front of her eyes, the shock made her feel a bit better. It also got rid of the dried streaks of tears from the previous night, which was what she was really going for.
Nyx flicked off the light and left the bathroom to go downstairs. She faintly heard idle chatting as she approached the kitchen. When she entered she saw Nate standing in front of the coffee maker, pouring himself a cup.
"Good morning." Nyx's head turned to the left when she heard Danny speak. He was sitting at the table with his own cup of coffee. "How did you sleep?" He asked her with a generic tone, but the look in his eyes asked a different question.
"I slept fine, thank you." Nyx responded as she sat at the table. "Where's everyone else?" She asked both of them as Nate placed a full cup of coffee on the table in front of her. She nodded at him to thank him as he smiled at her, still knowing nothing of what transpired the previous night.
"Rhys took the girls into town to get some food, we're running a little low. After what happened, we kind of made a rule. No one goes out by themselves again, I think it's more than fair." Nate responded as he sat down across from Nyx and next to Danny.
"So, has either of you talked to Soul since Jack's death?" Nyx asked quietly, looking between them from under her eyebrows. The two guys just looked at each other uncomfortably, then looked away to avoid blame. Nyx closed her eyes and sighed. "Men. I swear to gods. She watched her best friend die from a stab to the heart by her own father, and you think that didn't mess her up?" Nyx asked the two sternly.
"Honestly..." Danny started as he looked at Nate before leaning forward onto his elbows slightly. "Neither of us really thought it was our place. You and Neri are closer to her than we are, but it seems like Nerissa has been distracted with her own...stuff."
"Okay, I'll talk to her when she gets back." Nyx said before she took a sip of her coffee, now that it had some time to cool off. Danny and Nate glanced at each other as Nyx took her sip.
"Have I ever mentioned how pretty you are, Hermosa?" Nate said quietly with a small smile as he brought his cup to his lip, Nyx slightly choked on her coffee before she brought the cup down onto the table. Danny smirked and snickered slightly, causing Nyx to look at him with surprise alongside her flushed cheeks.
"What?" Danny said as he looked between the two. "It was funny." Danny looked down and took a sip of his coffee. Nyx automatically knew that Danny had put him up to this.
"Sorry, Senorita." Nate said quietly as he stood up and walked out of the room, stopping next to her and lifting her chin with his knuckle, forcing her to look at him. "I couldn't resist." Nate said quietly with a smile before he left the room with his coffee. Nyx looked down at her lap with flushed cheeks as Danny chuckled again.
"Damn, you really are smitten, huh?" He asked with a small grin on his face.
"Did you put him up to that, you dickhead?" Nyx whispered as she leaned forward towards Danny.
"I don't know what you mean, you can't be surprised that he's finally showing his true feelings. It can be really difficult to hide feelings like that...so I imagine it was very freeing to finally show it." Danny explained, it was great that Danny was starting to get back to his old self, but that also meant he would always bluntly explain things like they were idiots. Either way, Nyx smiled, because he was acting like his old self again.
It was at that moment that the front door opened and Nerissa, Rhys, and Soul walked in clutching paper bags. "We got food!" Rhys announced as they all placed their bags on the dining table.
"What'd you get?" Danny asked as he stood up and peeked into the bags. Nyx stood up with a small smile at that point, before she looked at Soul and noticed that she had dark circles under her eyes. While she was smiling with her mouth, the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Soul, care to have a smoke with me?" Nyx whispered in Souls ear as she placed a hand on her arm. Soul looked at her before gesturing towards the front door.
Outside, the girls walked down to the dock before sitting down on the edge of it. "You can talk to me about what happened, you know." Nyx said bluntly as she lit her cigarette. Soul eyed her carefully as she took out her own smoke and lit it.
"What is there to even talk about?" Soul responded quietly. "We got Danny out."
Nyx took a deep breath before she spoke. "Yes, but Ja-"
"Don't." Soul whispered sternly.
"Soul, you can't just forget he existed. He doesn't deserve that, he was a good guy, and an incredible fighter." Nyx responded before she took a drag of her cigarette.
"I'm not forgetting he existed, I couldn't if I tried. It's just...he JUST died like 4 days ago and everyone's acting like they don't even care!" Soul was starting to let the walls down now. Little did she know, Danny was having his own inner turmoil with Jack's death. He just didn't want to make it everyone else's problem.
"Of course we care, Soul!" Nyx raised her voice as she shifted her body to look at her dense friend. "There were simply so many events stacking up on top of each other...Danny, Jack, Drake. Everyone has taken a hit from the past few weeks and were all just doing our best to regain some normalcy again. You should try it." Nyx finished bluntly before she took another drag of her cigarette.
"So, that's how we're doing things now? Just pretending these horrible things didn't happen? I can't do that." Soul said rather darkly as she took her a drag of her own cigarette. Nyx took a deep breathe, understanding Soul's frustration, but not quite supporting it.
"Look, Soul." Nyx said with an exasperated tone as she stood up, flicking her half finished cigarette into the water. "I get that you were born in the shadows, but you should really give the light a chance. It's not bad." Nyx finished before she turned around and walked back to the house. Soul scoffed at her remark before turning back to face the water. Give the light a chance. She stepped into the light once and it burned her for life.
Yeah, right.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sir, the outside assistance you called for has arrived." Kuroi's secretary opened the door slightly and spoke as he leaned inside.
"Good, send him in." Kuroi said as he wrote something down on a piece of paper on his desk, the secretary nodded before leaving the room. After a minute or two, the door opened again and a different man entered. A man with dark brown, medium length hair entered, he approached Kuroi's desk with one hand in his pocket. He wore thin wire-rimmed glasses over his deep brown eyes. When he got to the desk, he silently watched Kuroi with intensity, waiting for him to finish what he was writing.
After a minute of silence, Kuroi finished what he was writing and placed his pen down on the desk before looking at his guest. "Welcome, I hope it wasn't too much of a hassle to get here." Kuroi's tone was all business as he addressed the man standing in front of him.
"Ah, it wasn't too bad. Besides, the pay for this job is more than worth it." The man's voice was smooth and slightly romantic sounding. He had a subtle Spanish accent as well, like he came straight from Spain.
"About that job, I trust that you've already been briefed so I'll get straight to the point. I'm counting on you to make this operation as smooth as possible for us. Needless to say, failure is not an option." Kuroi said sternly as he eyed the man.
"No need to worry about that with me, especially against a few super powered brats. The little ones are impulsive and emotional, I know just how to twist them into submission." The man spoke with a faint, manic grin on his face.
Kuroi nodded slightly. "Good. You're dismissed, Mr. Oliveira."
"Gabriel. If it's all the same to you." Gabriel said casually as he turned around and walked out of the room. After a short time, Kuroi's secretary entered again.
"Sir, does this mean we are ready to proceed?" He asked calmly. Kuroi sat in silence for a moment with his fingers interlocked in front of his face.
"Yes."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Later that night, the group was gathered in a circle in the living room. Sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, they circled a gameboard. While searching the closets, Danny had found an old and dusty monopoly game. After a small sneezing fit, he cleaned it off and asked the group if they wanted to play. So the group set it up and we're in the middle of ridiculing Nate for currently having the least money.
"Ah, putana." Nate cursed under his breath as his piece landed on a property owned by Nerissa.
"Hey! Just for that, I'm taking one of your candies." Nerissa said, pretending to be angry as she reached over and took one of Nate's candies he had piled up in front of him.
"Hey, Nate." Nate turned his head to face Rhys when he called his name. Rhys reached up and lightly slapped Nate across the face. He slyly took a piece of candy as he did so.
"Ah, why?!" Nate exclaimed in surprise as the group snickered and laughed.
"No matter how upset you are, never insult the ladies." Rhys said casually as he opened the candy wrapper and popped the candy into his mouth.
"Even when she steals all my money?" Nate protested sarcastically as he handed Nerissa a small stack of his fake money. To which, Nerissa smiled coyly.
"It's hardly stealing, you landed on her property, you gotta pay the rent." Danny chimed in as he held out his hand for the dice. "That's capitalism for you."
"Yeah, stealing, exactly." Nate said sarcastically as he handed Danny the dice. Danny then shook his hand and tossed them onto the game board, quickly counting out the spaces he had to move, he groaned slightly in frustration.
"Ha-ha. Now who's getting robbed." Nate teased Danny as he landed on one of Rhys' properties.
"Except the difference is that I won't call him a putana. I'll just call him a dickhead." Danny said flatly as he handed Rhys the money he was owed. Rhys pretended to be hurt as he took the money.
The night went on like that for a while, the group finally regaining some normalcy after what they all went through in the past week. Unfortunately, not knowing that it would be their last shred of normalcy for quite some time.
Danny was the last one to fall asleep, which was normal after his time as Damien's toy. Typically, he had trouble falling asleep because of his mind still holding on to the fear of passing out in that chair.
As Danny slipped into darkness and dreams, he's almost instantly pulled under heavy waves. He struggled to breathe, sinking below the water before realizing he's able to breathe and see under the water. As he peers into the dark blue depths ahead of him, he sees movement for a moment. Then a flash of white hair. Almost instantly he tries to swim forward, knowing that the white hair is his sister. But when he goes to move...he can't. Looking up in panic he sees Nerissa more clearly. She seems to be reaching out for him, her face twisted in anguish. But Danny can't move a muscle. Slowly, a shadow forms behind her and he watches as Kuroi slowly takes shape. He opens his mouth to scream, but before he can, a shadow pierces itself through her like it had that day, when her shoulder was pierced. His eyes widen in panic as he realizes it hasn't gone through her shoulder this time, but her heart. Nerissa's hand slowly drops as the light leaves her eyes.
He goes to scream, and he does as he wakes up. His scream echoes through the bedroom, waking up almost everyone. Rhys was the first one to burst into Danny's room, his eyes frantic and worried.
"Danny! What the hell? What's wrong?" Rhys said as he rushed into the room, Nate, Nyx and Soul followed after him.
But not Nerissa.
Danny sprang out of bed with frantic eyes. He shoved past his friends, ignoring their words of concern as he rushed to Nerissa's room. He flung the door open and his lungs sucked in air to prepare him for a scream that never came.
Nerissa was nowhere to be found, and her window was left wide open. The curtains bellowed from the gentle breeze outside. Danny's pupils narrowed as he scanned the room for a clue, as people started to follow him into the room.
"Dude, what is going on?" Nate asked him as he shoved past Rhys. Danny ignored him as his eyes landed on a video tape that had been left on Nerissa's bed. Danny walked forward and picked it up before he turned back towards the group.
"Kage took Nerissa." He whispered darkly before he moved past the group once more to put the tape into the VCR.
The group crowded around the TV, Danny sat on the couch leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees with his hands in front of him. His right leg was bouncing impatiently as the tape started up and Kuroi Kage appeared on screen. Soul's whole body seized upon seeing him. He was standing in the center of the screen with his hands behind his back, looking into the camera with dominance lacing his gaze.
"Good evening, children. If you found this tape then you no doubt noticed that one of your companions is missing. That is because I have use for her. You see, one of your companions, Daniel Alaeta, has a sin that he must answer for. Until I see Mr. Alaeta in front of my very eyes, I will keep Miss Silvius here. Fear not, I will not harm her. That is, unless you all fail to follow my demands." Danny's jaw clenched when he felt all of his friend's eyes land on him, but he never tore his gaze from the screen. "Number one, since I know that no matter what I say, you will all arrive together. No doubt to avenge your winged friend, Jack I believe his name was. I have taken precautions to ensure that most of you are sufficiently occupied. Secondly, Daniel is to return to me the blade that he used to murder my son. It is a precious heirloom and I will not let it stay in the hands of a weakling like you. Until you return the blade to me, along with the life of Daniel Alaeta, I will not release Miss Silvius to your custody. Have a lovely evening." The video cut after that, filling the TV with static and noise.
"You have got to be kidding me." Soul spoke quietly and she buried her face in her hands. "He seriously expects us to trade Danny's life for Nerissa."
"Okay, let's think about this." Nate said as he stood up and began pacing. "We already know where the Estate is, and we have an idea of at least part of the layout. So we just need to-"
"I know where he has her." The group looked at Soul as she spoke. "In his office, there's a secret passage behind his bookshelf that leads to a secluded room with a bulletproof, ultra hard glass cell that he uses for solitude and punishment. I've been there plenty of times... I'll bet anything he is holding her there." Soul spoke as she stared off into space, anger lacing her thousand mile stare.
"What a coward." Danny said quietly as he lowered his hands and his leg stopped bouncing. His gaze turning hard. "Wouldn't come after me directly so he has to take someone close to me to drag me into a trap. Not a bad strategy, but still cowardly. He's also making it clear that he doesn't want to fight all of us at once."
"Good." Rhys said firmly as he stood up and stretched his neck with a look of anger in his eyes. "Because there is no way in hell that I'm giving your life to him. If that fucker doesn't want a fight, let's go give him one."