Dark Days are Here

Revelations

Endou awoke to a dark room and for a minute was unsure where he was. Then everything came rushing back.

All around the soccer field lay the broken bodies of his friends. Everyone... Goenji, Kogure, Tachimukai, Rika, Domon, Ichinose, Megane… The ground around them was deeply stained with their blood.

Then there was dirt, gritty and muddy, filling his vision and his mouth, so suffocating! Mud squelched under his fingers as he pulled himself out despite the heavy pain of the soil upon him, his lungs nearly bursting as the mud flowed into his face.

"Endou?"

He couldn't breathe. There was too much mud, it was too slippery. He won't make it!

"Endou?!"

Suddenly hands were on him, pushing him back down into the dirt. He won't let them!

"Endou! Endou! WAKE UP!" A sharp sting on his cheek startled the boy back to reality. He bolted upright, breathing harshly. It was a dream, just a dream.

Haruna and Touko both sat at the foot of the bed, and then Touko heaved a relieved sigh. "Dang, Endou, don't scare us like that," she scolded. "You had a bad dream, but we got you," she grinned and immediately Endou felt something he hasn't for a long time: shame. She did seem to have forgiven him for his outburst but he was ashamed for how he had shouted at her earlier; Kidou was right, she was his friend and she had been just been happy to find him alive. He would have been the same way if it had been anyone else.

"I – I…" his voice trailed off pathetically, but Touko seemed to get the gist of it.

"I shouldn't have jumped you anyways, so we're cool," she said with a smile and shrugged.

Suddenly, the sound of a door slamming drifted through the door, causing the three of them to jump.

"Haruna?" a gruff voice called. Haruna instantly brightened and she raced out the room. Endou and Touko stared at each other with identical looks of surprise. Endou knew that voice, could it really be –

"Hibiki!" he exclaimed, and ripped the blankets off.

Touko pinned him down. "Whoa, slow down! You're not going anywhere!"

Endou struggled fiercely, but even with rest his strength was fading again and the dull ache (oh, how he getting majorly tired of those now) threatened to return.

"What the – ?! Is it really you? Endou?" The two stopped in their wrestling to look over at the door.

Old Man Hibiki stood in the doorway. And by his side –

"Detective Onigawara?!"

The hardened detective stopped dead in his tracks with an expression beyond shocked. He stared at the should-be-deceased captain with his mouth hanging open. "B-b-b-but, what?! H-how are you – ?" he spluttered. Hibiki strode into the room, right up to the bed. Touko wisely slinked off.

Old chef and young captain stared at each other for an eternity. Suddenly, Hibiki's knuckles rapped sharply on Endou's head.

"Ow!"

"That," Hibiki said gruffly. "Is for taking off with a fever and disappearing for seven days, boy." Then he gave the boy another sharp tap. "And that is for getting hurt so bad. You little fool."

"That couldn't be helped," Endou grunted as he rubbed the spot that Hibiki had hit. But he could not bring himself to look the man in the eyes. He hadn't thought even thought about how Hibiki must have felt when he left.

The Detective shook himself out of his daze and rounded on to Hibiki with something akin to confused anger. "You knew!" he exclaimed, pointing a finger at him. "You knew the boy was alive the whole time and you kept quiet!"

"'Course I did," Hibiki replied. From his tone, Endou was sure the old man was smirking under his beard. Onigawara on the other hand did not appreciate it one bit.

"All this time!" he muttered darkly, shaking his head, and then he turned his attention back to Endou. "But what have you been doing this whole time?" he asked. "Where have you been? What happened?" with each question he took a step closer to the bed until he was looming over its occupant. Endou felt his skin crawling and his breaths shortened – his vision blurred and suddenly it was Someoka hovering over him against the black sky of that day. With a shout he back pedaled, lashing out with his foot as Someoka made a grab for him.

"ENDOU!" Hibiki roared and suddenly everything was back to normal. Endou stared around him with wide eyes. The old man was supporting the Detective, whom was rubbing his hand with a chagrined look. Off to the side, the two girls looked on in horror.

"I'm sorry," the grizzly Detective said, slowly raising his hands and backing away slightly. Hibiki did the same, only his eyes stayed on Endou the whole time. In a more gentle tone, Onigawara repeated his questions but Endou couldn't bring himself to answer. He did not even acknowledge Haruna as she came to his side until a firm but reassuring hand rested on his shoulder.

Then he told them everything. His voice sounded dead even to his ears, as he recounted everything that had happened. How after dragging himself out of the shallow grave (Touko added her supporting touch at this point when Endou shivered violently at the memory) he had begun walking toward where he hoped the town was. He had no plan and by the time he had realized that he was going the wrong way it had been three days. He had been starving and dehydrated when Hibiki found him. For almost four weeks Endou had stayed hidden with Hibiki, having his injuries healed and pulling up plans… at least Endou was. The old man had dragged his feet and kept information of the situation in Inazuma Town away from the boy, until one day he let slip that there might be some documents at his home that might shed light on what they were dealing with...

"So then you decided to get those documents yourself and left Hibiki, right?" Onigawara concluded. Endou nodded. "So what did you do while you were here, for those two weeks up to now?"

"I… I ran into Aphrodi – " Endou began but he faltered at the look of alarm that had appeared on the Detective's face at the name.

"Endou, do you mean Afuro Terumi?" he asked seriously. Endou blinked and it dawned on him. Please no… "Why - why do you ask?"

"His parents came home on an early flight and he wasn't at home," Onigawara explained, his frown deepening. "He missed school and according to neighbors, they hadn't even seen him come home last night." Endou's lungs constricted.

"He's missing, Endou."

-Dark Emperors Headquarters-

"I wanted to ask you to join us."

Aphrodi stared at his reflection over the mirror, gently rubbing his sore wrists. "I've got bags under my eyes," he announced to thin air. Other than that, there did not seem to be anything wrong with him, despite his stellar performance as Someoka's punching bag the night before. He had stretched and bent his limbs as far as he could but for some reason he felt no pain at all, and there were no bruises to be seen. All evidence of the beating he got from Someoka had vanished. Kazemaru had explained (once he got the blonde out of his restraints as a sign of "goodwill" and apologizing for what his "friend" did) that the organization he was part of had developed technology that could heal major injuries in a quarter of the time it should. And that they could do so much more. In fact, they were engaged in breaking the limits of the human body, creating bodies that were stronger, faster, with sharper senses and quick healing. Kazemaru seemed to light up as he explained the goals of this organization (The Emperors or some such nonsense) but it all sounded a whole awful lot like the Aqua of the Gods to Aphrodi. Hell, now that he thinks about it, Kageyama had given him a similar spiel when he was pushing his miraculous elixir on the Zeus team.

Aphrodi breathed in deeply. It just seemed too much to take in. Just yesterday morning he was at school and his only choice had been whether to take off to check on Endou or leave it for the afternoon. Now he was in some secret location with the person he had been so sure was a murderer and his choice is whether or not he still believed that… perhaps he had been imagining all that perverted looks at the stadium due to his own grief, because he had wanted Endou's lover to be a bad person.

Or was this some horrible new game and Aphrodi was just a piece?

On the other side of the bathroom door, Kazemaru pocketed his communicator with a frown. Despite his talk with Aphrodi having gone well, his mood had soured with word that Megane the younger has just been brought back. Apparently he was in a pretty bad state, and to top it off he had lost his crystal! "Oh, he's going to be in pretty bad shape when I'm through with him," Kazemaru growled. His hand automatically went up to clench at his crystal shard. He honestly could not imagine losing such a powerful item so easily. Maybe he'll send Megane to join his brother finally.

He composed his features and knocked firmly on the door. "Hey, I have to go to this last minute meeting, so don't leave this room until I get back okay," he called through the door. A long moment passed and then Aphrodi answered an affirmative. Kazemaru couldn't stop the grin from spreading. Just a little bit more time and Aphrodi will be the newest addition to his team. After all the blonde had fallen under the spell of power once before, it will be all too easy to hook him on to the crystal's power. And once he had done so… the blonde will be his.

Inside the bathroom, Aphrodi had a different idea in mind. He waited for what he judged was enough time for Kazemaru to leave and then he pushed the button that opens the door. He glanced about as he exited and satisfied that he was definitely alone and that there were no cameras hidden anywhere, he crossed the room. The door leading into the sterile white corridor obligingly slid open.

"Don't you dare think you could take me for a fool," he whispered. And then he ran.

At long last, Endou's lost weeks are revealed and he gets more allies. Oh, and hint of the next chapter, Aphrodi is definitely not going to wait for somebody to save him but maybe Endou's not going to wait for him to come back on his own.