It didn't take long for the advanced fighters to come and remove us from the substance we were stuck in. Had Skai been with us and not in Yuuto's possession, I would have dealt with them easily and run off to get the others. Sholto growled at them but made no move to continue. Perhaps he understood the situation as well.
I must say though, the advanced fighters are much more harsh with their victims than I expected. I don't know if there was magic imbued in the cuffs placed on us, or if they were really tight, but it hurt everytime they pulled on it recklessly to keep us moving.
"Vanitas," Crimson whispered. "What are the chances of Oni surviving after they've taken us back?"
"Unless he's met an ally or friend of ours, none really." I stared at the truck outside the building, with the Kyron- human's friends chained down to the vehicle floor like animals. Skai wasn't in there, so that meant Yuuto got to him first.
"'Ey, what's wrong with you? Get moving." One of the fighters spoke, pointing his taser stick at Nico, who decided to stop. The brunet ignored the threat and coolly stared at his hands. "Are you deaf? I said get moving-!" The fighter jabbed his weapon at Nico, who raised his cuffed hands in front of the taser.
Surprisingly, the cuffs snapped, and Nico smiled. "Elements are useless on these cuffs," He began as he roundhouse kicked the fighter and got into a fighting stance. "But artificial elements and normal attacks do wonders."
The fighters began surrounding him, as they pulled out tranquillizer guns and taser poles. "Alright, Nico! Now beat their asses and get us out of these cuffs!" Ash exclaimed.
"No!" What were they thinking? Even if they were able to free everyone here, we still didn't have the brothers. "Skai and Oni's lives aren't secure, we can't act recklessly without harming them!"
Ian scoffed and glanced at me. "You always know how to analyze a situation properly, don't you."
I ignored him and yelled at Nico. "Go and find Oni! Then get Kettō and the others to Yuuto's location! We can't let anything wrong happen to the hybrids, got it?" A few murmurs spread across the fighters, confused. Of course, no human would know what I meant. Nico looked like he wanted to argue but slowly agreed. He spread his wings and flew up, leaving us all in the dust.
"Let's hope you find him soon . . ." I mumbled. I knew he was more than capable of handling everyone and getting Skai and Oni, but sacrificing himself for something so small would only bring consequences to him and him alone.
~~~
Shortly after the Lorian's escape, they had us all blindfolded before stuffing us in the truck. I tuned out the sound of soldiers talking to each other and the whispers amongst us and tried to look for Oni's thoughts. If he was taken by Yuuto I wouldn't be able to find him.
I perked my head up at the sound of confused and cautious thoughts in- an alleyway? Who was he- Saeva? What on Delta was a Rejitaag doing on Earth? Not to mention the prince?
"Vanitas!" Someone yelled. I yelped and looked around, though I couldn't really see anything. I tried searching for Oni's thoughts but we were too far away, it was impossible to try again.
"What?" I gritted my teeth. "What was so important that you had to break my thought process and see if Oni was safe?"
"We need you to control the driver and have them release us!" Jay replied somewhere below. Wow. Did nothing I say get through their heads?
"I can't."
"Why not? Isn't your power mind-related or something?" Mune intervened.
"My power is indeed mind- related, but the most it can do is alter memories, I can't do anything about controlling the mind and use people like puppets. That's Yuuto's specialty, not mine." I crossed my arms and leaned on the cold metal wall.
"So . . . you won't be helping us?" Was it Eli? I don't know. Sounded like it.
"Not 'I won't.' I can't. My powers aren't able to fulfill the expectations you need for this plan." A few curses arose between us and I sighed. Man, this will be a pain to listen to the whole trip.
"How many weeks was it supposed to take Dākushi to get here?" Zane asked.
"Three weeks." Ash informed. I felt a speed bump hit us and ignored it as they continued.
"Is there a chance that he could have come sooner?" Another speed bump.
"Maybe, but then he would've contacted me." Another speed bump.
"Wait, you could have contacted him sooner?! Why didn't you tell us?!" Another speed- Seriously how many speed bumps are there?
"No one really asked me before now." Speed bump. We were slowing down now, why-?
"That's need-to-know information, Ash. If we knew you were able to contact him, then you should have told us before this trip started." We stopped now. Did we already reach the airport? That was way too soon.
"Hey . . ." I began, but everyone was still arguing. "Hey." I spoke louder. Still nothing. "OI! YOU NITWITS!" That shut them up. God, they were just like children. "We haven't moved for 2 minutes and the fighters haven't taken us out yet either."
". . . And? They must be in front of a stoplight." Jay piped up. How simple- minded could you be?
"Did none of you feel the speed bumps?"
"Speed bumps?" I heard Eli scratch his head. "Why would there be speed bumps here again?"
Before I could keep arguing, there was a knock at the door of the vehicle. I could sense most of us here stiffen, both out of fear and caution. A few muttering was heard on the other side of the door, and a bit of yelling. Were they having a feud amongst themselves?
"What do we do, Vanitas . . . ?" Zane whispered.
"Just- stay quiet," I tried to focus on listening to the stranger's thoughts outside. "I'll see who it is-"
"No way you can do that too?!" Jay shouted. Oh. My. God. How did this moron live this long? Now I need to focus all over again.
Someone outside yelled before banging on the door, causing Lina to yelp. Was it Lina? Meh, even if it wasn't, she was annoying to me anyway. Another bang, and the vehicle began shaking. I could hear a few shouts outside before someone hollered again and banged the door to the vehicle, smashing the doors apart.
"Finally! Now, Ienzo, my dear dear friend-" A voice rang out. Who was Ienzo again?
"Flattery will get you nowhere. Besides, we've been through this plan already, quit repeating it." That voice sounded familiar, who was it again? I heard multiple footsteps surround us before someone took off the blindfold on my head.
The light blinded me for a second before I looked at a familiar buff face, messy brown hair covering most of their chin and jawline as well their mouth. He smirked at me and stood up and chuckled as I gawked at him. "This wasn't how I expected to see you again, Vanitas."
I scoffed and smiled at him. "I wasn't expecting to see you like this either, dad." I looked around to see Kettō and Yuri with three other people removing blindfolds and cuffs.
Kettō looked worried and turned to me after seeing everyone's face. "Vanitas, where is-" She began.
"Your son? Which one?" I frowned and got up. This was pissing me off. "Skai, the one you gave to me because you couldn't take care of him in fear people will see his horns and take him away? Or Oni, the one who never knew his origins nor how to use his powers?" Everyone stopped and looked at Mrs. Tomodachi, confused and dumbfounded.
"He lived?" Someone who looked like an older Oni stared at her looking hurt. "I thought you told me one of the twins died at birth." Hold on, what now-
"I-I um-" She stuttered.
"Wait a second. You guys had twins?" An older looking Jay piped up. "You guys told me you had only one child-!"
"Stay out of this, Leo." The other man warned.
"Calm down, Ienzo-" A woman intervened.
"Will you all shut up already?" Ash yelled. "Look, it doesn't matter what Kettō did right now, Skai needs help and we need to find Oni."
My father pinched the bridge of his nose before looking at me. "Do you know where they are? Or who they're with?"
"Skai is probably with Yuuto back in Romania already, Oni . . ." I sighed and looked down. "He found Saeva."
"Saeva?" Yuri slapped his forehead. "How the hell did he find him?!"
"I don't know! I found out after I got caught!"
"Here we go again-" Crimson mumbled.
"Why wasn't he with you when you got caught?!" Yuri argued.
"Because I didn't want him to get injured! He doesn't know how to use his powers since someone didn't want to reveal the truth to him!" I stated.
"You're putting this on me now?!" Kettō hollered.
"Were you dropped on your head?" I glared at her. "Of course!"
"Somebody's cranky-" Eli murmured.
"Somebody needs to shut up." I scowled at him.
"Hey, okay Vanitas, that's enough-" Mune stood up.
I ignored him and kept arguing with Yuri and Kettō. From behind me I could hear Sholto and Crimson whisper behind me.
"If we survive this, can I go home?" The hybrid mumbled.
"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." The redhead replied. "So long as this finishes before we lose both the brothers, of course."
Sholto groaned. "I wanna take a nap."