It took Shintaro a few moments to calm himself down, to keep the scream of anger in his mouth. He clenched his fists at his sides, gritting his teeth so hard they ground together slightly. He took slow, shallow breaths through his nose, forcing the breaths to flow in and out as evenly as he could make them. 

After he managed to keep himself from attacking the nearest thing he saw in a fit of rage, he sat down against the trunk of a large oak tree, propping his forearms on his raised knees. He leaned his head against the bark behind him, gazing up into the tree's green leaves and sighing. 

Shintaro had lost count of how many times he'd used the Magic Detection Spell over the course of three months; and how many times it had failed to find Kai's magic. The spell was hard enough to cast, which made it all the more frustrating when the spell fanned out and informed Shintaro of nothing. 

He couldn't even track his father's magic, which confused Shintaro greatly. Brethren was literally Dark Magic itself, so how was he evading Shintaro's spells? Even the minor Darks couldn't be tracked. Had Brethren cast a cloaking spell on himself, Kai, and the rest of his minions? 

Shintaro knew that was very possible, but he didn't want to believe it. He had tried the Magic Detection Spell once more a few minutes ago, and he had nearly gone into a rage when the spell had come up empty. 

He couldn't bear this anymore. He needed to find Kai, before he crumbled into a shell of himself. He needed his friend back, and more than that, he needed his son back. But he knew he could get Chase back, no matter what he did. 

Shintaro had told himself toward the beginning of his search that he was done hiding, but was he really? All he had done after Kai's turn-over was sit in Amy's house, searching for his friend with efficiency. He hadn't gone into action, simply because deep down, he was still afraid of his father and what he could do. He was still cowering from his duties, cowering from his purpose. 

Sighing again, Shintaro bent his head forward and put his hands on his face, rubbing slightly as if to wake himself up. He needed to see the truth of things: he would have to face his father eventually. Underneath the terror, he knew he had to confront his father. He couldn't leave Brethren roaming the earth, and Shintaro couldn't bring himself to die while knowing his father was still out there.

He couldn't just wait it out, like he'd done so many times before. 

Not this time.   

~

When the fog cleared, Shintaro realized just how long he'd been out in the woods sitting against the tree, doing nothing. The sun was lowering toward the west, meaning it was a little after noon, possibly even a few hours. The others were probably getting worried, and although Shintaro wanted to keep looking, he knew he would have to head back. 

Sighing, he rose to his feet, brushing off his pants with his hands. He turned toward the direction he'd come and realized that he didn't know where he was. He'd been wandering aimlessly through the fog, which made it hard enough to see where he'd been going. On top of that, he had hardly been paying attention to where he'd been going because of the memory that had replayed in his head. 

Cursing under his breath, he readied himself to send out another Magic Detection Spell - 

Then stopped.

He had been about to search for Chase's magic to lead him back to Amy's house. 

Shintaro gritted his teeth and lowered his arms, clenching his hands to suppress the sadness and anger and longing that was working his way into his chest. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't fill in the hole that was carved in his heart when Chase had died. 

He just tried to avoid it. 

But that wasn't easy either. 

Before he could force it away, Chase's smiling face showed up in his mind, staining Shintaro's vision with his cheerful yellow eyes. Shintaro gave in, closing his eyes, and let the memories together with his oldest child file in. 

Strangely, the first memory that came to mind was the time Chase had run inside with a cardboard box over his head. He'd been going through the faze where he wanted to be an astronaut, and he'd found a box in the garage that he'd decided to use as a helmet. 

Except he hadn't cut any eye holes in it, and he'd run around the house blindly. He'd crashed directly into Shintaro's side, giggling and stumbling backward with a cheerful apology.

"Daddy, look!" he'd cried joyfully. "I'm an astronaut! I'm going to the moon!" He'd turned on his heels and took off running, narrowly avoiding whacking his shoulder on the wall. Shintaro had called after his son to be careful, but he had doubted Chase had heard him.

The next thing Shintaro saw was the day Chase had gotten earbuds for a Walkman he'd found when he was little. He'd plugged in the earbuds and played the songs loudly, dancing around the house to music only he could hear. Shintaro and his wife had enjoyed watching him dance around the house, sometimes grabbing Abby and forcing her to join. 

Then the image of Chase lying in front of him, his chest stained with blood and darkness, his eyes staring blankly up at the sky above him, flooded into Shintaro's head, drowning out any happy thoughts he'd previously been thinking. 

Chase's yellow eyes looked past him as Shintaro stared into them, guilt, regret, anguish, and anger pounding in his heart at what he'd done. 

Shintaro didn't understand what had come over him. 

He didn't have to kill Chase.

There could have been an easier way. 

He could have tackled him.

He could have teleported him away.

He could have done something, anything other than killing him. 

And yet, Shintaro had panicked and murdered his own child. 

He could never forgive himself for that. 

If he had done any of those things, Chase could have still been alive. Probably never the same because of the wound that had been dealt to him, but alive nonetheless. Shintaro would have healed his son until he'd lost his magic, if that was what it meant to have his son by his side. 

But would Linda have been able to fix his mind? Would Chase ever have been the same again? Would his magic remain Dark? 

Shintaro bit his tongue, using the pain to force himself to focus on the present. Right now, he just needed to get home. He sighed, clenching his hands, and began walking in the direction he thought was right.

~

Sorry this chapter took so long. 

I just wasn't feeling it with this one. 

But don't worry, more action-y stuff is coming. 

Don't you worry, readers.

Thank you for reading! 

MISS YOU CHASE AND LOVE YOU SHINTARO AND 

P3AC3!!~~