Shintaro woke the next morning - well, he figured that it was morning - to a sharp tapping against the rusted bars. The sound echoed along the dungeon walls that almost seemed to stretch on forever, loud enough to draw Shintaro out of the haziness of his dreamless sleep. Slowly, he lifted one arm to run his hands over his face to get rid of the drowsiness that was threatening to pull him back into the void of his head. When he sat up, he realized how stiff and sore his body was from sleeping on the hard floor. Groaning quietly, Shintaro raked his hand through his long hair to untangle it as best he could. 

When he opened his eyes, he found Cynthia leaning against the wall near the men's cell, her arms crossed over her torso and her head tilted in Shintaro's direction. Her brown eyes were studying his hair, his hands, and his face without much emotion hidden behind them, and her mouth was set in a neutral line. 

"As soon as the rest of you decide to wake up," she said suddenly, lifting her eyes away from Shintaro, "we'll be heading upstairs to Brethren. Try not to take too long," she added with a quirked mouth. "The Dark Lord doesn't like waiting." 

Shintaro was almost pleased to hear the venom in her voice whenever Cynthia said Brethren's name or nickname. He gave her a brief nod and turned toward Falte, who had fallen asleep beside him. Reaching forward, Shintaro jabbed him in between the eyes, well aware that Falte hated being poked there. 

Falte's eyes shot open and he blinked in confusion for a few moments, before lifting his hand and rubbing the spot between his eyes. When he lowered his hand, he sat up and leaned back slightly to peer at Shintaro with a frown. "Why'd you do that? You know I hate that." 

"Because we're required to be waking up," Shintaro replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I figured it was the quickest way to get you to wake." His mood lifted a little when Falte rolled his eyes with a smile. Shintaro was trying to get everyone's spirits alight, including his own. 

He needed the courage.

Gabriel, who had chosen the spot nearest to the rickety bed, groaned and rolled tensely onto his back. His eyes were shut tight and his mouth pinched into a pained frown as he took a breath through his nose. "Ow," he muttered in annoyance as sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. 

Shintaro realized that Thorn was already awake, leaning on the wall farthest from the rest of the men. His arms were crossed over his chest, his head down, and his shadowy flames billowing around him lazily. His legs were crossed in front of him, one foot jerking with restless energy that Shintaro was surprised to see in Thorn. 

Zeke slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, his hand hovering by his right temple. There was no doubt that his head was still hurting terribly, but he was doing a good job of hiding it. His brows were drawn in pain, but just barely. His mouth was pinched, but it was hardly noticeable. His shoulders were tense, but they were normally taut when it came to Zeke. 

Shintaro found himself turning to check on Ozai, who had laid down with his hands over his face. To Shintaro's surprise, he was awake as well, looking like he'd been so for a few hours. His eyes were trained on a spot outside of the cell, his expression blank but his hands clenched in his lap. 

Cynthia suddenly leaned away from the wall and trudged toward the girls' cell with an air of slight impatience. She uncrossed her arms and rapped loudly on the first bar with her knuckles, cocking her hip down at the sleeping girls. "Rise and shine, people. You don't want to be late for your appointment."  

Abby sat up first, rubbing her hands over her eyes sleepily. She rolled her neck and shoulders back with a hiss through her teeth, her blond hair spilling over her back. Rachel and Nanami sat up next, both looking equally stiff - but Nanami didn't show her annoyance, instead turned her green eyes up expectantly to Cynthia. Ruby sat up after, her face nonchalant and empty; but Shintaro could tell that she was sore and nervous as well. 

When Amy and Linda didn't sit up, Cynthia tapped on the bars again. 

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," Amy finally muttered, her face buried in her forearms as she laid on her stomach. She rolled onto her side with a grunt, dragged her hand through her short hair, and sat up gingerly. She folded her legs under her and readjusted the belt that was around her waist, then glanced down at Linda, who still hadn't gotten up. 

"You," Cynthia said, tapping on the bars once more. Shintaro would have been angry at her for saying "you" like that, but Cynthia's tone didn't sound angry or rude. She seemed like she'd said that because she simply didn't know Linda's name. "Hello? The girl with the purple hair? We need you to get up." 

Linda mumbled something incoherent, her voice thick with sleepiness and exhaustion. But eventually, she pushed herself into a sitting position. Shintaro realized with a jolt of pity and guilt that her wound didn't look any better - it was swollen and red, possibly infected. 

Groaning, Linda gently ran one hand down the side of her face. "Well, I'm up now," she muttered. "Let's go before I decide to go back to sleep." 

Amy was the first to her feet, shooting a short glare at Cynthia before turning around and helping Linda stand up. Shintaro stood up with Falte and Thorn, followed quickly by Gabriel, Rachel, and Nanami. Abby was a little more hesitant than the others, but she eventually rose up and tossed her hair over her shoulder. 

Cynthia unlocked each cell with a set of keys, swinging the doors open for the groups to step out. Shintaro noticed with a grimace that Linda was holding Amy's arm for support, her good eye narrowed against the pain in her other eye. As Shintaro and his friends assembled in front of Cynthia, she hung the ring of keys on a hook above her head, then turned around and started walking toward the dungeon's doorway. 

As they began to walk up the stairs, Cynthia cut a glance over her shoulder. "Shintaro, would you come here a moment?" she asked shortly, gesturing to the empty space beside her. Her black hair, which was in a high ponytail, swayed as she stepped up the stairs. 

Warning himself to remain cautious even though he was sure that Cynthia was on their side, Shintaro skipped a few steps to come to her side and matched her pace, glancing sideways down at the shorter woman. 

Cynthia didn't look up at him, instead blew a breath out of her mouth while fixing her eyes on the stairs in front of her. "I take it that you're Shintaro Carter?" she said after a moment, cutting straight to whatever point she wanted to make. 

Shintaro narrowed his eyes down at her, pressing his mouth into a thin line and considering whether or not he wanted to answer that. He figured that she already knew, so what was there in denying it? "Yes, I am." 

Cynthia nodded her head once, thoughtfully. Shintaro noticed her eyebrows draw together in a small frown, but her brown eyes remained professionally devoid of emotion. "Right," she said slowly after a moment's silence. "So you did know a woman by the name of Tsaka Wilson, correct?" 

Shintaro couldn't hold back the flinch at the mention of his dead wife. Holding in a sad sigh, Shintaro nodded his head solemnly. "Yes, I knew her. Why do you ask?" He suspiciously glanced back down at the woman walking beside him, his mind shooting a in a million different directions. 

Had Cynthia known Tsaka? 

Had Cynthia done something to her before Thorn had come? 

How did they know each other? 

"I was told that you married her," Cynthia said in a tone that was hard to read - Shintaro couldn't tell if she was angry, upset, grateful, or cautious. She glanced up at him abruptly, but looked away again before she tripped over one of the stairs. "Is this true?" 

Shintaro flexed his jaw, considering again whether or not he should confirm her suspicions. She was making it clear that she already knew, but it was obvious that she wanted to get the confirmation from the husband. 

"Yes," he finally replied, looking away from Cynthia's dark hair. "I married her some time ago." 

"Ah," Cynthia murmured with another swift nod. Her eyes didn't travel back up to him as she clasped her hands in front of her, but her facial expression finally betrayed some emotion. Sadness and anxiety broke through, giving her a small, helpless demeanor. "Is it true that... that she's dead?" 

Shintaro blanched again, slamming his eyes shut and gritting his teeth against the pain that bloomed in his chest. He didn't want to talk about his wife, but something told him that he was required to let his woman know. That she deserved to know. 

"Yes," he said, but it came out as a strained whisper. 

Cynthia didn't reply for a long time. Her silence was tense with angry sadness, and Shintaro glanced down at her to find her pinching the bridge of her nose. Eventually, she looked up at him and rested a hand on his forearm. Involuntarily, Shintaro flinched slightly, but she didn't move her hand. "I'm sorry," she said, her tone softer than any tone she'd used before. 

"Why are you asking me these things?" Shintaro asked firmly instead of throwing himself a pity-party. He would not let himself go down that road right now. He had things to work on, a father to banish. He couldn't get all sad before that. 

Cynthia sighed heavily, lowering her hand away from his arm. She trained her eyes on the stairs below her as they continued to walk up, flight by flight. "She was my older sister." 

Shintaro jumped in shock, abruptly turning his head again to stare at Cynthia. He found himself looking for similarities, and surprisingly he found a few. Though this girl was thinner and shorter than Tsaka, she had the same small chin, full lips, and oval-shaped eyes. Her cheeks weren't as rosy as Tsaka's had always been, but they were tinted with a pinkish blush that was so faint it was almost unnoticeable. 

"She never told me she had a sister," Shintaro said shortly, trying to hide his shock and longing behind his words. 

"Probably because she hated me," Cynthia said with a nonchalant shrug. "I wasn't the little sister she wanted to have; instead, I was more like our father - rebellious, daring, adventurous. I did a lot of things that got our family in trouble. I imagine she held a grudge against me for leaving our family so early." She threw a sideways glance up at Shintaro with a half smile. "I know, it's hard to imagine Tsaka holding a grudge against anybody." 

Indeed, Shintaro did find it hard to imagine. Tsaka was one of the kindest and most forgiving people that Shintaro had ever met - it was hard to picture her even casting a loathing frown at anyone. 

"I'm sorry," Shintaro said softly. "If I had known that she had a sister, I would have told you as soon as I could have." He raked a hand through his loose hair, carefully eyeing the steps in front of him. 

Cynthia shrugged again. "I believe I heard about her death only a few months after it happened. I guess I just didn't let myself believe it. Although I didn't really have the best relationship with her, I loved her." 

Shintaro nodded solemnly, leaning against the nearest wall as the rest of his friends hunched forward slightly to catch their breaths. 

"Whatever you're planning on doing," Cynthia said suddenly and firmly, tipping her head back to look up at Shintaro, "please do it quickly. I'm getting tired of your father, as is the rest of the world." 

Shintaro met her brown eyes with raised eyebrows. "You're really not working for him?" He crossed his arms over his chest and listed his head to the right slightly, indicating that he was going to get an answer. 

Cynthia didn't look like she wasn't going to reply - her answer came quick. "No," she spat, her eyebrows drawing together in an angry frown that wasn't directed at Shintaro. "He's horrible. I don't understand why anyone would want to work for him. They don't think about the terrible things he's done and will do." 

"Yet you're a Dark," Shintaro reminded her with a gentle, curious tone. 

This brought a different kind of frown onto Cynthia's face. She lowered her gaze, her mouth pinched into a shameful, annoyed frown. "Yes," she said flatly after a moment of silence. "That I am. I didn't choose Dark Magic - Thorn did. He found me and cursed me with it shortly after I left my family. Six years ago, I managed to escape from him. Until Brethren found me," she added through her teeth. 

Shintaro couldn't help but glance over at Thorn, who was leaning against the wall opposite to Shintaro, his eyes on the floor and his arms crossed over his chest. If he heard what Cynthia and Shintaro were talking about, he didn't show any reactions. 

"The point is," Cynthia said with an air of conclusion, "hurry up and get rid of your wretched dad." 

Before Shintaro could nod reassuringly to her, Cynthia turned toward the rest of Shintaro's friends and crossed her arms. "Alright, let's go." Without waiting for a response, she turned toward the next flight of stairs and started climbing them. 

As the group began ascending the rest of the stairs, Moon appeared on Shintaro's right. "What was that about?" she asked skeptically, gesturing to Cynthia's back. "Were you two having a bonding moment?" She grinned mischievously up at Shintaro, who frowned in surprise at her. 

"No," he answered sharply. "We were not 'bonding'. She was merely informing me of where she stands." He uncrossed his arms and cracked his knuckles absently, his mind drifting to what would happen when they met Brethren upstairs. 

Moon's voice drew him back to the present. "Well?" she asked curiously, raising her eyebrows. "Who's side is she on?" 

"Ours," Shintaro replied shortly without looking at Moon. 

How much magic would Shintaro use? 

How long would it take? 

Would anyone get hurt in the process? 

The last question he decided he knew the answer to - no. No one would get hurt. Not while he was alive and breathing. 

A few flights later, Cynthia rounded a corner and began walking stiffly down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway was a large, open door that led to a huge room filled with shelves and shelves of books. As the group walked in, their eyes raised to the ceiling, which loomed high above their heads and was painted a shining white. The shelves rose about fifteen feet, each with an old, metal ladder ready to wheel along the aisle if needed. There were hundreds of thousands of books, stacked in the shelves and even littered along the floor. All of them looked old and untouched by humans, with spiderwebs crawling along their spines. The room was dimly lit by only the large windows around the huge space, but it was bright enough to see. 

Cynthia led through a few aisles - left, right, right, left again - and into a large, open area that didn't have any shelves or books. A couch was set up against the wall, just to the right of a large window. There was an old, worn rug stretched across the floor that looked untouched. 

Shintaro felt anxiety twist in the pit of his stomach as his eyes traveled along the area.

Standing by the right of the couch and grinning madly was Brethren.

~

Change of plans!! 

This chapter was going to be really long, and the SAD CHAPTER-

But the next one is going to be that chapter!!

I decided that this would be a better way to end the chapter, because if I continued on...

The chapter would probably be 4,000+ words. 

Yeah, that's how long it was going to be. 

Well, thanks for reading!!

GET READY Y'ALL!!

P3ac3!!!~~~