Shintaro shot to his feet immediately, panic and terror darting through him so fast that his stomach squeezed painfully. Grinning mischievously, the Darks fanned out into the living room with Dark weapons at the ready. Shintaro heard Abby scream and whipped toward the kitchen, but Linda's choked yelp made him spin around again. Before he could react, Amy yelled at the top of her lungs, and Shintaro whirled on his heel toward her. But Falte let out a cry to his left, and Shintaro turned to him with panic for his friends constricting his lungs. Shintaro heard Nanami's high-pitched wail from the kitchen and rotated sharply toward the kitchen again, and Rachel's scream joined Nanami's, echoing off the walls. 

All the while, several more Darks filed into the living room, all looking extremely pleased with themselves. Shintaro wasn't sure how many there were, but he didn't care at the moment. As soon as Amy pulled out her knives and flew into action, Shintaro knew that he was in the clear to help the girls in the kitchen. Amy would hopefully be able to hold off the other Darks until Shintaro's daughter and her friends were safe. 

Shintaro toward the kitchen doorway, where a Dark had Abby pinned against the frame. His hands were wrapped around both wrists, which were raised above her head. Abby was bravely kicking and wriggling, but the movements were getting her nowhere. The Dark who held her was a tall, blonde male that was grinning slyly. 

But the smile was knocked off his face as Shintaro's fist collided with his jaw. The man cried out and stumbled backward into the kitchen, and Abby was yanked with him. She yelped and tried to pull her wrists free as she danced across the floor to keep her balance; but the man was holding her tightly, and she fell on top of him, her knees smacking against his shins and her upper body collapsing over his. 

Shintaro grabbed Abby by the shoulders, hauling her off the blonde Dark. When the man refused to loosen his grip on Abby's wrists, Shintaro kicked him on the temple as hard as he could, fury burning through his veins. The man's hands dropped away as his eyes rolled back, and Abby stumbled into her father's arms. 

Shoving Abby down into a crouching position, Shintaro formed a Light shield over his daughter's body, commanding himself not to lose focus on the shield. There was a part of his mind that he was able to train so that he could focus on more than one thing at once, and he was grateful that he'd done so. 

Shintaro swiveled back around to the kitchen, immediately spotting the next Dark. This one was a tall, well-built female with ash brown hair that flowed silkily past her hips. Her back was to Shintaro, and her arms were raised slightly as she held Ruby by the neck, dangling the other woman above the kitchen floor. 

Ruby's eyes met Shintaro's as he lunged toward the Dark, and the stocky woman noticed. She whipped around sharply, throwing Ruby in front of her to use her as a full body shield. Ruby's back was now to Shintaro, but he could tell she was struggling to get a breath of air as the woman held her tightly. 

"Try anything and you hurt her," the woman snarled with a lopsided grin. 

Shintaro skidded to a stop, his eyes darting to the floor where Rachel was crumpled, a bleeding cut on her temple indicating that she'd been knocked in the head harshly. In front of him, Ruby made a choked sound against the woman's hands, lifting her own to claw at the Dark's forearms. 

"Drop her and you live," Shintaro challenged lowly, his voice rumbling in his throat dangerously. His Light Magic was whirling inside his chest, ready for use and reacting to his anger.

To his surprise and fury, the woman began to laugh. Her cold, green eyes remained on him as he chuckled airily beneath her breath. 

"Don't believe me?" Shintaro seethed angrily, the corner of his mouth twitching in rage. "Trust me, woman. I'm not kidding." With a flick of his hand, a sharp Light blade appeared by the Dark's throat, turning toward her artery and poking through her skin to draw the smallest bit of blood. 

The woman's laugh hiccuped and stopped, her arms lowering Ruby so her feet skimmed the floor. Her eyes darted down to the other end of the shard, her mouth closing in a thin line. 

"Drop. Her," Shintaro commanded, closing his hand into a fist to force the tip of the knife deeper into the woman's neck, causing blood to slide down and soak into the edge of her shirt. 

The Dark's arms dropped to her sides, and Ruby collapsed to the floor with a staggering gasp. She landed on her knees and pressed one hand to the floor, rocking backward slightly to gulp for air. 

With a snap of his fingers, Ruby was sitting on her knees beside Abby in the Light shield, one hand touching her neck as she breathed deeply. Shintaro turned toward Rachel and knelt down beside her, only to jump back in surprise when he found that she was shielding Nanami, who was also unconscious. She had a sizable bump on her temple, but it wasn't bleeding like Rachel's. 

Shintaro reached forward to check their pulses, but Linda's scream made him start backward again. Quickly, Shintaro made sure Rachel and Nanami were breathing normally - which they were, thankfully - and leaped to his feet, whirling around to rush out of the kitchen again. 

The scene before him made his heart twist in fear and fury. Falte was collapsed on the floor, a bruise forming on the left side of his jaw, his glasses crooked, and his eyes closed. Gabriel was staggering to fight against a lanky, male Dark; but a bleeding gash in his right thigh was slowing him down considerably. Amy was draped over the shoulder of a muscular man, her eyes closed and a bruise above her right eye - although she hadn't gone down without doing any damage: three Darks were seething against the knives that were stuck in their flesh, angrily yanking them out and tying strips of their shirts around the wounds. Moon was battling against four Darks at once, screaming with fury as she roundhouse kicked one of them in the jaw. Zeke had been knocked unconscious fairly early into the fight, because he was slumped against the wall he'd been standing near before the Darks had arrived. Ozai was shrinking into the corner, trying and failing to defend himself as five Darks surrounded him and jabbed at him with merry laughter. 

Linda, Shintaro's mind screamed as he remembered her agonized scream from a few moments before. Quickly and desperately, Shintaro's eyes darted across the living room and locked on her. 

She was standing tall in front of the TV stand, her arms hovering at her sides and her mouth open in a cry of rage. Three wooden drawers from the shelf behind her were levitating around her, shaking dangerously with her fury. Suddenly, she raised on arm over her head, and one of the drawers traveled up toward the ceiling. As she sharply lowered her arm, the drawer came crashing down on top of a female Dark's head harshly. The wood splintered with a loud crack as the two other drawers whacked two other Darks and sent them careening to the floor. 

Shintaro's heart skipped when he noticed that one of her eyes was closed tightly, a bleeding gash running from her eyebrow, through her eyelid, and coming to a stop at her cheekbone. The cut was bleeding heavily, sending trails of blood down her cheek and neck; but Linda seemed undeterred by it. 

Then her good eye turned to him and widened, shock and panic filling her blue eye. Her arms reached for him, the drawers clattering to the floor, and her mouth opened in a cry of warning. "SHINTARO, LOOK-" 

Shintaro didn't have time to turn around before pain and brightness exploded in his head, and everything went black.

~

Two chapters in one day BECAUSE MAN IM GETTING EXCITED YOU GUYS.

YOURE GOING TO LOVE THE FREAKING ENDING. IM SO HAPPY WITH THE PLAN I FREAKING HAVE.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

WELP, they're SCREWED XD. 

Thanks for reading!! 

LOVE YA!!

P3ac3!!!~~~