Chapter 7

The Edge of Life and Death

Kaori folded up the map and slipped it deep inside her bag as she stood.

“Whoa, wait a minute,” Xein said, grabbing a hold of her arm when she began to walk down the hallway toward the exit of the train station. “I thought we were—”

“—We are,” Kaori interrupted. She wriggled her arm free from Xein’s grasp and explained, “I don’t know how I know it, Xein, but I know wherever we find Hisoka, we’ll find your sister, too.”

Xein shook his head, astonished. “You have an odd ability, my dear. You call yourself a psychic…but it sounds like something completely different to me.”

“Oh yeah, and what’s that?”

He continued to stare into her eyes, unable to think of what he was about to say. Then he bit his lip and rolled up and down on the balls of his feet like a little kid who knew something no one else knew. “Something completely different,” he repeated with a sly grin.

Kaori frowned back at him. “We’re not going to beat that guy to the lake if you don’t stop talking nonsense and hurry up!”

Down the block, Kataki stepped into a blue car with dark tinted windows.

“Glad you could make it, Mr. Ijiwaru,” the driver said on some sort of PA system since the partition remained up.

“Don’t…” Kataki said, despondently. “Don’t call me that.”

The driver coughed on the other end and replied, “Yes, sir. We’ll be arriving at our destination in roughly ten minutes. I suggest you buckle your seatbelt if you have never traveled in this manner before.”

“Ten minutes? But we’re at least thirty minutes away, if not more,” Kataki said.

If only he could have seen the driver’s big grin as he answered Kataki. “Yes, that’s correct, sir, but that would be assuming we’re traveling by car. Are you thoroughly fastened in your seat now, sir? We’re leaving.”

Confused, Kataki sat back in his seat and reached for the seatbelt on either side of him, fastening it tightly. The car suddenly lurched sideways and Kataki thought the car would completely flip on its top, but instead it simply sat on its side for a few moments and then an odd vibration shook him roughly in his seat.

“What—what’s going on?” Kataki said, holding tightly onto the seat beneath him.

“Don’t worry, sir,” said the driver. “We’re almost there.”

What? They hadn’t even started to move any where, save for the odd tilting thing the car just did… Kataki looked at the windows but there was no way he could see anything out of them, they were so dark. The vibrations continued for another five minutes and then the car—or whatever it really was—reverted to its original position like any other car. The violent motion would have flung Kataki into the door of the car had he not the seatbelt on. Kataki shook his head and signed. We better damn well be there, he thought.

“Alright, sir, you may get out. There ought to be another to direct you the rest of the way. Thank you and enjoy your stay with us,” the driver said as the door to Kataki’s left opened on its own, allowing him to exit.

Kataki ripped his belt off and flew out of the car as quickly as he could. He made a mental note never to ride in another dark tinted car again. As he exited the car, the door closed on its own and a second later the car was gone. It just… disappeared.

“What the hell was that?” Kataki said to himself.

“Just the most advanced travel technology on the planet,” said a voice behind Kataki. He knew the voice, he had heard it many times in the past, the most memorable were on the cliff of Mount Sakuba… and recently in the PCM building. Kataki knew who it was before he even turned around, but when he finally turned around to face the man who spoke, he was greeted by a figure dressed head to toe in black robe-like garments. He even wore a metallic black mask that hid his face from view. “Nice to see you again, boy,” the man said from behind the mask. “Come with me.” The man, not waiting for Kataki to speak or argue in any way, turned around and began walking down an empty country road leading into a heavily forested area. Kataki had to think for a moment exactly where he was.

Lake Touya was a crater lake created by an ancient volcano. In the center of the lake were the remains of the volcano, which last erupted in 1977. Since then it had remained silent, only spewing a few clouds of dust every other year along with multiple minor earthquakes. Surrounding the lake were miles upon miles of forest. For whatever reason, there were no towns even remotely close to the lake and the few islands within it. If there ever was a perfect hideaway place, this would be it, he thought.

They walked straight down a small dirt path into the woods, kept walking for ten-fifteen minutes until they came to the edge of the lake and they saw it: the fragmented, jagged rocks of the volcano on the largest island in the center of the lake. It looked like a foreign, uninhabitable waste of space surrounded in thick gray clouds of dust and dirt. Kataki could only imagine that was exactly where he was going.

The man in black turned his head to Kataki and said blankly, “The volcano is the decoy, as if we’d even need a decoy. We’re going over there,” he said as he stepped to the edge of the lake and untied a boat from the only visible dock around. “It’s Manjuu Island, if you wanted to know.”

“Thanks,” Kataki said dryly.

“Get in.” The man in black held the boat steady for Kataki to step into. “I have a few things to do, so you’ll be going the rest of the way yourself. I trust you can find your way on your own?” the man laughed. “Bye-bye.” He threw an ore to Kataki and gave the boat one powerful shove out onto the dark lake. Kataki held ore in his hands for a moment as he watched the black figure turn and walk away from the lake. When he could no longer see the figure, he looked on over the surface of the lake to the islands in the center. Manjuu was the smallest of the bunch, so he sunk the ore deep into the water, steering the small fishing boat toward which island he guessed was the smallest from his perspective.

“I,” he said to himself as he paddled across the lake, “don’t want to be here.”

When he reached the shore of the island, he secured the boat on the beach and clapped the dusty sand from his hands. The little island was covered in tall, green trees, many still bare from the winter months. He just barely saw a tiny path winding from the shore to what he guessed was the middle of the island. With nothing much else to do, he set off down the shadowed path through the woods.

The frozen breath of the wind continued to blow through the bleak meadow but Hisoka couldn’t feel it any more. He couldn’t feel the cold sting of the air against his skin, he couldn’t hear the sound of the hiss in his ears, he couldn’t see the blackness wrap around him until he couldn’t breathe—but he couldn’t feel that either. He was completely numb, body and soul.

Within the spacious laboratory in which Hisoka lie on a hard operation table in the center of the room, beeps and visual warnings flashed on a dozen machines spread around the entire room. Only two young scientists dressed in long, white doctor’s coats over their street clothes were around to catch the warnings.

“What is that?” the tall one with dark blue hair said as he sat at his station and fumbled with a pad of paper.

The other was standing at one of the main displays a few feet away from the blue haired scientist. “I don’t know,” he said, running a hand through his black hair. “There’s no reason for this kind of a failure now. He hasn’t even been worked on today.”

The blue haired man stood and joined the other at the large monitor flashing red text across the screen. “What’s the log say?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. It says he’s been in Stasis for the past two days, it says. No one has been in to see him except for the new guy yesterday.”

“The new guy? What new guy?”

“I don’t know, never asked what his name was. But I did see some creepy guy in black wandering around the halls. I assumed that was him.”

“Alright, well, call Maximnair down here. I haven’t got the slightest idea why he’s so unstable. There’s no reason for it.”

The black haired man nodded as he reached for the phone next to his station. He pressed one button marked with a pink star sticker next to it and the phone automatically dialed Maximnair’s number. The phone rang five, six, seven times, and just before the man almost gave up, someone answered.

“What is it?”

“Sir, we need you in the dragon lab. The subject’s gone into Volatile mode.”

“Volatile? Why? What were you doing up there to cause—”

“Nothing, sir,” the black haired man said. “Both Kent and I were sitting here when the monitors went off. The logs said no one had been here, either, except for the new guy, who apparently came in sometime…” he referred to the logs in his hand again, “ah, here it is. He was in here at 9 o’clock last night.”

“Dammit. I thought I told Chryarnth to leave this matter to me. That person had no business in my laboratory! Unlock the stairway door for me. I’m coming up.”

“Yes, sir.” The man nodded and hung up the phone. Turning to the other beside him, he said, “He’s coming up. I’ll go unlock the stairs.”

The blue haired man nodded his understanding and turned his glance back to the flashing monitors in front of him.

They had created dozens of new scientific words to describe the odd states the subject fell in and out of. The words themselves weren’t necessarily technical terms but if they had used them with any other scientific folk, there would be complete confusion. The subject fell into “Volatile” mode several times in the past, but only after rigorous experiments that drained his coping mechanism so greatly that the risk of expiration was imminent if they continued with the tests. There usually was a great deal of pain involved as well. “Stasis” referred to the off days in which no experiments were to be held that day. Today, as was the day before, was a stasis day, which meant something other than the experiments must have caused the shift to the life-threatening volatile mode.

The black haired man waited by the door in the far left corner of the lab room for Dr. Maximnair to appear. After a few minutes, he could hear footsteps echoing through the stairwell until he saw the old, worn-out face of his superior. Opening the door in a rush, Maximnair walked right past the man in his haste. His first glance fell upon the “subject” on the table in the center of the room, then to the monitors near the where the blue haired man stood.

“Get out of the way,” Maximnair said as he shoved the man away. “I don’t know what the hell that devil’s up to…” he said under his breath. Getting a better look at the logs and the current warnings flashing across the monitor, Maximnair raised his head to look back at the subject and then back to the monitor. The screen was touch sensitive, so in a second, he had pressed a zillion different buttons on the screen to activate multiple programs to counteract Volatile mode. The huge mechanical arms and tools that hung just above the table began to move. One of the shorter arms with no special tool attached to the end of it moved down toward the boy’s chest and came alive with a bright purple light that shot a single wave of electricity through his body. The shocks shook his body so strongly, the two younger scientists thought it impossible for anyone to withstand such a shock and not react. But that’s exactly what the boy did. He didn’t flinch, he didn’t scream, he didn’t gasp for breath. It was as though here were dead.

“Damn fool!” Maximnair cursed as he touched the screen again to activate more of the arms.

This time, coming out of tiny slits in the table upon which the boy lie, hundreds of worm-like wires weaved around the boy’s arms, legs, neck and chest and sank deep into his skin. Again the boy made no response. “If you’re not going to come back willingly, we’ll just have to force you back,” Maximnair said. His hand lingered on a button on the screen labeled “Run” but he hesitated. With a narrow face, he looked up at the two scientists and grinned. “This may not be suitable for young eyes.” The two looked each other, confused, then looked back at Maximnair. Before they could understand what they were to do, Maximnair yelled, “OUT! NOW!”

The two scientists jumped to their feet, the blue haired one grabbed a book from his desk before he ran from the room, the door sliding and locking behind them.

“I have to get another job,” the blue haired man said.

“You said it.”

Once the door was secured, Maximnair turned his head to look at the boy on the table, almost every inch of his body covered in wires with small traces of blood leaking from the spaces between. Then he turned back toward the monitor and pressed the button.

The flashing light in the distance still shone its light, trying to get someone’s attention, but no one saw it. The wind continued to speak strange phrases, but no one could understand it. No one remembered how to understand words, feelings, pain. Hisoka’s eyes were still open wide, but they reflected neither his own glowing light nor the flashing light in the distance.

“Da…..aaamnnn iiiiiitt…..” said the wind. “N…..ww… ooooor….. nneee…..eeeer.”

Beyond the circle of Hisoka’s light, the bright yellow light in the dark flashed once but refused to dim. It stayed lit and appeared to waver unsteadily closer to the edge of light around Hisoka until it joined with it. It was a brilliant ball of energy, more golden than yellow, that floated in mid-air before it touched down beside Hisoka. The ball gradually melded into a small figure of a dragonoid, a half-dragon half-human form, when it touched Hisoka’s arm. It was a tiny little thing, maybe a foot tall, and it had long golden hair that billowed down his back between two little leathery wings of a dragon. Everything about the creature seemed to be a tone of gold, even his skin seemed to glow with glittery gold, except for its eyes. His eyes were a fiery orange-red.

The dragonoid crawled over Hisoka’s arm and onto his chest, looking deep into his colorless eyes.　

“I may not really be here,” he said, a few fiery tears falling from its eyes, “but I won’t let you fade away. You can’t leave us.” The dragonoid laid his head down on Hisoka’s barely moving chest and sobbed. “You can’t!”

Then, just as the dragonoid felt like closing his own eyes and forget the world, himself, everything… Hisoka’s body rocked so violently as a ghastly scream of agony escaped his lips, the sound echoing through the dark meadow. The dragonoid tumbled off Hisoka’s chest from the constant shaking. It was almost as though he was having some sort of seizure, something that gripped his soul at the core and forced it to stay, to live. But after so long, a soul begs to be set free, to let go of the hurt, the memories…

Destiny is cruel.

The little dragonoid fumbled in the tall grass to grab onto Hisoka’s shirt as he continued to writhe from an unknown assailant deep inside. “Hisoka! You have to wake up! It’s the only way for it to stop, without it killing you!”

Somehow Hisoka managed to turn his head far enough to catch a glimpse of the dragonoid in the corner of his eye. He couldn’t see well through the tears in his eyes from the splitting pain and the uncontrollable muscle spasms, but he thought he knew whoever was there even if he couldn’t see a clear face. Where was he? What was going on? Hisoka couldn’t remember anything even if he wanted to; he could hardly even think. Nothing seemed more important than stopping this pain.

“Listen to me,” the dragonoid said again, almost jumping on Hisoka’s chest. “You have to wake up—get out of here. If you stay… They’ll kill you!”

Hisoka heard the words and understood, but what was happening? Where was this pain coming from? It felt like his chest was about to bust open, like something was ripping the heart from his chest. He just wanted it to stop! Stop!

Then he heard the words again: “Wake up!” And the seizure stopped. He could breathe. He sat panting in the tall grass, the dragonoid still on his chest. Closing his tired eyes, he tried to slow his breathing. When he could open his eyes again, he looked at the dragonoid on top of him, but he was gone. He looked from side to side to find it again, maybe it had fallen into the tall grass again and he just couldn’t see it. But, there was no tall grass for as far as he could see. There was nothing but tall white walls, bright lights shining in his eyes, and restraints holding down his arms and legs. He still couldn’t move.

“That worked well, I must say,” Maximnair said while switching all the operations on the screen to off. He reached for the small cloth setting on the desk near the main console where he stood, took it in his old, shaking hands and whipped the sweat from his brow. The danger, for the moment, was over, but he felt no relief; rather he felt angry, annoyed at his subject’s continued resilience, his refusal to comply with any of his wishes. All he wanted was to extract the Red Aura from within the boy, which shouldn’t have been such a difficult task, that is, if the Red Aura was indeed separate from the boy’s own soul.

Maximnair stepped beside the table, put a hand cold with sweat on Hisoka’s arm, the same one Akuma had dug his nails into the night before. The scientist looked at Hisoka very much the same way Akuma had, total hatred in his eyes. Every time he thought he was getting close to removing the Red Aura, something would happen, and this time proved that nothing had to happen at all for something to go wrong. If Maximnair hadn’t initiated the machine when he did, both the Red Aura and Hisoka’s life would have been lost forever. Now at least he still had time, time to figure out if there really was a way to do what he was told to do.

Maximnair stood at Hisoka’s side for quite sometime without saying a word. Hisoka looked at Maximnair but for some reason couldn’t focus on his face. Who was he? His mind was such a blur, he could hardly remember his own last name. …what was his last name?

Then the scientist turned away abruptly, his own thoughts sweeping him away. “Maybe it’s impossible,” he said to himself but still within earshot of Hisoka. “Maybe the others have to be collected to force this one out. Together the four could have the strength to overpower the one…” Yes! That must be it! A rush swept through Maximnair’s body, everything suddenly seemed clearer. Why hadn’t he thought of this before? He quickly ran to the phone on the desk and dialed a number. “Mary. I want you to locate our newest employee and get him down here right now. I think I know what we were doing wrong.”

Although Hisoka heard the whole thing, none of it made any more sense to him than the reason he was in this hellhole. None of it made any sense!

Finally finding his voice, he struggled against the restraints. “Let me out of here, you sick freak!”

Maximnair was still talking on the phone, but at the sound of Hisoka’s voice, he turned to look back at him. “Mary, if you have any problems, go to Kent and the others. I have to go.” He hung up the receiver, grinning. “Ahh, so he can speak! I was afraid we made a mute out of you.”

“Who are you? What do you want from me?”

“Oh, I’m saddened, my boy! Don’t you remember me? You’ve been my most beloved and most hated subject for the last three months.”

Hisoka shook his head. Three months? No, that had to be a lie. He would have remembered being here for that long. There was no way he could have been a prisoner, a torture subject for that long…was there?

“Aw, I’m sorry,” Maximnair said as he tauntingly touched his hand gently to Hisoka’s face. “It is possible for test subjects to “black out” during the experiments. I assume you’re not any different from the rest. But, that wouldn’t be entirely true, would it? You are unique,” he said, resting his elbows on the table in order to lower his face nearer to Hisoka. “You are special. And we’re going to figure out exactly how special you are,” he smiled as he stood back up to leave the room. “Whether or not you’re alive at the end of our journey together is beside the point. Get some rest. You’ll need it tomorrow.” With a simple press of a button next to the sliding door, Maximnair stepped out of the lab and disappeared, leaving the lab completely unoccupied.

Three months. He had been locked up and experimented on for three whole months and he couldn’t remember any of it! Maybe what the man had said was true. Maybe he had blocked it all out, but why would he have awakened to it all now? How did he understand what was happening to him now and not a month ago, two months ago, anytime before now? It didn’t make sense, none of it did. From the moment lightning came out of the sky and struck him down, nothing seemed real, and nothing would ever be normal again.

“Ah, Mr. Ijiwaru,” Maximnair greeted and shook Kataki’s hand as he entered the building. “I trust Akuma helped you across the lake?”

“Not exactly, but I’m here nonetheless.”

“Oh, well, I’m sorry about that. He is a little uncontrollable.”

“I know,” Kataki said, not really in the mood to talk to this idiot scientist. What did he really know, anyway?

“Well, Mr. Ijiwaru, I know you are here on the issue of the dragon, but I’m afraid I cannot allow you to see him today. We just barely made it through another Volatile stage. He must rest until tomorrow’s tests.”

Kataki shook his head. “No, I think I’ll see him now, thank you.”

Taken aback at his response, Maximnair crinkled up his face. “I’m sorry. You’ll have to wait. I can show you to the commons where you can wait. You might find tomorrow’s experiments highly entertaining.”

Kataki sighed for a moment then gripped Maximnair by the collar with his metallic arm. “I don’t believe you understood me,” he said very calmly. “I said I wanted to see him, and I will whether you ‘allow’ me to do so or not. My orders come from above you scientist scum.”

“Ahh! Sir, please!” Maximnair squirmed in Kataki’s hands. “You can see him, of course! Anything you’d like! I am merely a servant after all.”

“That’s better. Where can I find him?”

“He’s down on the fifth level below. You can’t miss it.”

Kataki hated scientists well enough on their own, but groveling scientists? They were the worst. Kataki shoved Maximnair hard against the wall before he continued on his way down the hall and around the corner.

Fixing up his shirt, Maximnair watched Kataki disappear. “First he makes me deal with a demon and now some android? What’s next?”

Kataki really had no idea where he was going; he was just glad to be rid of that idiot scientist running the show. So, Hisoka was here in this very building, five stories below. Fine, he’d get there soon enough. He opened the door to the stairwell and started downward.

The first thing that astonished him was how far down the stairwell actually went. He stopped at the doorway for the fifth level but he could still count at least eight or more levels below him. He felt an odd lurch in his stomach when he looked down—it had been so long, he almost forgot how much he hated heights.

Then just as he was about to open the door to the fifth level, he heard a voice coming from above. “No, stupid, you can’t do it alone, I’ll just grab somebody who’s not doing their work. Hey you!” The voice came from a young man with light brown hair, who now stood pointing at Kataki from the third floor, two floors above. “Could you help us a second? We could use an extra hand.”

“Sorry,” Kataki said with his hand on the door to the fifth level. “I’m busy at the moment.”

“Oh, it won’t take a minute. We could really use the help.”

Kataki could tell the man wasn’t going to let him go, so he agreed and climbed back to the third level to help.

“Thanks so much,” the man said, holding out his hand. When Kataki didn’t take it, the man awkwardly smiled back at him. “Uh, my name’s Gantz. I, uh, was going to look for someone on the fourth level to help but, ran into you before I could get there, so I, uh. Well, come on this way,” Gantz said, opening the door to the third level for Kataki to come through. “Follow me,” he said.

Gantz quickly started down the hall and lead the way through a maze of corridors, rooms within rooms, and sneaky little passage ways. If Kataki had known the man was going to take him on a tour of the third level, he would have refused no matter how much the man tried to persuade him otherwise.

“Where exactly are we going?” Kataki said at last, his impatience finally getting the best of him.

“Oh well… I don’t really know. You see, one of the beasts escaped from its cage, so… We have to find it, quick!”

“I thought you said this wouldn’t take more than a minute.”

“Well, it wouldn’t, if we find her quick.”

What a joke! Why had he even listed to this moron in the first place? He never would have before. “This is nuts, I don’t have time for this. You can find this ‘beast’ of yours on your own time, idiot…” And with that, he left Gantz to find whatever creature he had lost and headed back to the stairwell. He got about half way back only to realize that he had no idea where he was going, again. “Perfect. I’m lost in a freaking maze!” He took another turn around the corner but stopped immediately. A large wolf blocked his way.

Kataki hadn’t actually seen a wolf up close before and certainly not as close as he was to this one. Even with his powerful new limbs he still felt intimidated by the beast, even if it sat contentedly in the middle of the hallway, looking at him with intelligent, peaceful eyes. The beast didn’t make a single move toward Kataki nor did it seem entirely interested in him. It was as though it was intentionally waiting for someone else to find her. Maybe it wanted to be found by Gantz? Whether the beast was friendly or not, Kataki didn’t care to find out, so he slowly backed up and retraced his steps. Eventually he ran back into Gantz, who nervously smiled at him.

“I think your dog’s down that way,” Kataki said, ignoring Gantz’s praises and never-ending thank yous. He just walked away.

Kataki eventually found his way back to the fifth level. Apparently it was one of the largest, most top secret levels in the building but he wouldn’t have guessed it. There were no check points, no secretary or anyone else to check IDs or to guide one down the right hallway. It seemed like anyone who wanted to snoop around the fifth level could have.

Again, Kataki didn’t know where he was going, but he figured if an idiot like Maximnair thought he couldn’t miss the lab in which Hisoka was held captive, it couldn’t be too hard to find. Without any map or signs indicating what room is what, he continued on down the main hallway until it ended with only one door leading onward. The door had a tiny, little window in it that was perfect for Kataki’s height. He looked straight into the brightly lit room and saw a large table with the weirdest looking contraption hanging above the it like some odd chandelier. Then he noticed the one lying on the table and the first thing he noticed was the red hair. It was him, Hisoka, the one Kataki had hated for so much of his life… He still hated him, even though he knew the truth. It was too much hate to erase completely. There wasn’t much Kataki could do and he didn’t know how much Hisoka had endured in the name of science, but he could at least tell him that he knew. After so many years, he finally knew the truth. With a slight click of the door handle, Kataki opened the back door into the laboratory and walked inside.

Hisoka’s head turned at the sound, but the door Kataki had stepped through was directly behind him. He couldn’t see who was there.

“So, you’re still alive, are you?” Kataki said with a twinge of hatred on his voice. He walked closer to the table but intentionally remained out of Hisoka’s sight.

“I… I know that voice…” Hisoka said. His mind was still a mess of shattered pieces from the near crash before. He knew exactly who was there behind him, he just couldn’t place a name to it… Why couldn’t he think of the name?

Then taking a few steps to the left side of the table, Kataki allowed Hisoka to see him. “You should. Or maybe they did something to your brain while you’ve been here, I don’t know.”

“K-Kataki?” The name finally came back. “You’re alive! Ho-how’d you get here?”

Of course I’m alive, Kataki wanted to say. He wanted to say so many more dark words, words in the shape of daggers that would slice through Hisoka’s body as though it were real… but he couldn’t. Maybe the old Kataki could have said those things, because he was controlled by hatred, an unquenchable thirst for revenge—unfounded revenge. He would have gladly let the daggers fly, but things were different now. The Kataki now had no understanding of revenge. Everything went out the window the day Akuma learned to walk in the real world.

“It’s my job to be here, whether or not I want to be,” Kataki said, choosing to bypass a few of Hisoka’s questions. “You know, I’ve hated you for years, haven’t I? You know that. Ever since that day I thought you dropped me from the face of that cliff with a smile on your face, I hated you. But…”

Hisoka had never seen that look on Kataki’s face before. It was a look of…remorse…regret…weakness… As Hisoka attempted to understand what Kataki was saying, his eyes fell to Kataki’s artificial arm at his side. He could remember that arm well…and he could almost feel it piercing through his chest even now. How the hell did he live through that…?

“I don’t know what I can do for you, but you have to know the truth—that I know the truth. You didn’t let me fall… it was him, that demon…”

Hisoka’s eyes opened wide. How could he possibly have known about Akuma?

At Hisoka’s look of disbelief, Kataki nodded. “He’s working for Chryarnth, looking for some…Prism something or other. I ran into him at the PCM building in Tokyo..”

“I don’t get it, if they already have a power like Akuma’s then why…?” Hisoka shook his head.

“Akuma is only part of what they’re after. I didn’t understand it all when Chryarnth told me but… They think that you have a similar power like Akuma’s.” Again when Hisoka looked up at Kataki, confused, Kataki explained, “They think you have a fraction of an ancient god inside of you. That’s why you’re here. They’re not going to stop torturing you until they find a way to rip this power from you.”

And it clicked. The things both Akuma and Maximnair had said flooded back into his mind. There was a strong power sleeping within him but… how could anyone extract such an intangible thing? He didn’t understand it, but then he remembered the little dragon. It was Mukashi, the same little dragon he knew before, the same little dragon that suddenly disappeared one night. Still, who was Mukashi? What relation did he have with Hisoka? If he was able to reach Hisoka within the furthest depths of his being…

“He’s a shard, too, isn’t he?” Hisoka said to himself.

“What?” Kataki said, leaning closer to the table.

Hisoka’s eyes flared with the fires within him. “Look, I don’t know what you’re here for and I don’t expect you to help me now, but…”

“What? Tell me. You will get no garentees out of me, still I have to know the true reason Sakura had to die.”

Why’d he have to say her name? Why’d he have to remind him? The thought of Sakura again sent a wave of pain through his heart. Though, maybe he was right. Maybe Hisoka could trust him… “You have to find Kaori, she was my psychiatrist ever since I was little…”

“Yeah, I think I’ve heard her name before… Isn’t she dead? I thought I heard she was thrown in prison and… well…”

The fire in Hisoka’s eyes blinked out. If Kaori was dead, there was no one else out there that could help. There was only Kataki. So be it!

“Fine, then you have to find out more about these powers. If Akuma and I have one…and Mukashi is one… there might be others.”

“Mu-Mukashi?”

“Never mind that for now. Earlier I heard Maximnair talk about finding four pieces of something to help draw out a single piece…”

“He must have been talking about you.”

Hisoka shook his head. He didn’t understand any of this, even as he was explaining things to Kataki. What did he know? Who the hell was he to tell Kataki what to do? Like he would do anything to help him, anyway. It was a fantasy, a farce. But maybe… maybe it was the truth. Maybe Hisoka’s bitter enemy for so many years could help free him. Maybe the time for escape was now…!

Hisoka, his mind never feeling so clear, pulled at the shackles binding him down. Maybe Kataki would get the hint and help him escape.

But time ran out.

The main door into the laboratory slide open and in walked Maximnair. Kataki could have beaten him down and helped Hisoka escape, it was certainly within his power to do so, but he didn’t. He didn’t even know why. Maybe a part of the old Kataki was still alive…

“Mr. Ijiwaru, sir,” Maximnair said, bowing so low, his head nearly hit the floor. “I must ask you to leave. Today’s schedule has changed slightly and we need to continue with the tests.”

Hisoka knew it was too good to be true, his ancient enemy coming to rescue him. It was a fantasy. He took in a deep breath and tried to appear strong even though he knew he was far from it. And Kataki, to Hisoka’s surprise, looked back at him with the same odd expression as before, as though he was voicing a silent apology. Maybe Kataki could help him escape someday… if these experiments didn’t kill him first.

“Fine,” Kataki said, stepping away from Hisoka.

Maximnair gestured for Kataki to exit the laboratory through the main entrance rather than the back door, in which Kataki had entered. “Here, this way is faster.” Maximnair held his hand on the button on the wall to hold the sliding door open as Kataki walked out. Before the door closed, Maximnair smiled and bowed again at Kataki. Then the door closed and that was that. All hopes were shattered.

“So, I figured an hour was a good enough break for you. Let’s get started, shall we?” the scientist said with a dark smile as he stepped toward the main console and lowered several of the arms and tools above the table. “And, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t give up so easily this time.”