Disclaimers: DNAngel does not belong to me and… yeah.

--- The Night Never Ends ---

--- Chapter Seven: Passing ---

All around them were trees, trees, and more trees. That and the shadows, but that was nothing new to them now. After traveling for half an hour and the gloomy, depressing air was beginning to overwhelm them. The worn-out trail was the only thing leading them the way, and how Akane was able to see it in the first place was a wonder.

A faint glow of yellow was emitted from the light that hovered around them slowly, as if in a trance. Krad watched it carefully, making sure that his spell would hold out; Dark had suggested the idea of lamps, but it had been squashed out at an instant because of the threat of accidentally setting something alight and burning the entire forest down.

Dark, of course, had then muttered that burning it down wouldn't be a bad idea, but Akane had pointed out that, because everyplace had something, or someone, living within it, disturbing the peace was out of the question. And starting a mad bushfire of sorts was plain insanity; unless he wanted to be haunted by spirits for the rest of his living – and dying – days.

So all that accompanied them was the silence, and the fact that enemies could be lurking in every shadow, which was a lot, considering the fact that they were in the middle of a forest that clearly didn't want them disturbing the peace. Risa shifted nervously on her saddle, the urge of looking around to gather her surroundings strongly countered by not wanting to look unless it attracted attention from people or things they didn't want to meet.

Of course, this meant that no one was speaking and the whole heavy-silence setting was beginning to get a little too heavy for her. Daisuke seemed to notice this because he turned around to give her a reassuring smile; which she returned weakly. Although she knew that she was with people she could trust, it was still hard to shake the horrid feeling off.

Her eyes trailing over the flora that surrounded them like a smoldering blanket, Akane mentally mapped their current position and swore slightly under her breath. At the rate they were going, they could be here for days, weeks even. But she couldn't force them to dash recklessly into the undergrowth because of the natural threat the forest caused.

If she'd been on her own it would have been easier, but they were needed in this mission. And there was no way she was going to let them die in this one place. Not that it would completely matter in the end, but the thought of people's deaths hanging over her head wasn't great either.

She shook her head firmly at this, dispelling the thoughts and looked over at the glimmering ball of light that the blonde had conjured. They had power, it was obvious, although they never seemed to talk about it. And with this power was responsibility… Risa had it too, despite what they might have decided about her already.

And yet, they were a lot stronger than they truly knew it. Well, she wasn't about to tell them; let them learn on their own.

"So how far does this forest go for?" asked Satoshi, finally breaking the silence around them. Akane inclined her head, wondering if she should completely answer the question, or to give him a half-answer to it, seeing as it was really hard to be completely accurate.

"It depends," she finally said, shrugging, "I'd tell you all to pick up the pace, but it might get a little dirty." And she wasn't just referring to the mud and dirt that could be disturbed by the horses' hooves. On the whole, she would have told them to leave the creatures behind, but the traveling after the forest could be insanely tedious without a fast way to travel.

Frowning at her reply, Satoshi, who was at the very back of the line, considered her answer; 'It depends' really didn't say a lot, but it seemed clear enough that it would take a while before they saw the sky again. He glanced up, the thick foliage trapping any sight of the sun's rays; it was nearly impossible to tell whether it was day or night, truth be told.

Not to mention that there was something about this forest he seriously didn't trust. Okay, sure, it was dark, full of trees, and with almost no light, a disadvantage to them if they were attacked, but there was something else that made him wonder. There was something he couldn't completely put his finger on. A lingering presence…

He wanted to talk to Daisuke about the matter, but because they were in single file, it was almost impossible to hold any sort of conversation and Risa was in between the redhead and himself anyway. Dark and Krad were in front of them and Akane, naturally, was leading the way. Although, even from here, he could hear the purple-haired teen muttering under his breath about one thing or another.

It was strange, though, to see Dark so… well, unhinged because of Akane. As far as he knew, the guy had always had his way and never gave a damn as such and not even large, forbidding monsters had the capability to get on his nerves. So what was it about her that made him any different? The hostility was definitely there.

Considering the possibilities, Satoshi couldn't find any good conclusions that would make complete sense. Everyone seemed a little edgy anyway, yet still…

Okay, he really had to stop thinking about all this, but there wasn't anything else he could do at the moment either way and if this was a great way to distract oneself and probably be considered insane in the end… well… whatever. On went life.

Satoshi stopped his mindless, and rather aimless, thinking, when a slight sound of movement other than their horses and their breathing managed to catch his ear. It had been a sharp, rather unhumanly-plantly sound and he didn't like it. And by the reactions of the rest of them, they'd heard it too.

"Damn…" muttered Akane, pulling the reigns to a halt. "Looks like we're not about to get out here without some fight."

"What is it?" asked Krad.

"…" she smirked just slightly, but her face was turned away from them so they couldn't see it, "the shadows."

As if these words were a trigger, suddenly the entire forest around them came to life. Shapeless blobs that they couldn't identify flashed by them and the horses reared in panic. Akane snapped something out, but everyone was too preoccupied trying to clamber off safely to hear what she was saying. Risa's foot was snagged by the stirrups and Daisuke hurried over to help her down.

"What the hell?.!" Dark ducked as another thing sped by them, "How are you supposed to hit them if they move so fast?.!"

"We've got to get the horses out of here first!" Krad yelled, trying to keep his down as it whinnied in fear.

"Go on," muttered Akane, from the front, patting her own horse calmly, "get the others out." The creature's eyes, reflecting serenity, blinked down at her and she sighed, "We'll be fine, trust me." She winced as something sliced by her, leaving a shallow cut on her arm. She pulled out a small, metallic object and turned back to her horse, "Go!"

It wasn't long before all their horses had galloped off, leaving the humans to deal with the problems on their own. "Krad!" Daisuke called over from where he and Risa were, keeping low, "We need more light or something! You can barely see anything!"

The brunette gave a squeak of dismay as she heard something fly over her. She couldn't see anything, even if her hands hadn't been covering her eyes and the fact that Daisuke was more or less shielding her from the danger. But the sounds were terrifying enough, and when the bullets began to fly.

"How the hell can shadows do that?" Satoshi muttered, more to himself than anything else, "There wasn't even that much light…" he dodged something that flew past him, "It's not right…"

"This forest is, needless to say, charged with magic. In some cases, an illusion."

Turning and narrowly avoiding another sharp, flying object, as Krad's spell swelled, the blunette could make out Akane's face as she stood some distance behind him. She seemed to be holding some sort of necklace in her hand but he couldn't see how that was supposed to work.

Dark shot off another round of bullets to no avail, "What do you mean an illusion? It looks plenty real to me at the moment!"

"What I mean is that anyone without any magic potential wouldn't be aware of the dangers if they went in here," she replied coolly, stopping a moment to avoid an attack, "but I'll tell you later. For now we need a balance of light and dark."

Daisuke, who had begun to cast a simple spell and was now sending off odd, dark green bolts, looked over at her, "A balance? How?"

"I've already got the light going," this time, it was Krad who replied, who seemed to have caught a hold of what the plan – or lack thereof – was. "Dark, it's your turn."

"What?" the purple-haired teen seemed appalled at the idea, "But you know the backlash I get from it in the end!"

"Just do it! It might be the only way."

Grumbling, and while they all suffered a majority of small cuts, Dark did as he was told grudgingly and the two spells began to mould into each other, giving an odd lighting affect. Risa uncovered her hands and glanced up at them, blinking.

"What the…?"

Swinging the metal chain by her side, Akane began to mutter under her breath. A thin whistle began to emit from the whirling object and all those present instantly noticed a change in the atmosphere. There was something heavy around them, something that both threatened to save them and suffocate them. Something both good and evil… yet neither. Something they couldn't completely identify, even if they wanted to.

Time seemed to slow down with the shadows movements, seemed to falter and flicker uncertainly, and the muttering and the whistling was all that was truly left in the end. The elementalist held up her free hand for a moment, still muttering, and a swirl of dark energy appeared for but a moment before evaporating into the surroundings.

Then… silence.

Before anyone could move, however, there was a sudden crash behind them and the atmosphere disintegrated in an instant.

"Now what…" groaned Dark, clearly getting highly peeved off it all.

Akane rubbed her wrist for a moment, the chain coming to a complete stop and just hanging there, like the piece of metal it was supposed to be. She muttered something under her breath as everyone else got up and began to nurse their wounds. Suddenly she seemed to snap out of it and clapped her hands together, wincing lightly.

"We have to move on now. If we stay here, they might regroup and try to attack again." She frowned, turning her eyes to the light that was now left on its own, "I can't believe they tried to do that in the first place… are we not wanted?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Daisuke, rubbing his arms for a moment as he cast a simple healing spell for the rest of them.

"Oh, nothing," she stepped forwards, "The horses are gathered at the edge of the forest, and if I did the second spell correctly, we can get out of here in about two hours at the least."

Krad hurried forward to catch up to her, before muttering under his breath, "Second spell?"

"Just a little time-manipulation," shrugged Akane, "or, to put it more correctly, forest-manipulation. There's a couple of shortcuts that can help us, so you shouldn't be complaining."

"… You're not human, are you?"

"People have been asking me that for years now."

Daisuke, Risa and Satoshi witnessed the quiet exchange between the blonde and their guide before Dark got in the way and began an argument with all three of them.

"So are you sure you're okay, Risa-chan?" the redhead asked, glancing over to her. She seemed a little shaken, but was almost completely unscathed. He frowned in concern when she shook her head furiously, not saying anything. The suspicion was that she felt that if she decided to open her mouth, words wouldn't be coming out.

"We'll be out soon, though," Satoshi reminded her, "and by the sounds of it, we should be okay. But those things that attacked us…"

"What about them?"

"How is it possible for shadows? Where's the reality? What's going on?" the blunette glanced over to meet Daisuke's eyes, "Something's telling me that these 'shadows' aren't the only ones behind it in the end. Although what it could be, I have no idea."

"And then there was that crash," agreed the mage, "None of us know what resides in this place and it's so dangerous for us to be here. I want to trust our guide, but that feeling…"

Daisuke fell silent at this, thinking it over again. Yes, she was strange; yes, she had powers that were beyond, well, his own knowledge, and he knew a lot about magic because of his heritage and upbringing. Not to mention her little 'story' was hard to completely believe as well. All in all, he was just plain confused. And he absolutely hated having to walk around in the dark at a time like this.

"Feeling?" repeated Risa uncertainly, seemingly coming to terms with being able to speak without having to empty her stomach contents.

"Well, we're all in agreement that she's a little… odd."

"Yeah, so? It's like people calling me odd."

"Hm… it's not exactly the same…"

None of those walking on the path noticed that they were being watched. The spectator calculated their process before leaving, the light rustling of leaves being the only indicator that they had been there. Satoshi turned, but there was no one in sight.

---

The small group managed to get out of the forest without too much disturbance, although everyone was tottering over the edge of paranoia by the time they had exited and even the soft trill of a bird was enough to make them jump.

As they set up camp, Akane left off and was soon back with their horses. She answered their unspoken questions at the arrival: "We came about a couple points away from the main trail and these horses are incredibly intelligent so they must have waited for us. I'm going to go on and scout ahead, okay? Won't be long."

"Hey, how long will it take us to get there anyway?" Dark asked, looking up from his kindling.

"We've actually taken the shortest route, so two or three days at the least. The most I'd say is five days. I'm just looking out for any tell-tale signs of danger and landmarks." The redheaded-brunette swiped at her hair for a moment before leaving, allowing the rest of the group some time to talk it all over.

"I think we're all in instant agreement that she's a little odd." Was the first thing out of Krad's mouth, "What we don't know is her intentions. Is she really doing this because someone told her to? Or is it somehow to her own benefit?"

"How could going to Rutile benefit her?" Dark raised an eyebrow, unable to work it out.

"Maybe she had family there or something…?" suggested Risa.

Satoshi shook his head at that, "Can't have been. Everyone was killed and it's nearly been a century. More, probably. No one knows the exact date. And she can't be any older than the rest of us."

"You have a point, and that's what's confusing me," the blonde frowned, as Daisuke put tinder to flint to start a small fire, "Maybe she's a hit-man for an enemy of ours. Not that it makes any more sense, but still…"

"And then there's the strange vibes," the redhead added.

"Exactly."

"So what are we supposed to do?"

"Just go along for it for now, I suppose. Just don't drop your guard and always be ready for an ambush because until we know her reasoning behind this, I don't want us to die out here."

They fell silent at this and continued setting up camp and making sure that their horses were comfortable until Akane came back, claiming that everything looked fine for the time being. After working out everyone's night watch shift, they bunked down for the night in unknown country.

Something about that wasn't exactly comfortable.

---

"So what was all that this afternoon? Were you trying to get us all killed?"

"Look, it may seem that way…"

There was the sound of someone being knocked into a tree and Akane shook her head, fist still raised.

"Zeike, this is serious. I can't believe you would do that, they might finally be the ones to put the spirits to rest!"

Rubbing his cheek, Zeike winced as he used the trunk for support to stand, "How? They couldn't even fight against what I summoned and they were basic spells!"

"An illusion, if not expected, is always deadly." She hissed back.

The two were standing a little away from the actual campsite, Akane having left her post to meet up and reprimand him. The sky was completely clear that night and stars sprinkled like crystals suspended in mid-air.

"But we've sent so many people over and they've always failed. What makes them any different?"

"It's different," Akane shook her head, "I just know it. But do that again, Zeike, and I won't hesitate to use all of my strength in one blow. Remember that, will you?"

She left before he could say another word.

"Where were you?"

Akane blinked, instantly recognizing the speaker through their blue hair. "I had to look at the constellations, if you're really so curious to know. I wasn't gone long and it's been particularly peaceful at the moment."

Satoshi frowned at her, "And why would you need to see that?"

"I have my own personal reasons," she shrugged half-heartedly, "not to mention that it's going to rain sometime late afternoon, so we should look for cover--"

"Takada."

"… What?"

"How is it that you know where Rutile is when no one else has even been there? And even those who stumbled upon it could never locate their exact position."

"…"

"What are your intentions for this quest we're being thrown into?"

"…"

The camp fire flickered in between them.

"What are you trying to do?"

"The spirits need to be put to rest after an eternity of endless pain," Akane turned away, "And as for how I know where it is… well, after a long time of researching the rumors and having nowhere to go home to, what more can I say?"

"A lot."

"Well, Hiwatari-kun, maybe it'd be best to say that you may find your answers at Rutile," she smiled slightly at this before calculating the position of the moon, "Well, it looks like my shift's over anyway. It's your turn." She swept into the tent without another word.

Satoshi stared at the flames of the fire, its warmth doing very little to quell his mood.

There was definitely something up.

---

"What is that you want in the end?"

"I want… I want…"

"What is it?"

"I want… this all to end. I want it to be over."

"You know it cannot. It's impossible now. Nothing can change fate. No one…"

"How do you know if you've never tried?"

"…"

"Everyone I loved is gone, I have nothing left in this world, but I have to go on. I have to find a purpose to keep living, otherwise there's no use. No point trying. As stupid as it sounds, it's the only way now."

"Are you a fool?"

"Do you want this? Do you want innocent people to keep suffering? It's not going to end if we just leave it be! I can't allow it to happen!"

"Even if it kills you."

"…"

She didn't know when she fell asleep, but it seemed only moments later that it was morning again, the chill of dawn being something she tended to experience every other morning.

Staring at the top of the tent, Akane mused. That little conversation had etched itself into her mind, and part of her wanted to laugh at it. The other part wanted to break down and cry.

They thought her weird, they didn't trust her, it was all the same, every time. It never changed.

But this time…

"Takada-san?" there was the soft swish sound of the tent and she sat up in time to see Risa peering somewhat concernedly at her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… why?"

"You were talking in your sleep."

"… It's nothing. Really."

"Okay…"

So many things to do, not enough time. Akane smiled at the thought as she finally pulled herself out to join the others. They seemed subdued about one thing or another and, deciding to break the mood a bit, she spoke up.

"I'm assuming you've got a lot you want to ask of me, so why don't we do it now before we move on?"

Daisuke glanced up, "But… isn't this serious?"

"What's more serious is the fact that hostility will be what crushes us all. Besides, it won't hurt." At least… not a lot.

---

A flock of birds winged overhead of the camped group, their destination practically unknown. Further ahead, the rubble and dust over a particular hillside showed the agony and pain left behind and there was silence. Deathly silence and nothing to break it. The mists of time had covered it, and it was only there, and there alone, that was night. Constantly.

Time seemed to have stopped.

Silence.

---

As you can see, I did horribly in this chapter. And in reality, I have no idea on what I was doing with this piece. They'll probably make it to the town by the end of the next chapter. If I can figure out what happens before that… Damnit, it had such a promising beginning XD

Oh yes, and Zeike belongs to me. If you've read The Flames of Time (it's painful… my first fic but complete) or Darkened Heart (he has more character in that one) then you'll kinda know him.

Reviewer replies:

neko-nya: lol, hopefully you've stopping singing it by now XD if not… I'm worried for you. Maybe I should give one of them telepathy… hrm… Riku! Of course, she's not in the story yet… I have so got to add sarcastic ghosties sometime…

Snowy Leopardess: Thanks XD They just have this kinda hostility between them, even though they just met. But then again, Dark might have sensed something else from her… XD Akane can also be rather annoying, but it depends on the person. :) We'll just have to see what happens to them, don't we?

Hakudoshi-chan: Thank you-- :hugs:

xpeachie: Aw… I'm glad you liked it that much (personally I'm beginning to wonder XD). Geez… I'm so slow at this, aren't I? Ah well, life goes on.