Hey, Kendi here! Thank you for your nice comments! -Especially from the girl who became a fan of Feitan because of this. It made me so happy!

I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations though personally, I felt it moves too quickly and is rather choppy.

I also apologize to Togashi-Sensei for the intentional ridicule of his villains, and to horror writers everywhere, shaking their heads in disgrace at me. XD

Searing pain… was he dead? No, it was illogical for him to be feeling pain after death, but the blackness confirmed that he surely must be dying. Yes, a slow, agonizing death at the hands of some unforeseen enemy. So this was death; it was so hard for him to comprehend, -having it end this way. It was too unbelievable, too unrealistic….

Then reality hit him; they had been running through the woods, following the path Danchou had specifically told them to, only to find it had disappeared into the darkness of a starless evening. Somewhere along the way, they must have made a wrong turn, and had then fallen down a steep slope. In which case, that meant….

"Feitan!" He moaned, "get your umbrella out of my kidney!"

"That's what she said," Phinx snickered from nearby.

A glare from eyes so brilliant, they could melt the souls of eight fangirls, shot a beam in the direction the voice had come from.

"Ow! Put that away, Shal! I was just trying to lighten the mood!"

"Help me up, or pay compensation for my injuries!" Shalnark gave a cross ultimatum.

"Oh, sorry," Phinx muttered. He poked at the darkness with a random stick before determining the situation, "Fei is over there, which means you are…." He tapped down hard with the stick, which resulted in his throat getting grabbed for the second time that day, "My mistake,"

Shalnark climbed into a sitting position and then went back into character, "Nothing broken!" he said, "and you?"

"No." Feitan said, gripping Phinx's neck with one hand while holding his cheek with the other.

"N-" the latter breathed.

"Good!" he said cheerfully, "Then we should find out where we are!"

The other two let their mouths hang agape. Shalnark's quick recoveries in composure never ceased to completely creep the other Spiders out. -the boss himself was a little worried.

Feitan released his friend-turned-victim once again and proceeded to search what one could only assume would be where he had pockets under his dark cloak, "The hamster got away," he said with some disappointment.

Phinx felt a shudder.

Meanwhile member #9 was busy tapping away on his phone. "If we keep heading north, we should reach a stream by morning," He smiled.

"Let's go," Phinx sighed. You couldn't argue with a guy that rooted in logic.

---

The night wore on, deepening its shade with each passing hour. The air remained fairly warm, and nocturnal symphonies were constant. Had it not been for the absence of light, this story would feel too ashamed to call itself "horror", thus, the scenic glow of moonlight was omitted.

Yet something had disturbed the beautifully-poetic scenery and caused all the animals to hush.

On foot, a single figure brushed quietly against the roots and branches that had caused the Spiders to stumble. It paused, not wanting to get too close just yet, though a trembling fist belied ill-intentioned anticipation.

They can run, but they cannot escape.

---

"We must really be out of shape," Shalnark mused as he and Phinx collapsed exactly 9.3 minutes later. Feitan did not collapse; he merely stood nearby, looking as bored and detached as possible.

Phinx nodded in agreement, stretching his arms behind his head. At this time, he started to think, -which was quite unusual as thinking wasn't exactly a requirement in the Genei Ryodan. Though the nearly pitch blackness of the sky and the lack of animal calls were very calming, they were also slightly unnerving and way too cliché for his tastes. And while the day had not been uneventful, it had been eerily quiet.

Wait… what was that sound? Another horror theme? Was it all in his head? No, darn that sadist. Feitan was at it again, this time with the refrain from Psycho. Phinx mentally gave him a mean glare and much fist shaking (feeling too lazy to do it for real).

Other than the obvious setting issues, there was also this drawing feeling that someone had been leading him into a false sense of security. He couldn't finger it, but there was just something suspicious about that sign they had encountered earlier….

"Oh no!" Shalnark's sudden outburst caused Phinx to jump, "we didn't bring anything to start a fire with!"

"Geez," Phinx sighed, standing up, "you two are really putting me on edge today." He started swinging the stick around nonchalantly, pacing in a circle, "give me a rest, will you?" nearing Feitan, a smirk crossed his face. "I got your fire right here," Holding the stick a good four feet above the unsuspecting bandit's head, Phinx winked at Shalnark, "On the count of three, run like-"

"Ahahaha! That's okay, I think I sat on some flint!" Shalnark rubbed the back of his head with one hand as he produced the flint with another.

Feitan turned around to see his friend staring down at him guiltily. "I dare you to hit me," his narrowed eyes shone through the darkness.

"Uh… gottapee! Excuse me," ducking behind some trees, Phinx was gone.

----

A pair of eyes flashed with malicious intent as they followed the lone member. This was an opportunity.

It took a couple of moments for Phinx to sense the dark presence nearby, but as it immediately left, he assumed it had been his imagination. "I'm in the middle of nowhere with Shalark, -how much scarier could things get?" He laughed. No kidding.

"Phinx," killing aura popped up out of nowhere; it was different than the first one.

Phinx whipped around with a swinging fist. "Feitan!" he recognized the person from how quickly he ducked, "Could you wait to do that until after I pee?"

"No,"

They both blinked.

…

"Shalnark is having a crisis," Feitan elaborated… sort of.

"This is bad!" Phinx pushed through the brush, knocking down a tree or two with his fists as he went, "and you left him alone?"

They soon found him on his knees, staring down with disbelief at his open palms. On closer inspection, one could see he was holding his beloved phone.

"Shalnark! What happened?"

No answer.

"Shalnark!"

Shalnark turned his head slowly, and breathed, "dead… zone…."

Phinx raised an imaginary eyebrow, "So what? Who needs a cell phone out here anyway?"

"You don't understand!" Shalnark moaned, "It's a sign! It's what my prediction said! My phone stopped working, and now we're all going to die!"

"Correction, of Feitan and myself, only one of us two is supposed to die," he informed him facetiously. Who believed predictions stolen from a little girl anyway?

"It was a trap!"

"Calm down! If you crack, who's going to do the thinking for the three of us?" He turned to Feitan, "Help me!"

Feitan went and whispered something into Shalnark's ear, which made the bishie freeze immediately.

"What did you tell him?" Phinx wondered.

An evil grin stretched to the assassin's eyes (because otherwise, no one would see it) as he replied, "Nothing,"

"Fine, fine," waving it off, Phinx laid down and gave an exaggerated yawn, "wake me up when the boogieman gets here," snickering to himself at seeing someone more uneasy than he was. But, as it was only nine-o-clock, he was still wide awake, and so took that time to think again. Remarkable though it was, he thought he should practice in case Shalnark really had lost it, -something that was bound to happen eventually.

It took all of six seconds for his eyes to shoot open.

"Danchou can't use nen!" He shouted.

"What?" Shalnark sniffed.

"The sign earlier! -It was written by a nen-user!"

Lightning flashed in the distance.

Phinx's eyes widened, Shalnark gasped, and Feitan laughed, (Which honestly, was the most appropriate reaction the latter possessed). For suddenly, all three felt the chains of the ruse tightening around them.

…Haha, foreshadowing.