V

"You would make a good addition to DaiShocker, Kaitou."

He doesn't shiver, although he wants to, an instinctive human reaction to being stared at as though you were food by something that's definitely a predator. He hates being intimidated, though, especially by monsters like Apollo Geist. "Let's just say I don't play well with others and leave that topic alone, all right?"

"Ah, yes, your vaunted independence. The thief that dances through worlds, snatching whatever treasure he sees along the way. Now, that seems familiar somehow…" The newly-made fangire paces away, to the altar of the church he's desecrated, putting himself above Kaitou before turning around with a pseudo-nostalgic smile. "Oh, that's right. Young Tsukasa did much the same. You can see how well things have gone for him…"

"I'm not Tsukasa." He smiles, as pleasantly as he can, right hand clenched around DiEnd. Starting a fight would likely be suicide, but the gun's presence still makes him feel better.

It also means Apollo Geist thinks he poses very little threat, but even that's okay. Better to be underestimated.

"No, you're not Tsukasa." Geist's smile is cold, threatening. "You're an intelligent young man. Clever, even. You're a survivor who understands how the world—how all the worlds—work."

It's true, but he hates the way Geist says it, as though it gives them something in common. "Get to the point."

"The era of lone wolves is over, Kaitou. It's time to stop this childish rebellion and make your allegiance known." Geist folds his hands behind his back, stares at him evenly, a straight, prim businessman selling the enslavement of everyone in the multiverse.

In his mind Kaitou sees Tsukasa for a moment, clad in his unique pink-and-black leathers, sprawled on a throne and talking disinterestedly about ruling everything. The comparison makes him smile, especially because the one who almost won him over to the idea isn't the one who should have.

"If you stand against us, Kaitou, you will die." There is a grimness to Geist's features, a hint of stained glass in his eyes, that says death will undoubtedly come sooner rather than later.

"Yeah. Probably." He's less nervous now, somehow, the certainty that he will never be a part of this DaiShocker steadying him. Just because he knows what he's chosen doesn't mean Geist has to, though. "Hypothetically, what would you want me to do for you?"

The fangire smiles again, stained glass fading from his eyes. "Deliver a message to Tsukasa. Follow him. Shoot him once he's at the rendezvous point."

"Why not before?" Tapping DiEnd against his shoulder, he sits down on one of the pews, left arm hanging comfortably over the back. "Give him the message, shoot him in the back, problem solved."

"Come now. We've both been in this business for far too long for you to play dumb." There's a patronizing edge to Geist's smile now, and Kaitou tries not to let his annoyance at it show. "I don't trust you. I want to see him die with my own eyes. No bringing back a body that you accidentally destroyed the features of, or anything like that."

"Oh. Well, your time wasted." He pauses, taps DiEnd against the wood of the pew. "Your time wasted anyway. Tsukasa's too smart to come when you beckon."

"Oh, he'll come. They've changed him, made him even weaker than he was before." A snap of Geist's fingers and another fangire appears through a side door, dragging someone in a white dress none too gently behind it. "And don't forget, I've acquired what's probably the perfect bait for the trap."

He wants to counter that Tsukasa still won't come. It would have been true, once. The Tsukasa he'd met first would laugh, or shrug, or maybe go to the duel but only because he was angry at the challenge it implied.

Now, though, Tsukasa's pretending to be a good man. And good men do stupid things like march to their death for their friends.

Natsumi has worked her way to a kneeling position. Her hands are bound tight behind her back, hair a wild mass of disarray. She looks up at him, horror and hope both painfully obvious in her expression. "Daiki?"

It hurts more than he thought it could, seeing her there, hearing his name from her lips. She never asked to use his first name, just like Tsukasa once upon a time, but it's never bothered him as much as it did with Tsukasa. Maybe because there's no arrogance in the way she says it, no claiming of him. Just a friendly, open mind, a kind heart, one that was able to help Yuusuke convince Tsukasa it was worth trying to be a good man.

Even after they learned the truth.

Even after Tsukasa remembered, betrayed them.

"Here, Kaitou." Apollo Geist steps down from the altar, closer to him but not crowding him. A cordially folded invitation is held in his left hand. "Give this to Kadoya-sama, please. It will tell him where to go."

They all watch him, the two fangires and the human, and he realizes far too late that this is a test. They're waiting to see if he'll be foolish enough to try to rescue her.

He can't. He can't beat Apollo Geist and his fangires, not alone. He doesn't want to die, hasn't wanted to die since Tsukasa found him and yanked him into this mess so long ago, and to try to resist these people now would be suicide.

But he wants to. Every time his eyes land on her, he wants to. She's almost innocent, so close to a good person, as close as someone can get. She helped Tsukasa, though maybe it wasn't help since it's going to get him killed.

She welcomed him, defended him, assumed the best of him. Natsumelon and Yuusuke, Tsukasa's balance points, his light touchstones, and Kaitou doesn't want to be here anymore.

Doesn't want to have to face it and accept it again, the fact that good people are all evil, liars, or dead.

His hand is tense around DiEnd as he stands, snatches the invitation and stalks into the aisle. He doesn't look at Natsumi.

"We'll see you in a few hours then, Kaitou."

He turns, gives a predator's smile in response to Geist's, and tries very hard not to let his gaze snag on Natsumi again.

There are tears in her eyes, and her shoulders are hunched forward, as though she is reaching for him as best she can despite her bonds.

"Daiki…" Not angry. Just disappointed, and terrified, and calling for him.

He doesn't let his steps falter. There's nothing he can do—nothing he should do. She's Tsukasa's friend, Tsukasa's business, nothing to do with him. He's a survivor, and he's clever, and right now he's doing the only thing he can do.

It still feels like he's running, though.

Running from his past, running from the truth, running from a hand that's finally reaching out to but not grabbing him.

Asking but not demanding.

Offering him a chance to be what he always wanted to be, but he wants to live, too, not die as a martyr to a pointless cause.

DiEnd is shaking in his hand as he sets off down the road, guessing which way Tsukasa will come. He should just leave the invitation and run—jump worlds if he still can, run somewhere else in this world if he can't. Tell Tsukasa to do the same, to save himself, because Tsukasa isn't meant to be a martyr, either.

He should.

He should, but he's not sure if he will, not sure if he can anymore.

And that terrifies him.

That lack of certainty, that spark of hope, that desperate, irrational, deadly desire to reach out and take her hand—take Tsukasa's hand, take Yuusuke's hand—and pull them all with him to somewhere safe and sheltered terrifies him, more than anything else in all the worlds.