The Rune's Shadow

12.

Sorry about the long wait.

 =.="

The four of them all walked out of the room, and into the living room. Kioku was kneeling besides the girl they had figured to be Jiyu, who was wearing an apron and had a small cut on her finger, which her mother was carefully placing a band aid on it. Jiyu had long dark brown, almost black hair, which she had pulled away from her face with a few hair clips. Her eyes were the same pale lilac shade as her mother's.

As Evergreen, Bixlo, and Laxus were figuring out what to do next, a man walked into the room. He was tall, not giant, but above average. His hair was the same color as Jiyu's, but his eyes were ice blue. They were somewhat eerily pale colored, almost white. They scanned across the room before falling on Kioku and Jiyu. 

He gave a slight smile, "Jiyu, are you still going to help out at the hospital?" 

The girl looked up immediately at the voice, "Yes, of course! I'll be there in a moment." 

The man smiled faintly before adding, "Be sure to tell your brother to take care of Freed, ok? Your mother is going to be out of the house for awhile." 

Jiyu nodded with a smile, bowing her head slightly. "Yes, father." He nodded then walked out of the room. Jiyu quickly thanked her mother before running upstairs, to talk to her brother they guessed. 

Laxus turned to the other two and said, "We should follow him." They both nodded in agreement, and headed after the man they had figured to be Freed's father. 

They were about to exit the living room when a voice from upstairs cursed loudly, and a boy came running downstairs, his jacket half on and his hair messy. The boy looked to be around thirteen or fourteen-ish, his hair dark brown with hints of dark green that shone in the sunlight. His eyes were the same ice blue color as his father's. As he ran into the living room, he passed through Evergreen as if he were a ghost. The mage staggered backwards in surprise, catching herself after a moment. 

Laxus and Bixlo stared with wide eyes, before Laxus shook his head slightly, "It must be because this is a memory..." Bixlo and Evergreen nodded in agreement. They continued after the man, Ever hugging herself as if to remind herself that she was indeed physical. 

As they continued after the man, they entered what looked like a long hallway with doors on both sides all the way down, lit only by candles on the walls. The temperature didn't feel any different to them, but they could tell by the way the man's breath fogged in the air, that it was cold in the hallway. After what felt like forever, a door appeared at the end of the tunnel. The man pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door before walking inside. 

The Thunder Legion didn't hesitate to follow after him. The room on the other side of the door looked just like a hospital, which it was likely to be. The lights turned on a few moments after he walked in. No one else seemed to be in the halls at the time, as he swiftly walked up a flight of stairs. 

They followed him upstairs until he stopped at a large metal door that had the words 'Private Office of Okami Himitsu' engraved into it. When Thunder Legion walked into the room after him, they realized that the office was bigger than what they had anticipated. 

The room had a large desk on the far end that was covered by the papers and books that were sprawled across it. There was a board on the wall next to it with papers pinned to it which looked like both small notes and long pages of studies. The room was lit by four lanterns in the corners of the room. He walked over to the board, his hand brushing against the papers as he reached up to place another note on it. 

He pinned it there and then stood back examining the board for a moment in silence before giving a small hiss of frustration as he uttered under his breath, "It still doesn't work! Why isn't it compatible with physical objects?" 

Ever turned her head towards Laxus and asked, "What is he talking about?" 

Laxus shrugged, keeping his eyes on the other man, "You're guess is as good as mine." 

Okami looked back up at the board with a slight smile, "Well...it doesn't work with objects, but I have yet to try it on something living." 

Bixlo turned to his teammates in alarm, "What does he mean by 'try it on something living'?!" Before they could reply, the room dispersed into the same blue and silver smoke as before. It started swirling around them, gaining speed for a few moments before slowing to a stop.

It took the shape of what looked like a bedroom and a faint human figure sat on the  window sill. The room's colors quickly filled it, and then as if the play button had been pushed, everything went to normal. The Thunder Legion blinked and soon their eyes adjusted to the sudden change of lighting. Laxus recognized the room to be Freed's old room, except now it looked much newer and cleaner. The Freed in the memory looked about seven or eight, around the age they had met him when Freed got de-aged. 

The younger version of Freed was sitting curled up on the window sill looking out the window overlooking the town. He had his hands over his ears and seemed to be spaced out. At that time, they noticed the sound of arguing coming from downstairs. They glanced at each other before nodding in silent agreement, together they left the room, heading towards the stairs to see what the source of the arguing was. 

As they walked downstairs, they followed the sound into the living room and saw Okami and the boy they had presumed to be Freed's elder brother, Kiba, who looked about seventeen now. The two were in the middle of a furious argument, but none of the Thunder Legion understood what it was about. After the two were silent for a moment, Okami finally growled, "Get out." 

Kiba gritted his teeth slightly as he started walking past him, "You don't have to tell me twice 'Dad'. I'm getting Freed, then we're leaving." 

Okami laughed slightly, "I told YOU to get out. Your brother stays here." 

Kiba froze his eyes wide, before turning to face his father, "No way in hell am I leaving my little brother in the hands of a monster like you!"

Okami smiled again, his pale ice blue eyes shining with a dark light, "Oh, I could certainly make things living hell for your little brother if I wish to. So if you truly want the best for him, I advise you leave now..." 

He added afterwards, his voice quiet and cold as ice, "...And never come back." 

As Kiba starting backing up towards the door, the Thunder Legion could see he had tears in his eyes as he grabbed his backpack from the staircase, he hissed quietly, his voice shaky, "Why did Mum have to marry someone like you?" 

Okami gave a small chuckle, "I don't know, ask her! Or your smart little sister. Oh wait..." 

He laughed, "I forgot. You can't." 

Kiba yelled, "Because their dead! I know! If your SUCH a great doctor then why couldn't you help them!" With that, Kiba slammed the door behind him as he ran out of the house. 

The Thunder Legion all felt a chill go up their spines at the conversation they had heard. Ever exhaled slowly, "So that means that not only Kioku died..."

"...But Jiyu as well."