The Sound of Night

What is this place?

"Just...what is this place?" Blaze laughed nervously, as his eyes strayed around, to where people who looked like they were wearing clothes that would cost his father his entire salary of five years, stood, some taking pictures with them, while some took their autographs. "An elite school?"

Adam shook his head. "Could have well been, but the emperor decided it would be a good thing to let those who want to train, irrespective of their status or money, join this institution." The way he said that sounded as though he were mocking its entire ideology.

"The emperor?" Blaze asked, confused. "Where are we? And...do you study here?"

"No. I completed it when I was thirteen. I just come here for the summer camp, much like Desmond."

Blaze nodded, albeit with the confusion swirling through his veins, while Adam cheered on as the fight started, entirely forgetting about the boy standing beside him.

"Speaking of which," he turned back towards Blaze, who glanced at him before looking at the battle before him. "Do you happen to know where Desmond is?"

"And Leo too." Kaito materialized out of nowhere, startling Blaze, who jumped a little. "He was with me, but as the crowd started to move alongside every step, I don't know if he was pushed somewhere else or if he disappeared on me."

* * * * *

"That isn't what we're about to do, right? Why did I follow you?" Leo asked impatiently, his voice sounding panicked, as Desmond opened the garage door in the middle of nowhere.

"I never asked you to come, Leo. So, if anything happens, know that it was all on you."

"You're a cruel friend." He remarked.

"I never said I was a friend, now, did I?" Desmond spoke plainly, and Leo felt goosebumps on his skin.

"You're not planning to kill me, right?" He asked as Desmond closed the garage door, leading to the big room to be filled with darkness.

Desmond looked at him, amused, before laughing out loudly, the low deep sound making Leo pause in his steps, his thoughts on Desmond being a psychopathic killer coming back to him.

"If I wanted to, I would have done it already." He replied when he had sobered up. "And, don't panic. We're here."

Desmond went forward to turn on the lights, way across the door, and Leo relaxed, but not before a gasp went up.

"Those are yours?" He asked excitedly, as his eyes skimmed over numerous sports cars and some SUVs that Desmond had collected over the years.

Desmond opened the door to the passenger's seat, and Leo got inside, shrieking in amazement, as he felt the leather seats, his head bobbing up and down excitedly as he took the car in.

"Like it?" Desmond asked, clearly proud of his collection.

"I love it!" He exclaimed. "It's even better than my Audi."

"Probably because it is one of the only ones ever made," he mused, before turning to Leo with a smile that looked like a knife to Leo who had been assessing every move of his.

He had not known why he had followed him here, but he could not have stopped himself, even if he tried, for, when he saw Desmond walk away from the fight, and with the distraction around, he had slipped away, just in time to see Desmond climb into an elevator that seemed to him as rapid as the top speed of the fastest car ever made.

He had waited for the elevator to come down, and when it had, had entered it without much thought, and almost died of a heart attack, as it rose and rose, its speed increasing with every moment that passed, until it suddenly came to a stop, and if he had not been quick in holding onto the bar present inside the rapidly moving death machine, the sudden stop would have easily given him a concussion as he hit his head on the ceiling of the elevator.