Ayano and the 7 Elementalists

Chapter 6: I'm Lost, So Come Find Me

"Niall!" Sean called. "We're back! You doing any better, buddy?"

The second I walked through the door, I could sense that something was wrong. The atmosphere had become dark all of a sudden, and I soon realized why.

"Niall?"

He was gone. On the couch where he once lay was a doll. A voodoo doll, if I wasn't mistaken, quite closely matching the private detective's appearance. While Sean and Akechi began frantically inspecting the rest of the apartment, I sat down beside the Niall-doll and stared at it as my heartbeat quickened. The eyes of the doll were buttons, and the mouth was sewn in with string. It looked creepy, to be honest. (Not to offend Niall or anything.)

"He's not here!" cried Sean.

"Well, where the heck could he have gone?!" yelled Akechi. "I doubt Niall would have left on his own without telling us fir-...hold on, that's exactly what we did to him...but still..."

"What're we gonna do?!" Sean seized his brother's forearm and began violently shaking him as he squeezed his eyes shut, whining quietly. "We left Niall alone when he was sick, and look what happened! I never should've gone with you guys! How could you let me go, Akechi??"

"Let go of me, Sean!"

"I won't let go..."

"Guys. Come look at this."

The bickering duo simultaneously turned to me, eyes widening upon seeing the doll I was holding. Sean darted over to me and snatched the doll out of my hands, flipping it over several times as if he expected its appearance to change. "This is creepy," he said. "And it kinda looks...like..." He gasped dramatically, then threw the doll back at me and pointed at it accusingly. "Has Niall turned into this creepy doll?!"

"Sean, n-"

"B-b-b-but how are we supposed to change him back?!? This is bad, reeeally bad!!"

"Sean, calm yourself!" I yelled, and his eyes locked on me with intent. "Niall didn't turn into the doll, okay? And besides, that's not what I called you over here for. Just take a look at this."

Niall's laptop had been opened, and flashing on the otherwise blank screen was a rather mysterious message:

You thought this game wouldn't have a twist, eh? If you want him back, I'm afraid you'll have to play along...

Sean slowly backed away from the laptop after having read this. His mouth was slightly gaping, and his expression appeared to be having trouble concealing fear. Taking notice of this, Akechi hurried over and joined us, soon to find himself in a state of shock as well. "No...this is Aeterna's doing..." He whispered. "That despicable murderer got us again..."

"Indeed."

My eyes shot open, as did Sean's and Akechi's. None of us had said that. We took a look around the room, but there was no one there. "N-Niall...?" Sean said under his breath. "Please be Niall..."

"Show yourself!" Akechi shouted, his eye twitching as his face burned with anger. Not a moment later, his demand was met with peaceful cooperation. However, the stranger's methods for showing herself raised a few questions pertaining to science...

She walked through the wall. Of course, none of us were expecting it, so we all were startled. This mysterious stranger who had showed herself to us had beautiful black hair that was pulled into a ponytail using a colorful ribbon. She had big green eyes that held almost no expression, and an elegant white dress that almost made her look like a bride.

Her face looked delicate, just like a porcelain doll.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Nanicoma Drayin, but you may refer to me as Coma," she said, her voice quite soft, yet emotionless. "I am an elite member of Aeterna's rogues, here to inform you of what has happened and what is to occur. As you probably know, your friend Niall has indeed been abducted, but-"