The Circle of Darkness
by
Jennifier D.





VI:


The moment Kaoru materialised in the Dir en grey practicing 
studio, he nearly went white with shock. Score sheets were strewn 
all over the room messily and quite a number of instruments were 
turned over. It looked as though there had been a scuffle, yet 
the exact location could be anywhere in the room.

"Kaor- What the hell just happened?" Die froze just as he stepped 
into the room, his hand still on the doorknob.

"I'm not sure..." The other guitarist mumbled in reply, still 
staring at the mess in their studio. He carefully made his way 
over to Shinya's drum set, where a couple of cymbals and 
amplifiers had been overturned.

"Kaoru? What are you looking for?" Die followed, stepping 
gingerly on patches of the studio carpet which wasn't covered by 
papers.

Closing his eyes briefly with a sinking feeling in his stomach, 
Kaoru reached into the back of the drum set and pulled out 
Shinya's duffle bag, which was speckled with a dark brown 
substance. He then pushed the overturned instruments away to 
reveal a dark brown stain on the wall behind the drum set.

"Shinya..."

For a long moment, the both of them could only stand there and 
stare at the dark spot on the wall, feeling a sense of urgency 
slowly seeping into them. Then, as if he was being snapped out of 
a dream, Die jerked his head up and mumbled.

"I'll get Toshiya."

There was a huge burst of fire as Die disappeared from the room.

Kaoru only reached forward slowly to run his fingers over the 
bloodstain on the wall. There was a faraway look in his eyes even 
as he bent his fingers to scratch faintly at the spot. Kaoru gave 
a deep sigh and bit his lower lip, closing his eyes tiredly.

"It has began already..."


-----


Hyde was brooding.

And usually, this could only mean one thing to his band members: 
TROUBLE. Yes, it was 'trouble' in bold and emphasis, underlined 
and italicised.

Actually, when the small vocalist was angry, it was still 
relatively easy to deal with him. After all, you could simply let 
him rant and rave, then damage things in the studio a little, 
break a few heads and egos, and he'd be fine. But when he 
brooded...

Tetsu and Ken eyed each other for a moment, then Tetsu swallowed. 
Hard.

"Urm, Haido..." Tetsu began slowly, then turned to look at the 
two remaining members. "Are you alright?"

There was no response from the vocalist, who simply sat there 
staring into empty space. Tetsu waved a hand before his face 
experimentally, but there was still no reaction from the latter. 
At this point, Ken had crept up next to Tetsu, and was about to 
pull the Dream mage's cheeks when Hyde's eyes suddenly flitted to 
his face and stopped there. The guitarist gave him an awkward 
grin in return.

"Yes?" The word came out clipped and sharp, and both bassist and 
guitarist flinched from the tone in that voice.

"I'm wondering if we can start practice." Tetsu forced himself to 
smile pleasantly at Hyde. Or as pleasantly as he could manage to, 
anyway. "It's way past lunch time already."

"I know."

"So-"

"Please give me a couple of minutes more, Tetsu."

Tetsu backed away with a frozen smile on his face. "Of course. No 
problems about that."

Hyde never said 'please'. He would say: Can I have that? with an 
eerie smile on his face, but 'please' had never actually managed 
to make its way to whatever requests he made. It didn't mean that 
the vocalist was a rude person. He was quite the opposite, in 
fact. The only difference between him and normal courteous people 
was the omission of certain words, that was all. 

The bandleader of L'Arc~en~Ciel was beginning to sweat heavily. 
He was actually fighting primal instinct to flee the scene with 
his tail between his legs like a kicked puppy, but his ego kept 
his feet firmly planted to the floor.

Meanwhile, Hyde's mind was occupied with several thoughts. First 
and foremost being the need to talk to Gackt Camui. Urgently. 
Like, 'right now'. There were certain issues which he wanted to 
clear up with the vocalist, and he had to do it face to face to 
ensure that 'The bugger is not lying to my face' as he had oh-so-
eloquently put it. Although should such a situation arise over a 
phone conversation, the fact that Gackt wouldn't be _literally_ 
before him when he lied would never cross our dear vocalist's 
mind. 

Not that it would dare to do so without his permission anyway. 

The first and foremost thing he wanted to ask Gackt was: What 
role is he trying to play in the faction? Technically speaking, 
he was just a normal mage in the faction with no position 
whatsoever. But on the other hand, he was probably one of the 
most powerful mages in the faction too. His abilities and 
capabilities had far exceeded many others of the same principle 
as him. All these shouldn't be suspicious, actually. Gackt was 
already at his current level of powers even before he joined the 
White Faction.

What had caused Hyde to suspect him was the different 'faces' he 
would show people. Often, before people of the White faction, he 
was a calm and cool mage, equipped with a rather strange sense of 
humour but seemingly harmless all the same. Before members of the 
Dark faction, Gackt was cold and cruel, merciless even. But Hyde 
had seen his other 'face'. The one he wore when he thought that 
nobody was watching. The one where his thoughts showed on his 
face...

The look on Gackt's face had reminded him so badly of another 
person he knew from a long time ago in another place.

And he missed him, somehow. Although the both of them had not 
parted on good terms, he couldn't help thinking about the other.

The other made him whole.

And now, Hyde could feel those tendrils of suspicion curling over 
his heart to entangle themselves in it. Whispering into his soul, 
those poignant words he heard from an Oracle so long ago.

The words which decided his fate.

["You are bound to him forever, just as he is to you..."

"Together, the both of you are two halves if a whole."]


-----


Yoshiki narrowed his eyes at Mana.

"What do you want?" The former leader of the Dark faction glared 
at Mana angrily, before turning to gaze at his disciple, 
concerned.

"Nothing much, actually." Mana murmured in reply with a cold 
smile. "Just a simple compromise."

"Compromise? You expect me to believe that? Especially when it's 
coming from you, Mana, the person who betrayed his own leader and 
faction?"

"I betrayed nobody."

"You betrayed my trust in you, Mana. When the news of your title 
as a Shadow Mage was first released, we have agreed that you will 
not ascend to power, but stay as a normal mage in the faction. 
But you broke the agreement in barely half a year since you 
acquired your new powers." Yoshiki snorted, and for the first 
time before Shinya, exhibited his true grace and power as a 
ruler.

"I beg to differ, Yoshiki." Mana's smile never wavered. "There 
was never any agreement. It was merely a discussion, and a 
suggestion on your part that I refrain from taking power in the 
faction. I have all my rights as a Shadow Mage to discard your 
suggestion."

The former leader of the Dark Faction gave Mana the most scornful 
look anyone had ever seen before he spoke again, his voice soft 
and dangerous. "My agreement with you, together with the supposed 
suggestion you had easily marked it off as, was burned onto paper 
magically. Before witnesses. By blood and oath. You are the one 
who broke the agreement. You should be glad that I didn't call 
for Judgement on you."

"No Judgment is applicable to me, or have you forgotten, 
Yoshiki?" Mana smirked, then reached down and grabbed a handful 
of Shinya's hair, dragging the drummer's face close to his. Mana 
ran a finger down the side of Shinya's face, twisting his hand 
sharply so that his fingernail cut into the tender flesh of the 
latter's face, causing a thin line of blood to form. Shinya 
winced but didn't say anything, glaring balefully at the Shadow 
Mage. "Nothing applies to me, Yoshiki. Even if I am to kill this 
pathetic youngling before you, they can do nothing to me."

Mana let go of Shinya's hair abruptly, letting the drummer fall 
like a broken doll whose strings were cut. The injured side of 
his head connected with the floor hard, causing an audible crack 
to echo down the hall. Shinya's eyes watered, and he nearly bit 
through his lips in effort to prevent himself from screaming out 
loud.

"You forgot that I am Law in this realm. I, with the title and 
powers of the Shadow Mage. I am a ruler supreme in this place. I 
am the one and only."

"You arrogant fool!" Yoshiki cried out, his body tensing as he 
stopped himself from running down the steps to help Shinya. Blood 
had started to flow from the latter's head wound again, and it 
stained the white marble underneath him a ghastly crimson. "You 
will never get away with all these!"

Mana laughed then, his laughter chilling Yoshiki's blood in his 
veins. The barely concealed mirth shinning in the former's eyes 
seemed to mock the helpless Illusion mage. "So... Are you ready 
to compromise now?"

After a long moment, Yoshiki relaxed into his seat, his face 
hardening. "What is it that you want?"

"Oh, it is very easy." Mana smiled again. This time, the smile 
didn't reach his eyes at all. "I need you to gather all your 
followers and leave Tokyo. I will not have you interfering with 
my plans."

"You want us to leave Tokyo? That's all?" By then, Shinya had 
already passed out from pain and prolonged loss of blood. His 
eyes rolled up in his head as he gently collapsed onto the cold 
marble floor while the pool of blood around him kept spreading.

"Yes. It's a simple compromise, isn't it?"

Yoshiki hesitated. There must be a catch somewhere. Mana was not 
the type of person who would let his enemy go without further 
plans on what he would do with them. "There is nothing else in 
this agreement, right? Other than wanting us to leave this place, 
there is nothing else you want me to do?"

"Yes."

"I'll agree to it." Just as Yoshiki finished speaking, a piece of 
paper appeared on Mana's raised palm and floated from his hand to 
Yoshiki's.

"By blood and oath." Mana said determinedly.

"By blood and oath." With that, Yoshiki sliced his wrist with a 
fingernail, bled onto the paper, then pressed three fingers onto 
the small puddle of fresh blood. Smoke curled from the area where 
his fingers touched the paper; when he removed his hand, there 
was a strange symbol scripted on the paper over the area where he 
had bled onto.

"Thank you, Yoshiki. Your help is greatly appreciated." Mana 
laughed softly as the agreement fell onto his open palm gently.

He gave a strange little curtsy before the shadows all over the 
great hall crept to his side, masking him totally. They slowly 
dissolved back into their respective places, leaving the spot 
which Mana was standing on moments ago empty. Kozi and Klaha had 
released the spell on Shinya before they too, bled out of 
existence.

"Shinya!" Yoshiki almost flew down the steps in an attempt to 
reach the unconscious mage. Right then, Toshiya and Die 
teleported into the great hall in a magnificent display of fire 
and water. "Quick, help me, the both of you."

Neither mage hesitated in running over to Yoshiki's side to help 
him carry and tend to Shinya, who opened his eyes groggily. 
"Toshiya...?"

Though Toshiya smiled at Shinya, the latter could still see that 
he was dreadfully worried. "You'll be fine, Shin-chan. Don't 
worry... I'm right here beside you."

With that, he held onto Shinya's bloodied hand tight. Shinya only 
sighed softly before closing his eyes again. Die could see that 
Toshiya's hands were shaking, even as he continued to hold onto 
Shinya's hand with a death-like grip. Nobody noticed the strange 
look which flitted pass Die's face, so brief that one would think 
that one had hallucinated it.

For the rest of the trip back to Shinya's house, the Fire mage 
was strangely quiet. And Die knew, that whatever Kyo had warned 
him about a couple of weeks ago was already happening.

["You know that you can never keep him by your side for forever, 
Die..."

"The two of you are from different worlds."]

The guitarist closed his eyes and sighed quietly. 

*Toshiya...*


-----


Aya wiped off the sweat on Kamijo's forehead with badly trembling 
hands, watching the older man toss and turn on his bed 
restlessly. His eyes were scrunched shut in pain and lacerations 
covered his whole body. The guitarist could feel tears swelling 
in his eyes at the sight of his lover's totally maimed body.

"Kamijo... it's my fault, isn't it? You took all this... all of 
these injuries... they were meant for me, weren't they?"

He reached out and ran a thumb over Kamijo's cheek shakily. 
Amazingly enough, the vain vocalist's face was left totally 
unblemished. Mana had probably understood his need behind 
maintaining a beautiful facade.

Kamijo, like a lot of other mages in the dark faction, felt the 
need for masks to cover their own flaws. It wasn't as bad as 
inferiority complex, but close enough. They always felt 
inadequate in one way or another, which led to their heavy make-
up and elaborated costumes. That was, of course, not the same for 
a minority of the mages, who were born beautiful.

"Aya..." Kamijo murmured, barely opening his eyes.

"What did he do to you, Kamijo? Tell me..." Aya pleaded the 
vocalist softly, his tears now falling freely. "Please tell 
me..."

Kamijo only gave his boyfriend a wistful smile, then squeezed 
Aya's hand gently.

"I'm sorry..."

The vocalist closed his eyes and slept, drifting off to a place 
where only very few individuals knew. Aya kept his vigil by the 
side of Kamijo's bed, and it was only very much later that he 
finally succumbed to sleep. It was something which he would 
regret for years to come, because while he slept, Kamijo quietly 
left the apartment they shared.

And Aya never saw him again.


-----


Masa had been quiet ever since he sat down in the cafe with 
Gackt. It was beginning to unnerve the vocalist, since Masa was 
rarely moody and quiet. Just as Gackt was starting to squirm, due 
to the unusually quiet atmosphere at their table, the guitarist 
finally spoke.

"Someone... told me that you are playing as a double agent." The 
guitarist's quiet gaze made Gackt sad, and he reached over to 
take Masa's hands gently.

"Do you believe that person or me, Masa?"

Masa's gaze never wavered. Gackt continued with a gentle smile on 
his face. "Tell me, Masa."

"I don't know who to trust anymore. And please don't tell me this 
is one of those 'I'm going to test your love for me' 
conversations. You know I don't take that type of crap." Masa's 
eyes hardened. "And don't try to use your love for me as an 
excuse for whatever you are doing. You know I hate liars."

Gackt sighed softly, the reached over to brush his fingers over 
Masa's right cheek in a feather-light caress. Though Gackt's eyes 
were concealed by the blue-tinted shades he was wearing, Masa 
could still see an indescribable look in his eyes. "I'm sorry, 
Masa."

The other closed his eyes and tightened his jaws, breathing in 
deeply as if in pain. He had promised himself that so long as 
Gackt told him the truth, he wouldn't do anything to him. And he 
would keep that promise.

"Gaku..." Masa opened his eyes again, and this time, Gackt felt 
something twist sharply within himself. He had seen the same look 
on another face before. It occurred so long ago, he had almost 
forgotten what it felt like to see the poorly concealed look of 
pain and betrayal.

Sorrow rose from the depths of his heart. Gackt was mildly 
surprised to know that he still had the ability to feel such an 
emotion. At another place, during another time, the same 
situation did not only raise pain and betrayal in the other's 
eyes. There was also love, which had blossomed and died at the 
instant the truth was revealed.

Love he knew he would never have... or feel.

"Leave with me." Masa's voice awakened certain memories he would 
rather not embrace. "Let's go to America together... Neither 
faction can reach us there, and you can forget about all these. 
You can treat it like it has never happened." 

"I can treat it like it has never happened..."

Masa sounded almost... desperate. But Gackt knew what he had to 
do. After all, he had done exactly the same thing back in the 
past.

"I can't." Gackt tried to smile, but strangely, he found that he 
couldn't. "There are things here which still need my attention. I 
wish that I can really leave with you... but I honestly can't."

Masa's features seemed frozen as he sat there staring at Gackt.

"I see," the White mage whispered as he choked, then swallowed 
hard. "I guess there's no need for me to stay here in Japan 
anymore."

Silence. 

Gackt could only watch Masa quietly from behind his blue shades, 
his eyes sad. "I'm sorry, Masa."

"Just... answer this question for me truthfully, Gackt." Masa 
continued staring at Gackt with a haunted look in his eyes, his 
face unsmiling. "Have you ever... loved me? I'm not simply a tool 
for you to get closer to the association, am I?"

"No, you've never been a tool to me, Masa... I don't give a damn 
about the association. There's nothing I want from them." Gackt 
paused, then stared at his own hands. They weren't even showing 
the slightest tremble. "But I've never loved you."

The guitarist breathed in sharply. He closed his eyes, then 
nodded his head slowly, as though he had finally understood 
something which he couldn't figure out for a very long while.

"Thank you for accommodating me for so long in Japan, Gakuto. It 
was really fortunate of me to be able to meet someone like you. 
And..."

"...goodbye."

The guitarist gave Gackt a brittle smile, then stood up suddenly 
to bow curtly and left the cafe.

Gackt remained sitting at the booth, a vacant look on his face. 
He glanced at his hands again, which were still spread against 
the tabletop.

They were trembling, so faintly, he was almost sure that he had 
imagined it.

He was almost sure that he had hallucinated everything.


-----


/-/"Mana..." Kami murmured from where he laid on the bed, his 
face streaked with sweat. His eyes were closed tightly as if in 
pain. Mana reached out and held the hand of his friend, watching 
the other man spasm on the bed. There was a barely concealed look 
of horror on the blue-haired mage's face.

"Kami... please don't die." For the first time since he became 
the Shadow Mage, Mana begged another. "You can't die! Not now..."

And Kami's eyes suddenly flew open, glowing with a strange light.

"Mana... please stop everything you are doing. You'll regret 
it..." Kami whispered softly to Mana while maintaining a death-
grip like hold on the latter's hand. "Listen to me..."

"NO." Mana wrenched his hand out of Kami's grasp, then narrowed 
his eyes. "Nobody is stopping me. I'm doing everyone a favour! 
I'm trying to save all of you!"

Kami shook his head slowly, reaching out to brush his fingertips 
lightly past Mana's right cheek. "Sometimes, what you think is 
right can turn out to be wrong, Mana. If you proceeded as you 
wanted, you'll only leave a trail of destruction and grief behind 
you. Because you are my friend, that's why I'm sharing this with 
you."

"Keep those that you love close to you Mana. I know that I may 
not be able to stay here with you for long, but I know that for 
as long as I can hang on to this world, I'll be here, protecting 
you."

"What are you talking about, Kami?" Mana murmured softly, a 
puzzled look on his face.

"I'm going to sacrifice myself for you, Mana." The drummer's eyes 
were now clear and sharp like crystals. "I'll give my last 
prophecy to you."

"I'll go Wandering for you."/-/

Mana sighed deeply. Kami... Kami had made such a huge sacrifice 
for him, yet all he could do was go against the Oracle's wishes 
and carry out what he wanted to do all along. Many thought that 
he was insane, with the plan to take over the world. But he knew 
he wasn't. Whatever he wanted to do with the two factions didn't 
even go near the idea of taking over the world.

He knew that the mages were all going to pose a threat to 
humanity, sooner or later. He himself was the personification of 
such threats. And he wanted so much to-

"Mana," Kozi's voice, though soft, was sharp. "The meeting will 
begin soon. Gakuto is already waiting for you."

Mana nodded his head, but his face remained expressionless.

Then the two mages disappeared.


-----


Kirito had been standing on one of the numerous bridges in Tokyo 
when Gackt finally appeared before him, clad in the robes of 
their faction. His hair had been dyed back into a dark brown, and 
it covered his face in locks, giving him an enchanting, yet 
mysterious look. Kirito, on the other hand, was clad in a simple 
white shirt with his favourite pair of PVC pants.

"Good evening, Gakuto." Kirito murmured from where he stood 
without even turning to look at Gackt.

"Good evening, Kirito." Gackt replied, his face stoic. "I'm 
afraid that the evening is already drawing to a close, and there 
are certain things which I still have to attend to in a moment's 
time. Shall I take it that you already know what I am here for?"

"Yes." There was no emotion what so ever in Kirito's voice at 
all. Not even the faintest trace of regret or fear. "Please go 
ahead. I will not fight you."

"Why? This is just a question of interest, of course. You are not 
obliged to answer it."

"My secrets travel with me to my grave, Gakuto."

"Ah," Gackt allowed himself a faint smile then. "Even the one 
about the current role you are playing?"

"Yes."

"I see-" Gackt was about to raise his hand when the cry of 
another person stopped him.

"NO! Don't kill him, please!" Aiji came running forward, sweat 
streaking his face. He had been looking for Kirito since morning, 
and it was pure luck that he happened to be in this area when he 
sighted Gackt. "I beg you, Gakuto..."

"I wasn't going to kill him, actually." The Dark Prince gave a 
little laugh then, seeing the desperate look in Aiji's eyes. "Do 
don't worry, hm?"

"What exactly do you want, Gakuto?" The Dream mage frowned at 
Gackt. The other's intentions were now more dubious than ever.

"Just to give you a little warning actually."

The atmosphere thickened with anticipation.

"Leave. Leave the Dark faction now. Mana will be carrying out 
whatever plan he has in mind soon enough. Yoshiki has already 
signed an agreement to leave Tokyo with his followers. I know he 
will return soon enough, so I'm not that worried about them. But 
for you... you will be helpless should Mana decide to do anything 
to you. Whoever who sent you on this task will be powerless 
against Mana, and they knew it. I think you do know that as well, 
don't you?"

Kirito narrowed his eyes at Gackt. "Why are you helping me? I 
thought Mana sent you here to kill me?"

"Well, it is true that I am supposed to kill you, Kirito." Gackt 
paused, then suddenly shrugged, giving the other vocalist an 
enigmatic smile. "I have my own reasons for not doing so... and 
you actually do not cause much harm to the faction at all. Mana 
is already so crazed by his own suspicions and fears that he no 
longer has the ability to think clearly. So what if you are from 
the government? There is little, in fact, _nothing_, which you 
can do to harm us."

At this, Aiji turned to give Kirito a questioning look. "Kiri... 
You are from the government?"

Kirito kept quiet for a long moment, his gaze piercing as it 
matched with Aiji's. "Yes."

"Why... why did you keep this from me?"

"I do not see the need to endanger the people around me. After 
all, I'm only on a mission. Once this is over, I'll return to my 
former position in the government. Should a situation where any 
of the people around me are endangered in a mission, I will be 
suspended indefinitely. My superiors have always been very 
stringent on this rule."

"So... everything... all along, everything has been a lie?"

Kirito frowned, "No."

"Kiri..."

"I'm sorry, Aiji. I know that I shouldn't have kept this from 
you, but it really isn't anything much. Regardless of what 
happens, I'll still be Kirito from Pierrot. Just because I'm a 
spy from our government doesn't change this fact about me. Or 
you. Or anyone in Pierrot. I do draw a line between what's work 
and what's personal."

"But- you could have told me, at least..." Aiji lowered his head, 
clenching his hands tight. Kirito sighed, as though he was 
burdened heavily by what he knew yet couldn't tell. The vocalist 
of Pierrot reached over to touch Aiji's face gently.

"Trust me, Aiji. I'll be leaving the country for this period of 
time, so that I won't cause any trouble for Gakuto or the rest of 
you in Pierrot." At this, Kirito darted a look at Gackt. "The 
government is getting worried over what Mana wants to do. And 
they have no way of figuring out what exactly is happening. I'm 
barely accepted in that place, due to the fact that I'm a mage, 
but they have to take me in. Or else, they will never gain any 
access to the knowledge of what will be happening to Japan in the 
days to come."

Gackt suddenly sighed out loud then, startling the two members of 
Pierrot. "I shall take my leave now, if the two of you don't 
mind." The Dark Prince only smiled slightly before he teleported 
from the bridge to a place which he liked to lurk at whenever he 
was troubled.

Frankly speaking, he was quite surprised to hear that Mana wanted 
Kirito killed. After all, it was pretty smart of Kamijo to give 
the Shadow Mage Kirito's name only. If he had released some other 
people's names... the outcome now would have been vastly 
different. The only strange thing about this situation was how 
worked up Mana had gotten over the truth about where Kirito's 
loyalty was placed. The Japanese government had never threatened 
the mages in any way, but like all governments, there was never a 
situation where they didn't feel that they ought to have a 
substantial amount of information and control over the matters in 
concern. Even if it was something as out of their forte as the 
two factions of mages in existence underground. Humans, no doubt, 
were curious creatures who were often more myopic than not. He 
could foresee that the revelation of their existence could cause 
a flurry of panic and awe in the normal people, which could be 
both good and bad. As to how the government plan to make use of 
the information in their hands, it was anybody's guess. The 
government was lucky in the sense that they sent had Kirito 
instead of some blundering fool who would most probably reveal 
himself to Mana within a day.

Eventually, it narrowed down to one undeniable fact-- Kirito 
sacrificed a lot to do this espionage for them; they had better 
be more appreciative of his efforts. 

"So I'm right after all. It has been you all along." Another 
voice spoke up behind Gackt, catching the Dark mage unaware.

Gackt turned and saw the other. A smile surfaced, and it felt as 
if someone had suddenly lighted a candle in the dark.

"It's been a long time since we last saw each other, ne?" The 
other continued without waiting for Gackt's reply.

"So how have you been lately, Illusion?"


End: VI

Date completed: 270202
Last revised: 290302

to be continued

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