23. Storm Spell (1/2)

title: of the darkness||chapter: storm spellcharacters: ryou, shou, camulachapters: 23-25||words: 1,141||total: 25,789genre: family, supernatural||rated: pg-13challenge: diversity writing challenge, ygo gx, j6, multi-chapter with 15-25 chaptersnotes: it's an au. it involves vampires.summary: shou invites his

other in after ryou returns from a long trip away. that is his first mistake. it only gets worse from there.

manjoume ran. on some level it was because of what yuusuke said. but on another, one that he chose not to examine very deeply, it was because there was a crazed vampire queen who wanted to kill him and anyone with a single grain of sense – and he prided himself on having entire loads of sense – would have run at that thought.

there was one problem with his running, though. he didn't know the marufuji manor half as well as either of the marufujis or fubuki or yuusuke did. even kenzan knew it better than he did. but this was his first trip and all he had to go on were wild instincts and three ojamas who continually pointed in three different directions and babbled instructions that wouldn't have made sense even if he had time to stand still and listen to them.

which way do i go? he could still hear camula screeching behind him, but not quite close enough to hear just she was saying. that was good for him. he knew she'd have to follow him to make his half-formed plan – if it could even be called that – to work. but he wanted to already be outside when she caught up to him.

"that way!" ojama yellow pointed to one of the three corridors that spread out before him. "that goes outside!"

"no, that one does!" ojama green insisted, pointing to a different one entirely. "that one takes too long, this one is shorter!"

ojama black looked over his shoulder and just screamed, darting down a different one altogether. manjoume bit off a few words, chose not to look behind him, and followed the spirit, hoping he didn't regret this.

he regretted it. very quickly, in fact, as a spatter of quick footsteps and another shriek of alarm, this time from all three ojamas, revealed shou having caught up with him.

how the kid had gotten past everyone else manjoume had no idea and he didn't think that now was a good time to ask. instead, he hurried along,

eathing in, searching for the faintest hint of fresh air, anything that would let him know he was on the right track.

shou said nothing at all. he kept after him, silent and scary for someone who barely reached manjoume's shoulder. manjoume didn't try to look at him. the ojamas kept doing that and letting him know whenever shou got closer, so he could choose another corridor to run down.

at the same time, he began to gather the energy inside of himself, the first trailing whispers that meant he was going to call the storm, the thunder and the lightning, that which sang along his veins and made him the mage that he was. he would need to get that ready so when he did find the exit, he would be ready to call it at the right moment.

and again the ojamas called for him to turn, and this time when he did, he could feel a sudden gust of wind, and his eyes widened to realize that while he couldn't see the outdoors yet, he was much closer than he had been.

how did that happen? was i just lucky? thoughts for another time. now he hurried even faster, glad of his comfortable black outfit and the well-sprung black boots that he can run in, trying not to think of anything but how fast he needed to go.

"hey, did we lose him?" ojama green asked his

others, and manjoume couldn't even begin to believe that. no, that wasn't the luck that he had. shou would turn up before they got outside. maybe even going in front of them.

so he ran faster. he had to stop that from happening.

he'd lost track of time once they'd begun to search and when he saw the thin line of light on the horizon, he had no idea if it were sunrise or sunset. he didn't dare count on it being sunrise. again, that was not his luck.

manjoume stumbled over something. he didn't know what it was, only that it was heavy and doing so sent him stumbling, sprawling face-first onto the stone floor. he remained where he was,

eathing harder and trying to sort his thoughts out, before another step

ought him back to his feet. he knew without having to look who that step belonged to. the ojamas made it plain. they were like three extra sets of eyes.

ones that he couldn't close and which never wanted to look where he wanted to, but extra eyes all the same.