Chapter 28: Their Own Search

Shine waited until everyone in the Bunker was asleep. She listened closely, for both of her brothers' subtle breathing. Peeking down the hall at their locks, both lights were red on their doors. She took a deep breath, counting the other room red locks before she began to tiptoe down past them. The clock on the wall told the current time.

Around two or so in the morning.

Frannie's room was across from Takabi's. The lock light was green. Open, meaning either she didn't lock it or she was still up. Sure enough, when she slid the door open carefully, Frannie was standing on the other side in a black T-Shirt and grey sweatpants.

"What are you doing," The Blonde asked.

"Oh. I wanted to see if you were alright for a late night jog," Shine lied.

Frannie eyed her best friend up and down, before shrugging and walking towards her bed. She pulled out a couple of combat boots, slipping them on along with a dark hoodie. She tied her hair up in a ponytail, before stepping into the hall with Shine.

The two smiled at each other, strolling towards the staircase past the board room. Shine stopped Frannie, shushing her and ducking down. On instinct, Frannie followed.

The girls slipped down the second flight of stairs, towards the Bunker's exit. The door opened quietly, and the two were out, moving up the outside set of stairs, through the door and into the open world.

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Sweat dripped down the pair's foreheads. For an hour, they pressed through the poor section of Denver. Cars, covered by the darkness of the sky and shining moonlight, drove past the two on the sidewalk. Each house to their left had their porch lights shut off, but many had one or two rooms lit.

Shine's eyes scanned each house they passed, her gaze unbroken as they made their way down block after block. Frannie knew she was looking for something, but wasn't exactly sure what. After all, she knew her friend. There wasn't any way she would think Shine would be looking for her enemies.

Not at first.

They came to a gas station at the end of their jog. Covered in sweat, both unzipped their hoodies, and stepped inside the lit pit stop.

The man behind the counter, yellow eyes, bearded face and dark hair and skin, watched the pair closely. Shine crouched down behind one of the snack aisles, Frannie glancing at the man, before turning her attention to Shine.

"So, why the late night run?"

"Oh, well I thought it'd be fun. We've been so focused on training we haven't had any time to be, well, normal." She stood up, a bag of chips in her hold. "We used to go for runs all the time for volleyball. I gotta admit, I miss it."

"I do too," Frannie replied, her tone lowering.

Her eyes constantly glanced back at the man behind the cash register. He was giving her really bad vibes.

Another man entered the gas station store. He was bald. Bright skinned, but his blue eyes almost glowed, even under the store's vibrant lights. He looked familiar to both girls, but they shrugged it off. "I miss everyone on the team. Sucks we couldn't finish the season before everything happened, but I can't say I'm disappointed with how things are now."

Shine could sense something was bugging Frannie. She opened her mouth to ask, but stopped when the blue eyed man approached them. The closer he got, the more his facial features struck something in her mind. The girls stood next to one another, their breathing almost stopping in reaction to his words.

"Hello, ladies. What brings you both here so early in the morning?" His voice was deep, and held a swagger so refined it caught them by surprise.

"Just… Stopping for a snack," Frannie replied.

Shine held her tongue. This guy is creepy. She shut her eyes and lowered her head. Everything drowned out, and she focused on the man specifically.

"Dangerous, ain't it? I know there's two of you, but men like to risk it anyway." He cupped his hands together in front of his waist. "Please, purchase your snacks, and allow me to escort you home."

Frannie spat out quickly, "No thanks. Not into older guys."

Shine exhaled silently. Her mind focused, her body in a world of its own. She felt a tingle in front of her, then a few feet further away. The sensation grew stronger as the seconds passed, as well as a couple other faint signals coming from the back rooms. She counted three out of view, and two nearby.

Five signals, and from what she could guess, each one had Mana.

Her eyes shot open, and she locked gazes with the blue eyed man. He smiled at her, eyes flashing brightly the second he did. Shine moved in front of Frannie, kicking the man hard enough so that he smashed into the register across the store.

"Now I remember you! You're that dumbass who tried robbing that store in the mall!"

He got up, unnaturally, legs first, then torso. His eyes glossed over, from blue to pure white orbs, and he screeched. The glass around them shattered to pieces, the man behind the broken register pointing at the pair and yelling something incoherent.

From the door to their left, three men poured out, skin on their faces peeling, revealing pure skulls and glowing red eyes. They erupted in flames, fur coating the bone and arms, before they howled and charged at the girls over the aisles.

The two split up, rolling along the floor at each end of the aisle and making their way towards the window. Jumping through, glass cutting at Shine's cheek and Frannie's arm, they rolled by a gas pump, standing together with their palms mere inches apart.

Their enemies approached them, hastily, without hesitation.

Mana built up between them, and with a cry, they released their power into the air. The three wolfmen were erased in an instant, along with the station itself in a cloud of smoke and earth.

Once the dust settled, the white eyed man pounced on Shine, holding her down with his fingers digging deep into her throat. Frannie called to her friend, only for the cashier to connect its knuckles to her cheek, and force her to crash into the gas pumps.

Coughing, Shine reached to her right, grabbing a shard of broken glass and jamming it into her attacker's eye. He screeched, stepping away and howling in pain, green blood oozing from his socket. He ripped the glass out, along with his eyes, and snapped his gaze back at Shine. The girl had run up to him, bringing her knee up to his chin and smashing his jaw shut. With her left, she infused magic into her knuckles, before coming down with a heavy hook that left the man dazed.

Frannie jumped up, ripping off her gas soaked hoodie, hopping on her feet with her fists raised. The cashier screeched at her, swiping at her head with grown claws. The blonde ducked, bobbed and weaved, coming back with quick counter attacks to its body and face. Relentlessly, it pursued her, catching her arm and sides with quick swipes.

Frannie let her feet carry her around, as well as use her mana to ooze the gasoline off of her skin and clothes. She ducked under another claw attack, retaliating with an uppercut heavy enough to knock the cashier on his back.

Shine grabbed the man by his shirt, spinning him around before throwing him on top of the cashier. With words of magic, the two willed the spew gas on top of the pair. Both flashed a smile, before snapping their fingers and igniting a small flame. At both ends, fire took the gasoline, trialing until it engulfed both creatures.

The pair leapt away, into the trees, dashing through the woods as a small explosion filled their ears. Landing on a small muddy path, they leaned against the trees and bumped fists.

Shine held a satisfied smile.

Frannie looked at her friend after catching her breath, and spoke up, "Did you know…. That would happen?"

"Not at all." Shine replied. She lowered her head, hands on her knees. "Truth be told, I was looking for Orion. What just happened was pure coincidence."

"We shouldn't be out here like this," She said suddenly. "We could've just called a bunch of attention to ourselves and the Mystics." She wiped the sweat from her head. "We need to go back."

"Not a chance." Shine stood up straight, locking eyes with Frannie. "I'm not heading back until we catch him."

"Why? I get what he did to you, and what he wants you for is awful, but why go after him?" She crossed her arms. "There's nothing to prove by getting caught."

"Getting caught?!" Shine replied. Her voice rose in a quick anger Frannie never saw. "You think I can't handle it?"

"Shine, I'm just saying, we're not ready for this kind of thing! What we just did, we got lucky! None of our enemies are going to be any weaker than what we just fought!" She stepped closer, arms at her sides as her tone took one of pleas. "Maybe later we can handle it. Right now, it'd be dumb to risk it!"

Shine was quiet for a long while, before she broke into a subtle laugh. The laugh was chilling, different from how she usually was. The Shine standing in front of her now was someone totally different than Frannie knew. This Shine was stubborn, battle hungry.

Dangerous.

She could sense that in Shine's Mana. Something was brewing deep inside of her, something deep, that was clawing at the door, just waiting to get free.

"You're just like them," She finally said. Her smile faded and her face grew stern, jaw tight. "You're looking down on me. You're so full of fear, all of you. You're scared of what you can do, scared of fighting. That's why we've been hiding so long, training so long but never fighting full on."

"What the hell are you-"

"Think about it, Frannie! Takabi, Kairas, ALL of them, have the power to wage war and put an end to this mess, but they won't! They're spineless, weak!" She laughed. "I never should have gone with them."

"What's the matter with you? Don't say that."

"Why," She questioned. "We both saw what I'm capable of! Takabi, he has so much power, and we share the same blood! Why can't I use that power too, right?"

"You're not yourself, Shine." Frannie said. Her voice was growing shaky, nervous. She took her friend's hands in hers. "Let's go back, right now."

Shine snatched her hands away. Frannie opened her mouth to protest, but Shine shut her up quickly with a quick bolt of magic. Frannie hit the ground, gasping for air, clutching her chest and looking at her friend with blurry vision.

Shine's eyes were glowing, her Mana twisted into something dark. The next words she spoke echoed, with a dual voice of herself.

"If you don't have the drive to go forward, you don't belong in this world."

The trees moved around them. A breeze rushed past Shine, her eyes snapping around in every direction. This feeling. This presence and scent.

It was him.

To neither's surprise, someone did catch up to them.

He stood in the shadows, snout stretched and teeth exposed in a crooked, yellow toothed smile. His fur danced in the faint breeze, and when he took his first step, he howled into the night sky before saying, "I missed you, Shine. You smell so divine."

"Stow it, Wolf face." She faced him. "I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be."

Her face grew a smirk. "Not anymore. I'm stronger now, much stronger than I was before."

She threw her palm forward, magic rushing from her fingertips and swallowing Orion. The explosion blew Frannie back, hard enough that when she hit the tree behind her, a small branch pierced her back, just barely missing vital organs. She coughed blood, prying herself off and dropping on all fours.

Shine took no notice, and released another blast of magic, then another, until she was throwing a barrage of attacks at him. She noticed herself growing weaker, but she didn't care. She wanted him dead, wanted him gone.

She wanted to prove herself.

Yet nothing worked. Orion stepped towards her, the magic leaving nothing but spots of burnt hair and dust against his chest. Shine, growing more frustrated, ran at him, leaping into the air and throwing a kick. When it struck his face, he didn't move, but the resulting shockwave from the impact knocked over the trees to their left. Shine slid back, wide eyed.

Orion held his smile. "Is that all you got?"

"No. I've got plenty!" She yelled, mana erupting all around her. She charged herself, attempting to attack once more. Orion merely pointed to her leg, and released a beam of magic that cut clean through her bone. Dizzying pain rushed up into her brain, and she fell on her face, holding her leg and yelling frustratedly.

Frannie picked her head up, reaching for Shine. Another figure walked in front of her. Body was deformed, arms longer than its legs and torso combined, with ever changing skin and eye color. The hair on its head grew in and quickly thinned out. With his large left hand, he picked up Frannie with ease, squeezing her tightly, cutting the air flow into her body.

Shine snapped her head back, somewhat coming to her senses, and tried to get back up. Orion let her get as far as holding herself on the tree, before he slammed her head into the bark, hard enough to rattle her brain and knock her out cold. Frannie's vision blurred, and her head fell back as she passed out as well.

Orion and The Father looked at each other, smiling triumphantly. Orion picked up Shine's unmoving body, and the two vanished into thin air, any and all traces of the girls going with them.