Day 24: Denizens of Darkness

"Hey Nux," Storm walked up to the pale man.

"What's up?" Nux had his hands in his pockets, a toothy frown on his face as he stared into the endless void.

"You were planning on visiting Edhas today, right?" Storm asked.

"You know me too well," Nux said. "You've changed."

"You've been here a lot longer than I have," Storm said. "Still, I guess I must bear the burden, huh?"

"Thanks for that by the way," Nux said. "You really saved me back then."

"Don't mention it," Storm shoved his hands in his pockets, heaving a sigh. "I'm just sad that I can't spend more time with you. Your antics never ceased to surprise me."

"Well, if you've been around for as long as I have, you tend to get bored," Nux smiled at Storm.

"I am, you idiot," Storm scoffed, offering Nux a small smirk.

"I know," Nux chuckled. "I better get going."

"I guess this is the last time we'll be seeing each other, huh?" Storm looked up.

"Yeah," The frown returned on Nux's face. "I'll see you on the other side, buddy."

"Nonsense," Storm said, chuckling weakly. "There isn't another side where we're going."

-

"Ugh, well that was something," Ryan groaned as the curse of consciousness made itself present to Ryan.

"Your fault for being hot," Edhas said. "Personally, I don't know what they see in you, but then again, I'm not a girl."

'Same here,' Ryan thought, standing up. He directed his attention to the giant box that Edhas ordered a few days in the past. Y'ou never told me what that is.'

"It's a last resort," Edhas said, his tone darkening. "With luck, that box will never be opened."

'I'll just leave things at that;' Ryan really didn't want to know what freaked out Edhas to the point where he would have a last resort. Ryan heaved a sigh as he looked at his apartment door. "I don't want to go to work."

"I offered for you to be a dictator, but what did you say?"

'I enjoy this life,' Ryan grumbled.

"Right. Now stop complaining and get that lazy ass of yours to work."

-

"Morning Tenchou," Ryan said as he opened the doors to the KFP, a tired expression on his face.

"Morning!" Kiara waved enthusiastically, an abnormally large smile on her face.

"You seem happy," Ryan noted.

"Why wouldn't I be happy?" Kiara tilted her head, the huge smile not leaving her face. "I got to cuddle with Calli all night!"

"That sounds fun," Ryan said, a blank expression on his face as he walked over to the other side of the counter.

"Fun for me," Kiara said. "Both of us would kill you if you tried to do something like that."

"Like they could kill us," Edhas said.

'Stop flexing,' Ryan said. "Yeah, that's what I meant."

"Glad we're on the same page," Kiara said. At that moment, a portal of pure darkness started to form in the middle of the restaurant. Ryan tensed. This feeling was nothing like whenever Calli would pop in. The feeling was akin to Storm whenever he decided to pop in, and Ryan still hadn't forgiven Storm for his actions the first time around. Even Kiara was a bit on edge.

"Well, well, well," A man with black eyes and blue irises walked through the portal. His white hair was unruly, his skin the same color as his hair. He wore a mask and red gloves. He wore black shorts with a blue hoodie and a white shirt underneath, topping the outfit off with pink, fluffy sandals. "Hello whamen and gentlewhamen."

"Fuck, not this guy," Edhas groaned.

'Who is he?' Ryan asked.

"You'll find out," Edhas said, almost causing Ryan to scoff. "Hello. My name is Ryan Shade."

"I'm Takanashi Kiara!" Kiara introduced herself. "I run this restaurant!"

"Grimm has told me a lot about you," the man said. "I'm Nuxanor. You can call me Nux."

"Well, Nux, what would you like to eat?" Ryan asked as Nux walked over, sitting down on a stool.

"I'm not really here to eat," Nux said, directing his eccentric eyes towards Ryan. "I wanted to gauge you."

"What do you mean by that?" Ryan said.

"Well, a lot of things have been happening behind the scenes," Nux sighed, the toothy grin still ever-present on his face. "It seems you and Edhas are going to get involved soon enough."

"That doesn't sound good," Edhas said.

"That it doesn't," Nux said, chuckling.

"Who are you talking to?" Kiara asked, tilting her head with a confused expression on her face.

"So, you can hear Edhas," Ryan said, give Nux a serious look. Kiara stiffened. Ryan barely talks about Edhas, his other side rarely coming out, but every time he did, the amount of power he exuded was almost suffocation. He easily won any fight he was a part of, even waving off Haachama's magic as if it was a minor inconvenience. That was reason enough for Kiara to be wary.

"Yep," Nux said. "In fact, let's take this conversation elsewhere."

"Wha-," Ryan was cut off with a snap of Nux's fingers. Suddenly, Ryan's world went black.

-

"Welcome to my world," Nux's voice awoke Ryan. He snapped his eyes open to see an empty darkness, almost as if he didn't open his eyes at all. The only indicator that his eyes weren't closed was Nux's figure, standing a couple meters away from Ryan.

"Just as boring as always," Ryan turned to see… himself. The only difference was that he was wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants to Ryan's KFP uniform and his eyes were purple.

"Oh, hey Edhas," Ryan shrugged. "How were you able to get here?"

"Simple," Edhas said. "I'm basically something akin to an astral projection, courtesy to Nuxanor over here. I'm still in your head, but I'm talking through here instead of there."

"I see," Ryan nodded, when he did in fact, not see. He turned back to Nux. "So, why are we here again?"

"Well, I just wanted to gauge you two," Nux said. "It's been a while since I've talked to you, Edhas."

"Go cry me a river," Edhas rolled his eyes. "Why couldn't you just have ordered some wings and left like a normal person?"

"Well, a lot of things have been going on, you see," Nux gave Ryan's counterpart a toothy smile. "I needed to see what you were made of."

"Alright, I guess," Edhas said, turning to Ryan. "Sick 'em."

"I'm not a fucking dog," Ryan growled. "Plus, aren't you stronger than me?"

"Yeah, but I'm basically your super form," Edhas said. "Just do it."

"Fine," Ryan heaved a sigh and opened his hands, summoning his pistols.

"I actually made a few upgrades to those," Edhas said.

"You did?" Ryan asked.

"What do you think I do while you're at work?" Edhas asked.

"Fair enough," Ryan turned to Nux, who was patiently waiting, whistling some outdated meme song. "What did you add?"

Edhas opened his hand, summoning a replica pistol. He flicked his wrist, the barrel of the pistol turning ninety degrees until the whole gun was a straight line. He pulled the trigger and a blade made of concentrated plasma shot out of the barrel. "You can use different spells to get different effects. I also made it more efficient, so you can make stronger blasts with less magic."

"Thanks," Ryan said.

"Thank me by kicking his ass," Edhas said, scoffing in Nux's direction.

"If you say so," Ryan turned towards the pale man, strengthening the grip he had around his pistols. "Let's get this over with."

"Finally," Nux heaved a sigh. "With how long you were taking, I bet I could find a Sakura fan before you two were finished."

"Sakura fans don't exist," Ryan said bluntly. "I would know. I spent a year doing nothing but sitting on my ass watching anime."

"A year?" Nux laughed. "That's nothing. Just start already."

"Fine," Ryan aimed a pistol and fired a beam of magical energy at Nux. He was starting to see why Edhas didn't like him. Edhas was too broody for someone as chaotic and sporadic as Nux. Nux frowned before literally backhanding the attack, not even looking as the beam flew off into the infinite void.

"Try harder," Nux said simply. Ryan flicked his wrists, letting the barrels fly up. He pulled the triggers, letting a small, curved blade form themselves. He decided to take a page from Storm's book and try using two krises, both yellow in color. He dashed towards the pale man, whose smile return as he held out his hand. With blue and white flames, a pale machete revealed itself. Ryan swerved to the side, trying to go for the opening in Nux's side. He flipped the knife, holding it in a backhand style before taking a stab at Nux's side. Nux spun the machete, letting it collide with the kris, launching Ryan's hand upwards. Ryan jumped up, letting the other kris return to gun form. He shot a couple shots at Nux before landing.

"That's it!" Nux laughed, dashing towards Ryan. Ryan dodged a slash, pointing the gun at his face, pulling the trigger. Somehow, Nux was able to dodge the shot made of light, but Ryan wasn't done. He turned his whole body, swinging the kris at his face. Nux curved his head backwards, dodging the attack before punching Ryan square in the face, sending him sprawling.

"Not bad," Nux smiled. "Edhas, you're up."

"You're not the boss of me," Edhas growned, summoning his swords. "But I wanted to fight you anyways."

"Come," Nux gave Edhas a toothy grin. Faster than Ryan's eyes could track, Edhas dashed over, already behind Nux, amethyst eyes glowing as he swung both of his swords at the pale man. Nux's smirk only grew wider as he blocked the swords without even looking. "It looks like you're holding back."

"I wouldn't want to hurt your precious face," Edhas said. The two vanished, but Ryan could feel the impact with every strike. The invisible fight went on for a few minutes until Edhas and Nux appeared a couple meters apart. Edhas was cut up and breathing heavily while Nux was standing casually, only a couple scars on his face.

"You're fine," Nux said. "You two need to learn how to work together, though, or you'll never survive what happens next."

"I'll keep that in mind," Edhas growled.

"Good," Nux smirked. With a snap of his fingers, a bright light filled Ryan's vision.

-

Storm screamed in pain, falling to one knee. "Storm! Are you okay?!" Aloe ran over.

"Get away…" Storm managed.

"Let me help!" Aloe begged, putting a hand on Storm's shoulder.

"Aloe… I'm sorry," Storm looked at Aloe with pained eyes as the blackness took over his other eye. Storm put a hand on Aloe's stomach and let out a burst of power. Aloe gasped as she was sent flying backwards.

"I got you!" Grimm dashed forward, catching Aloe before vanishing.

"Finally," Storm said, his tone noticeably deeper. "Storm's free will was quite a problem. Now that it's gone, I can go back to my original plan."