Third-Person

Every day was the same as the last, caught up in nothing but a redundant cycle. Boring, stale, and Kaito had grown blasé with the same situations. He wasn't quite as antsy as Yuuma, but now he needed new information to arise. Neru handed over all of her former contacts and ties with Demon Fang. While Kaito felt he had all the time in the world, every lead felt like utmost importance to Yuuma. He wanted to take control over every turf as quickly as possible; dwindle Demon Fang down till they had practically nothing to back them up. There were smaller gangs who already were planning on retiring from Demon Fangs contracts, so gaining their favor wasn't going to be too difficult. The ones shrouded and tougher to contact were going to need more than small persuasions, but bold of Yuuma to assume they'd hand over their loyalty so easily.

Despite all of this, Demon Fang had considerably gone dark and Yuuma didn't like it...

They were quiet.

Too quiet.

"Kaito!" Yuuma exclaimed from the adjacent office room. He groaned and stood from his spot in the lounge, sauntering over to where Yuuma and their techie Maika.

"The location of Demon Fang's base was a bust," she told him as she shook her head at the monitor, "I had one of our infantry teams search about, but they uncovered nothing. I remember the Eros attacked some guy and a girl within this area of the forest a while back, but nothing ever yielded results. We couldn't find a base at all, even through satellite imaging. At some point, Yuuma made me track down the contacts on that girls phone, but literally nothing ever showed up. It kept pinging from different towers around the world and like hell they're in the arctics."

Yuuma slammed his hands against the table, letting out a frustrated string of curses before swiping away the container of pens. They scattered across the floor in a colorful array. Kaito leaned against the doorway and sighed, kicking a pen away from his walk space.

"Chill out, Yuuma. Maika, go take a break for now and come back later with Cul. If you really can't find anything within a day, I'll talk to Neru." Kaito said, turning to walk away.

"I'm really hoping that information that bitch sold you was fucking worth it!" Yuuma sharply shouted as he kicked at the pens on the floor. Maika rolled her eyes and closed her laptop, taking it with her to find Cul.

"What an ass," she muttered to herself as she left the area.

As Kaito walked down the hall, Neru had just rounded the corner coming from one of the rooms. She looked beyond shaken up and almost pushed past him, but he grabbed her wrist.

"We have to talk," Kaito said, his gaze burning holes into her eyes. She almost couldn't bear to look at him.

"There's really nothing for us to talk about," she attempted to pull her hand away, but Kaito's grip was tight. He was serious.

"We really do need to talk, Neru. Let's go to the room and talk there."

Neru stopped struggling and followed him back to his room. He soon let go of her wrist as she sat down on the plush bench, but she felt like bolting. Her nerves were ready to fry at nearly any second with the anticipation of his interrogation and her fear.

"Before you start," Neru began, "it's really important to me that I talk first."

She was fidgeting, but with dwindling time, Kaito was getting impatient. He kept his words to himself, allowing her to piece her words together. The blonde shuffled in her seat, but couldn't look at him. She stared down at her hands and took a shaky breath.

"I'm terrified... I think I'm pregnant."

[_____]'s P.O.V.

"What in the world is going on?" I whispered to Miku. I couldn't contain my confusion. "High on drugs,"? Impossible... Len would abide by his own rules. None of these members would ever actively defy the rules. Although Len was the leader, there's no way even he would go against them... especially with what happened to his mother.

But another question rose—how on earth was any of this possible? I was beyond confused as to how one Len was tied up and the other was by the doorway. The one by the doorway had a bloody nose, swollen cheek and a busted lip from just one glance alone. His clothes were bloody and he was holding onto his left side... I didn't want to assume the worst, but the evidence was obviously there before us. He had to have gotten jumped and beat.

"I don't know, but this bitch better start talking." Gumi said, pressing the tip of the gun to "Len's" temple, "Miki, get ready to blow this shit's brains out. He messed with the wrong gang. We're not called Demon's Fang for nothing."

"Hold it," Miki gestured for Gumi to stop before she could pull the trigger, "We still haven't found out his employer."

The imposter snorted out a cackle unlike anything I'd ever heard before, " "Employer"? What a joke! I fucking swear—ah!"

Rin had kneed the imposter in the gut. He fell to his knees in pain, but Ia pulled him up by his hair.

"You're not very good at this. How'd you find us?" she questioned, leaning over him.

"He sure knows how to keep a low profile when he wants, but he'll blab when he's least expecting it." the imposter chuckled.

"Say that again, you son of a bitch!" Len shouted from the couch, having his wound tended by Momo. Although she was busy with patching up most of his contusions, her eyes glanced over to the imposter, her hand twitched for her knife on her thigh.

"Who the fuck are you thinkin' you could mess with us, huh?!" Gumi screeched. The imposter's eyes now held some form of fear. He attempted to shuffle back but Ia had a good hold on his hair.

"Man, I ain't holding up so good under torture... just like your lil' buddy... what was her name? Defoko was it?"

At his words, our hearts plummeted to our feet. Defoko? She hadn't been here at all tonight... We weren't allowed much time to get lost in our thoughts. Len sat up with a grunt, the fear in his voice was ever so present.

"Wait, she didn't even make it here?"

The imposter began to laugh maniacally, nodding his head like a psycho, "Didn't even get too far before my guys got to her. Poor girl might even be dead right now. But who knows?"

We shook our heads slightly more to ourselves to give us some kind of comfort. He had to be bluffing to rile us up. He had to be bluffing because he knew his window of time was dwindling. Gumi might just pull that trigger anyway and down he goes.

"Give me your fucking agenda!" Gumi spat, jabbing the gun into his ribs. The imposter squirmed around.

"Fine, fine. The name's Rei, one of the head Heartless. I do field work mostly to find y'all's little huddle house—too bad I didn't find any waffles—either way, I had to pretend to be the little shit to at least make it this far, but, all this fun had to end sometime. This is where I go. Bye!"

He snapped his fingers and was suddenly on fire. Piko and Leon let him go, but Gumi, never missing her mark, shot him straight in the head.

"Fucking coward." Gumi pouted and holstered her pistol. Gakupo and Gumi dragged the burning Rei kid outside by his hair to the backyard where he continued to burn on the concrete patio.

I felt so sick to my stomach... with everything that had happened before my very eyes, I couldn't help but get sick. I ran to the bathroom, avoiding the scorch marks on the carpet.

Third-Person

The room was filled with dreaded silence, but Len was the first to speak up.

"I'm going to go check on her."

Momo placed her hand on his and shook her head. She stood up and made her way to the bathroom, calling for Rin to get a glass of water. The two dispersed leaving the others in the room.

"Len... What happened with Defoko? She hasn't been here at all." Miki whispered, clutching her chest. Len held his side and huffed out incredulously.

"I was in town when I came across her. We talked for a little while and picked up a few snacks to both come here. On our way over, that fucker attacked me and Defoko. I told her to run and... now she's not here."

Gakupo's heart shattered at the Heartless' words, but hearing Len possibly confirm that Defoko was taken ripped his soul apart.

"Oh God. My sister is missing, Len. We have to do something. If that Rei is part of the Heartless as he said... my little sister has been taken by them. They're pretty powerful." Gakupo whispered, the tears ready to fall as he held his ribs. It hadn't been that long since the Eros attacked both him and [_____]. It was obvious the Eros and Heartless were working together. Miki wrapped an arm around him and rubbed his back, murmuring calming words. Meiko grumbled, "Fuck!" and sat down with her head in her hands. Everyone else seemed to be static.

"One of you call Teto and fill her in," Len started. Meiko was the first to agree and pulled out her phone, walking to the kitchen.

Len sighed, trying to piece the words in his head together, "We're going to have to do everything we can to get Defoko back. I'm going to contact one of my informants to see if she has anything."

"How trustworthy is this informant of yours?" Gumi inquired.

"I trust her as much as I trust you, maybe even more. She's more of a third party for others, but she's not treasonous. She's leaked over information I never even would have guessed. She's a Demonic who's been selling me secrets for a while.

I offered her a poison and we both swallowed it. We even gave each other the antidote. She's legit and one of the best I've ever had contact with. I've called her over with minimal details given. She'll be here at nine. This situation is going to be important. Don't tell any of our allying gangs about what's going on. We have to keep this under the radar."

[_____] walked out, leaning against Momo. She was a little sick about all that had happened, but she'd just need to rest a while. Rin followed behind the two, setting her down beside Len.

"Can you guys give us a moment alone? As for now, just take it easy. We'll talk some more afterwards." Len ordered. The group went their separate ways, but didn't stray too far. The whole situation was still tense.

Len glanced over at [_____] who was leaning against the armrest of the couch. She looked so frail and sick, drained of all energy. Nowadays, it was somewhat surprising to see someone so shocked, but this was new for her. Watching someone die wasn't something on the daily, but it had happened before. The rest of the team was sadly desensitized for the most part. He shimmied over from his seat closer to her and guided [_____] to rest her head on his shoulder. She followed along and held his hand.

"I'm so sorry you had to witness that," he whispered into the top of her head. She gripped his hand softly and squeezed it twice, more of a silent response as her throat felt tight.

"It's not like I didn't guess what I would be getting into, but that was still traumatizing." she said hoarsely.

"I'm still so sorry... we rarely even kill anyone. There have been a few instances where some of our members have done what they needed or have witnessed a death at some point, but it's out of our ordinary. We're usually always about turfs, but there have been some self-defense cases... Even then, our turf battles haven't been deadly. Bloody, but never deadly. Whatever these other gangs are planning isn't just a little turf battle. They're furnishing some kind of war. They've picked the wrong gang to mess with though."

[_____] held his hand even tighter and dug her face into the crook of his neck. She was shaking and Len could feel her warm tears soaking through his shirt. He rubbed circles over her hand with his thumb, hoping the contact was some kind of comfort. He couldn't imagine what Gakupo was going through... was it what [_____]'s family felt when she disappeared?

Fear. Uncertainty. Perhaps hope? Back to imagining the worst...

"Not good," Gumi sneered as both she and Miki walked in from the backyard, "Magicians Doll."

Len's eyes lit up with some relief.

"I'm glad to hear that. At least one part down, but I fear we'll need to move again." he said solemnly. Miki nodded and sighed heavily. She lightly touched the floral wallpaper, her shoulders slumping.

"I'm still somewhat new, sorry. What's a Magicians Doll?" [_____] questioned.

"A phantom." Gumi rolled her eyes in annoyance, but not at [_____]. She was annoyed she hadn't realized it sooner.

"So the boy was a fake?!" [_____] exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's more of a... doll, a puppet." Gumi said, "So yes, he was a fake. I'm so pissed though... it was so fucking real and I fell for it. This doll was made out of papier-mâché and manipulated by a form of magic and technology. This isn't the first time, but these assholes are getting more creative by the day."

Yuuma's P.O.V.

"We've lost all communication with the Magicians Doll... Seems it's been burned and then smashed." Maika said, frowning at her phone.

"Ah, fuck!" I screamed, calling out for Rei. The Demonic came up to us with a cheeky grin.

"What?"

"You little piece of shit." I berated. Maika walked off and I continued, "Your dumbass doll was beaten soundly!"

"I can always make another, sheesh. Take a break, okay, grandpa?" he said, grinning like a devil. I balled my fist, ever so ready to knock that smug smile off his face, maybe even just once.

"Where's your sister? Maybe she can make a better one than you. One that actually puts up a fight." I mocked him.

"You'll find her in the common room. Remember though, she's not really an official member so she's not obligated to bend to your will. Later, Yuuma." Rei turned his back. I was close to throwing a punch when he sucked on his teeth, "No touching me. My father would have you beaten soundly. And that just wouldn't look good considering you're working with him."

The boy cocked his head over his shoulder as he smiled innocently towards me. For a second, a quick millisecond, there was a hint of true demon that could terrorize a soul whenever he wanted.

I stepped back, glaring at the boy.

"Well played..." I sighed and straightened my back.

"Of course you would state the obvious. I still don't know why I'm not a Heartless just yet. Oh well..." he continued to mock in a sing-song voice. I glared at his figure as he walked off down the hall. God, was he just a little bitch.

Damn! He played me like an idiot and just walked off!

If it weren't for his father, I wouldn't mind beating his little skull in! I sighed and left to go talk with his sister.

"Rui," I called her, "I need your help."

She peeked her head from over the couch. Was she on the floor?

"With what?" she asked softly.

"A Magicians Doll. You've mastered how to make and use them now, right?"

"Oh... uh... I think..." she responded, staring down at the floor.

"No, I need to know a definite yes or no!"

She retreated like a turtle in that stupid oversized sweater of hers and she nodded, "It's pretty decent... I'm not Rei, y'know?"

I sighed exasperatedly and waved my hand tersely.

"Whatever. Just make a new one. I need to send it off soon."

She nodded and ran off to her room.

"Yuuma," I turned to face another Demonic at the doorway. Goddamned Demonics, "Kaito wants to speak with you."

I nodded and made my way out, "Thanks Ruko."  She nodded and continued on her way.