Media: Kyoya Tategami

When his gaze collided with mine, I could feel the palms of my hands heat up, a scorching burn to my skin compared to my wrists and the rest of my body.  

"I'll be fine," Kyoya said gruffly to his companion, a wiry doctor dressed in shades of sky blue and white. "I'm not going to leave this room." 

After a look at the camera, then back over at Kyoya, the doctor nodded slowly before scurrying out of the room with the mutter of, "he seems stable..."

I bit down on my lip, taking note of the silver orb that dangled from his throat, identical to the one I had pressed back into his hand beforehand; it was the same one. 

In his steely eyes, which were unrevealing yet screaming of the past memories, past memories of his Leone, of Ryuga, of Gingka defeating him; there were flames, hissing and crackling. 

"... do you care to explain anything?" Kyoya snapped at last, lifting his hand off the wall and pointing it at me. "Anything, or am I going to have to figure it out on my own?!" 

"Kyoya," I started, facing my palms out. "I'm sure-"

"I got defeated," he hissed, irritation in his gaze. "And Gingka beat the guy I was defeated by..."

"Yeah, but-" 

Kyoya cut me with a glare, curling one hand into a fist as his stare shifted to the ground. "And while I was in the hospital... you..." 

His brow furrowed, and heat started to slither up my neck as I locked my hands behind my back. 

".... oh." 

"Yeah," I muttered swiftly, averting my gaze. "Oh." 

Kyoya's brow had furrowed. "And... you? How'd you get back? I haven't seen you for over a month?"

"Oh, glad to hear you care about my well-being," I said shortly, sarcasm leaking into my tone as the heat started to retreat. "At least a little bit."

"I don't," Kyoya spat. "I'm curious, that's all. And why the hell did you even go missing? With Hyoma and Hikaru, no less! Both of those two are least somewhat of a challenge, yet you still-" 

"Kyoya, please shut up," I mumbled. "I got lost and Doji found me. That's all." 

There was a noise that sounded like shuffling, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Tch, I thought I would have to bust on in and save your sorry ass."

"I can take care of myself just fine!" I retorted, shrugging off his hand. Kyoya raised an eyebrow, as if he doubted my statement. "Stop looking at me like t-"

In an instant, the lights flickered several times, then turned off. 

My heart jumped up in my throat, and almost immediately, cold sweat slid down the back of my neck. What sounded like a chair scraped across the ground. 

Darkness. 

Just like the darkness that had constantly threatened to take my life back at the Dark Nebula, just like the darkness that had consumed Ryuga, just like the darkness that had hurt Kyoya, Tsubasa, and Hikaru. 

"T-They're here for me, again, aren't they?" I whispered, my shoulders starting to shake. 

Doji. Reiji. Kimi. Dan. Reiki. 

They want power to be given to L-Drago.

"What? No."

The hissed whisper came from my right, yet all the words did was further sharpen the details leaking in through my memories. 

Blood. Dead bodies? What is Ryuga doing? Is he... laughing over their deaths? 

Monster. 

"Monster," I whispered. "Monster, monster, monster. Monster." 

I'm wading in a river of blood. 

A hand was placed on my shoulder, tightly wrapping around the bone. 

Claws digging into my skin.

I ripped away. "Get away from me, you monster!" 

More cries, more screams. 

Do you want to fall victim as well? 

"Tess!"

A hand found mine, leather sliding against skin as it gripped my wrist tightly,the fabric cool. 

Stop. Stop it. Please, stop it!

I tried to tug away, yet the hand only tightened, as if refusing to let go. My palms were growing hot again, a fire just under the skin and burning my veins. 

I'm never going to let you hope again. 

All I could see, all I could feel, all I could hear was darkness. Darkness, darkness touching me, darkness screaming in my ears. 

I don't want to go back there. 

There was a demon resting on my throat, and I hissed, trying with new vigor to tear away from that person. 

As my attempts fell flat, the lights flickered back on. 

The warmth that was around my wrist seeped away. 

I was shaking, breathing coming out in shuddering gasps. 

There was a pregnant pause before someone- he broke the silence. 

"You're not okay, are you?"

"I-I'm fine," I said, inwardly cringing on how utterly pathetic I sounded. Weakling...

"You're clearly not," Kyoya scoffed. 

"She has panic attacks."

I nearly jumped when yet another hand was put on my shoulder, looking over my right to see Shaun, his lips pressed into a thin line. 

"Hello, Kyoya," he greeted after a moment. 

Kyoya squinted at him, looking like there was a growl waiting to bubble up from him any second. 

"Who're you?"

"Her brother," Shaun said, a dark tinge and tense feeling to his smile. "Shaun Rixen." 

"Kyoya Tategami," Kyoya stated with a shrug. 

"You're pretty carefree for someone who got their butt kicked recently."

That was when I could basically hear the tension in the room rising, Kyoya staring back at Shaun with a twitching eyebrow while my brother looked over him with a distant film in his eyes. 

"Oh, shut up," Kyoya said at last.

"Huh. For someone who has the nerve to reply back to my sister with sass, you don't have any spunk." 

I laughed at his comment. "Oh, he replies to me with sass, all right. It's mostly trash-talking."

Shaun made a playful move of cracking his knuckles. "Oh, does he really?"

"She does it too!"

"That doesn't change the fact I'm going to personally kick your butt too, Tategami." 

With Shaun's elbow resting on my shoulder, Kyoya's harsh voice filling my ears, with the threat of Ryuga gone over our heads, I smiled. 

[Wehe, we're nearing the end of this book! Couple more chapters to go. I've already written the ending, just gotta get some scenes outta the way first. Once again, any more characters you want Tess to interact with besides my OC Gang and Kyoya? I did Madoka last chapter, any characters such as Kenta or Benkei? ]