Rescue Time

Eirian's POV:

Why did I say that? Why did I say something like that to him? The image of his face--shocked, then sad and hurt--is still fresh in my mind. Damn it!

"Huff! Huff! Huff!"

How far have I run? No, why did I run away in the first place? I guess I just didn't want to hurt him anymore with my words; that's why I ran away. I didn't mean it, Darien... I'm sorry.

I finally stopped running and took a break to catch my breath after running for a while. Suddenly, I remember our fight, which left a bittersweet taste in my mouth. It was my fault, I started it first.

He didn't know anything or do anything wrong, and his face just now... Sigh. I just don't want to see him in danger again, but what he said was also true: we need to learn to control our powers to be ready to face the coming danger, but I couldn't control my emotions just now, and now, he knows, and I've hurt his feelings.

I know he's not at fault, and he must not have chosen to be in Darien's body himself.

I always intended to ask him who he really was, how he could be here. But with everything that had happened before, I kept forgetting and was starting to feel comfortable with his presence.

Sigh. I then slumped against a tree, still panting... until a drop of water fell on my nose, which made me frown. Then more water dripped, and it got heavier. Rain. The news reported that a storm was expected today... Wait-! Darien!

Gasp.

I immediately turned in the direction I had run from. My heart felt like it had been ripped out, and my mind was only thinking of the worst-case scenarios. 

A sense of guilt and fear came to grip me again, and the images of Darien giving me one last smile before he was gone forever, and the Darien from just now, who looked so abandoned, came crashing together in my mind.

"No... Darien!!!" I bolted from there, running back to where I had come from with all my heart. I don't know why, but I had a strong feeling that Darien was in danger now. I can't lose him, too!

Ting!

"!!!" 

[EMERGENCY QUEST: RESCUE DARIEN]
Condition: Rescue Darien from abduction by the evil organization.
Penalty: Failure will result in Darien becoming the new villain.

What?

I almost stumbled but managed to get back together and continue running, even faster after I saw that screen purple again, and the quest the system mentioned is echoed in my head.

Oh my god. What's this about again!? New villain!? What the hell are you talking about, system!? Why does he need to be a villain now!? Ah! I was thinking about it later!

The rain poured even more heavily with the strong wind. I just remembered that Darien can't stand the cold... He just fully recovered, just got to feel free again.

"Cih! Damn it! This is my fault... wait for me, Darien... Gasp, please wait..."

The place shouldn't be far, but for some reason, I felt like the trees around me were getting taller, and the path was getting longer. I shook my head and kept running before I stumbled again, this time because I tripped over a tree root.

My knee hurt, but I kept running anyway. My steps became a little slower because of the pain in my knee.

When I saw a silhouette of someone, I knew it was Darien. I felt like I could finally breathe again and slowed my steps because my legs were almost giving up, but I still kept walking towards him, trying to call him, but I stopped when I saw something coming from behind Darien.

I saw a hand... A pair of hands, coming from behind Darien, appeared from nowhere. The hands pulled the back of his collar, making him lose his balance and stumble backward.

I tried to scream and run towards him, but I fell to my knees because of the shock from the pain in my knee. It felt like it was happening in slow motion... The hands that had pulled his collar earlier disappeared.

Darien fell backward, but not onto the ground. Instead... He fell into a hole that was just his size and disappeared... As if he were swallowed by the earth.

My breath was stuck. My mouth was still agape, trying to scream at him just now, and now, he had been swallowed by the earth. That's impossible. I forced myself up and got to my feet, going to where Darien had disappeared.

"Darien? Darien! Where are you!? Answer me! Darien!"

I tried to call him many times, screaming his name, not sure what his real name was, but I hoped he would respond as he always did. I kept screaming with all my might, but it was drowned out by the rain and the strong wind.

I looked around. There was nothing, only trees, no sign of him at all. What just happened? Was he really swallowed by the earth? Wait, there were hands just now. Was that hole like a portal to another dimension?

System! I look back on the quest I got. It still has, which means I can still save Darien. Wait, if that's the case, doesn't that mean... Darien was kidnapped? By whom? System says it is an evil organization... But if 'them'.... No...

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

"... Aidan... I... I need to find him!!"

Skip...
End of Eirian's POV:

Third-Person POV:

"Aidan! Help! Hiks... Darien... Darien! He's gone! I... It's all my fault, sob sob... If I... If I hadn't left him.... He wouldn't have been taken!"

Everyone there was frozen as if they had been struck by lightning. Some of them tried to think that maybe Darien just got lost in the forest because of the rain, but what Eirian said next made their breath stop.

"Hiks! A hand pulled him from behind... Then there was a ... A hole that appeared from nowhere, and Darien disappeared! I tried to call him... I thought I was seeing things. hiks! But-! But... Aidan... Darien was kidnapped. I'm sure...

Sob... how... how if it was 'them'?"

'... What?' Aidan was confused. He was really getting more and more confused and didn't understand. It wasn't that he didn't understand what was really happening, even though he didn't understand why Darien and Eirian were separated in the first place, since the older brother liked to stick with his younger brother, but it was about who 'they' Eirian was talking about.

"Aidan-san... Does Eiri mean 'them'... The couple?" Hirayuki asked in a whisper. Aidan was surprised to see Hirayuki looking composed, but when he looked at his eyes, the young detective's eyes were full of terror and worry, but he was still trying not to panic.

Yes, he also couldn't panic now. What's the use of being called the best spy when he has almost lost his cool and composure when his adopted son is missing or, even worse, kidnapped?

'... I guess I must have really grown an affection for them...'

"What do you mean!? How could he have been kidnapped!? Didn't you two--"

"Len! Calm down! You're scaring him! If everyone keeps panicking like this, we won't be able to find Darien as quickly as possible. Calm down... Our priority is to save our little young master, but first, we need to know what happened."

Len wanted to protest to Nana again, but he stayed silent, seeing Nana's serious face that he rarely wore. Nana let out a sigh of relief. Then he turned to see Mina giving a towel to Eirian and wiping his head, and the other maids were helping to warm him up before he caught a cold.

Then, he saw Eirian's knee bleeding and bruised. His furrowed brow sees that.

"Hiks..." This was the first time they had seen Eirian cry, and it truly broke their hearts. All this time, he looked strong, brave, and mature. Always standing by his brother, defending him, protecting him, and bravely challenging others.

Seeing him now crying like a little kid and trembling made them remember that Eirian was also just a little kid who was too mature because of this world.

Aidan knelt in front of Eirian and took both of his hands, which made the blond boy surprised and look up, meeting eyes with their guardian, who now looked gentle and warm in his Venus-blue eyes.

"We will save him, Eirian, don't worry. But can you tell me more about that hole, the appearance of that hand, and where it happened? I'll try to track it if he's not too far."

Eirian was still whimpering, but only a little, and he nodded in understanding with a face full of determination to save his brother.

"... It was a human... A human hand... His arm... had a tattoo. It was red, but I couldn't see it very well because of the rain... And the hole..." Eirian tried to recall the scene, his forehead furrowed.

He just remembered that the hole looked black, but not a dark black. It was a black...

"The hole was as black as the sky during the rain!"

"That's a portal to anywhere... There are many people who can use that power technique, Aidan-san," said Hirayuki.

"... I think I know who kidnapped Darien. As I expected... They really came here..." That made all of them, including Hirayuki and Eirian, look at him with puzzled and worried looks.

"Suhee, take Eirian inside and call Hoshiyuki. Treat the wound on his knee first, and then wait for one more patient."

"Alright, Aidan-sama."

"Wait! I want to follow-!"

"No. It's dangerous, and you're injured and cold. Stay here, get treated by Hoshiyuki, and wait for us. I promise you, Eirian, I will bring your brother back, so you have to promise me that you will wait here and not sneak out to cause more trouble."

That made Eirian silent and frozen in his spot. He bit his lip out of frustration and anger at himself because, in the first place, he was the one who caused Darien to be kidnapped.

He glanced at the system again with a worried look. He hoped he made the right choice, "... Alright..."

Aidan continued to stare at Eirian as if he wanted to see if he was telling the truth or not. When he was sure the blond boy would really wait here, he went out the front door of his house, braving the rain that was still falling, and his hand reached for a silver necklace that had been hidden inside his shirt all this time.

"Nana, Len, Hirayuki, you guys follow me. The others guard this place, and if any danger comes, you know what to do?" All his guards and maids nodded in understanding with serious and nervous looks.

He held a gem that was on the silver necklace he was wearing. Then he broke the gem into dust, and it flew in the air, shining blue like the color of his eyes. After that, his body started to glow.

Eirian shielded his eyes from the glare, and when he opened them again, he was shocked with wide eyes when he saw in front of him, standing a huge white dragon that was truly white like snow. And he had Venus-blue eyes that were familiar to him, like Aidan.

"... What?"

"Aidan-sama is the only dragon hybrid who still exists in this world. Although it's not fully confirmed yet, the Ryuu family has had the original bloodline of dragons since time immemorial.

In some generations, it was almost gone until Aidan-sama was born and was confirmed as the first dragon hybrid after hundreds of years since the existence of dragons and humans.

He doesn't always use his dragon side, except when something he considers important needs to be saved or protected," Suhee explained with a small smile on her face.

Eirian nodded in understanding while his mouth agape with awe, and turned to look again at Hirayuki, Nana, and Len, who had already climbed onto the back of Aidan's dragon form.

'... He's amazing...' he thought, but of course, he will not claim it loudly.

Aidan then flapped his wings and flew away from there, heading to the place where Darien might be now.

"Aidan-san! Do you know where he is?" the young detective asked, screaming because the sound of the strong wind and rain almost drowned out his voice.

"Yes, I can track his scent. He shouldn't be far... They are still within my area, so it's not a problem."

"That means... They're in the shadow forest?" Nana asked, to which Aidan nodded, while Len shuddered, remembering his training with Nana there before.

"Unpleasant memories."

Skip...
At Darien...

"... Ugh... My head... What just happened?" Darien muttered, whimpering a little because of the pain all over his body when he tried to get up. He held one side of his head and lowered it to look... blood on his palm.

Sigh. Darien sighed in exhaustion before he looked up at the sky to see where he had come from. The rain had stopped, and now, he was in the middle of a thick forest, who knows how far from his original location.

Achoo!

'Shoot... Did I catch a cold? Just great... When I just recovered and can move around, I'm going to be bedridden again, sigh... but...'

"How did I get here?" Darien muttered to himself before looking around. Only a thick forest that looked scary because of the shadows in it.

He felt like he was being watched. His surroundings looked dark and creepy, plus the coldness from the rain earlier, and then the fog.

The fog suddenly appeared, making the atmosphere there feel like a horror movie.

'... Hikaru, you can't think of anything else, huh?' he thought sarcastically, trying to calm himself down from panicking.

Growl...

The novelist flinched hard when he heard a loud growl coming right from in front of him. He slowly turned with a scared look and froze as soon as he saw what looked like a thousand red eyes staring at him, like a predator staring at its prey.

He swallowed hard and tried to get up slowly, but the shocking pain made him sit down and almost groan loudly, but he managed to bite his lip from doing so. He didn't want to trigger the monsters or whatever was hiding behind the shadows.

"Damn it! My leg is sprained? It must be from the fall just now..." he whispered, flustered. The hazelnut-haired boy got an idea and whispered, 'status window.'

His heart was beating fast as if it wanted to jump out of his body. Then the growling sound got louder, making him even more panicked, but he tried to stay composed.

His hand was trembling a little in the air, scrolling to find the content in the menu until his eyes saw what he was looking for, 'Teleport.'

'I'm not sure where I will teleport to because I've never used it, but as long as I teleport far away from the monsters that want to eat me now, it's better.'

He immediately pressed the icon teleport, but after a few seconds had passed, nothing happened. Darien felt his heart just fall into his stomach. He pressed it again, but nothing happened. He pressed it many times, and it was still the same.

He then went to the inventory icon to take out something he could use to protect himself until someone found him. He's glad he got some money after he opened his power for the first time. But nothing came out even though he pressed the inventory icon many times.

Footsteps started to be heard, and when he looked up, he was shocked to see a pack of wolves slowly approaching him, as if trying to trap their dinner from running away.

"Shoot! What's wrong with you today!?"

He tried various things, calling, sending messages, everything, but none of them worked. Then his status window glitched a few times. He felt so panicked now. Suddenly, he remembered something, so he tried to release his power to confirm his thought. It didn't work either.

Thump!

"... It's too early... It's not supposed to happen now..." Darien whispered, full of terror. A wolf then jumped towards him. Darien closed his eyes, his hands trying to protect himself.

'I'm going to die again.'