Devil's Snare II: Chapter 1 - Las Angeles is Burning

Author's Note: Hello everybody, thanks for reading by the way and feel free to drop reviews at anytime, constructive criticism is appreciated whilst flames are ignored.

This story goes way back, I've been writing it for a very long time and though it is in the middle of the series I am writing, they are all made to be mostly stand alones.

The chapter title is “Los Angeles is Burning” by Bad Religion.

Enjoy.

~KoreanDefect~

Realization dawned on Yami that she had about five minutes to enter the school, walk through the commons, turn right and walk for ten feet before going down two flights of stairs to the first level, turning right again, heading another five feet, enter the classroom of her first period class the ever dreaded Freshman Connections, and be in her seat before the bell rang, marking her late. She knew very well that the teacher would never cut her any slack either, seeing as the teacher, an older woman, was not very fond of Yami. The teacher was not very well liked among Yami's fellow schoolmates, in fact, a lot of kids resented ever taking the class. The woman was known to blatantly favor one student over the others and Yami definitely was at the bottom of her list of liked students.

Breaking out of her little reverie, Yami noticed with a frown as she entered the building that her five minutes had diminished to three. She quickly traversed across the empty commons into the river of students heading to the right hallway. There was no time for the sake of personal space it seemed, as everyone jostled each other to get to their classes on time. A girl behind Yami even had the nerve to tell her to move. Yami ignored the girl and continued the remaining seven feet to the staircase; the crowd had thinned by the time she got down to the first floor and Yami only had to dodge a few students before she managed to enter her classroom. She was about to run to her seat and save herself from yet another count of tardy on her record when a hand stopped her, killing her dream of being successfully on time.

Yami turned around; ready to punch whomever had just stopped her from accomplishing her goal and found herself face to face with her Freshman Connections teacher. As usual, the older woman had her trademark scowl scrawled into her features. Her lips were pale and thin, causing her mouth to look wider than it probably was and her mouth seemed to stretch comically wide. Yami couldn't see any color in her teacher's eyes, wondering if perhaps they were just black. They were small and beady, glaring down at Yami with the same amount of annoyance. Her frail-looking white-blonde hair was piled in curls on the top of her head in some sort of attempt at looking presentable. All in all, the woman resembled an unhappy toad. Yami could picture her reaching out her tongue in the middle of one of her lessons and slurping up a big fly. At that thought, Yami bit her cheek to stifle the laughter that had bubbled up in her throat.

“Yes?” Yami said as innocently as she could, though it was hard to without cracking a smile.

“I've been calling your name for the past couple minutes,” the teacher said sourly and as the tardy bell rang added, “and you're late.”

“Oh, I'm sorry,” Yami replied, though the apology was far from sincere. She fleetingly wondered why she had to be this scornful woman's student but decided not to dwell on it as the woman handed her a small slip of paper, the words “Office Summon” were printed in a crisp black at the top.

Yami nodded and walked out of the classroom, not bothering to stay for morning announcements. Her mind was racing to find an answer as to what she had done to catch the attention of the faculty this time. Usually she stayed under the radar, being better known as the quiet kid in class. She couldn't think of any big fault she could've managed to pull to make them send a summon for her. She took her time climbing the two sets of stairs, back up to the second floor. The halls were deserted, quiet aside from the echoes of the announcements bouncing off of the walls. Slowly ten feet back to the commons and then about another ten feet to the attendance office.

She managed to arrive just as the announcements ended and stood at the front desk, patiently waiting for someone to notice her. The place smelled of importance, the air slightly stifled and the colors reduced to neutral tones, giving the place a rather dreary atmosphere. The secretary looked up from her high pile paperwork after a while and came over to read the summon slip before pointing toward the wall where the school guidance counselors' offices were. Poking her head in the door of her counselor's office, she saw that someone was already in there and was about to respectfully turn and wait outside when a voice stopped her.

“Come on in.”

Yami entered the cramped office, looking in awe at lack of space; the office would make anyone feel claustrophobic. Books and papers were stacked high on the small table and the counselor's desk was nearly covered with little trinkets, forms to sign, and other important documents. The counselor offered her a smile through her caked on make up and Yami returned a tight-lipped one back. She felt sorry for the counselor, having to deal with all of the busy work, but also knew that she had chosen this job by herself. Yami again wondered why the woman had summoned her to the office but she didn't have to wait for an answer for very long.

“Would you mind having a shadow today?” the counselor asked, not waiting for Yami to question. “The person that was supposed to be in charge of him didn't come in to school today.”

Yami looked around to see that the person sitting in the office with the counselor was actually a young man sitting calmly in one of the chairs adjacent from her. He didn't look like he belonged in high school at all, but more in a jrock band. He had a very pale complexion, his skin nearly snow white. His long silver hair cascaded down his back, glimmering softly in the morning light. He calmly stared at her with striking red eyes as if to say “hello, and who might you be?” He looked to be in his early twenties and Yami wondered how someone so pretty could not even be in high school yet, let alone college. Yet, he looked familiar, as if she had seen him before.

“His name is…er,” the counselor struggled to pronounce the name.

“Raphael Ishtar,” the man said, still staring at Yami. “Nice to meet you.”

Yami's smile froze halfway on her lips; she knew that voice from somewhere. Had she heard correctly? Now that she thought about it, the man did look familiar. Ironically he looked just like the character from the story she had wrote in sixth grade, a long time ago. `It's just a coincidence,' Yami told herself firmly. `That's all.'

“Ah, yes,” the counselor said, slightly flustered. “Well, off you two go, back to class now.”

Raphael stood and followed Yami out of the office. As they were walking, Yami's thoughts were racing too fast to even realize that she had never agreed to take the shadow with her. `How could someone who looks as if they could be a senior in college be a shadow for a freshman in high school? I wonder whom it was that he was supposed to shadow? Furthermore and most importantly, WHY THE HELL DOES HE LOOK LIKE THE VILLAIN FROM MY STORY?!?!?!?!?!'

“I never caught your name,” a voice said, interrupting her thoughts.

Yami looked up, seeing that Raphael was still staring at her. “Oh, sorry,” she said. “My name's Yami.”

Raphael nodded, smiling gently. “Japanese?” he asked.

Yami smiled and nodded, “yeah, it's a nickname but everyone tends to call me by it. I'm actually Korean.”

“Ah, it's very pretty and fitting,” Raphael said smiling. “You have a dark aura about you.”

Yami shrugged, “I'd say it'd probably be due to the clothes.” She knew all about Ki manipulation and aura, but decided not to share it with him, not wishing to deter him.

“So, what class are we supposed to be going to?” Raphael asked, changing the subject.

“Freshman Connections,” Yami said as they transcended down the hallway. “Believe me, it's definitely a class you won't miss.”

“Oh? Is it boring?”

“No, the subject itself can actually be a little helpful at times but the teacher just ruins it.”

The two stopped talking as they ascended down the stairwell and approached the classroom. Yami walked back in to find the teacher staring at her. Yami gestured to Raphael and said, “My counselor decided to give me a last minute shadow. This is Raphael Ishtar.”

The teacher sniffed in an obvious show of distaste, her beady eyes narrowing. “I see you two have a lot in common,” she said and motioned for them to sit down. Yami looked around, wondering what the woman was talking about and found that Raphael was also dressed in all black, though his outfit was slightly different. He had on a form fitting black shirt and tight black leather pants.

Raphael looked around, slightly confused as to where to sit as Yami sat in her assigned seat. There weren't many kids in the class as the smarter ones had obviously stayed away from this class, there were barely ten students in all though Yami believed it would soon be just nine since the student that usually sat to her left had been absent for quite some time now. She motioned for Raphael to take the seat to her left and the young man obeyed.

The rest of the period seemed to pass without discord and Yami soon found herself at the end of second period, Honors World History. She had noticed that during the lecture, Raphael had been deeply interested, nearly hanging off of every word. Strangely, he reminded her of her boyfriend, Quinton, who also had an interest in History.

The bell sounded and Yami motioned for Raphael to follow her out of the classroom. Turning, she saw Quinton waiting outside the class for her, since his was just across the hallway. “Hey,” he greeted gently.

He was taller than her and was also dressed in almost all black. His hair, modeled after his idol Rozz Williams, was half shaved on the left side of his head and grew past his chin on the right. It was a medium blonde and soft to the touch, shining slightly in the fluorescent lighting. His skin was a few shades darker than Raphael, causing him to look more human and very lovable. He stared gently down at Yami with his clear, blue eyes that held in their blue depths such deep thoughts. He gently clasped her hand as she returned his soft greeting. Students pushed past them on all sides but nothing seemed to matter at that moment as they stared into each other's eyes. Unfortunately it had to be broken as they realized that they would soon be late if they didn't start walking. Quinton looked to Raphael as he followed them, then back to Yami with a questioning stare.

“I have a shadow,” Yami announced, gesturing to Raphael as the three climbed the stairs.

Quinton and Raphael exchanged respectful nods before Quinton had to split off to his next class, waving goodbye. The other students surged around them and Yami nearly lost Raphael for a second before finding that he had been right behind her. Yami felt a slight tap on her shoulder and turned to see that her good friend Elizabeth had passed her in the hallway and she offered her friend a small wave.

Elizabeth's dark brown hair was soft and bouncy, touched with lighter highlights. It flowed down her shoulders to her upper back and it bounced slightly, giving her more life. She was taller than Yami, who was probably the shortest of her friends, and had a light complexion that was slightly lighter than Quinton's. Though she was turned away at the moment, Yami always knew that her hazel eyes were filled to brimming with thought.

“Who was that?” Raphael asked, looking strangely alert as Elizabeth disappeared in the throng of students.

“That was my friend Elizabeth,” Yami replied.

“She's very pretty.”

“If only she would believe it…”

The two continued on their journey to Yami's third period class, Honors English, and managed to get there with time to spare. The classroom, like the hallway, was loud and noisy. But with that aside, this was by far one of Yami's favorite classes of the day because she loved to write, but not only that, her favorite teacher also taught this class.

The said man was standing at his desk, waiting patiently until the bell rang to shoo his students to their seats. Since there was already an over abundance of students in the class, there were no desks for Raphael to sit in so he patiently sat next to Yami's seat which earned them a curious look from the teacher. After explaining who he was though, the teacher just nodded and handed Raphael a copy of Mac Beth as the rest of the class got their copies out as well.

At the moment, the class was reading into Mac Beth, a twisted yet simple story of betrayal and murder. Yami listened attentively to the teacher's lecture and only stopped to take down a few notes. The period seemed to breeze by as Yami delved into the plotline, consumed and enraptured by its characters and beautiful Elizabethan speeches, soliloquies, and sonnets. Soon enough the bell for fourth period rang and the class piled out back into the crowded hallway, Yami and Raphael being the last ones out.

“Lunch is next,” Yami said to Raphael who nodded.

“Yami!” a voice suddenly called and Yami turned to see her friend Nami heading toward her. She was a senior and the two had met over the Internet, later finding out that they attended the same school. Nami was about the same height as Yami though she had a slightly darker complexion. She was a mix between Asian and African-American, though she was obviously way more into the Asian culture for as soon as she caught sight of Raphael she let out a small squeak, her dark brown eyes lighting up with excitement. “A jrocker!” she cried. “Is he your shadow?”

“Aye,” Yami said happily. “Nami, meet Raphael.”

Raphael dipped his head and kissed Nami's hand in most gentlemen-like fashion. “It's a pleasure to meet you,” he said.

Nami blushed and gave Raphael a quick hug before the bell rang and Yami had to pry Raphael away from Nami, promising her that they would talk later for sure. The two finally reached a lunch table where Quinton was waiting for them. Yami smiled at him, her whole expression lighting up. “Hey,” she said softly, joining him.

“Woah, who is this?” a voice said from behind Yami.

Yami turned and smiled at her friend Jamie who also joined them at the table. The two had been friends since the fourth grade and one could tell that they were the best of friends. Jamie had beautiful pale skin that rivaled Raphael's and a soft complexion that showed the gentleness of her nature but hid the fact that she was well trained in the martial arts. Her semi-long blonde hair was tied back in its customary ponytail, her bangs shading her face slightly. Her brown eyes were full of innocence and yet were wizened well beyond her years though at the moment they were focused curiously on Raphael.

“This is my shadow, Raphael,” Yami said.

Raphael smiled and also greeted Jamie before excusing himself to the bathroom. Once he was out of earshot, Jamie leaned over to Yami. “Doesn't he look a bit old to be trying out for a freshman?” she asked.

Yami shrugged, “I know, it's weird, and he wouldn't give me an answer when I asked how old he was.”

“Also, he looks a lot like that guy from your old story,” Jamie said, referring to an old story Yami wrote about three years ago. “In fact, he looks exactly what I pictured him to be and his voice was exactly how I imagined, it's weird, isn't it?”

“Yeah,” Yami said quietly. “It's been bothering me all morning.”

Their conversation was cut short though as the lights suddenly went out, leaving the lunchroom to be only illuminated by the sunlight streaming through the window. Yami jumped, uttering a string of expletives so long that it made Jamie and Quinton laugh. “What the hell just happened?” she asked after the two had calmed down.

“I don't know,” Quinton said, looking just as alarmed as Yami, well…maybe a little calmer.

“Did another squirrel hit the transformer?” Jamie mused, looking the calmest of the three. Her dark brown eyes merely held curiosity rather than fear and confusion.

Something suddenly dawned on the three; the lunchroom was silent, dead silent. As they looked around, they found that everyone else wasn't moving, as if frozen in time; some of the students even had food hanging from their mouths.

“Let's get out of here,” Quinton said and the others agreed, slowly getting up from their seats and walking through the lunchroom, their footsteps echoing throughout the cavernous room. It was weird seeing people they knew and saw everyday frozen, unnoticing, uncaring. The whole situation seemed so surreal and as they entered the commons, they found the hallways just as silent as the lunchroom, though pitch black due to their being nearly windowless.

“The doors are locked,” Jamie said, pulling on the door handles at the front, the chains rattling loudly across the school.

“That's odd,” Yami said, her forehead wrinkled in thought. “They're usually open, the administration just put up cameras everywhere instead.”

“Greetings and salutations,” a voice crackled over the P.A. system, causing the three to jump to attention. “You must be wondering what's going on by now, no?”

“Raphael?” Yami said, confused. “What the hell?”

The three looked at each other for a few seconds, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. “Let's see if any of the side doors work,” Jamie said and the three ignored the eerie announcement, grabbing each other's hand in the darkness to stay together. Their footsteps echoed slightly down the hallway as they walked along and the blackness seemed to press all around them. They didn't get two feet into the pitch-black darkness when Yami suddenly stopped, causing the other two to run into her.

“What the hell? Why'd you stop?” Jamie asked, catching her balance.

“Shh! I hear something,” Yami said quietly. The three stopped and listened. Footsteps continued to echo down the hallway, slowly drawing closer to the three.

“Let's hide,” Quinton said, pulling the other two into the sanctuary of the school's large auditorium. They crouched amongst the many seats, fear and adrenaline causing their hearts to beat loudly in their ears. Their nerves were on edge and when a small scream sounded, the three jumped and toppled into each other in a small heap.

“Y-Yami? Is that you?” a voice asked.

“E-beth?” Yami asked. “Oh my god, are you okay?”

Elizabeth, more affectionately known as E-beth, moved closer, her eyes full of fear and confusion. “What the hell is going on?” she asked. “I was sitting in my class when the lights went out and everyone stopped moving, I didn't know who else was okay so I just went to the auditorium.”

“Did you hear that announcement over the P.A.?” Yami asked. “That sounded like my shadow, Raphael.”

“Yeah, I heard it, the guy with you in the hall?” Elizabeth asked and Yami nodded.

The four froze as they heard footsteps approaching and Quinton, deciding to take the lead, whispered for the others dive backstage in hopes of losing their pursuer. It was so dark and black; the darkness seemed to be pressing in all around them, suffocating them. The four grabbed hands and quickly made their way into the backstage area, the darkness growing even darker.

“Is everyone okay?” Yami asked but there was no reply, her voice seemed to be swallowed up by the darkness. Just as she was about to ask again, a shrill scream cut loose through the air and Yami felt her consciousness fade along with the darkness.

Yami was the first to regain consciousness and when she did, she wondered if she had really woken up or if she was still dreaming. They were in some sort of a field; the endless grass surrounding them on all sides was soft and cool. The sky above was deep, black velvet, dotted with millions of stars and a large moon; but it wasn't a normal moon, it was blood red and a smaller white crescent moon was positioned diagonally to the right beneath it; its soft glow illuminated everything easily and a cool breeze blew past. The scene reminded Yami of something from an anime.

“Where are we?” a voice asked and Yami turned to see Quinton sitting up, looking as confused as she was. “Last I remember we were at school.”

“I'm not sure,” Yami replied, nervously taking his hand in hers. He grasped it reassuringly and the two stood up. Looking around Yami was surprised to find that their group had grown in size. Lying a few feet away were her friends Mike, Travis, and Aryn. She hadn't seen them for a while, but it somehow didn't seem too odd to see them there.

Jamie was the next one to wake up and joined Yami and Quinton, all three wondering what exactly was going on. “Are we dead?” Jamie wondered.

“It seems a little too peaceful for hell,” Yami joked.

Elizabeth moaned right beside her, slowly regaining consciousness as well. “What the fuck happened?”

Yami helped her up and helped her friend regain her balance, “Your guess is as good as mine.” She then walked over to Travis and kicked him gently in the side until the boy woke up. Even though he was lying down, it was obvious that he was very tall. His blue eyes cracked open and stared up at Yami in confusion, slightly obscured by his chin-length hair that had been dyed black but was slowly fading back to its natural blonde.

“What's up?” he said casually and Yami couldn't help but laugh at his laid-back attitude.

“Nothin much,” she replied. “Just chillaxin.”

Mike the next to be woken up, he quickly clambered to his feet and looked around with a very confused expression on his face. “Where the hell did you guys take me?” he said. His hazel eyes surveyed his surroundings, though there wasn't much to gather. His blonde hair hung down on one side of his face, out of its customary Mohawk.

“We didn't take you anywhere,” Jamie said, venturing over. “I have no idea whose fault this was.”

Yami left the others to converse and set to waking up her friend Aryn. Out of the whole group, Aryn had to be the hardest to wake up. Despite her petit frame and pretty face, Aryn was very stubborn and strong. Yami first tried the gentle approach, gently shaking her friend. “Aryn, time to get up,” she said.

Aryn rolled over, her dark brown eyes shut tight against Yami's voice. She was mixed her complexion slightly darker than Yami's and her hair was pulled back in its usual bun. She swatted at Yami's gentle attempts to wake her and Yami let out a sigh of frustration.

“I hope you won't hate me for this,” the girl muttered before grabbing a firm hold of Aryn's shoulders and roughly shaking her. “WAKEY WAKEY!” she shouted in her friend's ear. “GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE! THE EARTH SAYS HELLO!”

Aryn's eyes shot open and gave Yami the most menacing death glare the poor Korean had ever seen. A hand flew out of nowhere, neatly connecting with Yami's cheek. But Yami refused to release her friend until she was sure Aryn would stay awake. About seven slaps later, Aryn seemed to come to her senses and look around.

“Hey, where are we?” the girl mused, moving away from a very flustered Yami.

“Good question,” Yami said sourly, holding her already cherry-red cheek.

Aryn turned around and looked both surprised and confused. “Yami? Oh, I'm sorry!”

“Don't worry about it,” Yami said, still gingerly touching her cheek. “Well, at least now I know this definitely isn't a dream.”

“So what exactly is going on?” Travis asked as the group came together.

Jamie explained how she, Quinton, Elizabeth, and Yami had arrived here and the other three gave similar stories. Ironically all of them had been at school, in class, when the lights when out and everyone froze. A strange voice had followed them over the P.A. and they had panicked and ran, passing out and waking up here.

“I wonder what that could mean?” Aryn mused.

“It could mean a lot of things,” Quinton said, thinking deeply. He knew that Raphael obviously had something to do with the seven of them being here, but he wondered what they had done to catch his attention. Or where they just randomly chosen? `No,' he told himself. `It's too coincidental for all of us who know each other, to have ended up here.'

He broke out of his thoughts as a voice broke though the silence. Turning, the group saw an old man making his way over. “Oi, who be yous?” he growled, causing the group to jump to their feet.

“Um, you see sir…” Mike started. “Uh…where are we?”

The man raised a shabby eyebrow. “You foreigners or somethin? Never seen your like around,” he muttered, scratching his stubbly chin. He looked old, maybe in his seventies, his hair was a mere white poof on the top of his shining head and he wore a slight scowl, as if he had been through a tough life.

“Yeah,” Aryn said playing along. “Could you please tell us where we are? We're a bit lost.”

The man shrugged. “Well this here is the Terra Portal of Makai, better known as the Demon World,” he said. “You lot humans or something?” He laughed, as though it were a joke. The others laughed along with him, though it was laced with their nervousness. The man suddenly turned very serious as he looked at them and all laughter ceased. “Cos if you are, I'ma hafta report ya,” he said grouchily.

“Oh no,” Aryn covered quickly. “We just came back from a long vacation and we're not from around this place either so we're a bit…disoriented I guess.” The others stared at her in disbelief and amazement at how smoothly she could lie, but the man just smiled and nodded.

“Ah,” he said. “Thought I smelled trash, you best spend a few nights away from the other demons or else they might attack you thinkin yer a…a…human.” He spat the word with such disgust that the group recoiled away from him though he didn't seem to notice, too wrapped up in his own thoughts. “Well, anyway, good luck.”

The man turned and began to walk away but just as the group began to internally celebrate their success, the man suddenly fell apart, his arms, legs, torso, and head falling into a neat pile with a small clack. There was a stunned silence as the group stared at the pile of wood that was once a man.

“W-what the hell?” Mike swore. “He's…he's wood!”

“Is that some sort of demon?” Quinton said, wondering if this was merely a trick to expose them as humans.

The group backed away quickly, huddling a few feet from the pile of wooden body parts. Just as they were about to turn and run, clapping sounded and the group turned to see a young man walking toward them.

“Raphael,” Yami said. “What's going on?”

Raphael smiled, though it no longer seemed so sweet in the moonlight. “You've been fooled my dear child, you see, Raphael was my name long ago. I now am known as Iota Fujin, Master of Wind. But I see you all have managed to get here in one piece,” he said, his sweet baritone voice reverberating around them. “You also managed to outsmart my puppet, for that, I commend you all.”

Yami stepped forward, her expression of confusion and slight anger. She hated being toyed with and demanded, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Iota was no longer dressed in his jrock attire, but instead he wore a long black cloak and it blew slightly in the wind as he laughed. “Ladies and gentlemen welcome to the Demon World,” he said, spreading his arms causing his cape to flair dramatically behind him. “I've brought you all here for a reason, but that reason has yet to be discovered. It seems you all are truly worthy for what I have planned for you all. But all spiels aside, I must be off, farewell!” And then he was gone, his laughter echoing into the night.

The others looked at one another slightly dumbfounded, wondering if what had just taken place actually happened or if they were all in some distorted dream. “What do we do now?” Aryn asked, breaking the silence. “We're sort of stranded here.”

“We might as well get walking,” Yami said. “Staying here won't do anything, maybe there's a town or something where we can get shelter and food.”

“With what money?” Travis laughed.

“I have money,” Yami sniffed. “I have like…five dollars…”

“Yeah, but who knows if this world takes our currency,” Jamie pointed out.

“Well I guess we're sort of screwed then,” Mike said. “…Oh well!”

They then began to walk slowly toward the blood red moon, wondering what would happen to them.