The Dark Hour

[RobynCarole]

Shinji still had connections with the mafia. "Show me what you've got."demanded the young man, and the gentlemen behind the counter took the cigarette out of his mouth. He looked at Shinji for a moment, wondering why a high schooler needed so mny weapons. But, like all mafioso that dealed with his business, the kid swore an oath never to harm him, the great weapons dealer Yamamoto. So as long as he was safe, what did he care what this kid did with the stuff he sold...?

"I'll take that sword."asked Shinji, staring at one behind the counter. "That halberd, too."

This was another reason why Yamamoto didn't mind doing business with this kid: he usually asked for weapons nobody else wanted.

While Yamomoto thought to himself, Shinji didn't know why this adult was moving so slow. "Old man!"he adressed to the 35-year old, "What the hell are you waiting for, do you want my damn business or not?" He was getting irritated at Yamamoto for silently thinking to himself for the past five minutes.

-

Sunako flipped through channels of the tv in the lounge, with Shinji's Pikachu robot sitting next to her. He usually left it behind whenever he went to go pick up weapons from who knows where. Her favorite drama already finished and it was getting pretty late, but Sunako wanted to stay up and wait for the new roomate to arrive. She thought about putting on her "cat earphones" and listen to music, but then she might not here them knock.

"Hm...it's almost twelve."she mummbled, worried. The new guy nor Shinji hadn't arrived yet.

-

Both of the twins were sleeping soundly in their beds in the dorm.

[andy]

♫ fleance♫

Fleance's taxi stopped right infront of the dorm he was supposed to be staying at. He climbed out of the car and stared up at the four story dorm. From what it said on his welcome letter, there were only a few other kids staying here. So why was it so big?

But Fleance wasn't complaining, he liked large houses. It reminded him of home.....ah...home. Fleance pushed those emo thoughts away as he shook his head, pulling his suitcase out of the taxi. By this time, the driver had already gotten out and was opening the trunk for the rest of his luggage. It wasn't like he had a lot of clothes; it was all of his mangas really. The school he would be attending had uniforms, so it wasn't like he needed an abundant of clothes. So it gave him the perfect excuse to bring his mangas along with him.

Fleance thanked the man in the best Japanese he knew and took hold of all of his luggage, wondering how he would get all of the cases up the steps leading to the dorm's doors.

Five minutes later, all four bags were sitting on the floor infront of the door with a very tired Fleance leaning against them. He needed to work out more. That was for sure. Once he recovered, he lightly tapped on the door, suddenly feeling nervous.

♫ momo ♫

Momo watched Sunako from afar, making sure to keep out of sight. He tried not to make a sound because as far as she and that damned robot pikachu knew, he was fast asleep in his bed like the twins were. He watched silently as she flipped through the channels. With Shinji gone and the twins asleep, this was Momo's perfect chance to strike up a conversation with her.

And he was almost going to do it too!

But as soon as he cleared his throat and stepped out of his hiding place, a knock came from the door and Sunako rose to answer it.

" Damn it," He muttered, closing his eyes and dropping his head. Would the heavens ever allow him to be happy?

[RobynCarole]

Sunako felt relieved when she heard a knock on the door. She patted Pikachu on the head and rose from the couch. As she walked towards the door, the Pikachu stared down the hallway.

Oh, it may look like darkness, but Pikachu was a robot. He could see Momo and his defeated expression. "Piiiika, pika pika!"giggled the Pikachu and it jumped down from the couch and ran on all fours towards Momo. Now, you see...Pikachu loved messing up his chances at Sunako.

Sunako didn't notice Pikachu leave and answered the door. "Hello."she greeted. In front of her was an emo kid with four bags, but she didn't mind. "You must be Fleance! Come in."
-

Shinji, walking back home with a bunch of weapons hidden in his bag, noticed a change of scenery. The sky became green and the drugdealers in the corner turned into coffins. Unphased by the sudden transformation of the world into the Dark Hour, Shinji walked towards the dorm.

[andy]

♫ fleance ♫

Fleance blinked when the door opened, the sudden light hurting his eyes. Before the door had opened, the sky had been so dark. It was night time and all, but Fleance couldn't help but feel...like something was different. He was greeted by a girl at the door, his eyebrow raising. This was a co-ed dorm eh?

" Lance." He corrected her, cringing a little at the sound of his name. He was never fond of his name. It was so Shakespearean.

He picked up two of his bags and placed them inside, dragging the other two in shortly. Once in the dorm, he looked around. As he did so, he swore he could see someone in the darkness of the hall, but he convinced himself that his mind was playing tricks on him.

♫ momo ♫

Momo cursed as Shinji's pikachu came running towards him. Was that thing stupid?! He was going to get caught if Sunako saw where the pikachu was going. But to his luck, she was still busy with the door. " Get away from me!" He whispered at the pikachu, his voice full of bitterness. If it wasn't for the fact that Shinji would skin him alive, Momo would've beaten him with a hammer or atleast deactivated him. But alas, Pikachu and Shinji were connected at the hip, so it was impossible.

Before Sunako or the new kid had the chance to catch a glimpse of him, Momo silently tiptoed up the stairs, trying not to make a sound. He just prayed that Pikachu wouldn't blow his cover.

♫ kimiko ♫

Kimiko was just getting back from spending the day at her friend's house. Normally, she would walk the streets at night, but now that she was a persona user, she felt invincible. And the heavens must have been smiling on her, because just as she turned the corner, she saw Shinji ahead of her. So with her most flirtaious smile, she increased her speed until she caught up with her sempai. " Hello Shinji~," she giggled, not noticing that the world around her was slowly getting darker and more evil. Right now, Shinji was all she saw.

" I'm heading back to the dorm. Are you? If so, we should walk together."

Out of all the guys at the house, Shinji was the most attractive. Plus, he was rich and had connections in the right places. With a man like that, what could go wrong?

[RobynCarole]

"Oh, Lance then."she corrected, making a mental note to remember his nickname. "I'm Sunako."

Suddenly, the light that hurt Lance's eyes earlier went out. The entire dorm existed in darkness, and Sunako knew that it was now the Dark Hour. All electricity stop, with the exception of Pikachu, and normal people turned into coffins. "Lance?"she called, wondering if he still retained his form.

"Pika!"yelled out the robot, electric sparks coming out of his cheeks. The glow lit up almost the entire first floor, giving everyone a clear look of their surroundings. Sunako could see Lance in the illuminated room, but she had to close her eyes in order to adjust to the light. "Oh, Lance, I'm sorry about this."she apologized, rubbing her eyes. She didn't notice Momo, luckily for him.

Sunako wanted to introduce Pikachu to her new dormmate, but she had a feeling it would be wise to wait for Shinji to grant her permission to show a stranger his precious robot Pikachu. "The power will return in a bit...the longest is an hour."explained Sunako, confirming that Lance did indeed possess the 'Potential.'

"I'll just show you to your room, follow me please."

Kenji stirred a bit in his bed, waking up to some noise downstairs made by Pikachu and a knock on the door. In reality, there wasn't really any ridiculously loud sounds, but the young man had excellent hearing. Kenji could easily hear the tiptoeing coming up the stairs. Wait...tiptoeing? The green eyed boy looked over at his twin; he was fast asleep. But the atmosphere felt heavy...that could only mean...

"The Dark Hour!"he gasped, a chill crawling down his spine. Kenji immeadiately grabbed his pillow and held it like a shield. He cautiously motioned towards the door and paused once he grabed the doornob. "One..."he whispered, the steps becoming louder. "Two..."he said, twisting the knob.

"THREE!"he yelled, shoving the door open and accidently hitting whatever was walking up the stairs. "SHADOOOOW!"he cried, hitting Momo with his fluffy pillow.

"Shadow! Shadow, die!"he screamed, continiously whacking the 'Shadow' that walked up the stairs. You see, Kenji did not have his own weapon yet. That's why Shinji made a trip to a weapon specialist: to retrieve a weapon for Kenji and Fleance, in case he had the potential.

"Kenji?"

The boy immeadiately stop blindly attacking when a soft, gentle voice familiar to his ears called out to him. "S-Su-Sunako?"he stuttered, somewhat out of breath.

Kimiko appeared out of nowhere. For a moment Shinji wondered if a powerful shadow took on the guise of Kimiko to decieve him, but her giggling convinced him otherwise. "What the hell are you doing out here? It's the Dark Hour."he asked in a calm manner. He sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. Yeah, let's go."

The new weapons strapped to his back, Shinji began to head towards the dorm. "Keep up."he demanded.

[andy]

♫ fleance ♫

Lance only nodded in acknowledgement, his emo bangs falling over his eyes. He wasn't a huge talker, so he often used body movements to convey what he wanted to say. Suddenly, the lights in the door went out, making Lance look around in confusion. He heard Sunako call out his name in the darkness and he was going to answer, but he was stopped when light suddenly filled the room. But it wasn't the normal light like the ones that were on before. No. This was more like a thundershock. It surprised him. He was more interested in the strange yellow mouse then why the lights had gone out. Sadly, his attention was brought back to Sunako, the girl who answered the door when she explained that the lights would return in an hour. " Oh." Was all he said, turning back to find the pikachu, but when he did, the strange thing was gone.

" Okay." He said when Sunako mentioned his room. Though he was eager to see his new living quarters, he was even more eager to find that yellow mouse thing. What was he anyway? A dog? A mouse? Lance picked up one of his bags and followed Sunako up the stairs. He would come back for the rest later. Maybe when the lights turned on.

♫ momo ♫

Momo was almost free. He had successfully made it up the stairs without being seen; even when the dark hour happened right in the middle of it. He breathed a sigh of relief when his feet reached the top of the stairs and onto the second floor. Just as he did, he saw a spark of light from the first floor, probably Shinji's pikachu.

Hey, maybe it was useful afterall.

Momo decided to go back to his room and sleep the dark hour and the rest of the night away since it was obvious they weren't going to the tarturus tonight. But as he passed the first door of the second hallway, or better known as the twin's room, he was suddenly attacked. Not by a shadow, but by something much different. A pillow. " Ah! What the hel-" He yelled, trying to shield himself with his arms from the soft blows of the pillow. He tried to tell Kenji that it was him and not a shadow, but the kid was yelling at him to die so it was useless.

It was only when Sunako, his unlikely savior, called his name did he stop hitting him. Momo snatched the pillow away from Kenji before he had the chance to attack him again, " Jesus Kenji, stop doing these kinds of things!" He lectured. Yeah, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

He would've gone on more, but Sunako was standing right there, so he directed all of his attention on her, " U-Uh, hey, Sunako. Ah, um, is that the new guy?" He asked though it was obvious that it was.

♫ kimiko ♫

Kimiko was used to Shinji's apprehensiveness so his cold words did not effect her. She just kept the same happy smile on her face, " Okay~" To her, Shinji was like a chestnut. She just needed to crack his outer shell to get to the good part inside. And since she was just waiting to graduate, which was a while away, she had nothing but time on her hands. This way, if she managed to get him to like her before graduation, they would be able to create a life together afterwards. And with Shinji came money!

On their way to the dorm, Kimiko finally noticed the changed around her. " Ohhhhh~" she whistled, holder her hands behind her back, " Do you think the new guy is like us?"

♫ hikaru ♫

Hikaru was fast asleep in his room.

[RobynCarole]

"MICHAEL, WHERE ARE MY TEA AND BISCUITS?"

That yell echoed throughout the Velvet Room and Michael almost dropped the tray in his hands. He kicked open the door and powerwalked over to Milton. "Here you are Master."he smiled, placing the tray down on the table.

"Thank you."replied Milton, his voice back to normal. He took a sip a smiled, satisfied with the taste of the tea. "Ah, as wonderful as always."

With his hand over his heart, Michael bowed. "Such a compliment is wasted on me, Master."he answered, his eyes still glued to the ground. Milton turned in his seat and chuckled, placing his finger underneath Michael's chin. He lifted up the man's face, their eyes locking. "Nonsense. A good master should compliment a good servant. Am I right, Michael?"asked Milton.

"Well, you aren't wrong."replied Michael, straightening his back. Now standing over Milton, Michael smiled. "Do you need anything else?"

"The next chance you have, summon our next guest."



Shinji didn't even look at Kimiko. "Probably, Jonathon doesn't like normal people taking up space in the dorm."he said. Shinji normally didn't call adults by their first name, but Jonathon's last name Takeba was waaaay too close to Takaba. Takaba was the name of his homeroom teacher; Shinji hated all teachers.

A sudden sound in the distance made Shinji stop walking and glance around his surroundings with caution. He didn't see anything, but he warned Kimiko anyways.

"Did you hear that? Get over here and stay close to me."



"Yes."she replied, wondering what had happened. She decided to ask later and turned to Lance instead. "This is Momo."she introduced with a friendly smile. "And the one with the pillow is Kenji. It might be hard to see them right now..."

As she said those words, Pikachu ran up the stairs on all fours. "CHU!"he cried, lighting up the second floor.

"Oh, well, thank you Pikachu!"she thanked as she walked to the end of the hallways. Sunako looked back towards the three boys near the stairs. "This is your room, Lance."she informed, her finger on his nameplate.



Kenji felt relieved that the thing he attacked was actually Momo and not a shadow. Or Shinji. "I-I'm sorry!"

Kenji looked back up at Momo, tears about to form in his green eyes. His nose felt stuffy and he truly felt bad for his actions. "Please forgive me!"he pleaded. He felt extra scared because last time this occured, the one Kenji attacked was Shinji. Kenji was scarred for life now. "I'M SORRY, SORRY, SORRY SORRY, SORR-"

whack

"Calm down, Kenji."

The sleepy Sousuke had stumbled out of their room with stealth and smacked his twin over the head. Then he grabbed his twin's hand and pulled his brother close to him. "It's okay, brother, nothing here will harm you."he soothed, Kenji's face buried in Sousuke's chest. Sousuke was actually half asleep at the moment, but he did this all the time because when they were little Kenji had frequent nightmares. Kenji hugged his brother for a moment before pulling away, silently thanking him. They were still holding hands.

"Uh-huh, now go to Hikaru's room for the rest of the night."suggested Sousuke, who didn't even wait for Kenji to reply. He opened Hikaru's room and literally shoved him in there before shutting the door. Sousuke was probably the only person who noticed that Kenji always slept soundly whenever he was with Hikaru. Now fully awake, Sousuke looked over at the unfamiliar person in the hallway.

"I'm sorry you had to see this."

[andy]

♫ fleance ♫

Lance squinted in the darkness. He could make out two bodies infront of him. One was holding a pillow and the other looked...kinda frightened. He wasn't paying attention earlier, so he didn't know that Momo had almost been beaten to death with a pillow. " Oh." He nodded, though he couldn't see their faces.

And as if it was summoned, the strange yellow mouse appeared, lighting up the second floor like it did the first. Again, Lance was more interested in the robot then the members of the dorm. Because of this, he didn't witness the brotherly love happening before him and kept his eye solely on Pikachu. When Sousuke talked to him, Lance looked up and blinked. " You weren't blonde a minute ago." He stated the obvious, oblivious to the switch that had happened with the twins.

He followed Sunako to his room and bowed formally, " Thank you."

♫ momo ♫

Momo on the other hand was very much aware of what was going on. He said, " Nice to meet you," As politely as he could to the new guy, but was ignored. The damn kid was looking at the Pikachu instead of him! Damn punk! But Momo kept the smile on his face because Sunako was still in the room. He opened his mouth to talk to her, but was interrupted by idiot twin number one;

" I-I'm sorry! Please forgive me! I'M SORRY, SORRY, SORRY SORRY, SORR-"

If Sousuke hadn't appeared when he did and whacked Kenji on the head, Momo believed that he would've done it if Kenji had continued. But this way was better. This way, he didn't have to suffer the wrath of Sousuke for hurting his precious brother. It seemed like Kenji was very well liked in this place....of course he had Sousuke, his twin, and Hikaru, his boyfriend, but the kid seemed well liked by everyone else in the dorm. Except for Shinji and himself, for they had both been victims of his vicious pillow attacks.

Sighing, Momo rubbed his forehead, " Eh, this is too much. It's way to late anyway, we have school in the morning." And with that, Momo walked to his room that was on the other side of the twin's room and opened it, bidding Sousuke, Sunako and the new kid goodnight.

♫ kimiko ♫

Kimiko did not have as good as hearing as Shinji but trusted his words. She was not usually so helpless in these kinds of situations, but she would jump at any chances given to her to get close to Shinji. " Do you think it's one of them?" She asked, keeping her voice low. She took hold of Shinji's sleeve and pressed her body against it, " What if it's one of the big ones? There is only two of us! Could we beat them?"

Hell yeah she was gonna play the damsel in distress in a time like this. Shinji could be her knight in shining armor anyday!

♫ hikaru ♫

Hikaru was sleeping soundly in his bed until he heard his door open. Almost immediately, his eyes shot open, but he didn't sit up. If it was a rapist, he would wait until he came closer so he could take him down with the element of surprise. But then again, if it was a murderer, an immediate attack would be best. But as he contemplated different strategies to killing whoever just entered his room, he recognized the useless sniffling that was coming from the person. With a deep sigh, Hikaru sat up and rubbed his eyes. The room was dark, but because of the dark hour, everything had a green tinge, making it easier to see things. But he did not need this to know who the person was in his room. No one ever came in his room apart from that one person.

" Did you have a nightmare again?" He asked Kenji softly, moving over to make room in his bed. Just like Sousuke, he was used to Kenji coming into his room at different hours of the night. He pushed back the cover and motioned for Kenji to join him, " C'mon, you'll get cold just standing there."

[RobynCarole]

Kenji slowly slipped into Hikaru's bed, nuzzling up close to him. "No nightmare this time..."he said softly, happily gazing into his love's eyes. He spoke with a sweet voice, almost like a cute...I don't know but Kenji's tone of voice sounded adorable. He had a strange affect on people sometimes; if you just looked at him, you get the feeling you get when you see puppies doing something cute. This usually doesn't happen to straight guys like Shinji and Momo, unfortunately. "I woke up to quiet footsteps coming up the stairs and assumed it was a shadow. So, I grabbed my pillow and attacked it but it was just Momo."he whispered. Kenji's smile could be seen through the darkness and his voice started to become a little louder. "I panicked because I remembered how angry Shinji became when I beat him with the pillow. But! Brother helped me and told me to be with you~~ ♥"

♥♥♥♥♥

Sunako smiled and bid Lance goodnight before she shut the door to his room. "I hope he sleeps alright, he must have had a rough day." He was scheduled to arrive hours ago, but Sunako figured there must have been a delay or something. She smiled and was about to go back to her room when she remembered Momo. "Oh!"she gasped, walking over to his door. "Momo?"she knocked softly, as to not disturb the other males on the floor. Sunako wanted to make sure he didn't get hurt or anything; you never know...a feather sticking out of the pillow sometimes hurt if it scratched your skin. "Hmmm...maybe he went to sleep already."she concluded after only a few seconds. Sunako shrugged her shoulders and began walking back downstairs to wait for Shinji. Pikachu probably went back downstairs.

♥♥♥♥♥

PIKACHU WAS NOT DOWNSTAIRS.

The sneaky robot was in Momo's room. He slipped inside when Momo had opened the door like a stealthy ninja. "Pika!"he called out to Momo happily. Pikachu was sitting on a notebook that belonged to Momo. He glanced down for a moment, able to see normally even though it was the Dark Hour, and flipped open the cover. "Pikachu! Pikapika~!" For some reason, Pikachu was laughing at the teen.

♥♥♥♥♥

Shinji nodded and used his free arm to dig through his pocket. He pulled out a remote with a design of a small lightning bolt marked at the top. "I have a plan in case we end up in deep shit."he reassured calmly, staring at the device. "One of us will need to press the red button in the top right corner of this remote. Pikachu's cheeks will light up and he'll alert the others to get over here."

A large thud caught Shinji's attention and he turned his head to the right, spotting nothing. He turned to the left but still saw nothing. "Hmm...Kimiko, do you have your weapon and evoker with you?"he asked.

[andy]

♫ hikaru ♫

Hikaru felt the bed incline when Kenji got in and he placed the blanket over his body. He didn't normally like Kenji in his bed because it would get too hot with both of them in there, especially in summer, but he made exceptions when Kenji had nightmares or whenever he asked him. Hikaru found it hard to say no to Kenji sometimes. It was if he had a spell on him or something. Hikaru pushed the covers off him but left them on Kenji, propping his head in his hand, his body turned sideways," I see." He smiled in the darkness, brushing his fingers through Kenji's black hair, " At least it wasn't Shinji this time." He had warned Kenji about being so brash about things, but it seemed like his words had gone to waste.

" Ah, we have school tomorrow so get some sleep. You'll be tired in the morning." He patted his head affectionately, laying back into the bed. Hikaru hadn't realized that it was the dark hour because his attention had all been on Kenji, but something in the back of his mind told him to be careful. " Goodnight Kenji,"

♫ fleance ♫

Once in the safety of his own room, Lance looked around. The lights were still out so he couldn't examine his room properly. But from what he could see, there was just a bed, a desk, and a bookshelf. Pretty simple. Plain. But he liked it. Back at home in England, he lived in a giant mansion, but his room was kind of like this one. It made him feel like home. Making his way through the darkened room, Lance reached his bed without hurting himself and sat down, taking a deep sigh. He had heard the guy in the hallway say that there was school the next morning, so sleep seemed like the best choice. Lance shrugged out of his jacket and placed it onto of his suitcase. He would get the other two that were downstairs later. He didn't want to heave them up the stairs in the darkness.

Still wearing his shirt and pants, Lance settled down in his bed and closed his eyes. His Ipod was never too far from him and just happened to be in his pocket, so he turned it on and put in his headphones. The first song was a rap song. Lance might not look it, but he enjoyed all ranges of music. He closed his eyes and prepared for sleep.

♫ momo ♫

Because Momo wasn't paying attention, he didn't notice Pikachu entering his room. He had gotten dressed with his back turned to the robot so seeing it was impossible. He also had headphone in and was listening to music, thus he couldn't hear Pikachu either. Also because of this, he did not hear Sunako when she knocked on his door. Momo laid there listening to Lady Gaga's 'bad romance', moving his foot back and forth to the rhythm. When the song ended, he was just about to close his eyes when he heard something move around in his room. Instantly on guard, Momo sat up and clenched his fists, ready to punch out a shadow if it got near him. But to his surprise, the rustling was coming from the floor. He peaked over his bed, ready to find a shadow waiting there, but found Pikachu instead. And the reason for the rustling was there too. The damn thing was looking through his journal!! He had been in math class, not paying attention, and had written Sunako's name over and over again, sometimes with hearts, sometimes with stars surrounding her name.

" Damn pest!" He yelled, reaching down and grabbing Pikachu by the tail. " I'll teach you a lesson once and for all!" He got out of bed and stomped to the window, still holding the robot by the tail. He managed to open the window with one hand and held Pikachu outside of it, dangling in the air two stories high. " Yeah, don't like that, do you?" He snickered, shaking his hand to make Pikachu sway in the air.

♫ kimiko ♫

Kimiko looked down at the remote, wondering what it was for. The top looked like Pikachu's tail, so she assumed the two were connected. Trust Shinji to be two steps ahead of everyone else! Her assumptions were right as he explained what it was for, " O-okay."

Kimiko jumped a little when a sound came from their right, her head immediately snapping to the side to see what had caused it. But nothing was there. Her grip on Shinji's sleeve tightened, " I don't have my weapon, but i have my evoker..." she said uncertainly, not a hundred present sure if she had brought it with her or not.