Hours.

He had been searching for hours. It was well into morning by the time he stopped, panting for breath after running and leaping from roof top to roof top all night long. It must have been hours, and he must have done an impossible amount of laps around the city, looping everywhere he could think of, in search of her. He strained for every aura he could feel, and he followed any lead, even the ones he knew could not be Painite or Navi, but nothing came up as the right people. He could not find them, and it wore on him as the hours went by, though it did not stop his relentless searching.

Watching the sun rise over the city, though, he finally stopped and took a slow breath, realizing how tired, how ragged he had run himself. He was making no progress, and he needed to give up for now, get some help, or find his father and talk to him. Talk, right. That was probably not the right word for it.

Chaonis was furious with his dad, with Camelot, for lying. He was absolutely certain that was what had happened. Camelot, the noble, the brave: the knight who could do no wrong. He must have saw Chaonis so close to killing someone, and stopped him for the sake of his ideals, not for the sake of his son. He shooed Chaonis off and took Painite. Whatever he had done, it was not what he said: he did not kill her. He did not take the problem that plagued them out of the world. No doubt he had talked to her, made her promise not to harm anyone ever again, and sent her on her way, reformed and clearly no longer a threat because she said so. He would have felt so proud of himself, so smug, to have ended the problem without spilling any blood. But not proud enough to tell the truth, to let those that needed to know hear that their nightmare was still out there, still perfectly able to hurt and maim and kill.

Camelot was a fool.

He believed he could end a war with peace. By making everyone tell one another they were friends and that they could all get along despite their differences. He thought any one that was exposed to Chaos could be cured of it, could be brought back to the ‘good’ side without any problems, without any complications, and that was somehow what everyone wanted. No one was evil, because they were just being corrupted by the Chaos in their starseeds.

Chaonis saw things similarly, but with one vital difference. He knew that there were those that made their decisions not because Chaos told them to, but because they were just evil. They could not be saved, they did not want to be, and for that part did not see being purified or freed of chaos as being saved at all. They saw Chaos as their salvation, their purpose, and their only master: they saw turmoil and horror and suffering as delights, and things that they bent themselves to cause. To thrive in and relish all the screams and tears they dragged out of their pitiful, helpless targets. That was what Painite was. Nothing short of a monster, and no different from the Youma they dusted, just because she could form full sentences and pretend to be human. She had no heart, no soul, and nothing worth saving.

It was Camelot’s fault that she was still a problem for them. His fault that she had now been able to come back, to take Navi from Chaonis, and possibly already have killed her. Why could he not find them? Where were their auras? Were they somewhere else, in the Negaverse or somewhere he could not access? Or were they both powered down? Did Painite do something to Navi, to make her lose her aura?

Or the worst answer, but the most possible… the one he feared the most and felt was screaming at him as the correct one the entire time. Was she already dead?

Painite wanted only to hurt them. She had not stuck around to fight with Chaonis, after all, and considering the terrible fight they had before, she had plenty of reasons to want to pay him back. But her brain did not equate an eye for an eye. She wanted more than that: she wanted to take from him the one thing that meant the most in the whole world, and there was no doubt in his mind that she would make Navi suffer for simply loving Chaonis. Whatever was happening or had happened, Chaonis knew that Navi was in pain and she was scared, and that she needed him while he was here, floundering around uselessly because he could not think where to find them.

How could they have just disappeared? How far did Painite go? He needed to find them, and he forced himself beyond his exhaustion into another lap around the city, leaping from roof top to roof top, but slowing in his hunt. He missed a few of his landings, scrambling up the side of a roof after barely catching on to the ledge, and once landing awkwardly on his ankles and spilling forward, having to roll to avoid smashing his face on the roof top. He was not going to stop, though, not until he found Navi, and destroyed Painite once and for all.

Like Camelot should have done, like he said he did.

Anger was fueling him now, the more desperate he got in his search, and the more mistakes he made. He got more and more furious, slamming his fists down into a roof after falling one more time and scuffing the pads on his knees, his fists connecting with the roofing hard enough to cause a large dent and split long cracks in it. He leaped from the roof before anyone inside the building, an office of some sort, came upstairs to investigate the thump.

With the sun rising up over the city, he knew he would have to call his search to an end for now, at least from the roofs and by leaping around. People would be getting up, starting their day and spilling out into the streets to mill about uselessly, shop and obliviously live their lives as if there was not something horribly wrong with this place. He shook his head, leaping from the roof and down to the street below, landing and taking stock of where he was. He drew a breath and cast his gaze around the sidewalk, looking at the buildings from this new angle and realizing he was near the library.

His dad would just be arriving there for work. He probably already had the front doors unlocked, but the roof was always open, anyway, for any powered person that needed to find him. He was nothing if not a trusting fool. Chaonis growled, deciding now was as good a time as ever to go and talk to his father, and he opted to climb up to the rooftops one more time, hauling himself over the rail and flopping down onto the roof for a long moment, laying on his back and staring up at the sky as he panted for breath before forcing himself to his feet and letting his anger force his feet into action.

He entered the door that led down a stairwell into the library, coming out on the third floor. The lights up here were not on yet, which told him that the library must not have been officially opened. He was not sure of the time, exactly, but it hardly mattered. If there were people in there or not, he did not care. He knew Tony had removed the cameras, so there was no real security system to worry about. It was a library, after all, and one run by a Royal Knight to boot. What kind of trouble could they really have?

He moved down to the second floor, and here he found Tony at work. The two dogs were no where to be seen, and Chaonis assumed that was because they were down in the office on the first floor, behind the front desk, probably sleeping or eating their breakfast and staying out of trouble. Tony always walked the dogs to work and walked them home, and they were common sights at the library these days. It just encouraged people to visit not for the books, but to pet the corgis, but it hardly mattered to Tony. Any means to an end, Chaonis supposed, and it did get feet in the door. Maybe that was all Tony wanted: to feel like he was doing something. To give himself the illusion of success.

“Power up.”

Chaonis’ voice cut the silence of the empty library and Tony nearly jumped out of his skin, letting out a yelp and straightening up from the pile of books he was fussing over. He seemed to be reorganizing one of the shelves, though Chaonis did not really care what Tony was doing, or what he was interrupting. The library would survive for a few more moments: there was no telling if Navi would.

Tony was shocked to see Chaonis standing there, looking like hell. He was dirty and scuffed, and he looked like he had been awake all night, from the dark circles under his red eyes. There was clearly something wrong with him: Tony had never seen him looking so bad, even at home after a fight. Now that he knew that Chaonis was his son, it was all too easy to recognize him, even when powered, and he could only see the pain and trouble on his son’s face. It immediately shifted him into paternal mode, and he took a few steps toward Chaonis, heart in his throat as he struggled not to let his mind run through all the possible reasons for this appearance.

“What? What’s going on, Chaonis?” He was careful not to say Nathan’s name while he was powered up, though it was terrifying in itself that Nate had come looking for him here, of all places, and was exercising no caution whatsoever. True enough, the library was not open to the public yet, but still. This was very out of the ordinary, and only served to fry Tony’s nerves further. Something terrible was going on here, and he needed to know what. “Are you alright? What’s happened?”

“I told you to power up,” Chaonis said again, but his tone was even and dangerous. Tony paused, catching the barb in the order, and hesitated. He stood tall, frowning at his son thoughtfully, but carefully. Now he could see the tension in Chaonis’ body, the way he was holding himself. His hands were clenched into tight balls, knuckles white and his hands shaking, trembling, at his side. His eyes were dark and filled with pain and fury.

“Why?” he asked cautiously, holding his ground, but getting a sinking, icy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Because I’m going to hit you, and I don’t want to kill you.”

Tony drew back in surprise, shaking his head and forcing a very theatrical laugh of disbelief out, just to make himself feel better. But the threat was there, and he knew, without saying so, that Chaonis was oddly serious about his words. Tony just did not understand where all of this anger was coming from and why it was suddenly geared at him: after all, the two of them were getting along rather well these days. They were a good team.

Except right now.

“I’m not powering up, and you’re not going to hit me. Calm down,” he said, drawing on his authoritative father voice, “and tell me what is going on. What’s happened?”

Chaonis growled and charged. He was not in the mood to be ordered around, and had no respect for the man standing in front of him. He was not going to be ordered around by a father that left him and the people he cared about in danger. He pulled his fist back and swung without thinking, shutting his eyes tightly as he did so and letting out a scream of frustration and pain, inarticulate but it had to be enough to say what he needed to say. He slammed his fist into the side of Tony’s face, though he knew that he had held back. Without wanting to, as angry as he was, he still could not risk killing his own father. Hurting him seriously, on the other hand, did not seem to cross his mind.

Tony was sent sprawling, slamming into a bookshelf and uprooting it, knocking it, and the one behind it, over. The domino effect ended up there, though, the bookcases rather sturdy after the remodel not too long ago. It would save a lot of work later, though it was still a lot of fallen, broken and bent books to contend with. Not that Tony was concerned with any of that at the moment. He was laying on top of the bookshelf, temple split open and blood running down his face from near his eye. He was barely conscious, his body pained from head to toe. He felt himself being hauled up, though the world span in an uncomfortable way as he was oriented upright. Opening one eye, the one not currently swelling up, he blearily saw Chaonis’ furious face, and felt the tight grip of two fists clinging to the front of his now rather ruined jacket.

He had no choice. Summoning his shield, Tony powered up. He was not able to take a lower form than that of the Royal Knight, so his massive aura burst into existence as he called his power to him, giving Chaonis a bit of a headrush, standing so close to it. He lost his grip on the cloth he had been clinging to, the outfit replaced by armor that did not lend itself to manhandling. Strength rushed through him, steadying him and giving him a bit more clarity, though the injury he had taken remained, and left him dazed and disoriented. Camelot shoved Chaonis back from him before the younger Darrow could take another swing at him, now that he would be comfortable with not holding back.

A Royal Knight could take a beating, right?

“What is wrong with you?!” Camelot asked coarsely, stumbling back and tripping over some of the fallen books and the downed shelf. He stumbled to his knee, but caught himself as best he could and pushing his body back upright as soon as he could. He needed to treat Chaonis like any other enemy at this point, and not leave him any openings for attack. It would just be too dangerous at this point, and considering Chaonis was the Senshi of Danger, Camelot needed to be on his toes. He knew what his son’s magic could do, after all, and did not want the whole library being reduced to rubble from this fight that he did not even know why was happening.

“You let her get taken! You let her live! You lied to me, to all of us! You coward!” Chaonis began to scream, barely in control of the words spewing out of his mouth, his anger and pain overwhelming him as he thought about Navi, and the danger Camelot had left her in. What she might be suffering right then, while the two of them argued, but he could not stop himself from this fight. He had to take the blame out on someone, and Camelot deserved it. Camelot was the one to blame. If he had only been the knight he pretended he was, none of this would have happened. If Chaonis had been a man and done what he needed to, if he had not needed his daddy to run in and help, then none of this would mattered. Navi would be safe, and there would be no doubt about the future.

“What?! Who was taken? Calm down and explain!” Camelot yelped, lifting his arms up to block another swing from Chaonis. He launched a series of attacks now, the younger Darrow, and was not holding back. He was also not focusing like a real fight, just swinging because he desperately wanted to cause pain. Camelot lashed out after a moment, but not to attack, just grabbing Chaonis by one arm and yanking him around, kicking his leg out from under him and bringing them both down to the ground, Camelot on top of Chaonis, pinning him down to keep him from lashing out in his wild attacks.

Chaonis let out another furious scream, struggling with all his might.

“You know what! You lied! You let her live, you idiot! You let her ******** live! She came back, and she took Navi! I can’t find them, but I know she’s going to kill her if I don’t! And it’s your fault! You said you would protect her! You promised me!”

Camelot listened as intently as he could, dazed but sobering up as the words sank in. He could put together the missing pieces of information, but it did little to help clear his confusion. If anything, it only gave him more questions, coupled with a terrible pain in his gut and a stab of icy anxiety. There was no one else he could be talking about, that would cause him to break down in such a way. Painite. She had somehow survived Camelot’s attack, and recovered from the injuries he was sure he left her with enough to launch a new revenge plot. She took Navi hostage? It was too much to bear, and Camelot felt the weight of guilt on his shoulders immediately, though not for the reason his son seemed to think.

As far as Camelot knew, he had killed Painite. It was not for lack of trying that she managed to survive. He found her, crumpled and broken following her fight with Chaonis, and he did what he thought was right to finish the job. He took his shield, and the power given to him as a Royal Knight, and smashed his shield down on her back. The crushing force should have killed her, and he was certain of it as he walked away from her and her power faded. She became human, after all: her aura vanished and he thought she was finished. It had not been an easy night for him, and he had carried that guilt with him as seriously as he now faced the reality of his failure. He had done his best, done something incredibly difficult for him, that went against his own beliefs, in an effort to protect his family. And he failed.

“I killed her, Chaonis,” Camelot said, shaking his head and moving back, letting the younger man scramble away from him and get to his feet. Camelot remained on his knees, head bowed as he stared at the ground. He was in a state of shock, in many degrees, blood dripping from his forehead and splattering on the ground slowly. His eyes locked on that movement, as simple as it was, his brain struggling to keep up with the various assaults he had suddenly been under. Emotionally and physically. “I saw her die, I swear it. If she survived, it was by a string. I don’t know how she could have… if anything, her back would be shattered. Chaonis, I swear. I would never lie to you about something like that, how can you think such a thing?”

“She’s been kidnapped! Navi is going to get killed because Painite’s alive. I thought you… you let her live because you wanted her to reform. I…” Chaonis sat down heavily in front of his dad, crosslegged with his hands in his lap. He watched his father, who looked up at him, and shook his head slowly.

“I thought you let her go… she took Navi from my arms. They vanished. I don’t know where they are.”

Camelot could not blame Chaonis for his emotional response. He always had a lot of trouble with his emotions, and now that he had invested in something as intense and overwhelming as love, he could hardly be blamed for wanting to fight for it. Unfortunately, he had leaped to the worst possible conclusion and followed through with it without really asking any questions, leaving Camelot with a huge mess to clean up and a rather serious headache, but his instincts were not to be angry or yell at Chaonis for it. There would be time for talking about everything and sorting those details out later. First: they had something very serious to focus on.

“Painite kidnapped Navi? I don’t think she’s dead, not yet, Chaonis. We’ll find her. Painite wants to pay us both back for what we did to her, I have no doubt about that. That’s what she’s always been like. She would not waste her ticket. I know that’s not comforting, but Navi is important to her plans. You have to believe that she’s alive right now.”

“Okay,” Chaonis said quietly, taking a slow breath. He nodded his head and repeated himself, with a bit more conviction as he frowned and clenched his fingers together in a tight fist again. “Okay.”

With a groan of pain, Camelot got to his feet, wobbling a bit and Chaonis moved to support him. He shook his head, patting his son on the shoulder lightly.

“I’m fine. You sure do hit hard. Save that energy for Painite next time though, alright?”

“Yeah… I’m… I’m sor…”

“Don’t worry about it now. We need to find some allies to help us search. I’ll go home to tell Shalott, and I’ll join you. I know you’ve probably already looked, but we’re going to have to be thorough. Chances are, she is not in the city, and if we are extremely unlucky, not even in this dimension. If she’s gone to the Negaverse or a space we cannot access, then we’re not going to find her. But that’s not how Painite works. She wants us to find them, but she doesn’t want it to be easy. So we’ll have to be prepared, and find her trap for what it is. Whatever’s waiting, we need to be ready for it. Do you understand?” Camelot spoke quietly, but with urgent seriousness that made Chaonis listen. He noticed, for the first time, the kind of authority his Royal Knight father could command when he needed to.

“I understand. I don’t have many friends, but I’ll see who I can get.”

It didn’t matter. He would recruit anyone he could possibly find to help him in the search, whether he knew them or not. It did not matter to him: they were all on the same side, after all, and that had to mean something when they were in need, right? Chaonis had to hope there were others out there brave enough to join in without really knowing what was going on, just because there was someone that needed help.

Camelot was going to have a lot of explaining to do when he spoke to his wife, first about his injuries and then about the issues at hand. She, too, thought he had killed Painite, and that was hard enough to deal with. Things were spiraling out of control, but they had to stay strong and face them as a team. Alone, Painite would pick them apart, but hopefully, together, they would be able to rescue Navi, and bring everyone home safely.

And this time, Camelot would finish the job the way it was meant to be done. He had not offered her much of a choice back then, and now he would have to hold firm to his new convictions. She needed to be stopped, and if the only way to do that was to do so permanently then that was what Camelot would do. Again. Except he would make double sure she was well and truly gone this time, when it came to it.

For his family, and anyone else forced to deal with her terror. For his son, and for Navi.