“Hakuba!”
This was a nightmare. It had to be. There was no other way to explain it – not the shadow, not the way Hakuba’s hand had just gone through his throat like it wasn’t even there – and Kaito just wanted to wake up, to have the horrified panic and pure fear pulsing through him wash away in place of hope and relieved laughter.
He wanted to pinch himself, but he knew it wouldn’t break this nightmarish reality, no matter how much he wanted and needed it to. Why was this happening?
Moving as quickly as his body allowed him to, he grabbed for one of the remaining fireworks, lit it up, then threw himself towards the shadow’s visible limbs, shoving the burning wick into the bubbling mass of darkness. He didn’t know if it would be enough to get rid of the damn thing entirely – actually, previous tries had proven that it wouldn’t be enough, no matter how much he hoped for it to be – but, hopefully, it would be enough to make the damn thing let go of the detective.
A nightmare.
A nightmare he brought here.
He never should have opened that damn box.
The shadow grasped tightly around the blonde’s neck, the look of fear and panic feeding its lust. The desire to strangle the very life slowly and painfully out of the victim in its grasp.
Then there was a loud shriek, the sudden light of the fireworks that had escaped its notice before burned the shadowy mass and melted it away as it growled and hissed; retreating into the darkness of a nearby shadow and disappearing from their field of vision. Though is dark presence still lingered, filling the room with a sickening atmosphere.
Slowly the room started to fill with a dark but thin mist, seeping into the furniture and hanging in the air like an almost unseeable smog.
In the wake of fiery pain and the terrifying inability to breathe, Hakuba did little but gasp when the shadowy hands were finally removed. At least for four or five seconds, eyes wide and staring at the ceiling overhead. The moment that his mind processed that he could, again, successfully pull oxygen into his lungs, he scrambled to sit up and throw himself at Kaito, arms reaching to wrap around his shoulders in a panic.
“What-” gasp “-the bloody-” wheeze “-fucking HELL?!”
He saw the marks on Kaito’s neck, the matching set on his own throat still stinging from the attack. It struck him, then, that as much as he wanted to bury his face against the other boy’s shoulder, whatever that thing had been was probably still lurking. He turned his head, eyes wide again, searching the area immediately around them, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. Alas, his vision clouded as the dark dog settled in.