Stinging Beauty

So, this is it. The lead-up to the finale. Here, we step up the pace one last time as A-Ha guides us through the battle with Take on me.

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82. Beyond the treasures found

He wasn't sure what he was looking at.
Actually, he was perfectly certain what he saw, it was just that his mind was refusing to accept it.
Their bathroom.
Not the one adjunct to their bedroom, but the large, onsen-styled bathhouse just behind their mansion's left wing.
A chill, a cold he had never known, ran down his back and ensnared his heart.
His breathing stopped, as he flipped the postcard over and read, in the all to familliar handwriting:
'You do have a nice house.'
Katsuya was out the door before the card had made its way onto the laminated floor.

We're talking away
I don't know what I'm to say
I'll say it anyway
Today's another day to find you
Shying away
I'll be coming for your love, OK?

„Mokuba, are you ready?“ called Seto, as he walked into the main hall, searching for his brother. Who came boistering down the stairs, semi-casually dressed in a blue shirt, black slacks and fitting oxfords, notebook and files safely tucked away in a briefcase.
„On my way out, nii-san, the council meeting's at six thirty. You got the permit from the health board?“
Seto merely smirked, setting his own filecase on the sideboard ruling the left side of the entrance, meeting up with his brother at the end of the stairs.
„Please, who do you take me for? I even donned my old duster, just for the occasion.“
His otoutou merely tilted a brow.
„Ne, onii-san, you know what Katsu-nii thinks about it.“
The CEO merely rolled his eyes.
Opening his mouth for a smart reply...
The world around them shook, before the cacophonic blast of the explosion blanked out their senses.

Take on me (take on me)
Take me on (take on me)
I'll be gone
In a day or two

He didn't care.
So far, he had cut about half a dozen priorities, got flashed twice and run over seven or eight(wo was counting, really?)red lights, as he forced his tiny Mitsubishi to go ever faster.
Behind him, he heard sirens, the police, most likely, but he didn't care.
If anything, he was glad, because they would surely alarm the firebrigade or paramedics.
Maltreating the engine, he swerved into the little road shortcutting through the forests to their home.

So needless to say
I'm odds and ends
But I'll be stumbling away
Slowly learning that life is ok
Say after me
It's no better to be safe than sorry

Mokuba coughed, even as a pained groan drew his attention.
Lying on his back, Seto tried to rise, but merely managed to turn on his side.
Everything was filled with smoke and dust; debris cluttering the entire floor, even as more coating and paint and limestone came raining down upon them.
The raven-haired teenager crawled over to his ani, shaking him none too gently.
Who snapped his azure eyes wide open and, drawing a deep breath -which was immediately followed by hacking and wheezing -got up on all fours.
Mokuba helped him up, yelling,
„What on earth was that?“
Seto, still trying to get the tingling out of his ears, growled,
„A bomb. Somebody just blew up our poolhouse. And considering the damage to the main house, it was a rather large deto..nation...“
The smell came first; a thick, putrid odour of fire and concrete.
And then they heard the roar.

Take on me (take on me)
Take me on (take on me)
I'll be gone
In a day or two

The narrow forest path had been a bad idea.
Katsuya swore and cursed under his breath, as his trusty car rolled and bucked and jolted through the dark green canopy.
Several times he had tried to reach the fire department, but to no avail.
After being put on hold for the third time, he tried again with either one of his family, with Isono, just to have the same, impersonal voice tell him each time, that 'the person you
called, can not be reached'.
Frustrated, Katsuya crushed the cell phone in his palm, before throwing it on the floor.

Oh, things that you say
Is it a life or just to play
my worries away
You're all the things I've got to remember
You're shying away
I'll be coming for you anyway

Smoke, ashes, splinters, sparks and ember wafted into the hall, immediately showering the two brothers with a fatal cloud of hot fallout.
Again, Seto searched for his brother, simultaneously looking for an escape route.
And then the fire reached the hall.

Take on me (take on me)
Take me on (take on me)
I'll be gone
In a day
or two

Katsuya shot out the woods like the proverbial cat out of hell, forcing his car to take the curve with maddening speed and just barely avoiding running himself off the street. The shortcut had bought him about ten minutes; now he raced up the entrance to the freeway.
If all went well, he would be home within the next three to five minutes.

Take on me (take on me)
Take me on (take on me)
I'll be gone
In a day

It was Mokuba, who heard it first, but Seto glimpsed it out of the corner of his eye.
Slowly, majestic, one of the cedar pilars turned on its place where it adorned and complimented the wide marble stairs.
And Seto reacted without thinking, when the red-and gold shimmering pole descended towards them.
Mokuba felt himself grabbed, lifted off the floor and flung aside, even as the column breezed past him.
He heard Seto scream
„Run!“
a split-second before the pilar finally touched ground and plunged his reality into chaos.

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And so, we return to the beginning. And the end. There is but one more chapter to go, as well as the epilogue.