HP: The Arcane Thief
chapter-144

Meanwhile, In Hogwarts:

Bellatrix Black, along with the professors, stood in an abandoned corridor, looking at a specific classroom.

"Skimpy, are you sure Axel used to sleep here?" Asked Professor Mcgonagall.

Bellatrix slowly walked into the room. It was completely destroyed. Holes and craters marred the ground, the columns were broken, and tables and chairs were overturned with their feet snapped like twigs. "What happened here?" She asked.

The professor looked at each other, hesitating to answer. Bellatrix raised her eyebrows. "I asked, what the hell happened here?!" She asked, her annoyance apparent.

"Well, it happened on the night of Halloween two years ago. A troll somehow barged into the castle. By the time we got here, the room was already like this... and the troll was dead," explained Flitwick.

Bellatrix looked ballistic.

"Night of Halloween?! So Professor, are you telling me that he might have been here when the troll got in?"

The professors were silent, but that did seem to be the case. They never did find out who killed the troll.

Bellatrix felt her heart throb upon thinking of Axel's circumstances. Having to sleep all alone in such a haunted corridor, and then a troll barging into his room in the middle of night. And all this was still back when he wasn't healed.

"Does no one have any idea where he currently might be?" She asked, getting no answer.

Bellatrix gritted her teeth, There was no choice anymore. "Launch a search. And if anyone finds him, report to me immediately." This might also alert the kraken into taking action, but she feared it might already be too late.

And thus, a school-wide Hunt for Axel Hunt was launched, causing a commotion.

Since the students were grounded under curfews, the Hogwarts forum was abuzz with activity.

HufflePuffin:

"Hey, anyone seen Axel today?"

GhostlyGwen:

"I wish. I haven't seen him in two days."

WandnWine:

"What the hell is happening though? First the curfew and now they're finding Axel all over the school?"

"Don't know, but the minister of Magic herself was here in the Slytherin dorms, coming to get Axel. But guess what, the guy wasn't here."

Anonymous:

"What? The Minister of Magic? You saw Mrs. Black in person?!"

Anonymous:

"I'm jealous!"

"Fuck you, Slytherins! You take all the glory, and now you have the Minister of Magic visiting you!"

I-am-Axel's-bitch:

"More importantly, that Axel is screwed. Breaking curfew at the time. They still haven't found him, right?"

Galgadot554:

"F"

Anonymous:

"F"

ProfessorNarcissasimp333:

"F"

GalleonGal69:

"Is Axel missing?"

Anonymous:

"Where could he be?"

Merlin's_daddy:

"I've only even seen the guy in the great hall. And that too, only after I try very hard to find him."

RuneReader909:

"I am his classmate, and even I have never seen passing through in the corridors. It's almost as if he just… appears wherever he wants. Even in class, I rarely see him."

CharmChick00:

"Yeah, I had this fantasy about being stuck on the moving staircases with him, but I haven't even seen him climbing the steps, ever."

NimbusNerd:

"Famous people tend to attract a lot of attention wherever they go, but I've barely seen any photos of Axel aside from the one taken in the great hall and classes.

Let-me-Slyther-in:

"I'll let you guys in on a secret. Axel Hunt never stayed in the Slytherin Dorms. His room has always been empty."

Anonymous:

"Wtf, is this guy a ghost or what?"

Now that the matter was broached, people suddenly freaked out upon realizing that they weren't the only ones who felt that way. So many students, and very few had seen Axel anywhere outside class and the great hall… Just how is this possible?

Usually, people like Martina attract a lot of attention wherever they go, like when they are walking through the corridors, when they are climbing the staircase, when they are practicing in the Quidditch pitch, when they are having fun in the dorms, and even what their dorm room is like. Their photos are taken and circulated amongst the fans and gossipers. But now that they thought about it, they had never seen such photos of Axel.

All types of rumors and conjectures were made. Some said Axel knows all the secret passageways, while some surmised that he must be an unregistered animagus. Each of their guesses was wilder than the previous one.

....

On the other hand, Bellatrix was still pacing back and forth in an office, waiting for results.

"Any news?" She asked. It had been a while since the search started.

"Afraid not," said Nymphadora Tonks Black, the minister's niece and now an auror. "They're questioning the students of all houses now, to find out when and where he was last seen and where might be. But there's no positive response yet," said Nymphadora, her hair turning a mousy brown, a sign that she wasn't in a good mood.

Bellatrix's mouth formed a hard line. "Is there really no one who would know?"

Nymphadora shrugged, "Well, there is Martina and Akiko who might know, but they're missing too. He keeps his distance from everyone else."

Bellatrix rested her head into her palms. So, he still had not let people in. She cursed herself for the umpteen time. In their first meeting, back when she had no idea he was Tristan's son, she had said some really nasty things to him. She had even lied that Andromeda was just using him, not to mention she had also threatened him.

She could still remember his response. The boy had simply smiled sardonically, thanking her for giving him a reminder never to trust anyone again. Now, he has managed healed his crippled body, and even become so popular, and yet, there were hardly any people he trusted.

Nymphadora hesitated. "Aunty, there's something else I need to report."

Bellatrix didn't even raise her head. "What is it?" She asked, her voice coming muffled.

"Rose might have snuck away, or she is missing too. Because she's not in the Griffindore dorms," said Nymphadora.

"What?!" Bellatrix raised her head back with a jerk. "Didn't she have Aurors protecting her all the time?"

Nymphadora scratched her head. "Well, you had set me to protect Rose at all times, but then I went with you to deal with the Organisation. And the other Aurors who were guarding her had gone to fend off the dementor attack just now. So... she might have been left unguarded for a while."

Bellatrix banged the table. As if the situation wasn't already bad enough. After last year, Dumbledore had asked Bellatrix to assign strict protection for Rose this year. Of course, Dumbledore being Dumbledore, hadn't deemed it necessary to provide the reason behind his request.

Now she wondered if it was for this reason. Maybe the organisation wanted her to too.

*BOOOM*

As if she still didn't have enough on her plate, the sound of a distant explosion was heard, alarming her.

Bellatrix quickly moved to look out of the window in the direction of the blast, and saw a mushroom cloud of darkness rising far far away into the forest.

"What… is that?!" Asked Nymphadora.

But Bellatrix was already calling her force in order to investigate. 'Please don't be there, please be alive, please don't die…' Her mind was a chaotic mess.

That explosion… there could be very few people in the world who would be able to do something remotely like that. And she just hoped that Axel and Rose were nowhere near that place.

Bellatrix and her team of hitwizards quickly made their way towards the site. It would have taken forever to reach by ground, and they couldn't use apparation, so the only option was flying by Brooms. But… something was wrong.

"Why aren't we reaching any closer?!" Exclaimed Bellatrix.

That was the problem. Even after flying for several minutes, the team found themselves unable to go further.

Gorski sighed. "It's an Atlantean array. I should have found out sooner!"

"What?! Does that mean—?!" Bellatrix went white.

Gorski nodded. "What we feared has happened. Kraken really is here. And if they are here… then it's also very likely that Axel is here as well."

"Then break through this thing! Now!" Bellatrix ordered.

Gorski was helpless. "It's not so easy. Arrays are complicated. It might take a few minutes to an hour."

Bellatrix gripped Gorski's collar. "You better pray he's alright by the time you break it!"

…

Martina, Akiko and Rose appeared in the middle of Martina's room at the Valentino residence. In her hurry, Martina had unconsciously chosen the safest place she could think of.

With her eyes closed, Martina fell to her knees, Rose's and Axel's hands still clutched in her hands. The familiar warmth of Axel's hand reassured her that she was safe now.

Meanwhile, Akiko was still in shock. She had failed. She finally had the opportunity to take revenge. And she had failed. After all the training she had, and all the hardships she had gone through, she couldn't do anything when the members of Kraken were standing right in front of her. Instead, she had to run away like a coward.

Rose, on the other hand, was still panicking. She looked around frantically, trying to understand the situation. Ok, so it looks like they had managed to escape. But… if that is the case, then—

"Where's Axel?!" She exclaimed.

Martina looked at Rose in puzzlement. "What do you mean? He's right here—"

!!!!

Martina let out a horrified scream when she realized that the hand she was holding… was just a hand, with blood still dripping from it.

Akiko woke up from her self hatred when she realized the situation. "We need to go back!" She said immediately to the shaking Martina, who was looking at Axel's hand in mortification.

Martina quickly tried apparating back, but it didn't work! "I-I can't! The place is covered with some sort of space-blocking field!"

Hyperventilating from panic, Martina kept trying to teleport, still holding Axel's hand. When she finally succeeded, they teleported to the familiar location... with no sign of Axel or the Kraken overseers.

"No..." Martina began shaking her head. "Nononononno... NOOOOOOO!" kneeling on the ground, tears began flowing from Martina's eyes. He was gone, he really was gone. And Martina had no idea how to bring him back.

"Just... who were they? And W-What are they going to do to him?" Asked Rose, feeling like this was all a dream. So much had happened in such a short period of time that she could hardly believe she had been cursing Axel just an hour ago and her main concern was people thinking ill of her. Having been kidnapped herself, she couldn't help but worry for him. She had been saved, but who will save HIM?

"They were high level members of the Organisation called 'Kraken'. They're after him before they want something he has in his possession. And after that, they're going to kill him," said Akiko faintly, looking like she'd fall any second. She had overdone it with the last forbidden jutsu. The only reason she could even stay conscious right now was because Axel was kidnapped.

"What?! So what they said about him being the prince… was it all really true?!"

"Most likely." Akiko really thought so. It was too random a thing to mention otherwise. Why would they need to lie? Besides… Axel's abnormal affinity to water, that was another reason she thought that it made sense.

Martina still could stop hyperventilating. She couldn't imagine what they were doing to him right now. "What do we do now?! I will contact my family. Akiko, can you contact your grandfather? We can go to Atlantis—"

Akiko put a hand on Martina's shoulder. "You need to calm down first."

"Calm down?! How am I supposed—"

"He is Axel," said Akiko, cutting her off. "Even if he is injured, even if he's weak, even if he's lacking a fist, he's still—Axel!" She said firmly.

Akiko has been training with him since the better part of last year. She knows a lot more about his capabilities than Martina, who had merely seen glimpses. The thing that makes Axel is not merely his skills, or his power. It's far more than that.

Even if the guys from the Organisation were strong, they didn't give her the same level of danger compared to what she felt from Axel.

The Organisation was strong. Much stronger than she had imagined. But they are no Axel.

"He will survive," Akiko said with certainty. "We just have to do what we can. Panicking would get us nowhere."

"...You're right."

Martina looked down at Axel's hand which she was still holding on to. As she finally relaxed her hold, something fell out of it. 'This is…?'

Martina realized that this was the pendant Axel always used to wear around his neck. And it was also the thing that Voldemort wanted from him after it reacted to the ritual circle. While she was putting Axel's hand into stasis, it suddenly clicked to her.

'Could it be?' Martina's hand shook. The members of Kraken said that they wanted something important from Axel. Could it be that this is the thing they wanted as well?

If it is, then how the hell did it end up in the hand which got cut off? It was almost as if… 'As if he predicted it…'