Disturbed of Mind: The Wolf's Den

"Blank Pages" Chapter Two [COMPLETE]

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:28:03 GMT

Chapter two of Blank Pages is up! :D

Alice

Reviewers (Wow, this got reviews?):

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

We’ll get to Prince Caspian momentarily, I promise. I want to get to it, but patience is a virtue, not a vice…although sometimes, I have to wonder… xD

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Morpheus: I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Neo: You could say that.
Morpheus: I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that's not far from the truth.
- Morpheus and Neo, “The Matrix”

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“Jesus Christ, what the fuck—,”
“What just happened? What the hell—,”
“Oh, fuck me! Goddammit, what the fuck! My computer! Did they just drop us off in a marsh, or some shit like that? It wasn’t funny, now where’s Ashton Kutcher? I’m kicking his ass for punking us!”
Arktos was the first to wade onto the shore and Lupin was quickly on her heels, yanking her bag above the water as soon as they had hit it. The bus, the busy streets and sidewalks of London gone; instead, behind and all around them was a forest full of greenery and silence. Lupin checked her belongings quickly, yanking out the MacBook out first and quickly assessing—and assuming—her computer was ruined. It may have been a used piece of hardware she found cheap on Amazon, but hell, it was still new in her eyes.
Arktos was pulling out her things as well, but with less fervor or concern. Her attention was more on their surroundings and a chill swept up and down her spine when she accounted for the silence around them and the fact that they were in a forest, and not a busy downtown street. Lupin sat on a mossy rock, finally calmed down and burned out from her worried escapade. She silently regarded her surroundings as well, frowning deeply. Lupin shed her trench coat, the material still soaked with the new leather scent. It flopped wetly against the ground.
“What just happened?” She finally asked. Arktos had no answer. She stood, her bag on her shoulder and she took a few paces along the shores of the quietly gurgling creek beside her.
“I…don’t know.”
The answer didn’t satisfy the wolf, but Lupin quietly mulled over it. She began packing her things back in her bag, mostly regretting dragging everything she had in her bag with her. She should’ve taken a lighter load, but she also had her beer-stained clothes, and a few souvenirs from the gift shop they had at the Tower of London…
“D’you think we should, I dunno, stay here? Just in case?”
“And do what, make a fire and do as the Indians do? Smoke signals?” Lupin replied bluntly. Arktos snickered and Lupin shrugged. “Hey, if I could do that, I’d probably be all for it, but you know, I never lived on an Indian reservation, so yeah. Plus, I dunno if any British people would know what to do if they saw Indian smoke signals.”
Arktos snorted back her laughter again, despite the serious situation. Lupin reserved herself as well, holding back the smirk she had just below the tight-lipped expression she was showing off. Then it dropped and she frowned, her shoulders drooping. “I don’t honestly know, hun. I don’t think we should just sit around all day. I mean, we were on a bus and landed in a fucking river; I think we were drugged and shoved off a helicopter for Survivor Man or some shit like that, in my opinion.”
“…Where’d that come from? Survivor Man, really?”
The wolf paused. Then she sighed. “I say we stay here for an hour. If nothing happens, we move out.”
“Where, though?” Arktos hesitated, looking around her. In all directions, the forest seemed endless and forbidding. She shivered. Lupin frowned, looking down at the creek and staring at it for a long while.
“The…little water thing. We follow it.”
“The creek? Follow the creek?” Her friend stared at the flowing water, dubious at the suggestion.
“It’ll lead to a river. We follow that. We’re bound to run into someone, right?”
“I…guess…” Apprehension filled the young woman’s tone and Lupin frowned.
“We might not have a choice. I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on eating bugs for survival. I’ve got about half a bag of pretzels and a bottle of water and that’s it. I didn’t exactly plan for a survival trip in the wild, so I forgot my iodine tablets at home on my computer desk.”
“Smart ass.”
“Always.”
Arktos looked back at the creek and followed its flow with her eyes. “You think it’ll really work?”
“People…live on the river. We might catch a lucky break, who knows?”
“I…suppose. We give it an hour, you said?”
Lupin nodded. “Give or take. If we find nothing, we’ll camp. I’ll try my best, but I never really camped without a tent…or something over our heads.”
“We don’t have any supplies.” Arktos murmured. Lupin sighed.
“We’ll make do.” In fact, Lupin was churning. She was rapidly executing possibilities, scenarios and none of them, she knew how to end in a good way. She stated none of her insecurities and instead began packing her things back into her bag, adjusting other things inside. “We’ll do something. I can start a fire.”
Arktos hefted her own little bag onto her shoulder. “If you say so…”
“Come on, can you doubt this face?” Lupin grinned widely and Arktos raised a brow at the smile.
“Maybe.”
Lupin snorted, finished packing and straightened. “If you say so...”
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The wardrobe was all they expected: a grandeur piece of wood, although there was nothing too fabulous or stylized about it. Sharp corners, double doors that opened outwards and inside, a plethora of old coats were piled in it. They were for all seasons, including a few fur coats. The Finders had already set up the equipment for protective barriers against possible Akuma attacks. So far, however, there has been nothing to even hint at a possible attack from the Akuma.
No suspicious activity, no nearby accidents or attacks. There was not even a single sighting, and Allen did not sense anything out of the ordinary, either. Kanda stood by the corner, looking the wardrobe up and down, regarding it silently and warily. Lenalee approached the wardrobe, running a hand over one of the closed doors, feeling the texture of the wood beneath her fingertips and she frowned. Lavi went to the side, hand over his mouth and he knocked his fist against the side several times. Hollow reverberations were his reward and he stepped back. “Wonder how it’s activated.”
“We’re not sure. We’ve dispatched two Finders to speak with the shopkeeper at the asylum, so perhaps he’ll be able to shed some light on it.” One of the Finders answered, although he looked doubtful. Link intervened with the Finders, the Bookkeeper with another. Quietly, the spoke among the first ones who had been here, gathering what little information they could. Miranda looked at the wardrobe almost in awe and she gave her Time Record a thoughtful look. Nostalgia coursed through her and she was momentarily distracted as Aleister stood by her side.
“Not very decorative, is it?”
Miranda jumped in surprise, a strangled yelp caught in her throat as she scampered a few feet away. Aleister looked to her in a mixture of shock and questioning in his eyes. She gave him a nervous smile and a disarming smile. Allen watched, a wane smile on his face before he moved towards the wardrobe. Lenalee was on the other side, peeking on the opposite corner Lavi was. Allen poked his head inside, pushing aside the thick coats aside. When they were pushed aside, he stepped into the wardrobe fully, wary of what had happened to the shopkeeper. It was strange that he had experienced hours’ worth of time in his mind, and yet he had been here the whole time, right to the very day, hour, minute, by the very second. But, Innocence was still strange and not all of it had been studied. Even the Innocence that has been with the Order managed new surprises, like Lenalee’s or his. Innocence was as strange as when he’d first heard of it and seen it in action as it was now.
Allen began probing his hand towards the back, trying to rap his knuckles against the back of the wardrobe. Instead, something scratched his knuckles and he withdrew quickly, puzzled and disturbed. He frowned and reached back in, fingers reaching and grasping whatever it was that had touched his hand. He gave a hard yank and something came throttling out in his hand. He stared down in amazement when he saw it was a piece of a tree branch. Pine needles tumbled freely down, torn loose from their bindings. Allen turned, a shout bubbling up. Lavi popped up behind him, giving the young man a grin.
Allen went tumbling backwards, his cry of discovery turning into a shout of surprise. He expected to have landed against the back of the wardrobe and instead found more solid ground beneath him; more room than the wardrobe would suggest to have him lying flat like he was.
“Oh, sorry about that—what’s that in your hand?”
The young man sat up, and he looked down. The tree branch was still in his hand and he was…sitting on dirt. He crumpled some of it in his other hand, staring at it in amazement. Lavi stared as well. Twisting himself, Allen picked himself to his feet, wincing when a mixture of tree branches and coats began poking him all over the place. He pushed at them, and heard Lavi shouting to the others as he yanked at more coats, more branches. A part of him was, well…excited.
This couldn’t be an illusion, could it? He could smell the pine, fresh and dry, and he could smell something else as well in the air. He could feel the branches and the dirt; he could already tell that the air was cleaner than the air in the antique shop. He pushed forward, anticipation gripping him. It ended as soon as he snagged his foot on an upturned root and tripped flat on his face, though.
“Allen?”
He sat up, blinking and rubbing at his face. “Ow…”
“Allen, where—,”
Someone fell on top of him and all the air whooshed out from his lungs. It didn’t end from there. Someone else landed next to him, and soon, a pile of bodies began to land on top or around him. In the end, there was a grand total of six bodies, all of them groaning and trying to detangle themselves from the Exorcist dog pile.
“Get off of me—!”
“Ow, sorry—,”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I didn’t—!”
It took several long minutes, and momentarily, Allen was glad no one else had come. But, when they were all detangled and sitting in their own separate spaces, Allen got up and moved towards the way he had come, reaching for the coats, for the sides of the wardrobe. He felt nothing but branches, pine needles and bark beneath his probing fingers. He went five or six more feet before he realized that the wardrobe was no longer there, that Link, Bookkeeper, and the Finders were gone. He felt not coats and no smoothed wood. Nothing.
Allen pulled back, nearly tripping back over the root he had first come across.
“Where are we?”
Instinctively, that would be the first question in a place like this. Allen frowned, and he heard snappish remarks from Kanda. He turned, looking over everyone’s faces, counting who was there. Miranda, Aleister, Lavi, Lenalee and Kanda. Then there was him. Six people.
Then the account of their surroundings slowly began to settle in. Everyone seemed to notice it as well.
They were definitely in a forest, with dappled, thin tendrils of sunlight prying their little fingers down to the forest floor, and a mixture of pines, maples, birches and many other trees as well littering their surroundings. Thick underbrush blocked most of their path, a great portion of it almost up to their thighs. Kanda turned to Allen, a vicious scowl on his face.
“What did you do?”
Allen, in turn, regarded Kanda coolly. “Nothing. I was inspecting the wardrobe when this all appeared.”
“It didn’t come out of nowhere.”
The bickering would have continued, but Miranda stammered to get their attention. She pointed to a tree above them, to one of the many thick branches, where a red squirrel sat quietly, watching them all. It remained absolutely still, except for the occasional twitch of its tail, nose or limbs. They stared at the little squirrel and it stared back.
Then it did the strangest thing, aside from its unusually still and quiet nature: it spoke to them.
“You’re not…Telmarines, are you? I mean, you don’t look like them and all, but—oh, I just haven’t really seen any humans, other than Telmarines. You probably are Telmarines, aren’t you? They’ve been around for…I don’t know how long. What was I thinking, talking to you?” The squirrel suddenly looked agitated and worried, almost as if it had done something terribly. Its little bushy tail puffed up and it looked ready to bolt away.
The group of six looked so shocked, that at the moment the squirrel looked ready to bolt, Lenalee took the initiative to speak.
“Wait, we’re not…we’re not these Telmarines that you think we are. But, we also don’t know who or what the Telmarines are.”
The squirrel wriggled its little nose at them. “Wait…you’re like that human from before, aren’t you? The one who was here before? I remember him. Nice fellow, haven’t seen him in a few years, though. Whatever happened to him?”
Looks of alarm and recognition flashed over most faces, and Miranda actually smiled.
“Yes, he’s—!”
Lavi shook a hand at her and she stopped.
“Can you tell us where we are?”
The squirrel had turned away from them, although it—well, technically it sounded like a he—didn’t seem as agitated as moments before. The tail twitched several times before the ears perked and he looked over his shoulder.
“Hello, who are you again?” He paused and Lavi looked hopeful, expecting an answer from the little talking creature. “Do you want to help me find my nuts? I’ve lost them again.”
The level of expectancy for help lowered several notches.
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It was the pinch that awoke him. Normally, he was a heavy sleeper when he wanted to be. Alphonse, Noa, and several others could attest to that fact. He could get up when he wanted and sleep as deeply as a rock whenever he wanted as well. If he needed rest, he could take it, but if he needed to be on his feet within seconds if the need arose, he could do that as well.
But he knew something was off when he felt that sharp pinch in his thigh. At first, he thought some type of insect with a nasty bite had gotten to him. When he slapped at his thigh and the pinching persisted—on his left arm—he slapped at that area too. He got annoyed when he had to get up and smack at his leg again, he growled low under his breath.
There was a sharp and surprised suckling of air beside him and his brother snapped up, making a noise of frustration. Edward eyed his younger brother for a moment, still slightly groggy.
“What’s the matter? Bugs biting you too?”
Alphonse nodded tiredly. Edward sighed in return.
“Should’ve fought for a room. Even if we had to share it.”
“You wouldn’t have—ow.” Al paused, rubbing at his side. “You wouldn’t have liked it.”
Ed sighed again. “I kno—OW! What IS that, a mosquito?”
“There’d be buzzing.” Al pointed out.
Al gave a glance towards Noa’s sleeping form. She hadn’t stirred from her slumber, nor seemed to be affected by the strange pinching the two brothers were experiencing. She was sleeping on a different pile of straw than them, but they had gotten it from the same pile. A frown tipped Ed’s lips and he opened his mouth to speak, but stopped at another sudden pinch.
He jumped up and gave his back a good smack, growling in frustration. Then he began to dig at the hay, tossing great handfuls away. Alphonse moved away from the spew and flinched another smarting pinch. Something felt…off. It felt very wrong and he didn’t know what it was, but his gut feeling told him so.
Then there came a tug. It was almost insistent and he first had the feeling of resistance, of retaliation. His brother stopped in his relentless search for the bugs in the hay and paused, and looked to Alphonse. They met gazes, and there was a knowing between them, a feeling that they were both feeling that tug. Suddenly, patches of the darkened barn seemed to disappear. It started out small, almost as if pieces of wood were being stripped like paper, slowly. It came faster within seconds, and the two brothers watched, in raw fascination.
The fascination immediately took a turn down agitation and alarm. Edward opened his mouth just as the tearing of the barn took on great speed, the shout caught in his throat as the barn was completely gone. The alarmed cry died in him, and he stared, dumbstruck. He was no longer in the barn, in the dead of night, on a pile of hay and with Noa not too far. He was within the confines of a forest, his brother half crouched beside him, looking ready to fight.
They exchanged glances, eyes wide and both with the same question in them: What the hell had just happened?
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She in rapture at the new material that had been released into the automail industry; it was wonderful, strong and yet light at the same time. She didn’t have to tamper with steel to produce the same quality, and she knew, that very soon the new material, titanium alloy would replace steel prosthetics. It was strong, durable and light and would change the automail industry for forever. She just knew it would. Her gut feeling told her so.
Winry Rockbell was truly happy with the new shipment. It was just simply too perfect a timing and she was glad to have invested in such a profitable trade. People would soon wish to replace their steel limbs with the lighter material, titanium; it’d be easier for the user, less of a strain on their bodies. And the lesser weight would benefit them more as well. There’d be plenty of people lining up for this new material when it was ready for the market.
But, as she stared at the crates, filled with a new future and hope for both her appraising job and her future, she had to stop herself from ripping their tops open. The thought of one certain person she knew of would never know the wonders of this new metal, and he’d never have the same opportunity as everyone else. In a way, it somewhat depressed her and she paused in her work, and she set the crowbar in her hand down on the crate, sitting in the creaking chair beside it, leaning on her arm.
She didn’t have long to brood. A knock came at her door and she stood, pausing at her crates. She moved away with a pivot of her foot, finalizing that she’d open the crates after she finished with whomever it was that might at her door.
It was a heavy season in Rush Valley this time of year and she’s already gotten several customers with heavy custom work to be finished with. Others were yearly checkups. Winry was expecting several of her other regulars, and thought it might have been one of those who hadn’t visited her quite yet. She reached the door, but paused, and jumped suddenly. Something bit or pinched or squeezed her somehow and she slapped at herself, frowning. She sometimes got bugs in her workshop, although she had managed to keep their levels down to a minimum. She jumped at another bite and she made an audible yelp this time.
She scowled. “Where is it…?” She tugged at her uniform’s top off, rustling at it. The knock came again, this time more insistent. “I’m coming, I’m coming! Just…hang on…”
Winry said the last bit under her breath and tugged more at her uniform. What came next didn’t have her attention until she tripped over a rock and upturned root in a forest that was definitely many miles away from Rush Valley.
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“It’s been an hour.”
There was no response from the wolf. She just sat at her spot, silent and staring off into space.
“Lupin.”
Still, there was no response.
“Lupin!”
The young woman jumped in surprise, quickly tugged out an earphone nub and stared wide eyed at Arktos. “What? Did someone die?”
“It’s been an hour.” She was getting agitated, and above all, worried. “Maybe even over an hour.”
“No, no, you’re right.” Lupin stood, shouldering her bag as she did so. “It’s been about an hour.”
“How’d you know?” Arktos looked at the young woman in surprise. Lupin smiled a little as she waggled her iPod, pulled from her belt clip.
“I listened to an album that was about an hour long.” She stated matter-of-factly. “Helps me get through work, school, and keeping track of time. Well…” Lupin paused briefly before adding sheepishly, “Sorta.”
Then she sighed and glanced at the little creek with a frown. “Guess we should, I dunno, start walking.”
“What do you think happened? To us, and how we got here, I mean.” Arktos pressed, following after Lupin. They walked parallel to the little babbling creek Lupin didn’t take long to answer her friend.
“Dunno. And quite honestly, I don’t want to think about it right now. It’s…it just seems a little too…strange. Like, something that should’ve come out of some Miyazaki movie or something like that, ya know? Hey, I’m reading this book called Un Lun Dun. Maybe we got sucked into something like that.”
“Un Lun Dun? What happened in that story?” Arktos asked with a slight smirk. It sounded like something strange Lupin would be into; she certainly had her strange quirks and even more so in the flesh and not just over MSN messenger.
“Uh…I’m…still reading it?” Lupin answered sheepishly once again, with a nervous grin. She dug her hand into her bag and Arktos noticed the book Lupin had pulled out was the same one she had gotten out on the bus. “Almost done.”
“Uh-huh. Lemme know how that book ends.”
This made the wolf perk up. “Oh, I will. You can count on it.”
Arktos laughed and fell into step with Lupin.
“Think we’ll get home?”
“Sure we will! We just need to find civilization first, any sign of it.” Lupin answered cheerfully, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. The enthusiasm threw Arktos off, but she smiled at it, grateful. It seemed a good sign that they weren’t in a dizzy panic. Panic would get them nowhere and getting nowhere would get nothing done for their situation.
“It’s getting dark,” Arktos finally said after a long period of silence. Lupin nodded, and for once, a look of worry crossed her features.
“Yeah…” She hesitated, stopping in her tracks. The little creek had widened out and into a small brook, crystal clear and cleanly looking. Lupin looked at it for a long time, a frown fixated on her face. Her brow was knit and she brought a hand up to cup her chin. Finally, she said, “We might have to find camp soon. It looks pretty…clear tonight, no rain, ya know? We’ll be fine without a tent or a crop of rocks. We can stay here, I guess.”
“What about food? I’m getting hungry. And water? What about that?” She gave the brook a glance. “It looks clean. You think maybe we could get some water from there?”
“Yeah.” Lupin agreed, although she looked only half-convinced. “But food…”
“Didn’t you go camping?”
“Yeah, but with supplies. We didn’t eat bugs or anything. Although, we were told if we caught a bird or something, we could kill it and cook it for food.”
Hesitation was once again on Lupin’s face and she knit her brows back up again. Worry crossed Arktos’s own features.
“I…I don’t know about food. I think we can worry about that after we eat some of the pretzels I have, but we gotta be careful. Salt, ya know? It dehydrates you.”
Lupin dropped her bag on the spot, carefully so as to not upset her equipment, and rummaged for her water bottle. Arktos dumped her belongings next to Lupin’s bag and sat beside them as Lupin crouched by the brook and looked at it dubiously for a long while. Then she unscrewed the lid, preparing to dip the bottle into the brook.
All hell broke loose suddenly as Lupin snapped her head up at the sound of massive roaring heading her way.

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"

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:16:41 GMT

Whoo, getting on with this story. Changed the story title...again. xD

Blank Pages

London
Disclaimer: I do not own the animes/mangas of Fullmetal Alchemist or D.Grayman. Both of them and their respectable characters are © to Hiromu Arakawa Hoshino Katsura. I also do not own the books or movies series of The Chronicles of Narnia or The Golden Compass/Northern Lights. Both of them and all their respectable characters are © to C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman and the recreated films belong to Disney and New Line Cinema. However, all writing contents and plot belong to me as well as Lupin. Arktos belongs to herself. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.
Pardon the long introduction, disclaimer and…anything else that’s in bold print at the beginning and end of this story. It’s all necessary so that I don’t get sued. xD
…Fuckin’ A. There is something wrong with me, isn’t there? I need to stop having new ideas for stories, or at least delete the old ideas and downgrade my brain a little. xD I also blame Arktos for the idea of adding Fullmetal Alchemist and The Golden Compass to this mess. Now the story’s even longer… xD
Also, a really big thanks to Arktos for helping with the story! I don’t think I could’ve done it without your help! Thanks for the talks on MSN. I also appreciate the support and the beta’ing from Arktos! :D (HUGE HUGS) I fucking love you, girl! x3
Summary: There really is no place like London, and yet no one would expect to get stuck in two worlds with talking animals all because of a bloody wardrobe. Who we gonna call? The Exorcist and Alchemists. Oh, dear Lord…help us all.
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This melancholy London—I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. One feels them passing like a whiff of air.
- William Butler Yeats, Letter to Katharine Tynan, Aug. 25, 1888
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“Beautiful. Just…simply beautiful.”
The object of beauty in question, in a sense of twisted irony, was the Tower of London. The grounds were beautifully kept and rather cozy-comfy. A few ravens cawed and flew in graceful arcs in the air, disappearing behind the towers of the fortress. Although the history behind the Tower that was overly gruesome, as were the rumors of haunted souls, the Tower itself was simply hauntingly beautiful, in the opinion of many tourists. And the dark skies against the Tower today only seemed to add more of a grim mystery to its tall form.
It seemed plenty of people were quite enraptured by the history of those tortured and executed long ago. There was always that something about ghost stories that people always seemed to get off of like they do with chocolate or drugs. It sent that thrill through them, that chilling thrill. No one was really that immune to that feeling; everyone got their kicks off of being scared or excited by the possible existence of something out there, something beyond their understanding.
At the moment, however, one particular individual was in complete rapture of everything in sight. The Tower of London, the grassy quads, the people moving about the area quickly and efficiently, whether they were workers of the place, tourist groups or otherwise. She showed completely giddy interest in them all. The young woman was grinning all the while as she swung her body about in little circles, back and forth, moving along with the same motions as her video camera, wanting to soak it all in.
The individual’s name was Lupin, and she was now following the path of the ravens that were flying about. She pulled her face away from the camera long enough to watch them swoop up and down, wings dipping and rising to the air currents higher above her and the Tower. She resumed filming, before she heard above the din of many voices on the grounds, as well as the sound of Imogen Heap singing softly in her ear, someone calling her name.
Lupin, upon recognition of the voice, turned about sharply, blue-gray eyes searching the sparse crowds until she found the new, but familiar face. She grinned that Cheshire cat grin and turned the camera over to view a rather obscure angle as she wove her way towards her new, but at the same time, old friend and pen pal. This was still an amazing thing that had happened; she still couldn’t believe she was here, in London, with her pen pal, Arktos.
She was elated when she was able to get the young woman to come and “elope” to London with her. Lupin had wanted to go for a long while, for a few years in fact, and had expressed the urge to go after graduation, before being shipped off to the Marine boot camp on Parris Island. Of course, saving up her money had been a pain, but a worthy one, and then the buying of the plane tickets for her friend, in a devious and secretive manner, sending them to her friend’s address…
Oh, snap, the MSN conversation had been epic…and then turned into a telephone call of explosive giddiness and “thank you’s” and “you shouldn’t haves”. Lupin thought it had been worth it, definitely. She got to London first, checked into the hotel, and then about a day later, Arktos had arrived, Lupin holding up a sign that read, “MY CRAZY CANADIAN FRIEND, COME HERE NOW”.
It had been…amusing, to say in the least, how many strange stares she had got from many participants in the airport. It did, however, snag Arktos’ attention quite easily. Lupin was just glad she hadn’t gotten confused with some other Canadians that might have been in the airport. That would’ve been awkward…
A short ride back to the hotel later, and they both crashed. Lupin had held out just long enough to prepare for Arktos’ arrival. Jet lag got the best of everyone, they had agreed as they collapsed into their beds. The next day…sightseeing started up. Strolling along by foot, taking double-decker buses, wandering aimlessly about and just having that grand old tourist time. They visited what they could within the first two days together, browsing stores and marking them together, just in case they wished to come back for presents to take back home.
This day, the fourth day in, they had decided to take on the Tower of London, tour it and then just wander about, recording things on Lupin’s new video camera—a present for her birthday from her parents, so she could record her life before and after Marine boot camp. A rather strange, but ironic present; Lupin had wanted one, but only to record all the stupidity that happens between her and her friends, like the “That’s what SHE/HE said” inside jokes. Those always seemed to be the most popular ones between her and her friends, among others as well.
Of course…when she had gotten beer from a surprisingly inconspicuous drunk spilt all over her clothes at an outside café earlier that day, she had the camera rolling. She planned on recording over it later on, but for now, she was content to keep recording on through. But, the Tower had been postponed due to a quick thrift shop stop, and Lupin ended up buying a tank top with the British flag as the shirt design as well as just a pair of blue jeans. A Jolly Roger-laden scarf was tied around her waist for the fun of it.
It was inconspicuous, easy, and ready to go.
Arktos shifted her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and motioned for the wolf to follow and Lupin did so while draping an arm over her friend’s shoulder in that sisterly manner.
“So, my dear girl, where are we to go to now?” Lupin asked giddily and Arktos laughed.
“Again, with the accent! You sure you’ve never been here before?” She joked at the wolf, gently poking her in the sides.
“Uh…” Came the intelligent reply. Arktos snickered at the blank expression on the wolf’s face.
“Brain stopped?” She finally asked.
“…Maybe. And I practiced the accent on Pirates of the Caribbean, actually. For, ya know, a couple…years.”
“You told me that. I just never thought it’d sound so…good.”
“Fooled plenty of other people. But then they found out I was American...”
“You slipped.” Arktos pointed out. She gently led the wolf away from bumping into someone and Lupin obliviously continued her “camerawoman” action.
“Yeah…but you’re Canadian. Nobody gets mad at you guys. I’m American, I get all the haranguing grief for most of the idiots I have to live with back home.” Lupin paused, swinging the camera back around to Arktos’ face, although Lupin’s was pulled away from gazing at the screen and she was looking at her friend with those puppy dog eyes and pouting lips. “Can I be Canadian? Just for this trip?”
“Just keep up the accent, Loopy, and you can fool people that you’re from here. You’re like, what, mostly British?”
“…Along with the Italian. And German. Scottish and Irish, with a little French. And, yeah, the Native American bits, but that’s about it. Born and raised American.”
The wolf hung her head slightly and Arktos wriggled her arm over Lupin’s for a moment and patted her friend on the head. “Aw. Poor Loopy.”
“Yes…pity me. I need pity.”
Arktos laughed and gave her friend a squeeze and a grin as they passed under a tree-littered area. The ravens continued cawing the air, although most had left now and only two circled the area. Lupin had lifted her head to watch them, but she had also turned her attention to the Tower. Arktos watched it as well, almost as if she were expected spirits and apparitions to suddenly pour out of the Tower, almost hidden against the lead-gray sky.
She inhaled the fresh air, and Lupin finally dropped her arm, also quietly drinking in the scene. Finally, both young women looked to one another, smiled and started walking about, talking about what they should do first after they caught the next tour group.
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It was quiet. The countryside, when not inhabited with others for miles upon miles, it was always quiet. Things were calm and clear; the air was fresh and noiseless of humans and only filled with the pure sounds of nature…
It was refreshing, calming and a rare sense of peace. There were birds chirruping somewhere quietly in the distance, others quite close by. Maybe the chattering of some other animal was heard every once in a while.
The sun, however, he could have done without. It was nice scenery, but the sun, oh that damned sun beating down on him and his brother and Noa. His brother didn’t seem to mind and neither did the young woman; they quietly bore the heat, although the light sheen on both their faces was evident. He, however, was having that difficult time with it, as always.
Automail was not something he liked lugging around when it was this hot. Then again, he didn’t like it when it was too cold, either; it was brutal on the joints and areas where the automail and the metal plating touched his skin. Especially when it was getting close to freezing; it started to burn like hell by then. He actually preferred the heat over the frigid cold; at least his skin didn’t hurt so damned much simply due to skin contact with his metal appendages…
Edward Elric glanced up at the clear blue sky, noting that there were only a few wispy streaks of white clouds here and there, although they wouldn’t be sufficient enough to provide any shade. He let out a quiet groan, wiped the sweat from his brow and switched the case he had in his left hand to his right.
There. The weight that was pulling down his left was gone; he felt somewhat better.
Alphonse looked to him, head slightly tilted off to the side. “You all right, brother?”
Al’s comment brought Noa’s attention on him as well. Another thing he didn’t like about the endless country was when they didn’t know when they would be able to pick up a ride someplace along the way. He let his lips purse into a thin line as he considered when the next town was coming up. Ten miles? Fifteen? Dammit. Why’d I lose that damned map?
He resolved to purchase a new one when they reached the next town, whenever it happened to come up sometime down this road. Ed finally shifted his gaze from the road ahead to his brother and Noa, glanced them both in the face and gave them a small smile. “Just trying to figure out how much farther we have to go before sunset is all. I’m fine.”
The answer seemed to satisfy them both, for the time being.
Edward Elric kept trucking on with his brother and their mutual friend trotting alongside him.
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The weather was becoming colder as the days tread closer to the winter months. The air had that chilled barrier of fall and winter; not quite cold enough to usher in the wintering weather, but it was chilly enough to summon the uses of warmer uniforms and clothing. It was nearing November, and the air would begin to penetrate the freezing levels as it grew later into the month.
It also seemed to be the weather that fitted the mood that had befallen those of the Order. Or, at least, it seemed to fit that of a few selected key members. Questions that never received answers were left hanging in the air, waiting and hard and cold like the tension in the air.
Missions seemed to take the edge off of that tension, adding a different kind of pressure to the air. It was one of battle and the adrenaline of racing time that was running out. Confirm rumors, find and locate Innocence, retrieve it before the Akuma, destroy the Akuma and proceed back to the Order to store away the Innocence. Then all there was to do was wait for someone who was compatible with the Innocence. Then that dread and craving for answers to those previous questions settled back and replaced that air of fighting, of adrenaline, of retrieval.
But, at times, that stressed atmosphere was lifted. Wandering around the new HQ, trying to figure out the new passages and hallways, toughing out the new layout. Which rooms hadn’t been scouted out, which ones had been discovered and thoroughly scoured through. It was at times, fun, like a game. It took his mind off things sometimes. Not always, and not completely, but at times it helped.
Allen Walker tugged gently at the cuff of his new uniform. Despite its soldier-like design, it was rather more convenient in movement and fit. Custom-made, as were the other uniforms for the other Exorcists; made to fit the individual it was created for. He had to hand it to the Science Section; it was rather nice and comfortable, just like his previous uniforms had been.
His thoughts were interrupted when he was brought back down to earth. Linali was making her way towards him, that sense of urgency surrounding her. He tilted his head to the side slightly, a light frown tipping his lips. When she approached within earshot, he asked her, “Is something wrong?”
“We have a mission. Brother wants to see us all.”
That was how it had all started.
Everyone that was to be participating in the mission had already gathered in Komui’s new office. It was just as messy as the last one. Papers were scattered everywhere, books were piled in haphazard piles, and paperwork was waiting to be signed… Komui somehow fit into all of this, looking tired, but determined to press on. Characteristically, he was not without his coffee mug, although it looked like it had been long since glued together from a previous accident.
Aleister Crowley, Miranda Lotto, Linali Li, Lavi and Bookman, Yuu Kanda… They were all here. Allen, briefly, felt very nostalgic to be in the room with them all, ready to be off on another mission with them all, just like before...
Perhaps not in this formal manner, but in a respective manner he felt that nostalgia grip him, the very idea of working together with everyone else once more.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t say he felt the same towards Link, although his presence was no longer an annoyance like before. It was familiar by now.
When he and Linali arrived, Komui looked them all over behind his glasses, brought his coffee to his lips and sipped. The coffee steam fogged his glasses momentarily before he pulled the mug away and the fog cleared. He cleared his throat and started into the particulates immediately.
“We might have an Innocence to retrieve,” he began. “It’s actually in London, in an old antique shop. An old wardrobe had been delivered a few weeks ago to the shop.” Komui shifted by his desk, picking up a folder and he flipped it open with one hand, his drink in the other. “The shipment had come from somewhere else in England, although specifics are still kind of fuzzy at the moment. The first incident that had occurred was when the shopkeeper had been cleaning out the wardrobe. It was filled with some old coats and he claimed when he was sweeping some of them out, he felt tree branches poking his hands and arms, near the back of the wardrobe.”
Komui paused once more for another coffee drink. His eyes, however, remained glued on the file and when the cup lifted from his lips he continued. “The second and the last incident occurred when he had gone back to investigate after failed attempts at convincing his family of his strange discovery.” This time the Chinese man lifted his gaze from the file, looking over the faces looking back at him, waiting.
“He stumbled into another world, he says.”
Aleister was the one who spoke up first. “Another world? Can the Innocence do that?”
Komui was quick, but curt in his reply. “No, I don’t think it was another world. It is a bit of a stretch, but we do believe it is the Innocence, although what this type is, it’s difficult to say. We believe it may have something to do with the alterations of the imagination or something very similar along those lines. It’s made the shopkeeper believe he really was in another world when all he really was doing was sitting inside the old wardrobe. It’s especially difficult to believe that the ‘other world’ business is true. I don’t exactly believe the part where the shopkeeper claimed to have spoken with a talking squirrel…”
And you believe that the wardrobe might be the Innocence.” Kanda stated. Allen gave him a glance, his lips drawn into a thin line. He returned his gaze back to Komui when the man answered.
“Yes, we do. I’ve already dispatched several Finders ahead to keep an eye on it and check for any abnormalities. They’ll be ready for you when you arrive.”
Allen remained silent for a moment before asking, “So, what happened to the shopkeeper?”
Komui turned his gaze towards him and regarded him silently for a long while before answering him. “He’s been placed in the care of an asylum for the time being. Another thing about this case is that when the shopkeeper was supposedly gone, he was gone for several hours, chatting away with his talking squirrel friend. When he came back, it was the exact same time he had left, by the hour, by the minute, by the very second. He tried to convince his family and friends otherwise, but he was finally taken away for further care.”
Several more questions were asked and Komui answered them patiently, glancing at the file a few times to confirm them. Finally he closed the folder and set it back down on the desk. Allen predicted it’d be buried in no time flat by the time they left.
Apparently, the file had stated, the shopkeeper had tried so hard to conclude that his story was true, even by trying to push his way through the back of the wardrobe, although it never opened up its other worldly gate for him again. His wife had finally called for him to be put away for mental healthcare until further notice and closed the shop. The story had spread so fast like wildfire; it was hard not to hear about it. It had finally reached them here at the Order and now here they were, ready to go off on another mission.
Now all they had to do was wait for the “Okay” to go to London through the Ark. It was only a few more minutes…but Allen wished they could go now. They were more than ready at the moment.
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It was strange and rare thing, the nostalgia over a young man he hasn’t seen in a few years. No, he did not care for the insubordination, the foul language or the squabbling disobedient child that had become a State Alchemist at the mere age of twelve. He did not care much for the petty arguments, the attempts to get a rise out of him either. But, he did wish to see him again.
Mustang felt as though the world had lost a brilliant mind, someone who could have made a difference, whether he would have agreed to his alterations of the world or not. Edward Elric, while belligerent as well as stubborn and very prideful, he had been a sharp wit and the one who had uncovered the distraught corruption that had been under the military’s nose for many long years. It was Edward Elric, as well as Alphonse Elric, who had uncovered the secrets of the Fuhrer, King Bradley. It had been their persistent digging and sniffing around that had upturned one too many stones that couldn’t be put back that gave him the opportunity to bring down the Homunculus tyrant.
It was strange, though. The place was as quiet as ever, before the Elric brothers’ had made such a ruckus. There were strange cases that appeared around the country. Tension still rang loudly between the Ishbalans, the city of Lior, neighboring countries and the rest of Amestris. It made him wish for an actual ruckus for once. He wanted something to actually read about in the paper he picked up every morning when he wished to avoid the obligations of working when Riza wasn’t looking.
But there didn’t seem to be interesting enough to note, except for the petty squabble between cultures of Amestrians and Ishbalans (nothing big enough to declare war over, thank goodness); the murders of a jealous spouse (those were somewhat amusing when the petty and pathetic confessions of the killer were released, but not really when he looked at the bigger picture); perhaps even the attention catcher of some new industrial succession in the automail industry (he thought of the Elric brothers’ friend, vaguely knowing of her career of choice).
There was nothing of worth to read in the papers. There was nothing (that he knew of at the moment) out there in the country, whether it’s to the east, the west, the north, the south or anything in between. Drachma had been silent and the country to the Far East rarely gave any indications of communications with Amestris.
Yes, Roy Mustang was bored with what was today’s world. He felt that nostalgia pull at him once more, mostly wishing for that sign of the Elric brothers. It would be nice to see them. But he’d never admit it to anyone else. Nope. Not him. It wasn’t until he looked at the paper and spotted an obscure article on the third page that his thoughts of wishing for something amusing about the Elric brothers to stir up vanished. He picked up the paper and read on. And then he smiled, if grimly.
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“Dude, you smell like beer.” Arktos paused, almost thoughtfully. “British beer.”
“God-motherfucking-dammit.” Lupin muttered after she gave her hair a whiff. It smelled strongly and she frowned deeply before whining. “Why me?”
Arktos patted her friend on the shoulder. “Because God hates you.”
“But I’m Jesus.” Lupin whined further.
“Exactly.”
“…Fuck. I lost the game, huh?” Lupin glanced Arktos. The young woman nodded slowly, gravely.
“Yes. Yes, you have.”
“…Fuck.” The wolf repeated.
There was a moment of silence, before they broke out into grins and giggles. The double-decker bus they were on lurched forward and Lupin froze, rooting herself in her seat from it. Years of past experience of riding a regular bus back home to get to school told her to brace herself. Arktos responded in a similar fashion before the monstrosity they were in began to slow and lag with the traffic.
“It’s backwards here.” Arktos said, glancing over Lupin’s shoulder. A book was poised between Lupin’s fingertips and her book bag that she was ready to claw it out of. The wolf paused and glanced at the young woman. Then she bobbed her head in agreement, fishing the book out.
“Yeah, I know. My friend Kit told me about it. Jee-zus, I might be stationed here one day.”
“Yeah, I know, right? Wasn’t it Marines who guard embassies?”
“The U.S. ones.”
“That’s what I meant.”
Lupin nodded again. “Uh-huh.” The wolf paused, looking at her book, shrugged, and threw it back into her bag. Arktos glanced into the yawning flap before frowning, noticing the little MacBook Pro Lupin had stashed away inside of it.
“I’m just amazed you had enough money to pay for all…this! Where did you even come up with it all? Last I heard, you almost couldn’t make it for Anime Expo.”
The wolf gave Arktos a quick glance before shrugging. “Saving money.”
Arktos raised a brow. “Loopy…”
Lupin threw her hands up in the air. “I give up. I had a secret account set up in the Caiman Islands where I had money saved up for the past five years. I’ve been stealing money from business tycoons since I was fourteen. I’m a pirate, what can I say? I’m selfish when it comes to shiny stuff.”
Her friend was about to say more, protest even or maybe even laugh at the ridiculous answer, but she stopped and jumped in surprise. Lupin—intrigued and instantly worried even at her friend’s sudden jumpiness—quirked a brow at Arktos.
“What?”
“Something—ow. Something pinched me—Ow!”
She received an odd look from one or two pedestrians on the bus, but nothing more. Lupin opened her mouth to ask a question, but jumped herself when something pinched her. “What the fuck…?”
Arktos reached over and yanked the cord to the bus. “Come on—ow, damn. Let’s get off. It might be something in the seats…”
“Bugs, maybe?” Lupin said, before she indulged in a long, low hiss of pain and annoyance. Arktos nodded, stood and gathered her small bag. Lupin did the same, waddling after her friend, jumping at the strange pinch again. It was annoying as hell, and if she weren’t in public, she’d be cussing up a storm—
“FUCK! What the fuck! God-motherfucking-dammit!”
—And earning stares from everyone on the bus, even the bus driver. Arktos even turned to look at her friend. Lupin held her jaw rigid. “What?”
They moved towards the front and the bus slowed to a crawl, riding parallel to the next available curb. Standing behind the respective line—just like back home—they waited until the bus came to a stop, the doors opened and—
And they stepped off into a creek.
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28 Meme - Number 10: Dancing

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:16:21 GMT

A side meme for Collision. Enjoy.

Dancing

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"What is it?"

Lupin grinned. “DDR.”

Allen gave her a blank, yet pointed stare. “That doesn’t really explain what it is. Other than it’s a music machine.”

“Dance Dance Revolution. It says so right there!”

“Oh.”

She laughed and got up to the machine, sliding a coin into the coin slot. Allen watched with interest as she leaned forward and began fiddling with the controls before she finished, stood up and went to one of the flashing pads. The song started up and she began.

The arrows flew up and she, for the most part, got good scores. He watched, slowly gathering an understanding of how the game worked. She played two more times before it stated, “Game Over!”

With a flushed face, she stepped down. “I don’t get it. You did good. Why did it end?”

“Oh, that’s the thing with DDR machines. They only allot you only for three games.” She paused, before smiling slyly at him. “My friend’s husband is bitchin’ at this thing. He did the hardest level…” She paused for effect. “With weights on. I saw it once, and only once. It was…oh, Jeee-zus Christ, it was amazing. I was in shock. Typical Asian.”

She snickered at his reaction. “Betcha you can’t do it with weights on, fancy-feet.” He perked a brow at her.

“Really?”

“Twenty-bucks.”

“Ch.” He scoffed.

“Fifty bucks, then.”

He smiled. Easy cash.

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They came back the next day and Lupin had managed to get her friend's husbands weights for the bet. They had gathered plenty of people who were interested to see the bet take place. Even his master had come to see the spectacle. The room inside the arcade was packed, standing room only and people waited as Lupin collected the arcade coins for Allen.

"Three songs, you gotta finish them all on the most difficult setting with the weights on. No respite, no nothin’.”

He was confidant he could do it. Certainly, it should be easy—,

The music started and Lupin had already placed his settings up and chose a song for him. He had been unprepared for how quickly the arrows flew, nor the speed of the song they accompanied it with.

He was sweating already by the end of the first song. Lupin was already ducked beside him, grinning like a Cheshire cat at him. “Give up?”

“Never.”

“O-kay, two more songs to go,” she replied in a singsong voice, then slapped a hand down and the next song was chosen.

The weights dragged him down. If he didn’t have them, he probably wouldn’t have scored so terribly on the second song, but he thought he did better on the third. He heaved a sigh of relief when the words, “Game Over!” announced from the speakers.

Turning, he leaned against the metal bars, staring in an annoyed fashion at Lupin. She grinned and looked away for a moment when Cross stepped behind her. He heard cheers from the others and some came up to pat him on the back and congratulate him. He laughed, if tiredly and straightened himself, his legs already numbed.

“I won.” He stated matter-of-factly.

“I know.” She answered perkily before handing him the bills. They were still warm and freshly crumpled from her having been in her jeans all day. He pocketed them but stopped with his hand halfway out when he saw Lupin turned towards Cross. His master had a grudging look on his face when he handed her some money and she was grinning widely. Allen stared, incredulous.

“What—?”

She turned back to him and pocketed the wad of cash. “What? He bet you couldn’t do it and I bet him you could! I had every faith in you!”

“But you—,” He stammered, dubious at the scene before him.

“Easy cash.” She chuckled. “You just got played, dude.”

Allen learned something new about Lupin that fateful day at the Dance Dance Revolution machine. It was to always be careful when he bet with her. She could very well already know the outcome and win more money than he did.

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"Forgotten Sights" Chapter Two [COMPLETE]

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:09:37 GMT

Second chapter to Forgotten Sights. Still in its "rough sketch" form

Psycho

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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It’s great to be young and insane.

- Anonymous

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“Yer bloody insane and there ain’t no way that I’m gonna to do it. You’re out of yer blooming mind, bloke.”
Riley stared at the man in his seat across the room from her, and the way he lounged in it, it almost seemed like he were in a throne than a simple chair. He was tall, nearly seven feet compared to her five foot-something height. While most were intimidated by his height alone, it was his eyes that often than naught caught people with a severe case of the shivers. Not many had the gall to stand up to Kane Wesley. Maybe, and because this was Riley merely spit balling on the idea, it was due to Kane being a vampire with strength, speed, and wiliness associated with those alive today in the modern age. And boy, he was as fierce looking, as he was beautiful.
He was practically the definition of what a textbook vampire should look like: graceful and thin, and if a human were to look at him, he could use those fancy mind-fuck tricks to will them to him. His long, straight black hair fell in a cascading waterfall around his shoulders. He leaned his head against his fist, the arm propped on the arm of his chair while he stared dispassionately with those hard red eyes of his at Riley. His pale skin stood starkly out against the black attire he donned. A bag of coins had been tossed on the ground at Riley’s feet, faster than she could have seen. Even if she was a demon, she still had trouble following Kane’s movements herself. To a human, he probably never moved and the coins simply appeared there.
Riley’s lips twitched and her brow followed example when she saw the lithe figures of graceful little humans sauntering around the chair, paled hands and arms curling around the back, wryly smoothing themselves over Kane’s shoulders, face, chest and hair. He remained still, watching Riley as carefully and guardedly as he had when she came in.
The head of the lycanthrope she had brought him had already been tossed at his feet.
Evidence was key in a Hunter’s exchange for money. The head was usually the price. It was proof that their hit was dead and that they could fairly exchange for money.
Kane’s eyes flit to Riley’s side, where she had the items she procured from the dead lycanthrope’s body. She raised a brow at that.
“You’ll have to return them, Riley.”
“Well, then why can’t you? I could get a job any minute now, you know. Duty calls and all that jazz.” The last bit had come out with a laugh, intending to be a joke. The vampire before her did not laugh. He narrowed his eyes at her. Kane turned his head towards one of the gangly humans and he sniffed at her neck hungrily. She smiled and laughed, practically leaning on him, neck willing pressed close by. He glanced back at Riley, who stared with little interest at the women. She’s seen this and more and quite honestly, she could not care less what he did, as long as she didn’t have to join in. That would be just…wrong.
“Lord Koenma of Spirit World and I have had our…differences, in the past. I would prefer you to do so in my stead. After all, he was your bounty. It would also be better mediation if a Hunter returned the items. It shows some respect between your kind and the Spirit World’s relations with one another.”
“Ah, politics. You’re just making an excuse to keep me busy.” She jerked her lips into a dissatisfied line, a contorted grimace of sorts and she snorted. This earned several mild glares from the women, but earned no response from Kane. In all her years of knowing him, she’s never seen him react in such a severe manner. She just couldn’t imagine it, not from this emotionally detached creature.
“And to learn something in return. You might find some work in Japan as well, if you look for it. You could earn some extra cash on the side while you’re up there, so why don’t you take advantage of the situation and just go.”
Riley inhaled slowly before she stooped and picked up her coin, tied the bag around her belt and mock saluted Kane from the brim of her hat. “Whatever you say, mate. You care to point me in the right direction?”
“I’ve already contacted a liaison to take you to Spirit World. She’ll be here within the hour.”
“She?”
“The Grim Reaper. Now, leave. I must…feed.”
The Hunter snorted derisively before turning on her heel and left Kane to his own devices, the bag of coins jingling as she went.
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Riley was finishing packing her bag when her “liaison” had arrived. Of course, when Kane had told her that her liaison was the Grim Reaper, Riley depended upon human depictions of the Reaper. She pictured a skeletal figure in a black robe, a scythe in one hand and maybe even a skeletal horse as a steed. She had been expecting this picture when Brody had earlier told her of the visits to Haven Heights.
What she got wasn’t what she was expecting.
Vaguely, she remembered hearing her liaison was a “she”. She didn’t expect such…a bubbly person to be the Grim Reaper. She was the opposite of what Riley had expected, the complete opposite indeed. The liaison had introduced herself as Botan, and what she wore was such a bright and happy pink, it seemed to suit the young woman’s bubbly personality, as did her bright blue hair. She greeted Riley with much enthusiasm, although when the Hunter had offered a hand, Botan hesitated, seeing the filthy state Riley was in. When Riley had figured out what was wrong, she’d retracted her hand rather forcefully.
“Sorry. Didn’t get a chance t’ shower. This was a bit short notice.”
“Oh, well, that’s all right, I suppose. Busy lifestyle?”
“For a Hunter, yeah. Lots of excitement, hunting down people. Killin’ ‘em’s another fun job. Bit of a pain sometimes, ‘specially when they fight back.”
The smile faltered on Botan’s face at this and Riley grinned, her elongated canines out in the clear. She shouldered her bag and Botan’s perky smile returned once again. “Well, I suppose we should get going. I hope you have everything you need.”
“You know I’m staying?” Riley was surprised. Botan continued to beam, leading the way out of the room Riley rented above Carver’s saloon. She stole a shot from the counter before they left, and she ducked a dirty rag thrown in her direction, cackling. Botan glanced back at Riley.
“Your friend told me that you’d probably find some work while you’re visiting. Plus, the duffle bag is a dead give away.”
Riley paused, glancing down at her bag. Her tail swept at the red dust beneath her feet.
“Oh, yeah. Right. So, uh, what’s next? We do some fancy-shmancy chanting and open a portal to hell?”
“It’s not one hell, for one and no, we’re not chanting for the portal.” Botan smiled and pivoted sharply in her pink kimono. With a quick sweep of her hand, the air shimmered, grew hot for a split second, and then the air itself suddenly split. The swirling of an oblong portal appeared before the two of them and Riley stared, amazed with a slack-jawed expression for a few seconds before she sobered up.
“Blimey.”
“It’s convenient for quicker-picker uppers, you know. Come along, then, we don’t have all day for staring. Let’s go!”
She motioned towards the portal and waited beside it. She gave Riley a reassuring smile. Riley herself was not so sure. Strange things happened to her on a daily basis, especially on hunts. She was not too keen on strange things happening around her. They often ended in bad things occurring and they were usually directed towards her or her person. Cautiously, she moved forward, stepping through the swirling mass.
On the other side, she found herself inside a grandeur office. It was cool; much cooler in than the heat of the Outback and she shivered involuntarily, tail puffed up in annoyance behind her as she stepped fully into the strange, wide place. The lighting bothered her eyes and she squinted.
“Hey, Riley!”
She turned at the voice, a blankly confused look on her face. “Wha—,”
A ball slammed into her face, sending her sprawling on the floor. Her duffle bag fell with a harsh thud and her head cracked against the checkered floor. Botan’s head appeared in the portal and she heard an indignant cry from someone behind her. Riley snarled and was up on her feet at once, good eye fiercely blazing as she searched for the ball. She leapt to and snagged it before turning back to the portal. A young demon boy’s face popped through beneath Botan’s and she stepped through quickly, hand over mouth. The demon boy grinned and cackled wickedly at Riley, sticking his forked tongue at her. She smiled nastily and threw the ball at his face with powerful force behind her toss.
His laugh stopped abruptly when the ball slammed into his face. He disappeared with a muffled groan and the portal disappeared. Riley cackled and she ignored the disapproving, subtle glare Botan was suddenly giving her. “Damn kids! Think it’s always funny to hit me in the face just because I’ve only got one eye and a wide blind spot. Bloody idiots.”
“Well, I suppose where you lack social skills, you make up in superb hunting abilities. Pretty dead on hit, if you as me.”
Riley whirled at the sound of the voice, all humor gone and instinct kicked in for her to reach for a knife in her coat’s inner pocket. She stopped, however, halfway through the action and reevaluated her situation. She was not in her own hunting grounds, and she was on someone else’s turf. That turf belonged to powerful people and she did not want to upset said powerful people.
However, like her surprise with Botan and her appearance, the child she turned to face surprised Riley. He was young, as though he were almost outgrowing his toddler years and not at all the intimidating person she was prepared to have been meeting. A baby’s binky was popped squarely in his mouth, and the emblem of “Jr.” posted on the pill-shaped hat on the child’s head. She narrowed her eyes, knowing immediately that this was no ordinary child.
The child looked toward Botan’s silent figure and he waved at her. “You may go, Botan. I’ll take it from here, thanks.”
“Of course.” She left through a pair of large, imposing doors. Riley waited until she had gone before she turned towards the child, frowning.
“Where’s Koenma? I was ‘sposed to be meeting with him.”
“Regarding the stolen artifacts.” The child spoke. Riley nodded. Then he continued, “I am Koenma. I’m in charge of placing the artifacts back into the Spirit Vault once they were recovered. You have no idea how angry my father was when he found out. I’m glad that they were all recovered intact.”
He looked her over, fingers laced together and hands on his desk as he leaned forward, peering at her through the sea of paperwork crowding his desk. Riley pinched her lips together, although that old habit of wanting to shuffle around nervously boomed loudly all of a sudden. Her mind wandered back to the gun and the strange encounter she had with it.
“They are intact, are they not?”
“Of course, mate. All spick and span; spiffy like.”
Huh, that was all easy. And here I thought this would be all difficult. Riley began undoing the bag at her side, and walked over, duffle bag once again thrown over her shoulder. He cleared some space from his desk and leaned forward as Riley opened the bag and shook the bag until all the items clattered onto the desk. Koenma scanned over the items, picking them up slowly and inspecting them carefully.
His hand reached for the gun, and Riley waved hers above it. “I wouldn’t if I were you!”
Koenma looked at her, frowning, brows knit. “And why not?”
“That bloody thing is all kinds of nuts. You touch it, it shocks you. Bloody painful it is. I think I blacked out when it did me.”
His brows shot up and he slammed his hands on the desk. “You mean you touched it bare-handed!”
Riley took a few steps, taken aback. She took a long time to find the words to answer him. “Er…yeah. What else was I supposed to do, grab some latex gloves and treat it like a crime scene? I’m not the police, I’m a Hunter, mate.”
He stared at her, wide-eyed, for a moment longer before he wearily sat back into his seat, sinking into it. “Oh, this is terrible. Do you have any idea what that thing is?”
“A…gun. That looks like a wolf’s head. And it is mighty spooky, if you ask me.” Riley answered uneasily. She did not like this. Dammit, she knew she should have had Kane do this damned thing instead of her. She wasn’t as…diplomatic as he could be.
He sighed. Riley frowned, eyes narrowed. “What’s going on? Did I fuck something up without realizing it?”
“Unfortunately.” He replied with a growl. He then let out another weary sigh, sat back up and pointed to it. “Let’s just say, picking it up was one of the worst things you could have done, when it comes to this particular artifact.”
“And what exactly is this particular artifact, per say? I’m getting edgy, mate, an’ you won’t like me when I’m over the edgy stage.”
Another weary sigh escaped Koenma and he leaned back, attempting to rein back his tiredness as best he could. “This…artifact is something made specifically for wolf demons, and only wolf demons. When it passes ownership, it gives that spark that you obviously felt when you picked it up.” He pulled it close, much to Riley’s astonishment.
“I can touch it without being shocked by that…charge. That’s because it won’t react to me. I’m not a demon, nor am I a wolf. You, on the other hand, have been the first wolf demon to touch it in the longest of time, besides the werewolf who stole it. I guess the Howler has finally chosen a new master.”
Riley paused at this, her lips opened partially. “Wait…back up a minute. ‘Howler’. That thing has a name? And it’s called ‘Howler’?”
Her face almost split with a shit-eating grin at that. It was just too damned funny. Howler. Who the fuck names a gun something like that? Unfortunately, the graveness on Koenma’s face stopped Riley from even starting up and instead she stared blankly at the pistol that was once more laid on the desk.
“I can’t take this back. It’s yours now.”
“Hold up one moment, I risked me ass in the bloody Outback, in the middle of fucking nowhere fer a week looking for the guy who stole these, then another week hiking me ass back to town and coming all th’ way here fer you to tell me, that you can’t take it back?” Incredulous, the only thing she could do was stare at the child-god, mouth hanging open in disbelief. He nodded. She stared for a little while longer before throwing her hands up in disgust.
“Oh, well that’s just bloody-fucking-brilliant! And here I was thinkin’ I broke the damned thing when it shocked me hard enough to land flat on me ass! Great! Wonderful, brilliant! Thank you!”
“Riley—Rile—Riley!”
Tiny hands made a surprisingly loud smack on the wooden desk and Koenma glared at the ranting woman, chewing furiously on his binky. Riley panted heavily, her chest heaving before she approached with an intimidating stride. Koenma backed down quickly, seeing the red flash across the woman’s single eye.
“You take it back, all right? I already got a gun, and a damned good’un. I don’t need this bloody cursed thing. Just send me back home, I’m going back to camp in the Outback for a while.”
“I can’t take it back. That is final.”
“And why not? It’s yer gun. Just take it back.”
“It’s not like other guns, Riley. It’s…let’s just say, if I tried, it’d tear you apart.”
She stopped, her expression narrowed at the child-god, lips pinched into another mirthless line. “And what does that entail, exactly?”
Koenma leaned back in his chair, motioning towards the Howler. “When this gun was made, it was made for a wolf demon. The gun only reacts to other wolf demons. If this gun wishes, it can choose another master. You are it’s master at the moment and if I were to forcefully take it away, it would tear your soul apart. It doesn’t just choose you, it judges you and if it deems you…worthy…it essentially becomes a link to your soul.”
Riley’s eye narrowed once more, and she mulled over the information. Slowly, it began to settle into her and she glanced at the wolf skull-shaped gun on the desk. She studied, and quite honestly, she found it a bitching design, but she didn’t want it. For one, it wasn’t hers, and two, she doubted she could even simply take it without some other hitches. She didn’t like pig-ears attached to an original clause. It muddled things up too much, gave simple plans too many unneeded details.
“So…if someone were to destroy this thing. I’d die, right?”
“Yeap.”
“That was fast.”
“Do you want me to sugarcoat it for you?”
“Not really. I prefer it blunt.” Riley paused, frowning as she stared down at the gun. She looked back up at Koenma and pointed at it vaguely. “Can anyone else use this thing?”
Koenma began straightening some stray papers, but he stopped short, staring Riley in the eye with a serious air.
“No, they can’t. A defense mechanism was inherited in the gun’s creation. Anyone who tries to use it, well… To be frank, they’ll be knocked out on their ass for a long time. If they’re human, it does nothing but click blank. Useless, no matter what rounds they put in it.”
This made Riley narrow her expression and look down at the gun once more. Disdain and apprehension gripped her tightly when she saw the swirling eye swivel around to meet her one-eyed gaze with its own piercing crimson stare. She felt an involuntary shiver run a course up and down her spine and she felt it as unnatural. Rarely, there were times when she shivered from an unknown fear. This was one of those times, and it always reminded her that she was a demon, yes, and stronger than the humans she shared this world with. But, it also reminded her that she was not as invincible as she liked to believe she was most of the time.
She was just as capable of dying as any weaker human was of dying.
“So. I just take this and be on me way, then, aye?”
“That wasn’t the original plan, but I suppose that’s how it’s going to work out now.” He replied glibly. Riley raised her one-eyed gaze to peer at the child-god and tilted her head.
“I guess I’ll just take off then. You gonna just drop me off wherever and let me loose, right?”
“Not…necessarily.”
Riley stopped where she was, half-turned, her free hand already dipped into her heavy jacket to fish out a cigarette. She raised her brow at him, eye narrowed into a slit. “What d’ya mean, ‘not necessarily?’ I’m leavin’ here, ain’t I?”
“Yes…and no.” Koenma assembled the artifacts in front of him, although he had pushed the gun closer to Riley. “I can’t exactly leave a Hunter unchecked and running wild in my jurisdiction. It’s like letting a monkey run around loose in a banana factory.”
“Hey, I know plenty of monkeys that don’t like bananas—,”
“That isn’t my point. My point is, you’re in my territory now. Wherever you were last posted, that’s different; you dealt with their rules. Now you’re dealing with mine. And besides,” he smiled wanly. “You’ll make more money here, where all the demonic activity is at its highest.”
Riley studied the child-god for a long time. In her mind, she weighed her options. Her eye slid down to the demonic gun, sitting on Koenma’s desk. The single crimson eye met her own and a soft growl emanated from the barrel’s open maw. She looked back up at Koenma before moving back towards the gun and swooping it up. She twirled it around in her hand carelessly, hand on hip. “Fine. Where is it I’m staying?”

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"Forgotten Sights" Chapter One [REVISED]

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:32:33 GMT

Forgotten Sights
Bounty

Disclaimer: I do not own the anime/manga Yu Yu Hakusho. It and all its respectable characters are © to Yoshihiro Togashi. What I do own, however, is this plot, most of the settings and my characters. Renee Helsing is © to Koikage101, who has given me explicit permission to develop and use Renee specifically for this story. Do not alter, distribute, steal, or reuse her characters or mine for your own uses; they are our brainchildren, so please do not steal, because stealing is wrong. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they’re in the game.

- Paul Rodriguez

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The world seemed to be crushing down on her. At least, it seemed along the lines of, “crushed like a bug into an ugly smear on the concrete” crushed. It was worrisome, for one thing. For another, it was just plain annoying. It almost made her wish she could have a smoke, just one tiny puff, but the fact that she was trying to remain incognitos was trying her nerves enough as it was. Of course, she could always reach for her pack after the job was done, take a nice long drag, and then head back to town to collect her pay. God, how she hated going into town, but it was the only place where Kane remained.

But, how in the gods’ names he could handle having scantily clad human and demon women crawl all over him like worms was just—,

She stilled, muscles tense, mind shifting away from her petty inquiries. Her hands fingered at the slick metal beneath her fingers, claws at the tips of her fingers just brushing against it. Her eye narrowed as she waited, head turning slightly, ears twitching ever so gently, straining. She felt the winds change, the dust of the desert filling her nostrils, the wetness of a billabong not too far from where she sat floating gently on the winds. And then there was the scent of her quarry, a foolish marauder who dared intrude in some of the wrong homes of the rich.

Not that Riley Nation cared. No, she did not care for the wealth and the riches of others, she only cared about making her own profit, being able to live by her paycheck long enough to see the next job. It always seemed as though people either flee to the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, or God knows elsewhere in the world where the law isn’t really law. Criminals can live their lives in the protection of someone else’s hands, ironically the same law keepers who should hold an alliance with other law keepers.

She supposed that’s where the Hunters came in. When the law, whether it was human or demon, failed to uphold its own justice, the Hunters came in. There was no strong belief that justice shall prevail, nor was there any sense of taking down the bad guys. No, it may have been like that, in the beginning, and God knows how long ago that was, but now it was different. It was about getting a job and getting the money out of it in the end.

Getting her job done, she mused, was something she should do quickly, too. Tonight was poker night and she had a feeling it was her lucky day. Her ear twitched again. The grungy scent of grime and filth, of a dirt-infested coat of fur, stabbed at her nostrils, infesting the pleasant smells of the Outback. Her lips jerked into a frown, her ears straining once more. She heard the rasping breath, the scratch of claws on the earth, and the loud snuffling of a wet nose working against the air. Growls followed next, an excited yapping not long afterwards.

Riley shifted, her muscles remaining tense and she listened hard for the next half hour, her quarry just as cautious and wary of his movements. He knew he was being hunted. He knew he had attracted the Hunters’ attention. Only certain cases ever captured the attention of the Hunters, and through them, the Guild.

Goddammit, just move already, I’ve got plans tonight, ya bloody kook. Riley thought, her jaw clenching intensely. Kane better have my money, too, the bastard. I’ll shoot him in the arse if he don’t.

The winds changed. Riley finally moved to push back the tail of her hair down. She was getting annoyed, and quietly her mind ranted on and on about her petty internal squabbles until she paused. Something was off. She couldn’t hear or smell her quarry anymore. She couldn’t looking, her one eye was bad enough without the other, not since that bloody fire. Her lips compressed into a puckered line, worry hammering in her head, replacing her thoughts of a drink or a smoke, or winning some extra cash in a poker game.

Riley was hit so fast, she didn’t realize at first what it was that had slammed into her. Reason finally pulled itself quick on her feet, and Riley’s instinct did the same. She kicked off the hard, furry body attached to her, eye narrowed in a hazarded fashion against the wind kicking up dust. Bloody great, I didn’t even notice ‘im coming in!

Her quarry crouched, his face set in a snarl, golden eyes glinting harshly in the yellowed sun. The dust kicked up again, the air red with it. He launched himself at her, howling with fury. Riley flinched out of the way, drawing her gun and fired off three rounds with speedy accuracy. Her opponent bayed in rage, eyes flashing dangerously; dribble slathering down from his crooked jaws.

“Well damn, bloke, I’d say you’re pretty angry, aye? Best we make this a quick round, shall we? I got a paycheck to pick up after I finish up with you, and then I got a poker game tonight. Earn me that extra cash I’ve been droolin’ over, so let’s dance!” She laughed as he once more threw himself forward and she jumped into the fray, her hat blown off by wind. She cursed it momentarily before dodging from a swipe of sharp claws directed for a lethal blow at her belly. She shot a round into his thick, muscled thigh. He snapped at her with his long, thin snout, roaring.

Riley laughed again, enjoying this game of cat and mouse. Her bounty was a feisty one; livelier than her last few jobs, that was for sure. He was wild, wild as can be. Vaguely, she wondered if he really had been the one who dared intrude on the Spirit World and try to make off with some special goodies—

A blow to the head sent her reeling into the dirt and Riley, thrown off guard, fell hard. Sticky, warm liquid greeted her fingertips when she gingerly reached up when her senses weren’t bouncing all around the place. She smelled her blood, a sharp and coppery scent. It made her stomach churn and her ears stiffened suddenly, her nose suddenly fine-tuning itself to the sweet and supple scent of her opponent’s shed blood. Her heart throbbed suddenly in her chest, a rare occurrence. The wind kicked up again and her opponent’s sudden barrage of heavy pants and growls faded to laughter that of a man. He laughed and laughed and laughed, not stopping even for a breath. It was starting to get on her nerves, if vaguely and Riley lifted her sharp, yellow gaze to view her quarry.

He was of middle age, lithe build, sandy brown hair and average height. He had a warm face, but his arms were bulging with muscle, his lithe form muscled and strong. Thick claws poked from the ends of his fingers and toes, his canines all too long and unnatural looking in that gaping maw of his. His glinting gold eyes peered at her maliciously, a wide grin on his face, exposing the sharp canines further.

She didn’t know his name. She didn’t know if he had a family, a wife or two kids named Billy and Martha, and a happy little puppy waiting at home. Hell, she didn’t even know if he had a home, but most criminals seemed to, didn’t they? Riley didn’t know who he was, what he used to be, who he used to work for, who he pissed off exactly or what he did to the finest and most technical details. The only thing she knew was that if he got away, she’d lose her paycheck. And if he killed her, Kane would only bring her back to clean up the mess she’d made, and kill her all over again.

So, her nameless quarry, her wild opponent, the lycanthrope from America, chuckled as though he had already one. She pushed herself to sit up and stared at him mildly. This seemed to have an affect upon him, since he slowed his laughter. His face remained amused, but she saw a change in his eyes. Somewhere along the way, she had lost her gun. And, somewhere along that way in the time she’d lost her gun, he’d found it. It was that same gun he suddenly pulled on her. Her brow raised and she raised a hand like a child in class.

“Oi, excuse me. You wouldn’t mind if I had a smoke, would you, bloke? Y’know, you kinda ruined me chances at gettin’ to that poker game tonight, seein’ as you’re most likely gonna be shooting me in a moment ‘ere. Hang on, I know they’re somewhere—ah! There’re the buggers. One moment, would ya?”

Her own confusing method brought a smile to her lips as she dug around her coat for the pack she stowed away. Addling the minds of her enemies was always a fun game, just so long as she doesn’t get killed in the end. Getting them to surrender a moment of bewilderment often than naught bought her enough time to pick up a quick plan and execute it as well. When she found it, she fingered out a cigarette and brought it to her lips, glancing at her opponent. A boggled, annoyed look was still crossing his face and he brought the gun level to her head.

“Hang on, hang on, mate! Blimey, you’d think I really am a threat. The gun’s me only weapon, boy, you think I got anythin’ else useful on me?”

The cigarette was brought to her lips and she paused. “Damn. You got a light, boy? Grant an ol’ Hunter her last dying wish, aye?”

He snarled at her. She wondered if he could even speak, other than the grunts and growls he’s presented to her. She smiled, if disarmingly at him before she jerked her arm and thrust it at her opponent. He flinched and fired a round, screaming in fury and surprise. He shrieked when the silver knife Riley had thrown at him stabbed deeply in his heart. Riley was thrown backwards from the round he put in shoulder.

They both fell back into the red dust in a pair of crumpled heaps. The lycanthrope was dead as soon as the silver had hit his heart. Not exactly her original plan, but it still had the “kick ass and take names” ring to it she often concocted to others before leaving town.

Several minutes passed. The wind finally died down. Riley’s hat blew around for a few moments more before rolling like it was a tumbleweed, bumping against her thigh. It fell into a slump, leaving a small impression in the red dirt. Her hand reached for it and snatched it up before the wind could blow it away again.

She sat up, and sat for a while before rummaging in her pockets again, this time for a lighter. When she produced it, she clicked it open and lit up her cigarette, still sticking out from the corner of her mouth. She puffed away for a few minutes, finished it up, and lit up another. She sighed, puffing out a long spew of smoke from her lips and stood, wobbling slightly before poking at her wound on her shoulder. The one at the back of her skull had already healed, but this one was taking its sweet time. She glanced at the body of the lycanthrope. He had half-changed in the time she had tossed the knife at him and the time he died. She inhaled, held it, then slowly blew out another stream.

“Impressive mate, but not impressive enough. Gotta hand it to ya, though, you had guts. Stealin’ from the Spirit World’s not the smartest of ideas. Crikey.”

She finished off the second cigarette and struck up a third from her carton, but stopped when she noticed the sickening scent of sizzling meat. She paused, taking a whiff before she snapped her head towards her dead bounty’s corpse. His body was melting, bubbling, boiling away and she jerked into action, biting angrily at the cigarette she’d just lit up.

“Crikey!”

She snatched the knife from his heart and with a savage set of slashes, tore off the head at the neck, severing it and yanking it away from the body. She watched as the body continued melting away and she stood panting, waiting for the strange phenomena to finish. When there were only remnants of the body left behind, Riley made a face and stepped lightly towards the flab of skin and meat, frowning when she noticed the strange shapes beneath. She took her knife and edged away the flab of meat and flesh. Then she laughed, looking at the head.

“Crikey, mate. No wonder you were goin’ bonkers. I would too, if those things were bouncing around in my stomach.” She stooped over and nudged the objects away; the artifacts that had, until now, been unsure of whether they’d been stolen or not from the Spirit World Vault. She didn’t know much of the Spirit World—having been mostly raised from other sections of the world, Australia her latest conquered edition to her list—but she knew of the importance of the place. It was where all the grand schemes of the demonic plane were handled, where the dead went to be judged, and where some of the most powerful spiritual beings resided.

Riley looked to the head she was holding, the face jutting out in an ugly fashion, half of it human and the other ruined by the force of change into a lycanthrope, a nasty look in the dead man’s bulging eyes. She put the head down and carefully regarded the items carefully, taking another slow drag of her cigarette. She jerked her lips into a frown, poking at everything with the end of her knife. They registered no reaction to the knife’s tip, so she gently picked up at everything: a rose made of precious gems most definitely not found in the human world; a few necklaces with large charms; a coin with a frightening skull design on its front; and a gun, strangely in the shape of a wolf’s skull.

The hollowed eyes were black and empty, the front of the jaws jutting out and the barrel lying just between the gaping jaws. The ears curled in the back like wings and Riley reached for this last, interest vaguely sparking in her. As soon as she traced her fingers over it, just barely touched it, a powerful spark of fire coursed through her body, her back arching in pain, that feeling of getting struck by lightning stabbing deeply inside of her. She cried out and was thrown back by some unknown force. Riley coughed violently before her breath caught and held itself in her chest, not remembering being thrown on her back. She rolled her eyes a few times beneath her lids before lifting herself back up and staring blearily at the object in her hand.

She dropped it instantly, shocked. The gun she had just touched no longer seemed like a simple, inanimate object any longer. The hollowed groove where the eyes would be glowed crimson, and the orbs shifted like smoke or water, the tiny pupils swiveling to look at her. A growl emanated from the gaping jaws and she swallowed, staring.

“What the fuck…?

With more caution, Riley picked at the gun, testing it first with a few pokes before pulling it into her hand again. She studied it, frowning heavily.

“Blimey.”

She pushed herself to her feet carefully; suddenly feeling fatigue hit her fast. She swayed on the spot before forcing herself to stand still, wait for the nausea to pass and she turned to pick up her bounty’s head up.

Only…it wasn’t there.

Riley panicked for a split second, before her eyes caught onto a reddish coat of fur trotting away from her and she stared for the longest time before she growled. A dingo was making off with her only proof of her bounty. She started to give chase and shouted after the dingo. The canine stopped in its tracks, eyes wide with fear before it bolted off at top speed, with Riley in tow and closing the distance.

“Oi, you bloody mutt! That’s mine! Stop, you daft fool! STOP!””

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The small town of Haven Heights was quaint and decently lodged. It would have passed as a normal town, if there were the strange happenings that occurred regularly within the town’s borders. Most residents were demons, respectively, with several half-breeds and even rarer still were the humans that dared live alongside their more feral brethren. The humans were tolerated at best, although there had been no complaints within the last several years.

It was also the destination of a Hunter who came trudging along haphazardly through the wind, grit and dust of the reddened landscape. The glinting and glaring blue never looked more welcome as Riley put one foot after the other in front of her, a fly-covered, rotting skull dangled from her hip, suspended by her leather belt. Her hat remained stuck to her head, protecting her eyes from the glaring heat and the sun’s rays. Sweat trickled down everywhere, her tail was dusty and matted and her long hair gnarled. She had given up trying to fix it nearly three days prior.

When the blistering heat finally gave way and the glaze of the sun lifted its mirage on the town of Haven Heights, relief and a sense of accomplishment filled Riley. She licked at her cracked, split lips and hefted her prizes with a higher confidence on her shoulders and moved with a quicker pace to her step. The scent of familiar peoples reached her nostrils long before she set foot into the town. She hated going there, to be sure, but this was the only place for hundreds of miles to trade in bounties for money.

And, since she had missed her poker game by a week, she needed this money. Riley patted at her leather jacket’s pockets, inside and out, and finally managed to fish out her last cigarette. It was promptly lit and she puffed at it several times before letting out a spew of smoke to crawl out from the corner of her mouth.

Her good eye caught sight of familiar demons lounging about in the heat, whether they resembled humans a little too much, or they were far from human looking as possible. Riley sniffed at the air, her ears twitching. She felt eyes on her and she turned her head slightly to see several other Hunters who occupied the town watching her. Several of them smirked, nodding or simply stared at her. Their eyes were not very warm, but then again, her eye returned the same cold tension right back. In normal circumstances, Hunters were solitary, and normally worked alone. There were exceptions of pairs, or even groups, but most worked in solitude.

She moved on, avoiding a game of kick ball some children were playing, and headed towards the saloon, The Rusty Bucket. Inside it was cooler, but not by much. The air conditioning was broken again, Riley noted, as she stepped into the interior of the liquor-smelling foundation. Inside, it was perhaps only ten degrees cooler than it was outside.

Several regulars were already seated in their respective places, talking and laughing and having their riot of a time. Some greeted her, although for the most part, her passing was unnoticed. The single bartender of the small saloon looked up and grinned; doggish ears flopped over against his skull.

“Riley! Good to see ye! Y’know, ye missed that poker game a week ago, right?” He waved the rag extravagantly in his hand around. Riley’s eye twitched. Mix-matched blue and green eyes met a single gold eye and Riley stopped at the bar, tossing the ugly skull onto the recently cleaned wood. Riley sneered. The demon’s face fell.

“Riley…ye know, I just cleaned that up.”

“So. Fucking clean it up again.”

An annoyed expression crossed the demon’s face and Riley met his gaze with a steely, yet mild glare. The demon raised his hands in mock defeat, grinning at her almost immediately.

“Ye look like shite. Bad day?”

“Bad week.” She grunted back. She sat on a barstool and grunted, “Whiskey.”

“Comin’ right up. By the by, there’s been some ruckus in town since ye’ve left. We’ve had a liaison come down from the Spirit World several times. Pretty exciting. Supposedly, the son of King Enma threatened to have more than just a liaison come down and ask around if this fellow here—,” he motioned to the skull before continuing, “had been taken down and the items retrieved.”

He paused and frowned at Riley, scrutinizing her as she swashed back a few gulps of whiskey. She made a sour, but satisfied face at each swallow. “Ye did bring back the items, didn’t ye, Riley?”

She didn’t answer. She just continued to swish back her drink, calm as can be.

“Riley—,”

“Of course, ya bloody idiot dog, I’ve got the damned items, Brody. Just calm yerself, wouldja?”

“We had the bloody Grim Reaper come down here multiple times a week, dearie, why should I calm down now? The Reaper is a nice person and all, but still…”

"Brody—,”

“Ack, just stop already. Ye’ve been the bane o’ this town since ye’ve came.” Brody groaned, a hand to his head.

“An’ this town has been the bane of my life.” Riley countered with a snarky grin. Brody returned it and waved a hand at her. “Ack, get out of me sight, girlie. Go take that to Kane.”

He snapped the rag at Riley and she nearly dropped the whiskey glass on the floor. Growling at him, she protectively covered it before gulping down the last of the hard liquor and stood, slamming the empty glass down. Picking up the head, she gave Brody a wave of the hand as she turned to leave. “Put it on me tab.”

“Got it. Take care, Riley.”

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"Collision" -- Snippet

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:31:17 GMT

Thought I'd post something short and sweet from Collision. It was fun and it made me giggle. x3

Also, simply playing around with dialogue, and adding in new characters. Here, we have Axel ~~mind-raping~~ occupying Lupin's mind. Oh, snap.

Juxtaposition

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‘You’re going to have to trust me.’

She scoffed. Loudly. It drew attention to her, but only for a brief second. Only several, lingering stares prevented her from thinking up a retort to the voice in her head, who was now apparently using her mind and body as a bloody time share. Her jaw clenched angrily and the leather gloves—not hers, of course—creaked at the tightening pressure.

Trust you? You’re the last person I’d ever trust! She replied haughtily.

‘More or less than that crazy fire lady, Azula? Or perhaps that crazy Earl guy. Maybe even Maleficent you’d trust more. Or the zombies, or that monstrous metal man—‘

Megatron. She promptly corrected.

‘Yeah, him.’ The voice paused. ‘You’d trust them more than me? I’m hurt.’

The voice, strangely enough, sounded highly amused when Lupin didn’t reply. She couldn’t reply, actually. He was right, in an ironic sense. She didn’t trust any of the villainous figures they were up against. Well, zombies didn’t really count, but—

She snapped her head to at the sound of scratching, low moans and prolonged death rattles hammering against the door. Her muscles tensed and the voice remained silent. When the moans had passed on, everyone silent as the actual dead, the disembodied voice of Axel came back. ‘Look, one way or another, you’re not going to survive this unless you learn to trust me. I’ve got the moves, you’ve got the body, and I’m sure you’d like the moves, because I’d like the body.’

Lupin didn’t reply at first. Finally, she answered, That…that just…

She coughed, almost politely.

That just sounds wrong in so many different ways.

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"Forgotten Sights" Chapter One [COMPLETE]

Thu, 07 May 2009 07:37:48 GMT

Yeah...I went there. I redid my old story, Forgotten Sights. I just wanted to get this out of the way. Dunno when I'll post the story on Fanfic.net. Probably never. I dunno. I loved this story too much to put it down, so instead, I did a better version of it. No more helpless female character, yay! 8D

Forgotten Sights

Bounty

Disclaimer: I do not own the anime/manga Yu Yu Hakusho. It and all its respectable characters are © to Yoshihiro Togashi. What I do own, however, is this plot, most of the settings and my characters. Renee Helsing is © to Alicia “Mikey” Robinson, who has given me explicit permission to develop and use Renee specifically for this story. Do not alter, distribute, steal, or reuse her characters or mine for your own uses; they are our brainchildren, so please do not steal, because stealing is wrong. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they’re in the game.

- Paul Rodriguez

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The world seemed to be crushing down on her. Along the lines of, “crushed like a bug into an ugly smear on the concrete” crushed. It was worrisome, for one thing. For another, it was just plain annoying. It almost made her wish she could have a smoke, just one tiny puff, but the fact that she was trying to remain incognitos was trying her nerves enough as it was. Of course, she could always reach for her pack after the job was done, take a nice long drag, and then head back to town to collect her pay. God, how she hated going into town, but it was the only place where Kane remained.

Honestly, what was the man thinking, living amongst the humans—?

She stilled, muscles tense, mind shifting away from her petty inquiries. Her hands fingered at the slick metal beneath her fingers, claws at the tips of her fingers just brushing against it. Her eye narrowed as she waited, head turning slightly, ears twitching ever so gently, straining. She felt the winds change, the dust of the desert filling her nostrils, the wetness of a billabong not too far from where she sat floating gently on the winds. And then there was the scent of her quarry, a foolish marauder who dared intrude in some of the wrong homes of the rich.

Not that Riley Nation cared. No, she did not care for the wealth and the riches of others, she only cared about making her own profit, being able to live by her paycheck long enough to see the next job. It always seemed as though people either flee to the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, or God knows elsewhere in the world where the law isn’t really law. Criminals can live their lives in the protection of someone else’s hands, ironically the same law keepers who should hold an alliance with other law keepers.

She supposed that’s where the Hunters came in. When the law, whether it was human or demon, failed to uphold its own justice, the Hunters came in. There was no strong belief that justice shall prevail, nor was there any sense of taking down the bad guys. No, it may have been like that, in the beginning, and God knows how long ago that was, but now it was different. It was about getting a job and getting the money out of it in the end.

Getting her job done, she mused, was something she should do quickly, too. Tonight was poker night and she had a feeling it was her lucky day. Her ear twitched again. The grungy scent of grime and filth, of a dirt-infested coat of fur, stabbed at her nostrils, infesting the pleasant smells of the Outback. Her lips jerked into a frown, her ears straining once more. She heard the rasping breath, the scratch of claws on the earth, and the loud snuffling of a wet nose working against the air. Growls followed next, an excited yapping not long afterwards.

Riley shifted, her muscles remaining tense and she listened hard for the next half hour, her quarry just as cautious and wary of his movements. He knew he was being hunted. He knew he had attracted the Hunters’ attention. Only certain cases ever captured the attention of the Hunters, and through them, the Guild.

Goddammit, just move already, I’ve got plans tonight, ya bloody kook. Riley thought, her jaw clenching intensely. Kane better have my money, too, the bastard. I’ll shoot him in the arse if he don’t.

The winds changed. Riley finally moved to push back the tail of her hair down. She was getting annoyed, and quietly her mind ranted on and on about her petty internal squabbles until she paused. Something was off. She couldn’t hear or smell her quarry anymore. She couldn’t looking, her one eye was bad enough without the other, not since that bloody fire. Her lips compressed into a puckered line, worry hammering in her head, replacing her thoughts of a drink or a smoke, or winning some extra cash in a poker game.

Riley was hit so fast, she didn’t realize at first what it was that had slammed into her. Reason finally pulled itself quick on her feet, and Riley’s instinct did the same. She kicked off the hard, furry body attached to her, eye narrowed in a hazarded fashion against the wind kicking up dust. Bloody great, I didn’t even notice ‘im coming in!

Her quarry crouched, his face set in a snarl, golden eyes glinting harshly in the yellowed sun. The dust kicked up again, the air red with it. He launched himself at her, howling with fury. Riley flinched out of the way, drawing her gun and fired off three rounds with speedy accuracy. Her opponent bayed in rage, eyes flashing dangerously, dribble slathering down from his crooked jaws.

“Well damn, bloke, I’d say you’re pretty angry, aye? Best we make this a quick round, shall we? I got a paycheck to pick up after I finish up with you, and then I got a poker game tonight. Earn me that extra cash I’ve been droolin’ over, so let’s dance!” She laughed as he once more threw himself forward and she jumped into the fray, her hat blown off by wind. She cursed it momentarily before dodging from a swipe of sharp claws directed for a lethal blow at her belly. She shot a round into his thick, muscled thigh. He snapped at her with his long, thin snout, roaring.

Riley laughed again, enjoying this game of cat and mouse. Her bounty was a feisty one; livelier than her last few jobs, that was for sure. He was wild, wild as can be. Vaguely, she wondered if he really had been the one who dared intrude on the Spirit World and try to make off with some special goodies—

A blow to the head sent her reeling into the dirt and Riley, thrown off guard, fell hard. Sticky, warm liquid greeted her fingertips when she gingerly reached up when her senses weren’t bouncing all around the place. She smelled her blood, a sharp and coppery scent. It made her stomach churn and her ears stiffened suddenly, her nose suddenly fine-tuning itself to the sweet and supple scent of her opponent’s shed blood. Her heart throbbed suddenly in her chest, a rare occurrence. The wind kicked up again and her opponent’s sudden barrage of heavy pants and growls faded to laughter that of a man. He laughed and laughed and laughed, not stopping even for a breath. It was starting to get on her nerves, if vaguely and Riley lifted her sharp, yellow gaze to view her quarry.

He was of middle age, lithe build, sandy brown hair and average height. He had a warm face, but his arms were bulging with muscle, his lithe form muscled and strong. Thick claws poked from the ends of his fingers and toes, his canines all too long and unnatural looking in that gaping maw of his. His glinting gold eyes peered at her maliciously, a wide grin on his face, exposing the sharp canines further.

She didn’t know his name. She didn’t know if he had a family, a wife or two kids named Billy and Martha, and a happy little puppy waiting at home. Hell, she didn’t even know if he had a home, but most criminals seemed to, didn’t they? Riley didn’t know who he was, what he used to be, who he used to work for, who he pissed off exactly or what he did to the finest and most technical details. The only thing she knew was that if he got away, she’d lose her paycheck. And if he killed her, Kane would only bring her back to clean up the mess she’d made, and kill her all over again.

So, her nameless quarry, her wild opponent, the lycanthrope from America, chuckled as though he had already one. She pushed herself to sit up and stared at him mildly. This seemed to have an affect upon him, since he slowed his laughter. His face remained amused, but she saw a change in his eyes. Somewhere along the way, she had lost her gun. And, somewhere along that way in the time she’d lost her gun, he’d found it. It was that same gun he suddenly pulled on her. Her brow raised and she raised a hand like a child in class.

“Oi, ‘scuse me. You wouldn’t mind if I had a smoke, would you, bloke? Y’know, you kinda ruined me chances at gettin’ to that poker game tonight, seein’ as you’re most likely gonna be shooting me in a moment ‘ere. Hang on, I know they’re somewhere—ah! There’re the buggers. One moment, would ya?”

Her own confusing method brought a smile to her lips as she dug around her coat for the pack she stowed away. When she found it, she fingered out a cigarette and brought it to her lips, glancing at her opponent. A boggled, annoyed look crossed his face and he brought the gun level to her head.

“Hang on, hang on, mate! Blimey, you’d think I really am a threat. Gun’s m’ only weapon, boy, you think I got anythin’ else useful on me?”

The cigarette was brought to her lips and she paused. “Damn. You got a light, boy? Grant an ol’ Hunter ‘er last, dying wish, aye?”

He snarled at her. She wondered if he could even speak, other than the grunts and growls he’s presented to her. She smiled, if disarmingly at him before she jerked her arm and thrust it at her opponent. He flinched and fired a round, screaming in fury and surprise. He screamed when the silver knife Riley had thrown at him stabbed deeply in his heart. Riley was thrown backwards from the round he put in shoulder.

They both fell back into the red dust in a pair of crumpled heaps. The lycanthrope was dead as soon as the silver hit his heart. Not exactly her original plan, but it still had the “kick ass and take names” ring to it she often concocted before leaving town. Several minutes passed. The wind finally died down. Riley’s hat blew around for a few moments more before rolling like it was a tumbleweed, bumping against her thigh, and fell into a slump. Her head reached for it and snatched it up before the wind could blow it away again.

She sat up, and sat for a while before rummaging in her pockets again, this time for a lighter. When she produced it, she clicked it open and lit up her cigarette, still sticking out from the corner of her mouth. She puffed away for a few minutes, finished it up, and lit up another. She sighed, puffing out a long spew of smoke from her lips and stood, wobbling slightly before poking at her wound on her shoulder. The one at the back of her skull had already healed, but this one was taking its sweet time. She glanced at the body of the lycanthrope. He had half-changed in the time she had tossed the knife at him and the time he died. She inhaled, held it, then slowly blew out another stream.

“Impressive mate, but not impressive enough. Gotta hand it to ya, though, you had guts. Stealin’ from the Spirit World’s not the smartest of ideas. Crikey.”

She finished off the second cigarette and struck up a third from her carton, but stopped when she noticed the sickening scent of sizzling meat. She paused, taking a whiff before she snapped her head towards her dead bounty’s corpse. His body was melting, bubbling, boiling away and she jerked into action, biting angrily at the cigarette she’d just lit up.

“Crikey!”

She snatched the knife from his heart and with a savage set of slashes, tore off the head at the neck, severing it and yanking it away from the body. She watched as the body continued melting away and she stood panting, waiting for the strange phenomena to finish. When there were only remnants of the body left behind, Riley made a face and stepped lightly towards the flab of skin and meat, frowning when she noticed the strange shapes beneath. She took her knife and edged away the flab of meat and flesh. Then she laughed, looking at the head.

“Crikey, mate. No wonder you were goin’ bonkers. I would too, if those things were bouncing ‘round my stomach.” She stooped over and nudged the objects away; the artifacts that had, until now, been unsure of whether they’d been stolen or not from the Spirit World Vault. She didn’t know much of the Spirit World—having been mostly raised from other sections of the world, Australia her latest conquered edition to her list—but she knew of the importance of the place. It was where all the grand schemes of the demonic plane were handled, where the dead went to be judged, and where some of the most powerful spiritual beings resided.

Riley looked to the head she was holding, the face jutting out in an ugly fashion, half of it human and the other ruined by the force of change into a lycanthrope, a nasty look in the dead man’s eyes. She put the head down and carefully regarded the items carefully, taking another slow drag of her cigarette. She jerked her lips into a frown, poking at everything with the end of her knife. They registered no reaction to the knife’s tip, so she gently picked up at everything: a rose made of precious gems; a few necklaces with large charms; a coin with a skull design on its front; and a gun, strangely and ironically in the shape of a wolf’s skull.

The hollowed eyes were black and empty, the front of the jaws jutting out and the barrel lying just between the gaping maw. The ears curled in the back like wings and Riley reached for this last, interest vaguely sparking in her. As soon as she traced her fingers over it, just touched it, a powerful spark of fire coursed through her body, her back arching in pain, that feeling of getting struck by lightning stabbing deeply inside of her. She cried out and was thrown back by some unknown force. Riley coughed, not remembering being thrown on her back. She rolled her eyes a few times beneath her lids before lifting herself back up and staring blearily at the object in her hand.

She dropped it instantly, shocked. The gun she had just touched no longer seemed like a simple, inanimate object any longer. The hollowed groove where the eyes would be glowed crimson, and the orbs shifted like smoke or water, the tiny pupils swiveling to look at her. A growl emanated from the gaping jaws and she swallowed, staring.

“What the fuck…?

With more caution, Riley picked at the gun, testing it first with a few pokes before pulling it into her hand again. She studied it, frowning heavily.

“Blimey.”

She pushed herself to her feet carefully, suddenly feeling fatigue hit her fast. She swayed on the spot before forcing herself to stand still, wait for the nausea to pass and she turned to pick up her bounty’s head up.

Only…it wasn’t there.

Riley panicked for a split second, before her eyes caught onto a reddish coat of fur trotting away from her and she stared for the longest time before she growled. A dingo was making off with her only proof of her bounty. She started to give chase and shouted after the dingo. The canine stopped in its track, eyes wide with fear before it bolted off at top speed, with Riley in tow and closing the distance.

“Oi, you bloody mutt! That’s mine! Stop, you daft fool! STOP!””

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Chapter Fifteen [COMPLETE]

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:59:00 GMT

Sooo...Brooklyn didn't make an OFFICIAL entrance, but he did make one. Sorta. In an innuendo-ish, indirect sort of way. Next chapter will be predominantly in his third-person-ish POV, or better yet, from his standing point. He'll be a confused little gargoyle, but I'm sure he'll be right as rain...in a few chapters or so. xD Mistakes are inevitable, but I'll try to go over them, catch the buggers as best I can, but some help wouldn't be too bad. ;3

Wing

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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The day is done, and darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward,
From an eagle in his flight
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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It was almost ten-thirty when Lupin began trudging up the stairs to her bedroom. She was tired, spent from the day and wanted nothing more than a hot shower and to collapse into bed. Not even her standard cup of coffee or soda could keep her awake, she felt so exhausted. Her mind was tired as well. She’d spent a good evening playing “Cuddy” with House, trying to referee him from insulting her family—well, her brother could be an exception and he seemed to not really mind her stepdad—and from being as nosy as he characteristically was on her own personal life. She decided it wasn’t relevant to anything pertaining to everyone’s situation, so why bother? Wilson seemed obliged to merely sit and observe, although Lupin noticed how distant he’d been most of the afternoon and evening. She felt he was most likely still absorbing what he’d learn earlier. House, however seemed indifferent, as Lupin expected as much, or she hoped to have expected of the man.

Sonny had split his time between guarding Light, who had been transferred from the garage to the house earlier on in the evening, to checking up on Edward on occasion.

Lupin paused at the thought of the alchemist and she compressed her lips into a thin frown, stopping just outside her open bedroom door. Ryuk stopped behind her and cocked his head slightly to the right, glancing down at the young woman.

“Something wrong?”

She ignored him and waved him on into the room before gently tugging the bedroom door to her brother’s room open. She felt bad, having him being stuck in this room. Jesus, I wonder if my brother finally caught some good sense and decided to leave him the hell alone.

The wolf, however, doubted that. Her brother was lying in the top bunk, and she heard rap playing from his stereo. She glanced at the bottom bunk, unable to tell if Edward was awake or asleep. She crossed the room and yanked the cord to the CD player out of the wall socket and the stereo went dead. She heard a murmur from a few feet away, making her jump slightly in surprise.

“Thank God…that stuff was grating on my nerves, I didn’t know how much more I could take of that stuff…”

She blinked and craned her head, peering over her shoulder. She saw Edward sitting up slightly, watching her from her crouched position on the floor. She slowly stood up.

“You could’ve turned it off.”

“Might’ve smashed it instead.” He replied, his tone colored lightly with humor. He lay back down after that with a groan. The frown replaced itself on Lupin’s face and she moved slowly towards him, almost cautiously, as if she were dealing with a deadly animal rather than a man.

“You feeling okay?”

“Other than having my life destroyed in a matter of hours, just peachy.” He grunted back gruffly. She swallowed, feeling herself wallow in guilt.

“I’m sorry.” Lupin muttered quietly. He sighed, almost as if patiently.

“It’s…not your fault. I guess.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly at the challenge. Edward sat up and stared at her with a hard glint in his eyes.

“If you had never met me today, you’d probably blissfully continue thinking my existence was nothing but ink on paper. You would have never known if someone else were in your position. So don’t feed me that sympathy crap.”

Lupin blinked several times in surprise, taken aback. Then she lowered her gaze, feeling ashamed. He was right; she probably would have done that. If it were anyone else, this would be their problem, and she’d have continued most blissfully and unaware that Edward Elric had been brought across from fiction to reality. In fact, it wouldn’t have just been Edward; it would have been everyone she’s met so far in the past week. He was, undoubtedly right. Would I have been affected by this whole mind-fuck that everyone seems to be under?

She shivered involuntarily at the thought.

When Lupin brought her gaze back up, she saw Edward was lying back down again. She sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry that your stuck here, but I won’t be sorry about being a bloody fan of yours. Happy?”

He scoffed quietly in the dark. “Not even close.” He grunted at her. She frowned angrily at him before stopping herself, her eyes narrowed. Her ears perked up and she stood closer.

“You feeling okay?”

Edward didn’t answer for a few long moments. “Feeling a little warm, now that you mention it…”

Lupin faltered for a few seconds before throwing conservatives away and reaching over and placing a hand over his forehead. He gave no protest and merely sighed. “Your hand’s cold…”

“And you’re really hot. And I don’t mean in the…yeah, that…other way. You’ve got a bit of a fever.” She replied in kind, her voice softer, as she retracted her hand. Her frown remained fixated in place and she straightened back up. “I’m going to get…” She paused. “Dr. Wilson. I don’t wanna jump to conclusions or nothing, since I don’t have a medical license to call the shots, but I think you might have a cold or something a little more...”

“A little more…what, exactly?” Edward peeped an eye open at her, waiting. She sighed.

“Something more than a cold?” She offered vaguely. He watched her, then closed his eye and shifted on the bed.

“No needles, got it?” He growled finally. “I hate needles.”

“I know you do.” She blurted. A hand clapped over her mouth and she felt embarrassment crawl deeper into her. He glanced over his shoulder, giving her a cold glare.

“Of course you do.”

Lupin cast her gaze back down. “I’ll…I’ll get Dr. Wilson and see what he says.”

Then she left, her tiredness replaced by concern for Edward’s health. And, it may have been her opinion, but she believed it might be his sudden fluctuating stress levels that might have induced his fever. It was only her opinion and theory, but she wouldn’t be surprised it his stress had something to do with it…

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Wilson had come up after some persuading on Lupin’s behalf, examined Edward for a few minutes and then declared he merely needed rest, and perhaps a little medicine to combat the fever over the night. At that mention, Edward had paled a little, although neither the doctor nor the wolf could see that had happened.

However, Lupin had notice the stiffness in Edward’s body language and she leaned over towards him and whispered, “Just some liquid medicine, Ed. It’ll taste like crap, but it’ll bring down your fever, all right?”

He had visibly relaxed and slumped back down. Lupin paused when her brother shifted around on the top bunk, snorted in his sleep, and muttered something. She had raised a brow, then told Ed that she and Dr. Wilson would be back soon with the medicine. When they had left, door closing behind Lupin, he had given her a questioning look.

“He doesn’t like needles.” She had simply said. He had nodded quietly, then they went back downstairs, rummaged in the pantry for the medicine and Lupin had went back up alone, gave Edward the medicine and then quietly slipped into her room. She had felt so exhausted, she almost shut out all thought of a relaxing shower. She felt more paranoid of going in there, considering what had happened when she had done so, glancing at Ryuk for a moment. He wasn’t paying much attention to her at the moment and she narrowed her eyes at him.

Finally, she simply dragged herself to the shower and the hot water that hit her felt like heaven. She felt, even if momentarily as she simply stood in the heated water’s path, her troubles and her worries seemingly melt away, wash off of her shoulders, off of her skin and down the drain. It felt relaxing, very much so, and she lost herself in other thoughts of her life, omitting the insanity that was just downstairs, loitering about with her parents and one another, simply and blissfully lost.

However, the time passed, she washed up and tied her hair back as she stepped out of the shower and dressed, lowered the volume of her music, prepped herself for bed, although she didn’t quite go yet. She sat at her computer, her ears faintly ringing, and then it was gone. Her mind whirred, her room was dark and her screen displayed the empty Word document file, the blinking cursor waiting for her writing.

Another draft, another essay, another piece of schoolwork. Her exhaustion seemed to have washed away with her worries in the shower, in the hot water. She felt more awake than earlier, but her stress had come back as soon as she stepped out of the shower. While she distracted herself from her essay by playing music, her thoughts began to pin themselves into that worried mode she first began to have when more of these “characters” began to show up.

Where are they going to stay if they stay here? How are we going to afford food, water, sleeping spaces? What if more people come? What do we do then? How do we cope?

They bled into one another, looping from who was coming and when, to who was Scribe and what did he want? The only communication that’s been directed towards her had been through Sonny’s arrival. The others had their notes, and they seemed to have had more communication from this person than she did. It frustrated her, made her angry and baleful towards this man, whoever he was. She wanted to hurt him, to find out answers, to do anything to figure out what this game was. It had to be a game; she just had that feeling, that dreadful feeling that it was a sick game he wanted to play.

She didn’t know the rules, didn’t know who the players were other than the ones present in her home, and the opposing team that made up Scribe…

“Dammit, just tell me what’s going on!” She hissed under her breath, glaring at her keyboard. Ryuk made a curious grunt somewhere behind her, but said nothing in regards to Lupin’s sudden outburst. A knock came at her door and she got up and opened it. A half-smile flit onto her features as she stepped aside, allowing Abe to step inside. He regarded her for a few seconds before she immediately motioned towards the sliding door that led to the bathroom. He nodded and said his thanks and moved towards it.

She had already filled the bathtub for the fish-man, remembering his request from earlier, asking if she would do him the favor of letting him soak overnight in hers and her brother’s bathroom.

When he was gone, and the door slid closed, Lupin sank back into her chair, her music softly playing on deaf ears. Her thoughts whirred and she felt too distracted and suddenly, her exhaustion once again seeped deeply into her, deep into her bones, and deeper still into her very core. She gave a tired glance at her computer screen, softly groaned and then turned the monitor off, adjusted volume to her music once more and then slipped into her bed.

Several hours later, however, her sleep was disrupted and quite rudely, too.

There was a knock at her bedroom door and she groggily thought it was merely a dream, something her mind had fabricated. She drifted off for several seconds, only to hear the knocking again. It was a little louder, a little more persistent. Then her door opened and the creaking made her heart jump once or twice. The lights snapped on and the glare made Lupin cringe and curl up reflexively. She covered her face, painfully sliding her eyes open as something sat at the end on the edge of her bed.

“Come on, wake up. Conversations don’t really go anywhere with one. Well, technically it can, but it can be a very lonely one. Still takes two to tango.”

Her mind, while still sleepy, still immediately registered the voice and it’s owner. Regretfully, she slowly uncurled herself, pushed away her covers and sat up, if slowly and still rather tiredly. Lupin glanced at the clock and felt anger boil through her sleepy blood. It was nearly one in the morning and she’d barely been asleep for two, perhaps three, hours.

It must have shown on her face, because House merely smirked, ever so slightly.

“Oh, the sleepy monster’s mad. Think I should compensate for a warm cup of milk for waking you up?”

“Coffee from Starbucks would be even better.” She muttered angrily before she covered her mouth and yawned. He let out a single laugh, still smiling as he looked away.

“In the mornings, maybe. All Starbucks are officially closed by now.”

A tick in her eye made it twitch several times before she pushed the rest of the covers off of her legs and swung them over to the edge. Ryuk stood in his corner of her room, watching from it, silent and amused as ever.

“What do you want, House?”

“Ooh, sorry, “Cuddy.” Had you been sleeping? I should’ve been more considerate and woken you up five minutes before you alarm was supposed to go off. You’d have been even more pissed off.” He mocked. Lupin narrowed her eyes at him.

“If you’re here just to make me miserable and keep me awake—,”

“I’m gonna be needing more pills soon.”

She stopped all arguments at that mention. House reached into his coat pocket and produced the clear orangey-yellow colored bottle with the white top and the medical information on the front. Lupin swallowed nervously, hearing the rattling of too few pills inside.

“Know where I can score some? I kinda need it, since I have a bum leg. But I’m pretty sure you already know about that, don’t you?”

She narrowed her eyes at his blunt accusation. Lupin slowly inhaled and motioned for the bottle. He handed it to her and she tipped it over, viewing the bottom. Five, maybe six, pills remained inside. He’d finish these within at least the next day or two. Three, maybe, he decided to stretch it. But, Lupin highly doubted he would.

She handed him back the bottle. “My parents have some Vicodin in their cupboards in their bathroom somewhere. I’ll help find them for you in the morning.”

He nodded, exhaling. “Thank you.” He said before adding, “Then after that? Not like I can just walk into a pharmacy and demand medically prescribed opiates, not without a real doctor’s note. Not when I’m…”

House paused. Lupin frowned again. He didn’t continue. They both knew he didn’t need to. She sighed.

“I don’t know. I’ll figure something out.”

“Right. The one-girl army wonder will figure something out. I’m getting chills just thinking about it.”

“As opposed to the bum legged doctor who can’t even run to the getaway van. At least I don’t need a cane to get around.” She snapped back. He raised a brow, his lips not exactly neutral, but neither did they show a smile. It seemed to be a stalemate between the two.

“Nice.”

She let out a derisive snort and squinted across the room towards her computer, faintly hearing her music still playing.

“You wear contacts?”

The question threw her completely off guard. She blinked several times and looked up in surprise.

He exhaled slowly before replying, “You were rubbing your eyes and practically stabbing your corneas with your fingers. Would’ve been a cool trick to show some kids if you weren’t cheating with those contacts. Near or far?”

Lupin remained silent. She studied him, his face slightly blurry to her vision, although not terribly so. “I can’t see things far away. Things up close, they’re decent enough to see.”

He nodded. “Hmm.”

She said nothing else. She didn’t get a chance to, when another late-night visitor in the form of Abe gently pulled back the sliding bathroom door and he hesitantly poked his head inside the room. He blinked at her and at House, skittering around Ryuk nervously before addressing them directly. The urgency in his voice did not escape anyone’s attention. “There’s another one. Another…arrival.”

The air seemed to grow tenser at the word “arrival”. It seemed as though the newest people that had come to her house were now unofficially dubbed “the arrivals”. It was a rather apt, if sickeningly predictable, name. Lupin inhaled slowly, her attention off of House and on Abe. House remained silent as ever, watching the fish-man with keen interest.

“He’s not human.” Abe answered to Lupin’s silent inquiry. She felt heat rise to her face, feeling slightly embarrassed that she had been wondering if this newer arrival was, indeed, human or not. He seemed to sense her embarrassment, and added rather quickly, “Ah, but he’s not dangerous…mostly. He’s merely very tired and looking quickly for a place to rest, before the sun rises.”

Lupin blinked. “Vampire?” She blurted out initially, and then felt extremely stupid for doing so and she fell very silent afterwards.

“No. Something…else. Something ancient, yes, but not a vampire.”

She nodded and then glanced at House. He had said nothing, merely observed and listened. Ryuk had done the same, although he seemed to show more interest about who was coming and what they might be. He craned his neck to stare at the ceiling, comical shark-toothed grin in place.

“I can go up and take a look if you want.”

“And I’m guessing your price is a bushel of apples is your payment?” Lupin queried.

“To start with, that’d be nice.”

She felt a smile, if a small one, tug at her lips and she nodded her consent. “Be swift about it, would ya?”

“Ha ha! You’ve got guts, ordering around a Shinigami, I’ll give you that, girl!” He cackled as his wings, black as night, spread suddenly in her room. Abe jumped, startled and moved away from the Shinigami as he jumped up…and went straight through the roof, quick as a ghost. Abe stared, mouth slightly agape and his gills fluttered a few times.

“Amazing…”

Lupin had to smile a little. She truly was impressed herself. She glanced over at House again and found him grinning slightly, his lips pulled tightly in that amused smile of his. Then she stood up; pulled one of the many jackets she had lying about and moved towards the bathroom. Barely a minute later, she came back out, contacts once more in her eyes and she viewed around for her steel-toe boots and had them on within another minute. Shorts and a t-shirt in autumn was naturally all right where she lived; it was almost always an Indian summer every year, so worrying about putting on anything warmer than a light jacket didn’t need to be on her mind.

Abe followed quickly and House took his time on the steps, although he was quiet in doing so. Sonny appeared at the bottom of the stairs, the sheen of white unmistakable, even in the darkness of the house.

“Is something the matter?” He inquired politely.

“New arrival.” Lupin simply whispered to the robot. His white lips drew back into a pinched line and he nodded almost instantly, understanding what it meant. The living room door was thrust open and Lupin stepped out first into the balmy early-October air. It’d be another several weeks before the nipping air finally began to have any lasting affect on the weather.

The air was not too crisp, but it was somewhat warm and clear. The sky was cloudless, and what stars that dared to defy and penetrate the valley’s city lights shone brightly in the velvety black skies. The moon was a sliver of a pale crescent, and it stood out starkly, giving off a shimmer, faint and vague, of bone-white light to the lands below. The street lamp, in contrast, shone orangey-yellowed light on the streets. Otherwise, there was no light to go by other than the corner street’s lamp.

Ryuk’s dark form swooped in suddenly and landed beside Lupin, his tall, skinny frame rather formidable to behold in the darkness. “He’s almost here. Doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before. Or maybe I have seen it, but I just don’t know where.”

The riddled words confused Lupin and she glanced over her shoulder as she heard House stumble somewhere behind her and curse quietly in the darkness. Sonny and Abe followed suite. She blinked, hiding her surprise when she saw L stepping outside as well, silently closing the screen door behind him.

Then they were all huddled together, standing on the sidewalk beside the brickwork mailbox in front of Lupin’s home, and she shifted back and forth, realizing that all of them were cast in the boat that sat in the driveway’s shadow. That was fine. If someone were to drive by—unlikely, Lupin reasoned—melting into the shadows would be rather easy.

“Abe?” She finally asked quietly.

“He’s coming.”

“Abe-san.”

Abe turned to the voice that called him and he met with L’s gaze. “How do you know he’s to come here?”

The fish-man gave that a long pause, unsure of how to answer before he finally replied, “We’ve all been given notes. He has one himself, I’m to presume, and he’s looking for this house specifically.”

“I’m pretty sure I stand in the ‘What the hell’s going on?’ circle. It’s over here, in case you haven’t noticed.” House called. L gave him a quick scan before returning his gaze towards Abe.

“How is he to find this house, specifically?”

Lupin didn’t know what they were on about, she knew there was something being read between the lines here. The content being spoken was rather easy to follow, but the conversation beneath it? She had to wonder if L and Abe had done some type of “exchange” on one another.

“Well…” Abe began to answer; “this house is the only one that has two large white boats, and an RV in its driveway. I’m sure, from the air, it is quite easy to find, if you’re looking.”

Before L could reply to that, or acknowledge the answer, Ryuk cackled as he watched the sky, and a particular shape making itself more prominent as it drew closer and lower.

“Here he comes.”

All quiet conversations, or what was left of them, turned silent and all eyes turned to the skies. The new arrival was here.

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"Collision" Chapter Fifteen [INCOMPLETE]

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:06:22 GMT

A little more delving into Collision, and Brooklyn of Gargoyles will make an appearance and this will be postmovie!Brooklyn. I haven't gotten far in the series, don't have the time to review the whole series, and thought that having some several "beginning" characters from the start of their series be brought up instead of the convenient "after the whole series!" characters all the time. :3 Anyways, some more Loopy and Edward time, because they fight so beautifully. *snerks*

Wing

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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The day is done, and darkness
Falls from the wings of Night,
As a feather is wafted downward,
From an eagle in his flight
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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It was almost ten-thirty when Lupin began trudging up the stairs to her bedroom. She was tired, spent from the day and wanted nothing more than a hot shower and to collapse into bed. Not even her standard cup of coffee or soda could keep her awake, she felt so exhausted. Her mind was tired as well. She’d spent a good evening playing “Cuddy” with House, trying to referee him from insulting her family—well, her brother could be an exception and he seemed to not really mind her stepdad—and from being as nosy as he characteristically was on her own personal life. She decided it wasn’t relevant to anything pertaining to everyone’s situation, so why bother? Wilson seemed obliged to merely sit and observe, although Lupin noticed how distant he’d been most of the afternoon and evening. She felt he was most likely still absorbing what he’d learn earlier. House, however seemed indifferent, as Lupin expected as much, or she hoped to have expected of the man.

Sonny had split his time between guarding Light, who had been transferred from the garage to the house earlier on in the evening, to checking up on Edward on occasion.

Lupin paused at the thought of the alchemist and she compressed her lips into a thin frown, stopping just outside her open bedroom door. Ryuk stopped behind her and cocked his head slightly to the right, glancing down at the young woman.

“Something wrong?”

She ignored him and waved him on into the room before gently tugging the bedroom door to her brother’s room open. She felt bad, having him being stuck in this room. Jesus, I wonder if my brother finally caught some good sense and decided to leave him the hell alone.

The wolf, however, doubted that. Her brother was lying in the top bunk, and she heard rap playing from his stereo. She glanced at the bottom bunk, unable to tell if Edward was awake or asleep. She crossed the room and yanked the cord to the CD player out of the wall socket and the stereo went dead. She heard a murmur from a few feet away, making her jump slightly in surprise.

“Thank God…that stuff was grating on my nerves, I didn’t know how much more I could take of that stuff…”

She blinked and craned her head, peering over her shoulder. She saw Edward sitting up slightly, watching her from her crouched position on the floor. She slowly stood up.

“You could’ve turned it off.”

“Might’ve smashed it instead.” He replied, his tone colored lightly with humor. He lay back down after that with a groan. The frown replaced itself on Lupin’s face and she moved slowly towards him, almost cautiously, as if she were dealing with a deadly animal rather than a man.

“You feeling okay?”

“Other than having my life destroyed in a matter of hours, just peachy.” He grunted back gruffly. She swallowed, feeling herself wallow in guilt.

“I’m sorry.” Lupin muttered quietly. He sighed, almost as if patiently.

“It’s…not your fault. I guess.”

“I’m still sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

She narrowed her eyes slightly at the challenge. Edward sat up and stared at her with a hard glint in his eyes.

“If you had never met me today, you’d probably blissfully continue thinking my existence was nothing but ink on paper. You would have never known if someone else were in your position. So don’t feed me that sympathy crap.”

Lupin blinked several times in surprise, taken aback. Then she lowered her gaze, feeling ashamed. He was right; she probably would have done that. If it were anyone else, this would be their problem, and she’d have continued most blissfully and unaware that Edward Elric had been brought across from fiction to reality. Would I have been affected by this whole mind-fuck that everyone seems to be under?

She shivered involuntarily at the thought.

When Lupin brought her gaze back up, she saw Edward was lying back down again. She sighed. “Fine. I’m sorry that your stuck here, but I won’t be sorry about being a bloody fan of yours. Happy?”

He scoffed quietly in the dark. “Not even close.” He grunted at her. She frowned angrily at him before stopping herself, her eyes narrowed. Her ears perked up and she stood closer.

“You feeling okay?”

Edward didn’t answer for a few long moments. “Feeling a little warm, now that you mention it…”

Lupin faltered for a few seconds before throwing conservatives away and reaching over and placing a hand over his forehead. He gave no protest and merely sighed. “Your hand’s cold…”

“And you’re really hot. And I don’t mean in the…yeah, that…other way. You’ve got a bit of a fever.” She replied in kind, her voice softer, as she retracted her hand. Her frown remained fixated in place and she straightened back up. “I’m going to get…” She paused. “Dr. Wilson. I don’t wanna jump to conclusions or nothing, since I don’t have a medical license to call the shots, but I think you might have a cold or something a little more...”

“A little more…what, exactly?” Edward peeped an eye open at her, waiting. She sighed.

“Something more than a cold?” She offered vaguely. He watched her, then closed his eye and shifted on the bed.

“No needles, got it?” He growled finally. “I hate needles.”

“I know you do.” She blurted. A hand clapped over her mouth and she felt embarrassment crawl deeper into her. He glanced over his shoulder, giving her a cold glare.

“Of course you do.”

Lupin cast her gaze back down. “I’ll…I’ll get Dr. Wilson and see what he says.”

Then she left, her tiredness replaced by concern for Edward’s health. And, it may have been her opinion, but she believed it might be his sudden fluctuating stress levels that might have induced his fever. It was only her opinion and theory, but she wouldn’t be surprised it his stress had something to do with it…

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"Collision" Chapter Fourteen [COMPLETE]

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:32:44 GMT

I'm surprised at my own speed on this new chapter. O.O Honestly, I am. I didn't expect to get this done today, at all, but I suppose miracles happen every once in a while. xD;;;; More so through Edward's perspective than everyone else's, thought it'd be more fitting to go through his eyes for this chapter than any of the others. I'm gonna be working in several more characters later on, including Roy Mustang soon enough~ x3 He'll probably arrive after Brooklyn's. <3

Strange

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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Know what’s weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything’s different.
- Bill Watterson

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“What the hell was that for?!”

Lupin gave out a small squeak, jumping at the sudden and loud address. Golden eyes snapped up, smoldering as they searched and found her. They were brimming with bottled up anger, just ready to spill over. Lupin stared, her shock not quite over before she stooped over and began pulling Edward up. “Oh, Jesus Christ, I’m really sorry, man! I thought you were someone else, one of the idiots who wanted to, you know, freaking attack me! Oh, Christ, here, let me help you.”

Ryuk’s laughter had stopped when Lupin began helping up Edward as he stared. L cocked his head to the side and Lupin thought she heard from House, “She went from a cutthroat smartass to an apologizing dimwit in less than two hours…”

She wanted to snap at House to shut the hell out, but instead bit her tongue back. Edward himself seemed dumbfounded by the sudden change in behavior by the young woman who had tossed him out of the bushes as well. He stared at the brunette, his next sharply pointed words dying in his throat as he was helped to his feet and helped dusted off of the dirt. Finally he gathered enough senses to grab the wrists of the young woman—who couldn’t have been more than half a foot smaller that him, at least—and gently squeezed them to make his point come across for her to stop. She blinked, still watching him with those wide eyes and she closed her mouth, her string of apologies stopping.

He sighed, straining his patience, and he let go of the young woman’s wrists, closing his eyes to rein back his temper. It subsided much more quickly than he realized before he opened his eyes once more and got a better look at his would-be attacker. Yes, she was possibly about half a foot smaller than him, tiny frame, donning denim pants and a black tank top shirt, a knee-length jacket with a hood and a book bag. This time he blinked.

“Wait a minute…” He muttered, taking a step back. Then he seemed to notice the other three that were standing barely a yard or so away from the young woman. Then his hands flew to his duster’s pockets and he yanked out the crinkled note that he had discovered barely…dammit, how many hours ago? Three, four maybe, perhaps even longer. Everything was fuzzy. He read over it, darted his gaze to the young woman, the three men, then back at the note. Then he brought his gaze back up to the young woman once more. “You’re name…it wouldn’t happen to be…Lupin, would it?”

Her gaze snapped to attention and grew sharper. Instead of looking to him, her eyes flew to the paper in his hands and quicker than he imagined, she snatched the note away from him. “Hey!”

She was already turning her back on him, reading it over for herself. Then her body grew rigid, every muscle tightening. Her knuckles grew white from the pressure she was asserting in her hands. Finally she stomped her foot hard on the ground and screamed, “DAMMIT, STOP JERKING ME AROUND, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! SHOW YOURSELF!”

Edward took a step back, eyes wide in shock at the sudden outburst. He didn’t even get a chance to retort. Something clanged against his legs, jarring his right, but completely ineffective to register a reaction to his left. He snarled, turning on whomever it was that had done it. It was one of the men with Lupin, his blue gaze boring into his own, although Edward knew the mockery shielded behind the calm stare he was given.

“What the hell was that for?” He spat at the man. The man shrugged, shaking his head.

“Nothing.” He replied quickly before smacking Edward’s shoulder with his cane. Edward made to smack away the cane, but it was retracted quickly from his swipe.

“You have artificial limbs.” The man asserted patiently. Edward’s scowl remained in place. The young woman, he saw from the corner of his eye, had stalked over to one of the other men, the one with dark hair, bags under his eyes and a slouching position. He delicately took the paper, pinched between his index fingers and thumbs, viewing over it. His scowl deepened. Then he turned back to the caned man.

“What the hell is it to you if my limbs are real or not?” He finally snarled. He felt his anger bubbling once more, surfacing. The young woman had been a balm because of her confusion and her sudden apologies, but this man, he knew right off the bat, would be the thing that tipped him over. He didn’t like him one bit; something chafed against him about this man.

“Nothing really, except they’re heavier than they should be. Bigger in mass, a lot bigger than the artificial limbs we have. Pure metal, by the sound it; we use metal and plastic.” The man’s eyes, now filled with sharp intelligence and mocking wit, continued to ground farther into his own. Edward suddenly felt a chill in his spine, twisting up and down it like a lazy, cold snake.

“Edward.”

He snapped to the sound of his voice, tearing his golden eyes away from the man’s own sharp blue ones. Then he stopped. He hadn’t told any of them his name. How would they know of it?

The young woman, Lupin, was watching him, showing concern in her stare. Somehow, he felt that fairly strange. She didn’t know him; why would she be worried? Why should she be worried? She was a stranger to him, but…that gaze of hers. It was as if she knew him, as if she knew everything about him. It chilled him to the bone and again, that cold snake wrapped itself up and down the length of his spine, giving his skin goose flesh. He suddenly found his mouth very dry and swallowing was difficult. He managed a few words, though.

“What is it? H-How did you know my name?” His voice grew hoarse when he realized that concerned, knowing gaze shook him. Rarely was he shaken by something, and if something did, it meant something more behind whatever it was. And while this young woman continued to stare at him, suddenly looking very calm and quiet, but concerned, he knew that there was something else, something very wrong. His body went rigid. Alphonse. “Where’s my brother? Something happened, didn’t it? Where is he?”

His thoughts flew. If she knew about him, perhaps she knew about Alphonse. Maybe she knew him by the genetic traits; family traits. Maybe Alphonse told her about him, gave a description of him—

“I don’t know.” She answered, disrupting his thoughts. They shattered. He saw her visibly swallow, and it seemed as though everyone and everything else had grown quiet just for this conversational exchange. She took a step forward, although he saw the hesitation on her face when she did so. He remained still, frozen to his spot. Oh, God. Something happened. He’s gone, he’s gone, not again, no—

“I don’t know where Alphonse is, Edward, but we’ll try to help, in any way we can, to look for him.” His throat and mouth became drier. She stepped closer again. “But we need you to come with us, in order for that to happen. I promise we’ll take care of you, and your brother, when we find him. All right?”

He didn’t remember much else. He felt numb to the core. He couldn’t lose Alphonse again, not again, not like before. He remembered hearing an engine, but didn’t remember getting into a car. He did remember being squished up against someone, and something hard; metal, perhaps, although it wasn’t comfortable. Then the racing colors, the swirling, mad thoughts stopped when the engine was once more absent. The squished presence was gone. He remembered seeing the young woman’s face once more, leaning against a seat and he finally got a good look at his surroundings. He was inside a concealed car, much like the ones from his own world, only this one was much more crowded and confined than the ones he’s been in. He looked back to the young woman and sharpened his gaze at her.

Edward leaned forward, a snarl peeling back his lips, a glare in his eyes. “If I find out that you’re lying to me, and you really know where my brother is…I’ll kill you.”

The fear flashed in her eyes, but then was gone. He was sure she felt that same feeling he had felt earlier. Fear. Numbness. Then she nodded slowly, never taking her eyes off of him, then offered her hand to him. Reluctantly, he grasped it and she squeezed his hand. “I know you will. You’ve done it before in the past, so…what’s one more enemy, right?”

He froze at her comment, then clenched his jaw and squeezed his hand harder against her own. She hid her grimace, except for the clench of her jaw and frozen body language. He only then realized it was his right hand she had taken. He smirked inwardly and squeezed a little harder. She held strong, not even uttering a single peep. Finally he let loose his vice-like grip and she dropped her rigid shoulders, helping him out. He refused to let go of her hand, however, and squeezed it once more when they were out, keeping her in her spot.

Edward leaned forward a little, putting as much menace in his voice when he spoke. She didn’t seem affected, except for that fear in her eyes of him. He actually liked that, seeing that he did have an affect on her. “I think you’ve got a lot of explaining to do, girl. Starting with how you seem to know me.”

She was silent for a long time. She only stared, as if trying to probe around her mind for the right words before she said, “I know.” She nodded. “And I’ll tell you. But first…do you want to come in and relax a little?”

Her smile was small, but it was there and she jerked her head slightly to the side, motioning to the left. He blinked, then turned to look. Then he blinked again and again. Oh. A house. How…quaint. He didn’t realize he had loosened his grip on the girl’s hand and she had stepped away from him to lean back into the car, grabbing her bag. When she came back up, she took his arm, shaking him out of his dumbfounded reverie. He silently followed, still in a slight state of shock as she led him, patiently and quietly, into the house. Well, now…he really hadn’t expected such hospitality, even after he’d threatened her. What an odd girl.

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“Whoa, whoa, whoa! You went to school with one person, and now you come back with three more? What’d you do, breed like rabbits with this guy?”

The red face that had leered at the two of them suddenly felt unnerving. Ryuk cackled behind them, although Lupin knew Edward couldn’t hear Ryuk; at least not yet. Edward had dropped into a defensive position and Red raised a heavy brow at the young man. Although, he smirked when he saw the hesitation flash across Ed’s face at the sight of the large, stone hand that Hellboy possessed. Lupin, however, ruined the fun and stepped between the two of them, turning her back on Hellboy, giving him a warning sneer before turning to look to Edward. She raised her hands up in a white-flag motion.

“Calm down, he’s harmless. Right, Red?” She turned to look at him again, and he swore he saw no fear on her face. She stared at him as if she were dealing with an every day Joe instead of a demon and she cast him such a dark glare, he wondered briefly if she’d be the one to suddenly sprout horns and a tail and look like a demon herself. He set square jaw before nodding jerkily.

“Yeah. Harmless. Calm down, kid.” He motioned to the young man. He hesitated, his whole body still in that defensive position, his eyes screaming with the urge to throw a punch if he were to be attacked. Finally, though, he reluctantly pulled himself out of his defensive pose and stood beside the young woman. But, he kept his gaze locked on Hellboy, golden gaze meeting a yellowed one.

“You sure he’s safe to be around?” The kid muttered darkly. It was then that Hellboy saw the distrust in the young man’s eyes; the look of someone who’s been to hell and back, someone who’s seen things other people haven’t…things that regular people shouldn’t have to see. Join the club, kid. We’re all like that. Hellboy thought to himself.

Then he thrust his left hand out to the young man. “Hellboy.”

The look of distrust melted away and he blinked back his surprise, staring at the red hand with a dumbfounded expression. “You serious?”

“Not everyone gets to pick their names, kid.”

Hesitantly, suspiciously, the young man reached past the young woman and grasped Hellboy’s outstretched hand. “Edward Elric.”

Hellboy paused at the Edward’s hand in his own and he tightened his grip slightly before pulling his right hand up and yanking back the boy’s sleeve. Edward froze and tried to wriggle loose, but Hellboy paid no heed. He looked over the metallic forearm with both brows raised. He finally whistled low and let go of Edward’s hand. “Sheesh. What the hell happened to you? You fight in a war and lose or something?”

The scowl had returned to Edward’s face and his expression darkened as he looked away from Hellboy. Lupin looked to him, frowning in a disappointed manner. “Red…”

Oh, Christ. Every woman seemed to have that tone; that warning, “I’m disappointed and appalled with you”, tone. Even Liz had that tone. Inside, his heart ached for her. He didn’t know where she was, if she was all right, if she felt alone or scared—

“Why is it that everyone seems interested in my arm and leg today? It’s getting really annoying.”

Lupin’s gaze softened and she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. He didn’t shrug her off, like he would have normally. Ed’s lips drew into a thin line and he glanced at the young woman. “Not everyone’s seen prosthetics this advanced in this day and age, that’s why.”

He frowned, showing his confusion. Lupin’s face showed her reluctance to continue and she looked away, back at Hellboy. He raised a brow at her, his tail sweeping back and forth behind her. He shrugged, not sure what it was she was trying to silently ask him.

“What?”

She sighed, shaking her head in that “Never mind” vibe. She turned back to Edward.

“I owe you some explanations, right?”

“That’d be a nice start, yes.” He grumbled in reply. His stomach twisted. God, he was hungry. He hadn’t even noticed and now seemed to be a rather inconvenient time. Lupin laughed. Great. She heard it.

“I’ll get you something to eat and drink, first.”

“Why’re you being so nice to me? You don’t even know me.” He was genuinely surprised by her kindness and sudden acceptance towards him. If she knew of what he’d done in the past…

She sighed, as if that seemed to answer everything. And her gaze softened as she looked back at him, leading him through to the living room and the kitchen right next to it.

“Well…why not?” She finally answered. He cast his eyes down to the floor, watching his feet instead of her. He sat down at the table, looking around. He stopped dead cold when he saw the white, robotic figure standing next to him, waiting and watching with silent blue eyes and that eerily human face. Then those intelligent eyes looked up to Lupin.

“Do you need any assistance with the other two men, Miss Hawkins?”

“Oh, don’t mind us, we’re fine.” House called from the couch. He pounced on it quickly, sinking into one of the corners. Edward watched him, and furthermore was shocked by the unsightly large, black lacquered coffin sitting next to an aquarium. He almost felt his heart stop at an even queerer sight of a strange, blue-skinned, striped man, only…he didn’t even look like a man. He looked like the cross between a man and a fish, with his gilled neck, bulging, unblinking black eyes and the webbed hands. He wore nothing but a pair of black shorts and he saw, despite the thin frame of this fish-man, he was surprisingly built quite well. The fish-man noticed him, almost seemed to flinch, then waved ever so slightly to him. House was staring and Wilson was gaping.

“Is-is that…?”

“Cool. Fish-men really do walk the earth.”

Edward turned away, hearing the conversation of the others turn into white noise to his ears. He returned his gaze to the young woman rummaging through a stainless steel refrigerator. He gawked at it. It didn’t look like anything he’s ever seen, it was so…different from the bulging, metal design of fridges he was used to. It was square and boxy in shape, sleek and silver. Lupin pulled back, frowning a bit, then pulled out a something in…in a can.

“You want soda, water or juice?”

“That…that’ll be fine.” He motioned towards the metal can. On the front, Dr. Pepper was written in white against the dark red. He vaguely remembered the name of the fizzy beverage, but the can… “I’m used to sodas being in bottles.”

Lupin stopped at his comment, studying him. Then she, strangely enough, smiled at him. “Things are different here in the twenty-first century.”

He felt everything in him stop cold at that. Her smile faded when he merely stared at her in shock. She looked away, clenching her jaw. The grip on the can increased. “What…what did you say?”

Her gaze flew to the floor and she shuffled her feet around. Hellboy called over before she could even answer.

“It’s 2009, kid. What’re you, from the future or something?”

“No, he’s not. He appears to be from a time period in the past. Perhaps about seventy years ago, maybe a little more.” The robot answered. Edward barely heard the robot. He remained fixated on the comment by Hellboy. He turned to look at the red-skinned man and studied him intensely for any signs of joking, of lies.

“Wait, are you saying…he’s not from this time period? That’s absurd.” The man in the lab coat, whom Edward presumed was a doctor—he even smelled like one, like a hospital, it was faint but sickening to him—watched him intently, a look of disbelief on his face.

“More absurd than demons, fish-men and robots? Come on. That’s way cool.” The caned man exclaimed. That bright blue gaze watched him, much more intently than the other man. Edward felt enclosed in a small space suddenly. He turned away, feeling a sheen of cold sweat begin to form.

“Is it really 2009?” He asked quietly of Lupin. She pursed her lips, glancing at him. She nodded.

“Yes, and…there’s something more. About you. And those two over there.”

He let a long, shuddering breath, as if he had been holding it all this time. Who knows, maybe he really had been, even if a small part of him told him it was scientifically impossible, he’d be dead by now. He waited, then pressed further on Lupin, tired of waiting. “What is it?”

Again that rising fear about his brother crept up on him like a bad dream.

“You promised me answers, now where are they?”

The soda was placed on the table and she rubbed her hand on her denim pants. She avoided his gaze. Edward jerked out of his chair and for once, felt good about towering over someone.

“Tell me!”

She finally looked at him, and he backed off at the sight of regret and remorse in her eyes. She exhaled very slowly and nodded. “Okay. I’ll tell you. I’ll be right back.”

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He wasn’t hungry. It felt strange not being hungry. Then again, it felt strange being told you were really a comic character that shouldn’t, by definition, exist at all. She had more trouble bringing his problems up than the two doctors—House and Wilson, he learned. She seemed somewhat more at ease explaining it to them. House had been accepting. Wilson less than willing to do so, but he saw the great upset written on the man’s face.

“A television character? House, is this your idea of a joke?” He had said to his friend. House had shrugged, shaking his head.

“If it was, I wouldn’t be throwing myself to the wolves on this one.” The other doctor replied, flipping the color box over and over, a picture of himself on the front and in block letters, House was written. Then the man smiled a little, the tips of his lips tugged upwards, but only slightly. “Cool. I’m a TV star.”

“That’s what I said. Freedom from the government for me.” Hellboy had retorted.

But that had been easier. She knew how to handle the two doctors. And from Hellboy’s comment, Edward gleaned something similar was going on with the tailed man as well. Then it was his turn. He had been impatient and ill tempered to figure out the girl. He wished he hadn’t rushed. It was as though a switch had flipped in her and she seemed to be more…delicate around him.

Then it was his turn to be flashed the same thing House and Wilson had been given. Her explanation had been rational, calm. She explained to him what was going on, although she left out a very great deal about his life. She merely explained to him she knew how he’d gotten his automail—she had even said the word “automail”—and about his brother and what he’d been for four straight years, as well as the search for, “a certain stone that could’ve helped you both”.

There had been much more she had left out, such as what the certain stone could do, who he had fought relentlessly the entire way to get to his goal and the answers he wanted…and how he had even been killed to get it and then brought back to life. It had been too much, too fast. He had felt dizzy and sick at the same time; a terrible combination. The robot had come to his side and asked if he was going to be sick, due to his sudden elevation of body temperature and pallid complexion. He had nodded, asked if he could lie down, and the robot helped him to his feet. He never felt so horrible in such a long time, he felt like he’d have collapsed if he didn’t have help.

No one had said anything, except for Dr. Wilson. “Do you need anything to help, Edward?”

“Yeah, my damned life to be my own.” He snarled back. And he didn’t regret it, either. Lupin had moved forward, perhaps to help escort him to lie down, but he snapped at her too. “Just stay the hell away from me, dammit. You’ve already done enough damage as it is.”

He felt no remorse when she had given him a pained look, but he couldn’t help but remember how understanding it had been as well, mixed with the pain in her expression. He remembered feeling cold all over again. She knew him. She knew everyone else, too, it seemed, considering the way she addressed them was different, subtly, but differently. She showed humor and sarcasm but sincerity when dealing with Wilson, but pure snark when dealing with House and Hellboy. Respect was given toward Ryuzaki, Abe, and Sonny. He had heard the name of another person, Light, but apparently that person had been locked in the garage by Sonny.

Now he was lying down, upstairs, away from everyone else, and apparently in Lupin’s little brother’s bedroom. He felt somewhat cramped, lying down on the lower bunk, but he was too busy trying to figure this all out instead of thinking about size issues of the bed he was on. The name rolled over his mind over and over again: Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist…

And then he laughed. It felt strange, as he pulled a gloved hand over his face, as if he could wipe away his heavy thoughts with it. He was a fictional character for some damned story. Someone else had been guiding his life all this time. “Suppose that should make me immortal.” He muttered to no one in particular. Then he sighed. “No, that’s not true. Even story characters have to die sometime. I’m proof enough of that.”

And here I am talking to myself. Dammit, what a mess you’re in, Elric. Maybe it’s all just a bad dream. Maybe Lupin and the others aren’t really here and this is all just a really bad dream. Alphonse will wake me up any second because I’m thrashing around or something like that.

He shut his eyes again, tightly. Dammit. He knew he wasn’t dreaming. And he knew Alphonse wasn’t here to wake him up. So, then where is his brother? If he were here, then surely Alphonse would be…

He rolled over and his gut twisted uncomfortably. Something bigger was going on. It was only a question of whether the others downstairs knew if something was going to happen or not…and he had a feeling it was disappointingly more towards the former than the latter.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Collision" Chapter Thirteen [COMPLETE]

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:38:28 GMT

Mmkay, Edward Elric has made his appearance, although there were several scene changes and points of meetings. I had originally wanted his ass full thrown up in the air to come crashing down, but given, well...weight issues, one might say, that'd take more than what Lupin would possess. So, before anymore spoilers come forth, enjoy reading.

And, I THINK I might do more "commentary" concerning characters, parts of the posted chapter and other ~~shit~~ stuff. What'choo think? xD

Bending

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Better bend than break.
- Scottish proverb

OoOoOoOoOoO

She had been unusually quiet in her psychology class. She normally liked participating. Last week, before L had come, she remembered a brewing argument on subjects in literature and the psychological opinions that differed between classic literature and the literature of the current year. Unsurprisingly, and she should have known it, too, that some of the young women in the class had been Twilight fans. They began their cheerful little tirade of “Twilight this” and “Twilight that”, and how wonderful and great a love story it was, how they wished their boyfriends were Edward or how they dumped their boyfriends to wait for a guy like Edward. Lupin couldn’t take it anymore. She finally blew up at them, explosively pointing out the horrible relationship and neglectful family values. She also sharply stabbed at the lack of good role model when it comes to both Bella and Edward and how shallow and superficial the book makes relationships appear and how apparently, they should be in the real world. Lupin also felt the need to delve into several other points of the story that showed emotional and mental abuse, and the flat characters that show no signs of development whatsoever.

She had been berated and battled against, and the professor merely stood by, added in several comments, broke up the fights, restored order, then allowed the battle of words to start all over again. Lupin had been fierce in her words, biting in her wit and rather informed of her information towards the series. She stated Bram Stoker had one of the best views on the vampire, and Meyer was a hack for not at least acknowledging the original sun-hating, human blood-loving, sinister monster that was Dracula. The more she spoke, the harsher her words became, as well as her argument, despite her being up against at least five Twilight lovers, who remained pigheaded diehards until the very end. Occasionally, Lupin had help from a neutral or slightly biased opinion of another classmate. Sometimes someone would agree, and so would the teacher.

Other than that, she felt alone, terrifyingly alone.

She had heard plenty of stories, some she felt reluctant to believe, others she felt inclined to show some degrees of believability towards them, but the stories she’s heard regarding Twilight fans, she was scared inside, terribly scared. She’s heard of assaults from the Twilight fans, and that was what she feared; getting jumped, severely injured, perhaps life-threatening, most due to her smaller-than-average size. People went to extraordinary lengths for many things, and fiction was no exception. But, then again, nobody went on rabid attacks for Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, now did they? At least, not to her knowledge, they didn’t.

But, despite her fear, she persevered on her arguments. When the class had ended, the professor called her behind class, saying how impressed he had been at how passionate in her argument and her opinion. It had been the first true “argumentative debate” that they had in the classroom, and he did applaud her on how she had remained adamant on her defense. She had been told that the next they all came in that they would dissect the issues of the book, and what made everyone believe what they did, and a more formal discussion—without direct attacks or insults—would take place. She had also been chastised about keeping her…choice of vocabulary down to a bare minimum the next time.

That part had made her secretly proud. She definitely had a sailor’s mouth; something she gained from her grandmother and perhaps bits from her mother and stepdad as well.

However, when she had left the classroom, she had suddenly turned on the paranoid switch; she feared becoming a victim of the Twilight diehards, afraid they would ambush her and attack her. She never knew if people would take fiction to that level, but she had her suspicions. She made it to her car without being assaulted; something she had been grateful for.

And now, currently, she knew, those same young women she had barely screamed profanity at about a week ago were staring, sneering, and whispering nasty little things behind her back, about her. The closest, somewhat clearest one she had got from her position was, “Twilight-hating bitch, who does she think she is?”

She ignored it. House, however, didn’t. He leaned close to her and whispered, “You seriously gonna take that? She called you a bitch.”

Lupin merely glanced at him, and she heard Wilson mutter, “House, don’t. Leave her alone.”

Class ended then with the snap of a book and a wave of her professor. He bid the students good-bye with an assignment of reading four chapters of her text by next week, and some extensive paperwork Lupin would most likely put off until the next two or three days before it was due. Papers were gathered, books were put away and other supplies stored off in her bag. L waited as the Lupin and the two newer men slowly wriggled their out of the tight row. House, predictably, took the longest, although he had to wonder if it was on purpose—he seemed the type of man—or if he really was struggling because of some type of leg problem or defect. Then he too slid his way down, following behind Lupin’s shorter stature.

One of the young women that had been berating Lupin barely a week ago pushed past her. Lupin went rigid and pushed her back by jamming her shoulder into the girl. The girl snarled on the offensive, acting as though she had been the one attacked, and turned around on the wolf. The three men she had been flanked by stood off to the side, surprised by the sudden pivot. Ryuk hovered somewhere behind the two doctors, and L watched the Shinigami for a moment before turning his gaze back towards Lupin and the other young woman’s standoff. He stood quietly by, although he noticed two other young women had stopped on the stairs, waiting. One of them was smirking. Lupin’s jaw clenched.

“Watch where you’re going, bitch.” The young woman spat at the wolf.

Lupin narrowed her eyes. Then she smiled nastily. “Or you’ll what? Beat me with your poor logic and reasoning of your shitty little book? I’m guessing you dumped your boyfriend, if you’ve even ever had any, for someone who’s like your precious Edward or Jacob, I’m sure.”

The young woman’s eyes flashed angrily and her face flushed. “Not like anyone would even date you, you’re too stupid to know what love even is.”

“And I would pity any boy you date. And I say ‘boy’, because that’s about as much your maturity level can handle, you wouldn’t be able to handle a man if he stepped on your rotting crotch.”

Again that flash of anger crossed the girl’s eyes and her face became blotchy with a deep red flush covering her cheeks. She peeled back her lips in a silent snarl. Lupin smiled on the inside, although her face had turned to a light grimace. She knew she could get to people, if she pressed the right buttons, if she showed she didn’t care about people. And, as sad as it was, she knew she didn’t care most of the time. Strangers, she could bash around so mercilessly, she felt no remorse. Friends and family, she knew she would feel the guilt tear her apart as cruelly as her words did to strangers. But, oh, that fiery anger in this woman’s eyes started to make Lupin hesitant to continue any deeper. She felt afraid for a few moments that she would be punched in the face by this harpy.

But, thankfully, she was spared an eye-gouging as the young woman flipped her head—actually flipped it and if Lupin hadn’t been the usurper, she would have laughed—round towards her waiting, sneering friends. “Come on, let’s go. We don’t need to deal with this ignorant little bitch.”

“I think you have your priorities mixed up, honey; if you really think that having an emotionally and mentally and not to mention emotionally unstable boyfriend is the way to have love in your life, I honestly think that you’re the ignorant one. And, at least I’m not a shallow, superficial bitch like you. I don’t need makeup and products to pretty myself up for the circus like you.” Again that nasty smile crossed Lupin’s features. “Also, when it comes to literature—as in, good literature that doesn’t rot your brain with its shitty writing style—I actually read between the lines, unlike your favorite hack writer, Stephanie Meyer. Can you, Cutthroat Bitch?”

The girl snarled—and it was at this point, this very strange point, Lupin realized she didn’t know anyone’s names in her class, except for her professor’s, but that was by default—at her, and Lupin merely…smiled. She smiled a sickly sweet smile that promised many terrible things if the girl said anything more. She leaned in—still feeling that sick feeling of being punched in the face, her nose being broken and blood gushing everywhere—and whispered quietly, “Go ahead, honey. Try it and I swear to you now, I will ruin everything you love dear, starting with your stupid little Twilight book. Try anything with me. I dare you, bitch.”

Her usurper merely stared with a trembling, red face and clenched jaw before she pivoted on her heel and stomped away. The other two brushed past Lupin and the others, throwing nasty glares at the wolf. She laughed at them. She laughed away her fear. “Go ahead, go on! The same goes for you two as well! I’ll take you all on if I have to!” She laughed, and laughed on. She laughed until she trembled and felt the fear replace her adrenaline of challenge. She knew she had won this battle, but as far as the war of another semester would go, she’d have to wait and see.

When she couldn’t laugh anymore, she let out a shuddering gasp, a faint, ghostly smile on her lips and she shook her head, staring at the long-gone empty doorway. She’d won, she knew. She knew she had won, had stood her ground. They knew she wouldn’t budge, not without physical force at least. But, she hoped to hell it wouldn’t come to that. She really didn’t want to get hurt, end up in the hospital or some stupid shit like that.

Oh, God, what have I done? Barely first year here, and I already made enemies with the crazies of the Twilight side. I must have a death wish this year, ‘cuz I know I wouldn’t have done this kind of crazy shit in my first year of high school.

Without any other word, she motioned mutely for the three men to follow her. They were silent, silent as hell, not saying a word about her abusive bashing barely a few minutes ago. What was it about college that felt so…freeing, yet so simply strange at how open it was? Nothing like high school; they had restrictions and they had boundaries, extremely tight and under lock and key. College had them too, but they were longer and farther off, she realized, than high school, and how far out they were scared the living shit out of her. She groped for the edge of the envelope, for that sense of what she could and couldn’t do, but she had yet to hit that edge. And it was one of the things that scared her, like how suddenly the world seemed too big and open, and she just wished for that mountain range of security and comfort, something that was a physical boundary for her.

Maybe that was why she was so reckless, at least in the verbally hostile department. She’d changed at how she talked with people, she’s noticed. People like that girl and her harpy friends; she smacked them around without a second’s thought, without thought of the consequences. Lupin only had to wonder, how much farther she had to go before she hit that edge of the envelope, to hit that edge of chaos. If she did, would she go sailing over or would she finally gain some common sense and pull back a little?

“So, little wolf, care to tell us where we’re going?”

Then her mind shifted from her class problems to home problems. Two more people; two more… Two more in her home, eating the food, taking up space, sleeping somewhere in the quickly shrinking home…

“Lunch.” Lupin sighed finally, almost heavily. She felt heavy. Heavy with responsibility she thought she could handle, but now it was bearing down harder and heavier on her shoulders. She almost felt like dragging herself around to show how she felt, but she lifted her head up high, realizing her feet had subconsciously been moving without her conscious attention, leading them from the classroom and to the cafeteria on campus. They were more than halfway to it. It was then that conversation was struck up. It seemed her dazed appearance had finally lifted enough for inviting chitchat to ensue.

“So, friends of yours?” Wilson started off. She knew the tone he was using. It was sarcastic and ironic, but still inquiring to the situation. She indulged him with an answer. L trudged silently beside her, wearing a pair of shoes she had merely dug up from her stepdad’s closet. He chose no socks, but she knew it was most likely to be expected.

“No. Obviously not. Friends don’t tear each others throats out on a daily basis.”

“Oh-ho, you’d be surprised.” House remarked sharply with a few chuckles. Lupin felt a vague smirk tugging at her lips and a strange thought, however extremely inappropriate it was, crossed her mind. My God, this is gonna be better than watching it on television, it’s gonna be in my own home!

She knew she’d be grossly underestimating her living situations later on perhaps even hating it, but ah, ignorance was bliss. Even if for only a moment and even if it were only fake ignorance.

They reached the cafeteria and moved through the spacious, echoing room, voices of other students bouncing off the walls in a dismembered body of white noise. It was annoying and Lupin felt that sudden urge to drown it out with her iPod, listen to the humdrum of some song that could perfectly block out the sounds of this annoying world, although she knew it couldn’t make the real world disappear.

L characteristically stuck with the sweetest of desserts. Lupin felt her gut wrench in utter disgust, but her stomach growled beyond the jerks and twists, demanding nutrients to fill it up. She swallowed her disgust of the overabundance of sugary delights and moved to the cashier’s, although she dumped the cookie she was going to purchase back in the row. Almost immediately, L’s own hand snapped the poor cookie up and squirreled it away on his tray. She pulled a face and noticed Wilson, from the corner of her eye, was showing a similar look that mirrored her own. House merely raised both brows, and stared at the mixed sweet concoctions with a blank face.

When they hit the cashier, the woman got through Lupin first, and then she stated she was paying for the other three behind her as well. After a moment’s pause, she snatched up an apple from a basket next to the cash register. “This too, please.”

The cashier nodded, added the apple to the bill, and then glanced over at everything L, House and Wilson had. It was almost comical to Lupin, seeing them standing there, waiting in line to get food and she almost laughed. Ryuk beat her to the punch, and she remained silent instead.

“Keep it up, Death-Man, and you can kiss your apple goodbye.” She muttered darkly to the Shinigami. Ryuk’s laughter slowed and then came to a halt and his jaw snapped closed, although that shark-toothed grin remained in place.

“Well, you certainly aren’t any fun today.” He grinned back. Lupin narrowed her eyes at him and slowly reached for the apple. He cleared his throat and said nothing else, looking away. She dropped her hand back to hold the tray. She paid for the food, almost whining at how much all of this was costing her, but she held a stony façade, and paid the cashier.

House fell into a limp beside her, one hand and arm propelling him forward with the use of his cane and the other holding the tray. The sandwich he had chosen was sliding up and down the tray, clinking against the sides of the tray and against the rolling soda can of Pepsi. “Can I help you?” She finally asked him.

“Funny you should ask that; we were told to look for a short little college student, brown hair, blue-gray eyes, with a funny looking Asian kid. Pretty sure this is a college, right? ‘Cuz if this is an asylum, they sure got some funny doctors and nurses around here, letting us play with all these pointy objects.”

She smirked a little. “Yes, and you’d be the head honcho of this strange establishment.”

“Only if it’ll help me rule the world.”

They veered off to the side, moving towards an empty table near the corner of the cafeteria, besides the large glass windows that didn’t really show much of a view, except for perhaps large bushes, a glimpse of a sidewalk and the side of the building cast in shadows. Some students were briefly seen before the bush hid them from view. They sat down at the table, and both Lupin and L allowed a few minutes to pass before diving straight into business.

L started first. “I believe we have a few things to discuss, Dr. House, Dr. Wilson. First, may I see the letter you were showing the psychology professor earlier?”

Wilson visibly froze, his food poised just in front of his open, awaiting mouth. House stopped chewing the bite of his sandwich, narrowing his eyes slightly at the two sitting across from him and Wilson. He swallowed his bite hastily and wiped his mouth with a napkin before moving his hands towards the Pepsi can. He took his sweet time opening it.

“You know something.” He stated firmly. Lupin glanced at L and he met her gaze before they returned gazes towards the two doctors. Lupin nodded, and L remained stationary.

“The note, if you please, Dr. Wilson.” L asserted once more. He held out a hand for further implication. Wilson put down his food, staring at L for the first time. Confusion and suspicion lined the man’s face, indecision tearing at him. Lupin swallowed before her eyes landed on the apple on her tray. She grabbed it and stood up, and then began rummaging into her book bag. She pulled out the piece of paper she had written “Scribe” on almost a week ago, the same piece of paper that had come from the Death Note.

Lupin glanced at Ryuk and she saw his grin had become wider, exposing more of his sharp teeth and he was laughing. She turned away and looked to L. He stared at her, blankly, then he nodded.

“Yes, it seems to be the only way. Proceed, Miss Hawkins.” He agreed with her silent, questioning stare. She moved to the other side of the table and stood before House first. They studied each other, bright blue eyes boring into hazy blue-gray ones.

“Is this a stare down? Because if it is, I think I’m winning. You already blinked three times.”

She took a slow, deep breath and let it out even slower. “I need you to remain calm. You cannot freak out, or draw attention to yourselves.” She glanced more so at Wilson than House before she pressed the paper against House’s hand and then she moved to Wilson.

“Wait, what’re you talking about, freaking—,” Then he stopped when Lupin touched him with the paper and stepped away. Ryuk was behind her, an imposing, dark figure that grinned maniacally with that shark-toothed smile of his, chuckling away. The Shinigami stared at Wilson and House as Lupin moved away from the two doctors. She tossed him the apple and Ryuk caught it before crunching into its red hide. Wilson gaped at Ryuk; his mouth opening and closing, but no words, no sound, came forth. House merely stared, eyes slightly widened, lips slightly parted at the sight of the otherworldly creature, his body rigid. She noticed, as she passed him, his grip on his cane increased enough for his knuckles to go white.

Can’t hit him even if you wanted to, House. Sorry. Lupin wanted to say, but she kept it to herself instead. Ryuk took another bite before waving his free hand at the two staring doctors. “Yo. What’s up?”

Wilson spluttered. House let out a sharp breath, a sharp laugh, as if he had been holding it in all this time. Finally, he stated with utmost interest in his voice, “Cool.”

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Lupin had underestimated their time spent in the cafeteria. Everyone, except for L and House, had lost their appetites. L munched on his sweet delicacies while House bore into his sandwich. Lupin and Wilson had pushed their trays away, both feeling hunger flee them, but they both had entirely different reasons to that. Questions were fired forth from both the doctors. House mocked and laughed and jabbed at the wolf, and at L and Ryuk. Ryuk joked back. L stared with his bulging eyes, a silent thin line as his lips. Lupin remained stony faced, merely taking what she knew she deserved.

It was absurd to think, really. Hellboy and Abe Sapien, agents of a secret sect of the government; Light the serial killer, Kira, of a manga and anime series; L, “Ryuzaki”, the super-detective, who was actually rather a complete duplicate of House, only they specialized in two completely different “detective” categories; Ryuk the Shinigami, the Death God who killed people with a notebook; and Sonny the futuristic robot, from a future that no one is certain will ever appear in this reality, this world.

Wilson seemed the most confused, although he tried to grasp it, Lupin and L gave him points for that. House believed Ryuk was real; he touched the Shinigami’s hand to be certain, watched him eat the apple right in front of him… But demons and fish-men and God knows what else? He didn’t completely attune to that. And Lupin had a feeling he’d obviously believe her if he came to her home, as would Wilson. If I can get them to my house…

Finally, she felt the need to leave, to get out of this place. College no longer felt like a safe haven from her own home; it felt just like it. She didn’t enjoy the prospect of going back, but she had nowhere else to go, and she only had work on weekends, part-time. She felt pathetic, unable to find a full-time job, but no one seemed to be hiring these days. The economy was still bad, the recession still in place, and the whole government seemed to be pointing fingers at other people and not taking part of the blame onto themselves. She found it utterly ridiculous and depressing, because her boss liked to stay on top of things in the news; she was merely along for the ride.

Trudging across the campus to the parking lot must have been painful for House. Lupin kept close to the man, feeling that if he needed to rest, she’d be the first to allow it for him and his leg. A strange part of her realized she felt like Cameron, to a small degree; helping the sick and the wounded, the poor kicked puppy. But, he limped on, maybe a faint grimace or contortion of the face, but nothing more. At least, there was nothing more yet.

Wilson strode beside his friend on the other side. L traipsed beside Lupin on her other side. Ryuk hovered behind them, silent and still as death itself. Lupin found that ironic, and she wondered briefly if the other three did as well. She tugged her hat, with all it’s buttons with their smart-ass remarks on them, further down her face, hiding her eyes, a frown on her face. Her eyes darted side to side as she stared at the ground, aimlessly leading the other three back to her car. Who else would Scribe make appear? How can he do this, breaking down that fourth wall, that fine dividing line between fiction and reality?

She shuddered to think of Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger suddenly making an appearance, maniacal and mad as ever, slaughtering poor victims left and right on her college campus or on the streets. It made her blood run cold when she realized he had the powers to do that: bring the fictional to life. He’s already brought several characters to life, so how many more? Who, when, where, and why? Why would he be doing this, and as cliché and predictable as the question appeared to her, why her? She knew her answers were mundane and also rather predictable to that.

She wasn’t a super-intelligent person; she wasn’t the strongest person in the world. She couldn’t run the fastest, although she liked to think herself fairly quick and light on her feet. She wasn’t a famous artist, author, celebrity or…anything, really. The only awards she ever remembered receiving were for passing school, like middle school and high school, or for art awards for participating or making it to county or state regionals. That was as far as she got, and it was enough to make her proud. Lupin knew she wasn’t exactly beautiful or attractive; she had more ass than tits, as she always loved to put it, or as she always says, “I’m part of the Itty-Bitty Titty Committee.” But she liked to fancy herself as at least pretty, in her own little ways.

She had quirks and her flaws. She couldn’t whistle or snap her fingers or French braid her own hair or tie a cherry stem with her tongue. Her mother could do all of those; Lupin felt that those talents had somehow missed her. The only thing she could do, and do well for someone like her, was draw and write.

But I don’t publish my works, at least not officially. Fanfiction and online art communities don’t exactly gain much notice in the real world, Lupin thought glumly as they moved closer to the parking lot. She could already hear the screeches of inexperienced, dumber-than-shit drivers racing along the aisles, perhaps playing car tag with one another or merely they were looking for a way out. Freshmen like her, perhaps.

She sighed heavily, and then it turned into a groan in a fluid motion when she saw the stairs they would have to climb. Then she stopped, remembering there was a ramp walkway. She scanned the area quickly, found it, and then hesitated before tugging House’s sleeve and he looked to her. Lupin pointed towards the ramp. His lips tugged to the side for a split moment before he nodded.

“Thanks.”

“It’d be easier on your leg.” She replied. He replied with a snarky comeback.

“All this walking hurts my leg. At least this part will be easier.”

She gave no answer to that. They climbed the walkway, winding back and forth, although it was easier for House; he didn’t have to walk the stairs. She felt a little triumph well up inside her, even if it was only a little bit. At least I’m helping…sorta.

The trees they walked beneath gave some shade from the hot sun as they reached the summit of the little incline. The parking lot stood before them, and several students were moving towards and away from the gleaming, colorful beetles all lined up in spacious, neat rows. A few cars were leaving. Some were coming in. L stopped beside Lupin and she scanned the lot, before moving away, remembering where she parked. She always tried to find parking near the front so she wouldn’t have to walk too far; she didn’t fancy getting hit by a backing out truck that couldn’t see her because it was too fucking big.

She passed some bushes, some trees and more bushes. Something rustled and she thought it was perhaps a squirrel rummaging about. Then, quite suddenly, something actually reached out and grabbed her arm, wrapping around it. Lupin jumped and gave out a startled scream and grabbed whatever was holding her right back, yanking it forward and out. The weight surprised her and she found out she had tossed a person out from the bushes. The sudden tugging had sent them sprawling into the sidewalk and their golden hair, knotted into a ponytail, sprawled over their back. Lupin at first thought she had thrown out a girl. Then the heat rose in her blood and she gave a quick venomous glare at their backside, thinking it was one of the Twilight diehards, waiting for her, waiting to jump her and beat the living crap out of her in broad daylight.

Sorry, honey, not today.

But then she realized the girls she had been speaking with earlier, they didn’t have such bright, golden hair like this. One of them had pale, dirty blondish hair, and the other two had been dark-haired brunettes. Is one of the other two that I had been arguing with last week, then? I can’t remember.

The gender of her “attacker”, however, had been promptly corrected when she heard a low groan come from the sprawled out person. A man; it was a young man by the sound of it. Then her eyes widened. I know that hair…I know that voice. Shit, I even know that fuckin’ brown duster!

An uncomfortable lump had formed in her throat, not one of choked up tears, but one of choked up fear. The right hand slammed against the concrete and she heard the clank of metal instead of soft muscle and tissue. The left knee scraped along sidewalk and she heard the dull scratching of metal instead of flesh and bone. Her stomach plummeted, realizing she had just done a rather incredibly stupid thing.

She had actually surprised and tossed Edward Elric out on his ass in front of her.

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"Collision" Chapter Thirteen [INCOMPLETE]

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 06:45:58 GMT

Here is part of chapter thirteen of Collision, and in we enter some insight of Lupin's rowdier side; something I seriously wanted to explore and branch out a little more on. We also bring in everyone's favorite pain in the ass, Dr. House and his unfortunate partner-in-crime, Dr. Wilson. Edward Elric will definitely be making his appearance quite soon, although unlike the first draft snippet I wrote up, it'll be quite different a meeting than expected. x3

And now that I'm exhausted from writing all of this, I think I'll be going to bed now, I have work in the morning...

Bending

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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Better bend than break.
- Scottish proverb

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Other than that, she felt alone, terrifyingly alone.

That part had made her secretly proud. She definitely had a sailor’s mouth; something she gained from her grandmother and perhaps bits from her mother and stepdad as well.

She ignored it. House, however, didn’t. He leaned close to her and whispered, “You seriously gonna take that? She called you a bitch.”

Lupin merely glanced at him, and she heard Wilson mutter, “House, don’t. Leave her alone.”

“Watch where you’re going, bitch.” The young woman spat at the wolf.

The young woman’s eyes flashed angrily and her face flushed. “Not like anyone would even date you, you’re too stupid to know what love even is.”

“So, little wolf, care to tell us where we’re going?”

“No. Obviously not. Friends don’t tear each others throats out on a daily basis.”

“Oh-ho, you’d be surprised.” House remarked sharply with a few chuckles. Lupin felt a vague smirk tugging at her lips and a strange thought, however extremely inappropriate it was, cross her mind. My God, this is gonna be better than watching it on television, it’s gonna be in my own home!

She knew she’d be grossly underestimating her living situations later on, but ah, ignorance was bliss. Even if for only a moment and even if it were only fake ignorance.

L characteristically stuck with the sweetest of deserts. Lupin felt her gut wrench in utter disgust, but her stomach growled beyond the jerks and twists, demanding nutrients to fill it up. She swallowed her disgust of the overabundance of sugary delights and moved to the cashier’s, although she dumped the cookie she was going to purchase back in the row. Almost immediately, L’s own hand snapped the poor cookie up and squirreled it away on his tray. She pulled a face and noticed Wilson, from the corner of her eye, was showing a similar look that mirrored her own. House merely raised both brows, and stared at the mixed sweet concoctions with a blank face.

She smirked a little. “Yes, and you’d be the head honcho of this strange establishment.”

“Only if it’ll help me rule the world.”

“You know something.” He stated firmly. Lupin glanced at L and he met her gaze before they returned gazes towards the two doctors. Lupin nodded, and L remained stationary.

Lupin glanced at Ryuk and she saw his grin had become wider, exposing more of his sharp teeth and he was laughing. She turned away and looked to L. He stared at her, blankly, then he nodded.

“Is this a stare down? Because if it is, I think I’m winning. You already blinked three times.”

“Wait, what’re you talking about, freaking—,” Then he stopped when Lupin touched him with the paper and stepped away. Ryuk was behind her, an imposing, dark figure that grinned maniacally with that shark-toothed smile of his, chuckling away. The Shinigami stared at Wilson and House as Lupin stepped away. She tossed him the apple and Ryuk caught it before crunching into its red hide. Wilson gaped at Ryuk; his mouth opening and closing, but no words, no sound came forth. House merely stared, eyes slightly widened, lips slightly parted at the sight of the otherworldly creature, his body rigid. She noticed, as she passed him, his grip on his cane increased enough for his knuckles to go white.

Wilson spluttered. House let out a sharp breath, a sharp laugh, as if he had been holding it in all this time. “Cool.”

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"Collision" Chapter Twelve [COMPLETE]

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 02:38:12 GMT

I hate this chapter so much, and I hate Microsoft Word so much as well. I can't get this stupid chapter fixed up on Word, this will be the only place I'll have a copy of this until I get Blackout (my desktop) fixed, which won't be home until sometime next week. Arky...if you see this, do ya think you could, ya know, copy this onto a file and save it somewhere for me? D: I'm afraid of losing this chapter and I've already gone through hell for a little over twenty-four hours with this chapter... If not, it's okay, I'll just have to...make copies of this somehow somewhere else. >_>;;;;

Life

Reviewers:

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

- Maria Robinson

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The next two days after Hellboy and Abe’s arrivals had been…interesting. The alterations in Lupin’s parents had been ludicrous in the wolf’s eyes. She didn’t like it. She may have “hibernated”, as her mother always put it, quite often in her room, and did not often interact with her family as much, but she still knew her mother and her step-dad. It was, in some respects, convenient, but that was what chafed against Lupin the most.

It was convenient. It was too convenient. And like everyone else, Lupin felt that this was the biggest and the most obvious arousal of suspicion. “Scribe” was playing with them.

It was disgusting. To think that someone was messing with her family’s behaviors, it only showed that it could happen to her. It could happen to everyone around her. While she considered it convenient, she also called it a very small, secret blessing. Ryuk was able to freely move about the house without fear from her family, as were Abe, Sonny, and Hellboy. It seemed like her family knew everyone else for years, and any abnormalities were ignored or treated as if they were not present.

Despite this all, though, Lupin had to ask herself, more than once a day, if she was overlooking something, if she was missing something that was so obviously supposed to be there, but wasn’t anymore. What was missing? She liked priding herself in her artistic eye; noticing things what others don’t. Now she felt like she over exaggerated a mundane skill such as that.

She was missing the big picture, and she was missing the details that should be there, but aren’t. She knew she paid more attention to the surrounding area in which she was stuck in, whether it was a classroom, her own room, or some other obscure place. The local bus, the local Borders bookstore, a fast food or sit-down restaurant…

Lupin felt mortified that she did not know her own home very well, even though she traversed through it most of every day. In fact, she had realized, second day in on Hellboy and Abe’s settlement, that she’s spent more time downstairs with L, Light, Ryuk, Sonny, Abe and Hellboy, than almost a whole month’s worth. She found it embarrassing.

It felt like a responsibility now. She helped with what she could. She tried to keep what little of a social life she had together. She did homework—or more likely, put it off until the wee hours of night—and did chores around the house, juggling it between bouncing ideas off of L and the others. She actually was having…fun. In a perverse sense, of course, but still…

And then there was Light. She didn’t know what to do with him. L seemed content to let him sit and stay the way he was. He did, after all, have Light sit in a cell for days on end. She couldn’t remember how many, exactly, but she knew it was at least over…a month? Maybe two?

He could go to the bathroom on a tightly guarded schedule, eat when the time came, but he was barred from the little powwows that L held quite often, both when Lupin was there and when she wasn’t. Sonny was a bodyguard, of course, to protect L and to keep Light from trying anything. The robot was incredibly adept to the task, and when Lupin felt fully recovered both by her standards—and by Sonny’s careful examination—she helped keep an eye on the young man.

Light was silent, for the most part: silent, still, and practically oozing with a vicious aura of loathing. He said almost nothing to her. Not even a complaint about anything, other than human needs like the bathroom or food. Otherwise, he said nothing to her. A part of her was glad; she didn’t have to deal with hearing his prolonged rants. Another part of her was itching for him to just say anything offensive. It would give her an excuse to hit him.

Otherwise, she hadn’t the foggiest what to do with him. In fact, she actually pitied him, sadly enough. She knew he was…evil, in a sense. Maybe it was just the way he did things were evil. His grand speech right before his death by Ryuk’s hands—she found the irony painful to compare between him and herself—was somewhat justified. A world without war, without crime…it seemed almost like a utopia. But, it was under his scrutinizing, spiteful gaze.

She didn’t approve the way he did it, but…the ends that he had accomplished were rather…well, admiring. She didn’t like Light all too much, she’d admit to it. She liked how he had brought a world of peace—however conceited and fearful it was—to his “reality”, though. It was admirable, to a very small extent.

“Hey.”

She blinked and turned her gaze to the young man. His sharp gaze pierced her own, lips drawn in a grim, thin line, and she saw his muscles were all tense and strained in his face. She studied him for a few long seconds, her face a blank slate before she set down her pencil, her sketchbook, and her eraser. “Yes?”

“Can I have a glass of water?” He was always strenuous in his requests with her. She assumed it was because it was humiliating to be begging for help, due to his situation. Her parents did not seem to notice a young man, day in and day out, with handcuffs bounding his hands behind his back, arms and legs tied with rope, and looking quite disheveled due to his inability to properly shower.

It did, however, make Lupin quite uncomfortable whenever they saw Light like he was. It always made her tense up, waiting for that one cue where everyone started pulling reality TV show moves, where confetti rained down, berserk light shows and blaring alarms to go off, the camera crew to peel away from the shadows…

She knew it was unlikely, but it was an annoyingly amusing mental scenario she had dished out in her mind.

“Sure.” She finally replied after a moment’s pause. She stood, crossed over to the kitchen and got out the glass, moved to the faucet and filled the cup up. Lupin came back and stood over the ottoman Light was once more occupying. It was her turn to watch Light; Sonny would fill her in later. Ryuk was also away in the room, although she knew she couldn’t depend on him as her stand-in.

So, here she was, guarding a man whose life she surprisingly found little value in. She was surprised…and perhaps slightly ashamed…at how little she valued his life. He could die tomorrow and she knew, somehow she knew, she’d have little to no feelings of loss or sadness or remorse over his death.

Lupin helped him take a drink, seeing as his hands were of no use to him. A part of her felt sorry that Sonny, for the most part, was stuck with him, playing handmaiden like he was. She knew he had better uses for his skills. And yet, she also had to wonder if he wanted to utilize them beyond helping out around the house. There must be something more he could do, besides playing babysitter. He may not have been an actual “person”, but she still felt he could do something much better than this. Did he want to? She would have to ask later…

She took the glass away from Light’s lips and sighed. “If you need any more, just let me know.”

“Do you know who I am?”

The question threw her off guard, took her by complete surprise. Lupin stood there, body poised to move away, but she remained frozen in her spot staring at Light. Finally she answered, “Yes. I do. You’re Kira.”

He stared at her. She couldn’t tell if it was in contempt or if he was simply studying her.

“Then you know what I had been trying to accomplish.”

She stared right back. Then she answered, “A world without hate, without crime, without war. A world in your image.”

Surprise finally melted onto his features. It may have been a simplistic answer, but it was, essentially, the summarization of his goals. She heard laughing from the den and pinpointed it as Ryuk’s. Light remained oblivious, of course. His surprise slid away just as easily as it had come. Neutrality replaced it. “Then if you know, then why are you helping him?”

“Ryuzaki?”

His jaw clenched, ever so slightly and the smolder of his eyes wasn’t hard to miss. “Yes. Him.”

Here it comes. I knew he couldn’t resist. He’s trying to bait me. Lupin withheld the urge to sigh in a very loud, overly exaggerated and exasperated manner. Instead, it came out quietly, patiently. “You wanted a perfect world, Light. I can understand that. You wanted no crimes committed, no wars declared…you wanted to be God.”

She moved around the ottoman, set down the glass of water and plopped back down on the couch, casually, as if she wasn’t having a conversation with a mass murderer.

“But, you got too close to the real thing and had your wings melted.” She leaned over and picked up her own drink, took a long sip, and set it back down. “I can understand that you wanted to make this world a better place. You had your heart in the right place, but your head wasn’t in correct alignment. You became conceited by your doohickey device, your little notebook and it the power it had, supposedly the killing powers it had, overwhelmed you. You may not think so, but it did.”

Lupin felt that she sounded too casual, but she also felt casual. She wasn’t struggling to say this at all. She felt like this was a regular conversation with a regular guy, and not what it really was: a young woman, a mere college student, conversing with a convicted criminal in her living room, in her own home.

She picked up her sketchbook and picked back up where she had left off.

“I want to see the world better. I believe in a death penalty. There are people in Rwanda, killing children by lopping their heads off at their own desks, in school. There are people in the world who work slaves to the very bone, and then kill them for an inadequate job of keeping up the pace. I get it. I really do, people like that need to be…taken care of.”

She didn’t want to look at him. She didn’t like the sound of her voice, nor the topic she was talking about. And yet, she felt like she was someone else, outside of her body, listening to it as a third party. It felt…strange.

“But the way you proceeded to take matters into your own hands, it’s…it was wrong. I can understand you wanted to better the world, fix it up, make it all right. But you shouldn’t have taken the easy way out. It’s like killing yourself in prison because you can’t tough it out. You basically took a coward’s way out. Instead of toughing out the real world, you chose the easy path. I don’t think you should’ve, but you did.”

He laughed. He laughed at her, and she suspected if he had use of his hands, he would’ve doubled over with his arms around his middle to clutch his sides. Lupin stopped, astonished, and she looked to the young man.

“The easy way out? Do you think killing all those people was easy for me?” He asked, glancing at her. The wild gleam in his eye, hidden behind a veil of…something else she couldn’t identify, sent a chill down her spine.

“Yes.” She answered simply. He stopped laughing, his face wiped clean. “Yes, I do. You were willing to kill your own family if they got too nosy. Your own family. I couldn’t do that. I hate my own brother, and I couldn’t do something like that to him.”

“Sacrifices need to be made sometimes. Don’t you understand that? If you understand what I was trying to accomplish, then you must understand the notion of sacrifices.” How quickly he had reverted from amused to annoyed. She swallowed again, feeling a lump form in her throat. The voices in the other room were receding. Her muscles wavered before tensing up. She began picking up everything and tucking it away.

“Yes…I do understand. But your own family? The people who raised you, from birth? The people who fed you, clothed you, put a roof over your ungrateful, selfish head for a good majority of your life?” Her jaw clenched and she felt the anger boil in her blood, practically seething. Hot tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she thought of being in Light’s shoes. The thought of her family being killed by her own hands, just to gain such selfish means like protecting herself or changing the world in the view of her eyes…

It hurt. It made her ache all over just at the mere thought of it all.

Lupin directed her heated glare towards Light. “You’re an ungrateful bastard who doesn’t know what it means to be alive. And the only person I think that deserves the death penalty in this world at the moment is you.”

Then she stomped out of the room, her steel toe boots slamming against the stone tiles noisily. Everyone was just finishing up their meeting and were proceeding to the living room. She brushed past Abe and L, a few hot tears already spilling down her face. She ignored the attentive, concerned calls, gruffly scrubbed away her tears with her free sleeve and continued up the stairs.

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It was back to school…again. She finished her paper for anthropology the night before and turned it in to her professor. She’d get a grade in a few weeks. Then it was off to her algebra class. She barely got through, hadn’t finished even half the assigned work and left with a struggling, crawling mind afterwards. Last was psychology for the day.

Three classes in one day, she knew she was insane to consider it, but she needed to build up the credits swiftly and thoroughly if she wanted to make a transfer out of the community college. And besides, it was just this once; she skipped out most of last week to help with L, then Ryuk and Sonny and then lastly, Light. Also, that bloody heart attack didn’t help much, either…

And now, here she was, back in the classroom. She wasn’t alone, though. Ryuk was a constant, hovering presence. But she also had a tangible escort in the form of L. He sat beside her in the small classroom, knees tucked to his chest, his bulging eyes regarding the classroom sharply and intently with a blank stare. He nibbled on a candy bar that Lupin had purchased at a little liquor store down the street from her house and old high school. There were several more in a black plastic bag in her backpack for him. She nibbled on her own, although she took her time on it.

Psychology was up next, and it was on the other side of the campus. Afterwards, she’d catch lunch in the on campus cafeteria with L and Ryuk, relax for maybe a half-hour, an hour at the most, and then go home. It sounded simple. Her lips pursed thinly, though.

She kept her mind on Hellboy and Abe and how they were coping. They seemed all right, but she didn’t know if they really were. So far, she’s had civil conversations with Abe, although he always seemed hesitant on certain subjects around her. She’s tried reassuring him that she was fine with whatever he chose, but he still remained reluctant to bring them up.

However, all her chats were Hellboy were quipped with sharp wit and humor. She sometimes got him to laugh, but most of the time, it was usually him who left her with stitches in her sides. She got the impression that he liked her, to a degree, although she wondered if he was merely tolerating her or he did like her as a mutual friend, a rather quickly made one at that.

Her mind slid back to the explanations she had to give to the two new arrivals a few days before, and Hellboy’s reaction to Ryuk when she had to show him to the red-skinned man. He had bolted upright at the sight of Ryuk, hand reflexively reaching for his gun in its holster, although Abe had thankfully saved the morning. He calmed Hellboy, who had his hand gripping the butt of the Samaritan, jaw set into a clench, yellow eyes boring down into that of Ryuk’s bulging ones. It had only surprised Hellboy when Ryuk merely laughed, waved and asked, “What’s up?”

For that split moment Lupin had smiled at the light humor, and then the smile had gone away as quickly as it had come. She had to explain, clearly and in pieces, what things were going on. The whiteboard had helped to some degree, for some of the explaining, although not much. The reception then turned towards the…nonexistent conversational turning point. Lupin had felt that pang of guilt stab at her, deeper and harder than the last. She finally had to trudge back upstairs, yank theHellboy series off her movie shelf and had come back down with a heavy pair of legs, weighing her down like a pair of lead weights.

Hellboy had stared at the covers, long and hard, turned them both over and read the backs. He especially kept a long gaze on the first movie cover. Lupin knew he had been staring at Liz. Finally he had tossed both DVDs onto the little coffee table, kicked one foot on top of the table and had stared at her, lounging like a large jungle cat on the couch. She had felt extremely unnerved by the stare, although she strangely hadn’t felt very intimidated. Unnerved, to a small degree, but not overly intimidated.

“So…” He had finally said, “I’m a star.”

Lupin had blinked, surprised. Abe had remained silent. Ryuk had laughed behind her and she remembered it had sent a chill down her spine. L had remained just as quiet as Abe, although not in the same context as the blue-skinned man. Abe finally had reached over and looked over the covers himself while Hellboy continued.

“And you’re a fan. Never thought I’d see the day where I really was just a fictional character. Used to be a government cover-up. Now it’s real.”

More questions had been asked, mostly by Hellboy. Abe had put the movies back down on the table, delicately and quietly, saying mostly nothing. Lupin had glanced at him several times, trying to send apologetic stares to him, although she didn’t know if he had received them in kind. Finally, she had called it a morning, bid them a fairly quickly good-bye and then left, shaken and covered in a thin sheet of cold sweat.

Three days later, there had been nothing else going on, except for settling. Sleeping arrangements, however haggard and haphazardly acquired, were made. Lupin’s parents, like they had with Ryuk and Sonny, did not seem to question Hellboy or Abe. As much as it disgusted her at the behavioral changes in them, it had also been a quiet blessing to the wolf. She wouldn’t have to deal with drama from their end; she wouldn’t have to deal with them being overly nervous, paranoid, or…

Well…actually, she’d only have to really worry about her mother. Her step dad, most likely, would have thought it rather cool. He had always been the laid back kind, now that she stopped to really think back about everything. He really wasn’t all that different, except for the ignorance of any abnormalities of the tenants.

It was really her mother she had been overly concerned about. She sometimes never knew what to expect of the older woman. One moment, she could be an agreeable, lively person and next, the hellion of anger, striking fear in those who knew when she was pissed off to the max.

Lupin pulled herself back from her thoughts and finished off the last of her candy bar, tucked the candy wrapping in her book bag and shivered violently. Lupin tugged at jacket, tightly weaving it over her body, although it didn’t really lessen her ailment. God, it was always a bloody icebox in her psychology class. It was as if the professor was testing them, seeing if they were really serious about this class. Maybe it was a defense mechanism to keep people from falling asleep? She rarely saw anyone sleeping because of it. Or maybe they did find the subject fascinating like she did, who knew.

The wolf grudgingly tugged her hands free of her jacket after a few moments of uselessly trying to warm her hands by the cloth material. Instead, they dove into her book bag and she began setting up her things. L sat silently besides her, crunching at the Snickers candy bar, staring down at the large blackboard in front of them.

“Do you want something to do, or…?” She finally asked, turning to the young man. He glanced at her, regarding her just as silently as five minutes before.

“I’ll merely listen. Thank you, though, for the offer, Miss Hawkins.”

Lupin repressed another shiver, and nodded before she tucked back into her jacket’s warmth, curling up her legs in a similar knee-to-chest position as L’s. A warm cup of Starbucks coffee sat next to her displayed supplies and she once more reached out from the safe, warm haven and pulled it closer to her. It was small, minimal external warmth, but she welcomed it and reveled in the taste of the coffee as it slid down her throat.

Class began barely five minutes later with the professor’s late arrival. Notes began to be reviewed. For once, Lupin fell back into the rhythmic pattern that she knew of before her home had been invaded by L and shortly after, the others. It was a quiet relief she reveled in, a sort of balm to the angry wound her home had become.

She felt like she was constantly walking on eggshells with these people: keeping L’s identity a secret and helping Sonny protect him or guard Light; keeping Light in the dark about the Death Note and Ryuk’s presence in the very house he was in; Hellboy and Abe’s new arrival.

She felt awkward around them all, unsure of what she should say to them, how she should say it, or what she was allowed to say and what she wasn’t. Was she allowed to talk about certain people; people she doesn’t know personally, but people she knows through televised relations? It all seemed like she was traversing a minefield: one wrong step and BOOM! She could unleash something she hadn’t meant to.

So, being at college, in a classroom or on the campus grounds, it felt like it was a soothing balm to her life, the careful, thin thread that was keeping all of this from ripping apart. Her job was another sieve she considered a semi-sacred place to relieve herself of such tension.

She tuned back into class once more. She exhaled slowly, her hand scribbling furiously as the professor scrawled just as a viciously across the blackboard. The chalk squeaked and screeched when it looped a wrong way, but she barely noticed. One ear was plugged into her iPod with the Goo Goo Dolls singing charmingly away, and the other was tuned to her professor.

It wasn’t until fifteen minutes into the class that the door flew open to the classroom. Heads jerked forward towards the interruption and the squeaking of the chalk on the board and the scribbling of people’s pens on paper stopped. The professor turned towards the door. Lupin’s breath hitched and L stiffened besides her, giving her a moment’s glance and noticing how stiff she had also become.

A tall, thin man dressed in a casual dress shirt and jacket and slacks stepped inside the room, light blue eyes regarding the room sharply. His stubbled face didn’t hide the gentle smirk tugging at his lips as he limped forward, swinging his cane with his right leg in unison, glancing around towards the professor first, then they swept the classroom swiftly. Another man followed the first, this one dressed in about the same manner of casual slacks and dress shirts and jackets, although he seemed to take more care in his appearance than the first. He also wore a white lab coat, and his face was written with silent apology and confusion instead of the heated cockiness the first one had.

“You know them.” L finally stated quietly to Lupin. She nodded numbly, her eyes never taken from the two men who had entered the classroom.

“Yes.” She whispered. Ryuk cocked his head to the side and leaned forward to Lupin’s other side.

“Who’re they? The guy in the lab coat looks like a doctor.”

“He is. Both of them are.” Lupin replied. L and Ryuk waited while the professor addressed the two men. Lupin still hadn’t taken her eyes of the two men. “The one with the cane is Dr. Gregory House. The one in the coat is Dr. James Wilson. They’re both M.D.’s.”

“Ha. Called it.” Ryuk cackled quietly.

L nibbled his thumb for a moment before speaking once more. “Will you call them over or wait for them to figure out they’re to be looking for us?”

“How do you know they—,”

“You would not be in such a state of shock if they weren’t, Miss Hawkins.” L interrupted. Lupin was silent before House turned his sharp, witty gaze around the room once more, ignoring her insistent professor’s questions of who he was and what he was doing here. Wilson stepped in and quietly pulled the man aside. Both Lupin and L noticed the doctor dipping his hand into his lab coat and pulling out a slip of paper from his coat pocket. L's lips thinned out into a grim line.

"Scribe?" Lupin questioned quietly. L, for the moment, did not answer her. Finally he nodded.

"I would say that's an accurate deduction, yes." He replied. Lupin's eyes didn't meet his gaze when he glanced at her. He noticed she was keeping her gaze on the taller, caned man. "Are you waiting for him to find us?"

"Yes. He'll figure it out." She said. A few seconds after she had said that, L knew she was right. The sharp-eyed doctor turned his gaze towards the two of them, and his lips twitched at them. A small smile tugged at his lips from that twitch.

"So, there you are, you little mouse, you."

Lupin swallowed. She felt numb, but she answered in a slightly mocking tone, "I'd prefer a wolf, actually, Dr. House."

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Her psychology professor and Wilson stopped in their quiet conversation to the side of the classroom to stare at Lupin. Others who had been whispering in their own little groups also looked to the wolf with her strange new friend near the front row. Lupin stared unblinkingly at House. Again he smiled a little, pivoted and said to the professor, "Mind if we sit in and listen with her, teach?"

Wilson stared with his mouth gaping open. Her professor blinked a few times, clearly confused. House stepped forward, yanked the paper from his hands and then moved back towards the seats and slapped the paper on the desk. He maneuvered his way in to sit besides the wolf. She let out a shaky breath when he sat close next to her. She kept her gaze fixated on the paper in front of her. Wilson spoke in a hushed tone to her professor once more, most likely apologizing, and then followed House and sat beside the man. She glanced at the man sitting next to her.

"I think we have a bit of situation." She said quietly.

"You think so?"

"...No. I know so. Now, please shut up and let me finish my class and we'll talk over lunch."

He didn't show any surprise or indication of shock at her snippy reply. He sat silently for a moment and Lupin turned back to her still flabbergasted professor. People were still whispering. It grated on her nerves.

And here I thought school would be a sacred little haven for me. She thought glumly as she sank back into her seat while her professor, still somewhat reluctant, returned to the lesson. Lupin still felt people's gazes on her and she knew she' d have to pack up quick to dodge any unwanted questions. She really felt her good day drain away as soon as House and Wilson stepped through her classroom door.

Is it safe to say...I really hate my life right now?

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"Collision" Chapter Twelve [INCOMPLETE]

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:34:34 GMT

Snippet from chapter 12 of Collision. Loopy and Light never had a formal "conversation" and while Loopy does most of the talking, what few words Light says, really shakes her up. Tenses may be a little screwed up, but I shall fix them when I have the time to look them over. Any that can be pointed out, however, would be most welcome, since I know I'm prone to missing a few little buggers here and there...

Life

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

- Maria Robinson

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It was convenient. It was too convenient. And like everyone else, Lupin felt that this was the biggest and the most obvious arousal of suspicion. “Scribe” was playing with them.

“Hey.”

She knew it was unlikely, but it was an annoyingly amusing mental scenario she had dished out in her mind.

She took the glass away from Light’s lips and sighed. “If you need any more, just let me know.”

“Do you know who I am?”

He stared at her. She couldn’t tell if it was in contempt or if he was simply studying her.

“Then you know what I had been trying to accomplish.”

She stared right back. Then she answered, “A world without hate, without crime, without war. A world in your image.”

“Ryuzaki?”

His jaw clenched, ever so slightly and the smolder of his eyes wasn’t hard to miss. “Yes. Him.”

Here it comes. I knew he couldn’t resist. He’s trying to bait me. Lupin withheld the urge to sigh in a very loud, overly exaggerated and exasperated manner. Instead, it came out quietly, patiently. “You wanted a perfect world, Light. I can understand that. You wanted no crimes committed, no wars declared…you wanted to be God.”

She moved around the ottoman, set down the glass of water and plopped back down on the couch, casually, as if she wasn’t having a conversation with a mass murderer.

“Sacrifices need to be made sometimes. Don’t you understand that?” How quickly he had reverted from amused to annoyed. She swallowed again, feeling a lump form in her throat. The voices in the other room were receding. Her muscles wavered before tensing up. She began picking up everything and tucking it away.

“Yes. But your own family? The people who raised you, from birth? The people who fed you, clothed you, put a roof over your ungrateful, selfish head?” Her jaw clenched and she felt the anger boil in her blood, practically seething. Hot tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she thought of being in Light’s shoes. The thought of her family being killed by her own hands, just to gain such selfish means like protecting herself…

It hurt. It made her ache all over just at the mere thought of it all.

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"Collision" Chapter Eight [INCOMPLETE]

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 09:42:09 GMT

Not complete, but its almost there.

Hope you had fun in Toronto, Arky, hun! <3 Here's the second part of Collision I promised ya! 8D

Freak

Reviewers:

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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Too bad you can’t buy a voodoo globe so that you could make the earth spin real fast and freak everybody out.

-Jack Handy

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She hated waking up with the sun in her eyes. It always somehow managed to peak through the blinds. Even when they were shut, that golden pool of light leaked past the tightly sealed blinds. It was bordering irritating when Lupin was only half-aware she was awake. And it was very quiet. Normally she played music through the night at a fairly low volume. Not loud enough for it to blast through the wall against it so her parents would complain, but just loud enough for her to hear in the stillness of the night.

She finally found the resolve to roll over onto the other side, curled up under the covers. She shivered, realizing she was cold, colder than usual. She must’ve stupidly put on shorts instead of sweatpants, aw crap…

But man, oh man, she just really wanted to curl up even more, lay there under her covers and just go back to sleep, music or no music…

Lupin inhaled slowly, but stopped suddenly at the tightness in her chest and she held her breath sharply, then allowed it to expel very slowly. The needling pain lingered for a few seconds, and then it too began to ebb away. For another minute or so, Lupin continued this process until the pain was gone. A soreness that she hadn’t realized was there, however, remained and she finally found the initiative to get up out of bed.

She opened her eyes and winced, closing them immediately. Goddammit. How the fuck did I forget to take out my contacts?

Getting into the bathroom with her eyes closed had been an interesting challenge, but when she was at her sink, she grudgingly opened her eyes and pulled at the dry suckers until her eyes began to water. It helped in the retrieval and she tossed them into the trash.

Been meaning to pull out some new ones, anyways. She thought grumpily. A few minutes later, when she had put some new contacts in (Should be wearing my glasses, but…), she turned to leave, but something caught her eye. Lupin paused and turned. Her eyes trailed over a cord that was peeping out of the shower room. She stared at it. Her CD player. What was it doing still in the bathroom?

She frowned, her brow furrowed as she stepped over and pushed the door open on the wall with one hand and tugged the cord out with the other. The room inside, when she stuck herself in to grab her CD player, made her freeze. Her clothes from yesterday and the sweatpants she had laid out for last night were on top of the toilet still. Her towel was crumpled dejectedly on the floor, sheens of water still on the tile floor. Lupin swallowed, her hands trembling at her side.

The wolf closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head slightly.

Then it all started to come back to her.

The funny, faint feeling of nausea; the difficulty of breathing she had had. She’d assumed it was the hot air, moved to open the door and then the blinding, sudden pain sheering through her chest—

Then nothing. Darkness.

Vaguely, she remembered a voice, talking to her. She couldn’t remember the words, but she remembered it had been soft, kind, and patient. The only thing she remembered was saying her chest hurt. That was the only phrase, the only sentence, the only thing she remembered afterwards.

Lupin gathered everything up with shaky hands and dumped it all back in her room, and then began to pace. Her eyes remained glued to the floor, but it darted over everything on it. Pencils, pens, movie and video game cases, tons of cords that led to many electronic devices, her scanners and printer…

Her eyes stopped at her drawers and she suddenly lunged forward, yanking the bottom row out, eyes squinting through the darkness beneath for that little black book. It was still there and she let the drawer rest on her thighs for a long moment. Lupin pushed it back in, feeling drained after she did.

Dead, dead, died, I died, I was dead…

She closed her eyes once again and curled up where she was in that little niche, a hand brought up to her mouth. No, no, nonononononono, no… I’m at home, not in a hospital, I can’t be alive, this has to be some joke, right? Oh, God. Should I or shouldn’t I be alive, what happened, for fuck’s sake?

Lupin shook her head and then stopped herself. Sonny. He was a robot, right? He could’ve helped her…right? She resolved herself to go downstairs, find him and ask, but before she could even move to get up, her door opened.

L poked his head inside, looking first at the bed and then he let his eyes search the room until they landed on her. He pushed the door fully aside, the surprise evident in his eyes.

“Miss Lupin, you shouldn’t be moving around. You’re—,”

“Heart attack.”

He stopped. She swallowed dryly.

“That’s—that’s what happened, didn’t I? I-I had a…a heart attack, didn’t I?” She stared at him for answers, but she only received a blank façade as her answer in return. She couldn’t read him; she hated not being able to read people like him. It was so goddamned difficult to do so.

Finally L nodded at her hesitant inquiry, watching her intently.

“Yes, you did.”

“It was Ryuk, wasn’t it?” Her voice shook, but she asserted as much aggression into it as best she could. The peal of laughter from last night, she was starting to remember. It was fuzzy and vague, but she did remember it, somewhat. It made her blood boil. She just wished she had the strength to go on a tirade, but she felt so tired, she doubted she could go on long enough before tiring herself out at the moment.

He nodded again. Although she had already known the answer, she wished she didn’t.

“I should be dead.” She finally stated, looking away. She brought a hand up and stared at it. “But I’m not.”

She flinched when something swooped down into her peripheral vision. Lupin brought her gaze back forward to meet L’s. He was crouched before her, staring at her with that same, blank yet intent stare, but she pulled something more. She shivered, not wanting to know what else he was staring at her with. It was like the game or the puzzle had suddenly shifted his attention to her.

“That is true, Miss Lupin. And I cannot explain it, unfortunately. But, we can glean something from your death and your revival.”

Her attention caught, she narrowed her eyes curiously at him.

“What’s that?”

L stood back up, keeping his eyes on her. She waited, then pulled herself slowly to her own feet, her lips ticked into an uncertain frown.

“Someone, like what Kira was attempting, is trying to play God. And they are succeeding in showing us that they can and that they will. That is what we can gather from what has happened to you.”

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It was early in the morning, but it wasn’t very nippy or cold like he would’ve expected. The fall season was beginning to show, that much he could tell from the lightly changing colors of the leaves on the trees. It was actually quite warm, almost balmy, really. But, he wasn’t interested the formalities concerning the weather. No, it was more of where he was.

The neighborhood was definitely not something he’d see in a prefecture in Japan. No…it appeared more Americanized, a suburban neighborhood somewhere in the United States.

But again…that wasn’t what was catching the whirling torrents of his thoughts. He couldn’t remember where he was last to even conclude why he was here. Confusion was the best and the most simplest way to put it.

He didn’t like it at all. But, while he was confused on the most current of previous events and his actual situation, he remembered everything else, crystal clear.

The finding of the wonderful little book, the epiphany of his goal in this world, the strange and exhilarating game he played with several others for six years... They were all fresh in his mind and he had to allow the smile crease his lips upward, although it quickly disappeared at the note in his hand.

A house address, a cell phone number to call and the name of the resident he was supposed to be in contact with was listed on it. No name of the note-sender was on it, and he was confused, ultimately, on what he was doing here, exactly.

The address, at least, gave him a clue as to where he was. California. Strange. He wasn’t quite sure, but he was somewhat certain he hadn’t been in California where he was last. Japan; he was there, wasn’t he? Yes, that sounded about right.

He glanced about his surroundings once more and his frown was back in place. He wandered about for another half hour before running into someone on the streets. They gave him directions and he was back on track. The house, he realized, was easier to find than he thought. In the driveway was a yellow and black striped car and on the far side, a very large boat. A large truck was on the streets in front of the brickwork mailbox.

He silently admitted, it made his search much easier for him, what, with the very large beacons flagging his attention. Up the grassy front lawn and in front of the door, he went. He opened the screen door and knocked on it three times, sharply at attention. He glanced at the note once more, and then tucked it away into his pocket, the amusement draining from him. He wanted to get to the bottom of this and he would.

Kira always got what he wanted, didn’t he?

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The morning and noon hours had crept by slowly, but only because of the amateur medical examination. And what that entailed to was Lupin refusing to go to the hospital, and Sonny offering to simply check her physical status to make sure she was fit and healthy, and well, alive. He began with asking her questions, to make sure she was brain damaged, and she was fit as a fiddle in that department, if a bit more spiteful with her answers whenever she glanced at Ryuk. The Shinigami in return, merely laughed at her. It had made her angrier and nastier.

L had finally stepped in and declared she appeared to be in fine health—physically and mentally—and had asked if Sonny agreed. The robot had paused, and then settled with an agreement as well. Lupin was secretly thankful for the intervention; she was beginning to slowly lose her self-control, survivor of a heart attack and still weak from it all or not.

But, she had one last ace up her sleeve and she declared when she left the room that she “refused to buy any apples for an ungrateful ingrate of a Shinigami” for killing her. The smirk on her face couldn’t be hidden as she headed for the stairs to return to her room to rest. It only widened when she heard Ryuk fall silent from in the living room.

She was ready to mount the stairs when a knock came from the front door. She stopped and stared, not noticing the dark-haired form of L coming up from behind. She stared at it.

“I wonder who it is.” He finally said, making the wolf jump slightly. She looked at him for a moment, then back at the door, motioning him to stay where he was.

“I’ll get it.”

“Of course. It’s your home.”

Lupin moved to the door and pulled it open. She stopped the moment she saw the face of who it was, her limbs growing taut and her eyes widening with recognition and fear. No, no, fuck no, anyone but him, fuck no. Fuck. No. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

An equally surprised and confused face matched hers, and she did what any rational person would do in the face of danger. She punched it in the face, both literally and figuratively.

Light Yagami went down fast, without warning and that was the way Lupin would have it. It wasn’t exactly the toughest punch in the world, but it was enough to make his eyes water and his hands to fly to the offended area. Lupin quickly grabbed one hand and squeezed the palm hard. His hand seized up and she was glad it did; she had control of that arm because of the pinched, affronted nerve and she twisted with a yell, tossing it behind his back and shoving him on the floor.

While she wasn’t strong, and granted, still somewhat woozy, she had litheness and quick-wittedness on her side. She could never make a football team, she was too damned tiny and light, but using an opponent’s strength against them, she could at least do.

L stood shell shocked by the stairway, eyes widening fairly enough at the sight of a ninety-pound young woman overtaking another person who was at least a good foot or so larger than her, and most definitely weighed much more than her. However, the most shocking of situations was that she had done it so arbitrarily; he hadn’t expected such an irrational reaction from the wolf. And, especially he wouldn’t have expected it with her still somewhat fragile condition.

Well…it would have seemed random if it had been a regular human being. But one look at the cleanly mop of familiar sandy brown hair and then the tilt of the face did he feel his blood run cold. Now he knew why Lupin had acted out so strangely.

Light Yagami was pinned and at the mercy of a very small American young woman straddling his back, holding him down with him actually screaming in pain. It brought a strange sense of contentedness to him to see the sight of Kira at the mercy of someone else, instead of everyone else being at his mercy. The sight was still slightly strange, and a situation he would have never seen coming, but it was a strangely amusing sight.

Light struggled and shouted at the young woman, but she remained relentless and had somehow been able to grapple his other arm and pin it down as well with the other hand behind his back. Then he flailed, helplessly, until his gaze landed upon L. Light went rigid and his eyes widened and he shook his head.

“No, no, you were dead. I saw you die…you were dead!”

L merely stared with that same strand of indifference and he momentarily looked away to see Sonny coming up behind him. The robot took one glance at the young woman keeping Light pinned down and immediately brushed himself past L.

“Miss Lupin, you mustn’t exert yourself, you—,”

“Hold him down, Sonny! Help me!”

Sonny hesitated for a split second, then stepped forward and took over the restraining of Light Yagami. Lupin rolled off when he was secured and she sat against the bottom of the stairs, panting heavily, a hand over her chest. L ticked his lips into a frown and shifted his gaze towards the still struggling Light. It took a meaningful squeeze from Sonny, however, to make the young man whimper in pain and cease struggling. Lupin, in the meantime, had gotten up from her short breathless spell and had closed the front door.

L ignored her for the moment, deeming her healthy for now and kept his attention on Light.

The young man stared at him with such contempt, L was grateful that the saying, “If looks could kill,” was merely a saying. Of course, he would probably be in the same position, figuratively speaking, if he were Light. Then again, it was Light, who had him killed in the first place, was it not? Perhaps he should be delivering the same venomous glare in return. But L didn’t.

Instead, L tilted his head to the side, watching Light settle down. L flicked his gaze to Sonny.

“Sonny-san, if you please, keep a good hold on him. He is a wanted criminal at large that I have been pursuing for quite some time. I don’t want him weaseling his way out of here.”

“I’ll find some restraints for him, then.” Sonny replied. L nodded.

“That will do fine. After you are done, please attend to Miss Lupin. I don’t want her collapsing. It would mean a trip to the hospital that can be avoided, if we can help it.”

Sonny nodded and began hauling away the young man as he weighed nothing and L suspected that to the robot, he probably did. L paused to look at the wolf, who was once more, collapsed on the stairs, although she did seem to be faring much better now. She must have sensed him watching, because she opened her eyes and glanced at him tiredly.

“Sorry. I panicked.” She said quietly. He dug his hands into his jeans pockets.

“What you did was risky, in your condition. Otherwise, I would applaud you for your bravery. However, what you did was very irresponsible and very stupid.”

She closed her eyes. “I know…but I couldn’t let him get away either. You’d never forgive me if I did.”

He watched her before turning to leave. “Well…you are right about that much. I would have never forgiven you if you had.”

She laughed and called after him, “You’re welcome…”

L said nothing in regards to that and walked into the living room. Ryuk, who had been lounging on the couch, was now up and standing, staring at the laundry room entrance. His shark-grin was in place, bulging eyes watching that area very intently.

“Ryuk-san.” Ryuk turned to look at L. That glint in the Shinigami’s eyes, he did not like at all, but he said nothing to it at all. “I want you to refrain from speaking to any of us when we are in Light-kun’s presence. It is best that he does not know a Death Note is here. If he did…there is no telling what he might do to get to it. I wish to avoid that, so for now, you do not exist.”

The Shinigami merely laughed at him, baring those sharp rows of teeth behind his black lips.

“And why should I do that for you, L, hmm? First you keep me from the human I’m to possess and now you’re ordering me to stay quiet? I don’t think I’m feeling very charitable at the moment.”

L narrowed his eyes momentarily before glancing back at where Ryuk had previously been staring. The ruckus from within the garage was hard not to ignore. He turned back to Ryuk and did just that.

“If you do, I’ll have a talk with Miss Lupin and have her change her mind about your…apples, I believe.”

For a moment, the Shinigami remained silent for a long while before he chuckled lowly.

“Bribing a Shinigami; a very bold move, even by your standards. Humans are interesting…” He muttered before looking straight up at the ceiling. “If you can convince her, then I’ll be silent around Light. Deal?”

“Agreed. Now, if you could please leave the room, I would like to…talk, with Light-kun. I will speak with Miss Lupin later on for you.”

“Ha! Don’t you mean you want to speak with Kira?”

“…Yes. The one and the same.” L replied quietly. “The one and the same.”

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"Collision" Chapter Seven [COMPLETE]

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 09:37:27 GMT

Chapter seven down.

Boom-shacka.

Locked

Reviewers:

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don’t own them.

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The ultimate wisdom, which deals with beginnings, remains locked in a seed. There it lies, the simplest fact of the universe and at the same time the one which calls faith rather than reason.
- Hal Borland

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She was still up, clattering away on her keyboard, on her desktop. She kept glancing at the clock, wincing at how late it was, but remained fervent on her task. She had all her notes rearranged and fixed, thanks to L’s help. Now those notes had been clustered together neatly to get her paper outlined. It was still rough and needed plenty of editing, to be sure, but it was better than having nothing at all to show for.

However, the toll of stress and staying up late did not do so well with the wolf. She knew she was getting tired; she wanted to just curl up and go to sleep, finish what left she had to do in the morning. Stubborn, though, she was, and continued to neglect her sleep. Finally, after another half hour, she finished up and was relieved to have done so. Everyone else, she suspected, were already asleep.

Well, Sonny, she didn’t really know and Ryuk was still up. She wasn’t sure if he slept at all; the manga had really shown nothing of the Shinigami’s habits, except he liked video games, apples, had a morbid amusement of watching people die and most conspicuous of all, was quite lazy at times.

Lupin clicked save on her file, minimized the window and sat back, stretching. It was nearly one in the morning. She’d put off her work until late; it wasn’t unusual, considering Lupin’s work habits. She always seemed to work better when it was late night, when everything was quiet and she didn’t have a million and one distractions grabbing at her attention. Perhaps it was only ironic that while her creative levels rose rapidly the later and quieter it was, the worse her grammar and spelling skills became, due to rapidly deteriorating night.

Of course, she was an insomniac, so it wasn’t unusual that she often stayed up late like this. Lupin liked it when it was quiet, when she could think and was not being pulled in the million and one directions of daily distractions. Like a few certain fandom characters becoming real, for one…

She glanced at the clock again and stared at it for a few long seconds before standing up and stretching once more. She grabbed her boom box and moved into the bathroom conjoined to hers and her brother’s room and plugged it in. A few minutes of scuffling around in her room, Lupin had locked herself in the bathroom, turned on the shower and started playing the music. Linkin Park filled the small interior of the bathroom, rising just above the sound of rushing water as the wolf stepped into the shower and she shivered at the contact of hot water.

It felt good after a slightly chilly day and she reveled in the heat against her skin. She even stayed an extra minute or two inside after she’d finished washing herself, rolling her shoulders slowly in circular motions, back and forth, back and forth. One of the last songs was fading out and the new one was starting now. She shut the water off and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around her hips.

She dried off and started shoving her shirt on for the night. It was when she’d gotten her underwear on and had folded up her towel and put it back that she started feeling nauseas. The wolf swayed for a moment, the music growing fainter and then coming back into focus. She swallowed, suddenly finding it somewhat difficult to breath. Must be the hot air. I should open the door—

Pain stabbed at her chest, sudden and excruciating pain. Her eyes widened and she felt her throat tighten up, a silent scream stuck in it. A shaky hand clutched at her chest and the pain increased ten fold. The other hand grabbed at the knob, slipped and she fell against the door, knocked off balance.

Her music kept playing, oblivious to the owner’s fading distress.

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Someone was shaking him awake. It was dark, except for the light emanating from stove’s digital clock, but someone was blocking that light. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust before the luminescent blue eyes alerted him immediately who it was that was waking him. Sonny.

His lips pursed and he saw the urgency in the robot’s eyes. As strange as it sounded, even to him, he could tell the robot could express humanly emotions, just by looking at him. The others from earlier had not had that same air as Sonny. It was this that alerted him quickly something was wrong.

“Come quickly, Detective Ryuzaki. It’s Miss Lupin.”

L followed the robot upstairs, his lips still ticked into that frown. The bedroom light in Lupin’s room was on. Ryuk’s form was blocking the bed, but he didn’t need to see her to know what that “something” that had made the situation so amiss. Ryuk turned to look at the approaching two, bulbous eyes regarding them with that silent, mocking humor, and it was only furthered by the comical clownish shark-toothed grin. The Shinigami cocked his head over and silent stepped to the side.

Sonny looked to L, blue eyes regarding him. “She wasn’t moving when I found her.”

“Where?”

“The bathroom, almost seven minutes and thirty-five seconds ago. It was locked. I had to break the door’s locking mechanism to get inside.”

L’s lips thinned out and he stepped forward, bringing a hand to her neck. No pulse. He withdrew his hand away from her, as if he were burned.

He turned sharply towards Ryuk. “Where is it?”

“Where’s what?”

He narrowed his eyes at the Shinigami. “You killed her.”

Ryuk remained silent for a moment, lips briefly pulling together, away from his characteristic smile before it spread out again, sharp teeth revealed behind black lips. “Of course I did. I was curious. I can’t see her lifespan and I can’t see yours. I can’t see her family’s either. Someone’s messed with my eyes and I wanted to test something out. Humans test on other humans, what makes this so different?”

L felt a brief shiver run down his spine at the maniacal grin he was faced with on the Shinigami’s face. Instead he remained a neutral, blank slate and turned back to the paling wolf’s body. She had her shirt on, and it seemed she’d only gotten her underwear on before death had struck her. Heart attack, he deducted. It had hit her fast and it had hit her hard. She hadn’t seen it coming; but how could she?

The flash of anger built up inside, but he quelled it quickly. “What we humans do to one another is of our own business, Ryuk-san. You had no right.”

“I have more right than you, Ryuzaki. I’m a Shinigami; I have powers above your own. You couldn’t stop your own death, what makes you think you could’ve stopped hers?” Ryuk replied. L felt the creature’s presence hover over his own, towering behind him. He glanced over his shoulder.

A fist clenched, than unclenched at his side. Sick creature. It was the only thing he could think of at the moment for Ryuk. Now he had a dead woman on his hands; what was he supposed to do now? Wake up her mother and father and explain to them the situation seemed like an absurdly logical idea, and the only one at hand as well? He didn’t like it at all, and he was disappointed as well. He glanced at Ryuk, feeling that anger bubble just beneath the surface, although he kept it well hidden behind a rather blank façade.

Sonny stepped between L and Ryuk. “She has done nothing wrong. Why her?”

Ryuk chuckled in return. “She was conveniently at hand. And what’s the fun in killing an already dead man or a robot?”

Sonny’s eyes flitted away from the Shinigami, long enough to stop and stare at Lupin. “Detective Ryuzaki.”

L looked to Sonny. He met the robot’s eyes. “Her heart’s started back up again.”

Ryuk stopped laughing and L turned to look at the wolf. He moved forward and after hesitating only a split second, he checked her pulse and had frozen on his spot, eyes widening. Her pulse was back.

But there was no way; she couldn’t be alive. It wasn’t there a moment before and even if she had had an unexplainable heart attack, she would’ve had needed a medical team to revive her, which he did not have conveniently at hand. L pulled away fairly quickly when the young woman stirred and suddenly arched her back, gasping loudly.

She began coughing violently; sucking in air as if it were her last lifeline, before it settled and she lay back down, twitching slightly. Her eyes opened blearily. Sonny stepped over and L moved aside, staring with surprise on his face. No victim of the Death Note had ever come back to life. All of Kira’s—Light’s—victims, they had all died, never to see life or to live it, for that matter, again.

Ryuk, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying this very much. He was giddily laughing away, mouth twisted up in that clownish grin of his. “This is just getting better and better by the minute; humans coming back to life, even if their names are in the Death Note. This is one for the books.”

L turned back to Sonny, who was quietly attending to the wolf. He frowned. He didn’t understand this at all, and it did frustrate him that he could not figure it out. He knew he was missing pieces the puzzle, but that shouldn’t mean he could solve it to figure out what the picture is, right? Well, if he had more than just a few pieces, perhaps he could, but the only pieces he seemed to have were one too few.

“How is she?” He finally asked.

Sonny glanced over his shoulder to look at him. “She will be fine. Soreness and tightness in her chest, she says, and a slight difficulty for breathing, but she is fine for now.”

“I’d imagine…” He said quietly, glancing at Ryuk. The Shinigami blissfully and obliviously was not aware of the young man staring at him. L looked back to Sonny. “Stay with her for the night and make sure she recovers.”

He turned to Ryuk, a slight glare forming in the depths of his dark eyes. “You’re coming with me, Ryuk-san. I want you away from Miss Lupin from now on.”

Ryuk looked to him and that chilling feeling came once more when the Shinigami smiled at him broadly, as if that smile knew something he didn’t. And he was sure Ryuk did know something he didn’t.

“It’s not like I can simply avoid her by choice; a Shinigami possesses the owner of their Death Note until the ownership of that Note is relinquished or the human dies. And since she isn’t really dead anymore, I can’t take back my Note. She’s still technically the owner, so she’s still stuck with me until she gives it up or she dies for good.”

L studied Ryuk for a long time before breaking off his gaze to look at the wolf. The color was once again filling the pallor of her face and her eyes were barely coherent of her surroundings, let alone open all the way. Sonny stood at the bedside, bent over and talking softly to her. She mumbled something, although it was too garbled and quiet for him to hear. Then he turned back to Ryuk.

“Regardless, Ryuk-san, I don’t want you near her for the rest of the night. You’ll be staying downstairs.”

“And what makes you think you’re safer than her?”

L regarded that comment for a long moment before replying, “I don’t. But then again, like you have stated previously, what fun is it to kill a man if he’s technically supposed to be dead already?”

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He didn’t quite understand the logic of humans sometimes. They were aggressive, blunted and often times very fragile creatures, most having the mentality of herd animals. They panicked and followed the flock, very often to their own demise. He was also amazed at their prowess when it came to their creative and intelligence levels. Surely, a majority of them weren’t computers, but there were select few who were of higher intelligence than others, he’s witnessed.

Some were just more blunt on getting to the point than others, who liked playing with subtlety and underlying their feats. Sonny remembered how down to the point, paranoid, and gruff Detective Spooner had been, especially around him.

Now he was faced with yet another detective: Detective Ryuzaki. His methods were even stranger still, compared to Detective Spooner. Detective Ryuzaki dove straight into the problem, probing and prodding away, using logic instead of physical force to get what he wanted. Verbal force seemed his strong point, Sonny observed. When Lupin had retreated to her room, with the strange creature—a Shinigami, if he wasn’t mistaken, which he wasn’t—following after her, Detective Ryuzaki began the real interrogation process.

And, unlike Detective Spooner, Detective Ryuzaki did not use the emotions his father had given him against him. He had been formal, but down to the point, wheedling his way into the issue at hand. If he assumed the saying was correct, he was “being drilled” for information, and he would admit…Detective Ryuzaki had been merciless.

Every detail he had in his memory banks, he freely gave to Detective Ryuzaki. There was nothing he wished to hide, and there was nothing he had promised to anyone to keep hidden. Unfortunately, he did not know much about Scribe. He only knew he had been taken away and dumped in a time era that was a little over twenty years behind his own.

Robotics, he assumed, were either very archaic or they were non-existent. At the very least, robots like him had not been created. Other types, however, were possibly a different story.

But, what he did know was only a little more than that of Detective Ryuzaki, Miss Lupin Hawkins and of course, the Shinigami, Ryuk. The last party seemed to know the very least out of the three, although he didn’t mind; they were all playing “catch up”, as the term seemed to go, and it was better to converge together than keep their words secret.

Or at least, that was what Sonny had initially assumed at first. It was after Miss Lupin and Ryuk had left that Detective Ryuzaki had unleashed his full force on him. The surprise raced through him, for a few nanoseconds, and then he had proceeded to relay what he knew to the man. The last thing he remembered before the house began to become more and more crowded by the oncoming of more people was Ryuzaki asking him to keep what information he’d gleaned a secret, for the moment at least, until he spoke with Lupin.

And what he’d taken was not much.

Yes, Scribe was a human man and not of any other orientation regarding species. He was rather strange in his provocative methods, although Sonny had spent little time in the presence of the man, or even witnessed any of his…strange powers, whatever they may or may not be. Although, he had began to hear more people as the short time he was…wherever it is that he was; laughs, voices and it almost sounded like a negotiation, or a party… Maybe both.

“And where exactly were you? I’m sure being a robot has its advantages over being a human.”

Sonny had frowned at that; actually frowned, although it was most likely artificial compared to what humans could express. “A manor. Highly decorated, very…pristine and well furbished. And it was very old as well. I don’t know where it was, but from what I could monitor, it was probably very cold outside, cold enough for snow. I was not in a room with windows, so I could not observe the weather nor its surroundings.”

“…I assume you’re as strong as your counterparts that were here earlier.”

The robot had paused at this before answering, “Stronger, actually. My father built me…differently than the other MS-5’s.”

“Your father?” Detective Ryuzaki had not look surprised, but from the patterns in his voice, Sonny had found he was surprised. Sonny nodded in reply once.

“Yes. I believe the term for you would be, “my creator”. But, he was, technically, my father. He created me, taught me things, like how to feel…and how to dream.”

Detective Ryuzaki had remained silent on that, staring at him with all the compassion of an inanimate object. If Sonny had been human, he assumed out of pure observation, he would have been unnerved by that stare.

“Interesting.” He’d finally stated. “But, as intriguing as that is, it is irrelevant to the situation we are facing now. Why didn’t you escape, if you’re stronger than the other robots?”

“Because there was nowhere for me to turn to. I was alone. And I am not in my right time period. What point is there to run away, if I don’t know where I am?”

“And what time period is that?” That sharp, intuitive gaze had honed in on Sonny, but unlike a human, the gaze didn’t intimidate him, and he did not feel fear towards the man.

“The year 2035. I assume this is the year…2009?”

Detective Ryuzaki had once more fallen into the proverbial cone of silence and stayed that way for a long while. Finally he had said, “You are very lost indeed, Sonny-san. I’m sorry.”

“It’s quite all right, I suppose. It’s not like I have an actual home, or a human to attend to.”

It was then that an intervention of sorts stepped in before Detective Ryuzaki could ask what he’d meant by that. Lupin’s mother, who looked practically the spitting image of the wolf, only older looking, had come home and asked for assistance with the groceries she had bought. Sonny had excused himself politely from the detective and helped out the woman.

Now hours later he was dealing with another dilemma, besides his lost-in-time issues. A young woman, and a perfectly healthy one at that, had died from a heart attack. And, unless there had been some medical team he was not aware of hiding somewhere in the house, he didn’t see how she could have come back. Her pulse was gone, her body’s heat fading and her limbs began stiffening.

Then all of sudden, she was alive, her heart pumping blood furiously throughout her body without warning, her lungs began working air into them… It would have seemed a medical miracle, if only she had been in a hospital. While Sonny was no doctor, he was thoroughly aware that dead humans remained dead; they did not rise again.

And while he had no medical degree, he began checking vital signs; heart, respiratory, blood pressure. It was all returning to normal. He felt it odd that Ryuk was laughing away at all this, and he assumed if he were truly human like Ryuzaki, he would not have been laughing.

He began distancing himself from both Detective Ryuzaki and Ryuk, although he could not help but listen to their conversation “with one ear” and listening to the wolf “with the other”. He was certain that was how the saying went. So, Sonny began quietly asking the wolf basic questions; her name, where she was, what year it was. Simplistic questions, but he was positive making sure she had no brain damage was a critical step to check up on. She’d had no oxygen for nearly half an hour; of course for a human, it would’ve been a strong cause for concern.

She answered, if groggily and incoherently as possible, her words slightly slurred. Then he caught the quiet moans and asked where it hurt. He was concerned with the way she strained just to even talk to him.

“M’ches…hurts…”

Of course, he assumed anyone who’d lived from a heart attack would have a sore chest after a while. He didn’t think he could possibly fathom what pain she was in, since he couldn’t feel pain. While emotions were something he had been giving, physical manifestations of the senses completely eluded him, with the exception of his eyesight and hearing.

Sonny gently prodded at the tender area, checking over everything. He stopped when the wolf began to whimper behind pursed lips. Barely two minutes later, he was alone with the young woman, given the orders to stay and keep an eye on her for the time being. He happily obliged; there was not much else he could do.

And besides, he would rather remain with the young woman, than be caught in the crossfire of the two downstairs.

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Everything hurt, it was too bright, she felt drained, oh God…

Breathing alone had become an exercise, she felt like she had been holding her breath for far too long, or perhaps she’d run a marathon and hadn’t stopped at all, for nothing at all… And her chest, oh, Jesus fuckin’ Christ, it hurt like a goddamned bitch. She wanted the pain to stop, and she felt that the only way that’d end is for her to continue breathing, but she didn’t even want to do that, it hurt too much.

It hurt to just breath. She felt as though she had too much weight on her chest, when all she had was a few thin blankets and a t-shirt on. The light only intensified everything. Everything was too bright and hurt her eyes. She couldn’t move, she felt so bloody tired…

It was loud as well. She didn’t know what was going on, who was there, her mind didn’t want to work, but she tiredly forced it to continue prodding for answers. Finally it began clicking its gears and she closed her eyes again.

The shower, the music, the bathroom… Then the pain, oh, God… It hurt so fucking much. It couldn’t have lasted any more than a minute or so, but dammit, it felt like for-fucking-ever. The name kept slipping away from her groping fingers and she finally caught up and grasped it tightly in her mind. Heart attack.

I’m healthy…can’t…have one, can I? Condition, I have a condition, don’t I? Oh, God. Hospital, am I in one?

Coherent thought started returning. That much she was slowly beginning to feel grateful for. Doctors, doctors, where’re the doctors…? No…not in a hospital. Not smelly enough. My room…we’re still at home.

Ryuk.

She suddenly heard his laugh and her eyes blearily pulled open. Glass stabbed at the back of them and she winced, softly moaning. No, no light, turn it off, turn it off…

Her chest began throbbing dully, painfully and it made her only want to curl up and hide under the covers, disappear and not come out until she was feeling better. But, she couldn’t do any of that, she felt too tired and it’d hurt too much. But the coherency towards the laugh made her wish she had the strength to clench her jaw, shout and yell, glare at the Shinigami, or even ball her fists up.

It was him, it had to be; she was a perfect bill of health, she couldn’t have had a heart attack out of nowhere, could she?

It had to be him; goddammit, why did she agree to even keep that damned thing? He tried to kill her.

No, not try…succeeded. I was—I was dead, wasn’t I?

The panic whelmed up in her chest, but it only brought further more pain when she tensed up. Then another voice, deliberately hushed and soft, rang in her ear. The name was on the tip of her tongue until she finally found it in her grasp once more. It was Sonny, wasn’t it? Sonny…

He was asking her things, and she was grateful for his hushed tone. The weight was slowly lifting from her chest, but the soreness refused to leave her. Still slightly difficult to breath, but it was easier now and she wasn’t gasping like a fish on land anymore.

It was hard to form words, her tongue felt like a big, fat snake in her mouth, but she finally managed to remember how to use it. Or maybe it was just her brain remembering for her? Either way, talking was slow but steady. She answered, if somewhat slurred and groggily. She opened her eyes again to stare at the blue eyes watching her, placed in that symmetrical white face.

Lupin found sudden fascination in Sonny’s face for some odd, unexplainable reason. Maybe it was because it was so…human, but at the same time, not. Maybe she was just being weird, but she kinda liked it. It wasn’t just computer graphics for a movie anymore; it was real, something tangible to her and the world around her and everyone else.

The pain from talking began taking its toll. Her chest was hurting, burning again. She remembered him asking where it hurt. She answered again, trying to form the words as coherently as possible and it sounded just fine to her groggy and pain-riddled mind. She just wanted those damned lights off, curl up under the covers and never come out.

Finally after what felt like an eternity, the voices and the Shinigami’s laughter faded, silence settled in the room and darkness took over. She faintly remembered the creak of something and that same settling; soft voice riddled with strangely humanly concern in it.

“I will keep watch of you and your condition for the rest of the night. If anything happens, I will be ready. Please get some rest, Miss Lupin.”

The voice faded in and out to her ears, but Lupin didn’t mind. She wanted sleep, didn’t she? She felt it coming and she readily welcomed it; it’d take away her pain, take her away from here even if for a little while. She wanted it, was ready for it. Even the pain seemed dulled by her own thoughts of sleep. That was fine. That would be…just fine…

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"Collision" Chapter Six [INCOMPLETE]

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:22:30 GMT

'Kay, here's chapter six. Well, part of it. Enjoy! 8D I think I'm getting the hang of Sonny. <3 He's adorable.

Clarification

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Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

-Mark Twain

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Everyone, respectively, had gathered in the living room. L had taken preoccupation within the ottoman once more. Lupin had taken the couch. Sonny stood in front of the coffee table, looking over the two humans. He still could not see Ryuk, which bothered Lupin somewhat. It would be strange and awkward to talk to Ryuk from here on out, while Sonny was present. She fidgeted, and apparently too much that it caught L’s eye.

“Is there something the matter, Miss Lupin?”

She frowned, unsure of how to bring up the subject. Humans who didn’t own it and had touched the Death Note could see and recognize the Shinigami it was owned by. The question to ask, and yet it could not form the proper structure in her mind to be asked, was if robots could attain the same respective abilities of non-Death Note owners who’ve touched the Death Note. Could they, like humans, see a death god, if they touched the Death Note?

Lupin silently bemoaned her own logic, which seemed to be completely confusing even in her own mind.

“Erm…” She paused, scratched the back of her head, trying to figure a way to put her question to L. And, as sad as it was, simplicity was often not her forte; she always found herself taking the harder course more often than the easy shortcut. “Well…what do, what do we do with Ryuk? I mean…”

She trailed off, pinching the bridge of her nose. Thankfully, she didn’t need to go any further.

“I understand. Perhaps…we shall conduct a test. If it does not work out, we can briefly explain the situation to Sonny-san. If you please, Miss Lupin…you may try it out with him.”

She knew what he was giving her permission for. Her fingers faintly ached at the aspect of the task. Picking her drawer out had pinched them harshly when she hadn’t been paying attention… She wasn’t looking forward to it, but she didn’t want to be considered “mentally disturbed” by an already truthfully mentally disturbing situation either. So, she got up, nodding in acknowledgement and went upstairs.

She did, however, pause, when she had her hands on her drawer. Ryuk, unsurprisingly, had followed her.

“You know the Death Note is useless for a human who can’t use it. Just give it back to me.”

“And let you have your fun with someone else?” She asked, her tone wavering slightly. She really wanted to snap, but patience had to be a virtue. She had to stretch it.

“Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not telling.” Ryuk replied with a laugh. She turned her head slightly and glared at him. He stopped momentarily.

“It’s not the question of whether or not I can use the Death Note, Ryuk. It’s the question of if I want to use it. And I choose not to use. Not because I think human lives are “precious treasures”, but because I really don’t wanna go to jail. And just because I ain’t using it, doesn’t mean I’m not “the owner”. So, in technicalities, I’m still the owner and I choose to keep it, but not use it. Do you guys have a rule against that?”

She didn’t know, in all honesty. She didn’t know if Ryuk knew, either. He was silent, his teeth, momentarily, were hidden behind his pursed lips. Ryuk was watching her not with usual air of aloofness, but with a serious stare. Finally he shrugged and the grin returned.

“I don’t know. But I can tell…things are going to get fun, even without you using the Death Note. Keep it for now, if you want. But I’m getting it back in the end; you can count on that, at least. We Shinigami always do…at least, if the Death Note hasn’t been destroyed, that is.”

Lupin watched him for a brief few seconds before she nodded curtly once. Then she pulled at the drawer, wriggling it out of its path, and with it awkwardly sitting in her lap, she reached over for the little black book with the innocent little words of Death Note scrawled on top of it. Her lips ticked into a frown and she stopped a moment, fingers a few mere inches above it.

Lupin then snatched it up, opened the book and ripped a piece of a page out. She tossed it back into its lonely corner, replaced the drawer and stood up, grabbing a pen from her desk. She quickly scrawled something on the paper and folded it up twice before she left her, descending down the stairs.

With a rare happy grin of the day, she walked behind Sonny, who turned just in time for her to smack the paper against his forehead. He didn’t balk in retaliation or flinch or cringe like a human would have. He merely stood there, blinked twice and then followed the wolf as she continued moving towards the couch and collapsed on it. L stared at her.

“Where is it?”

Lupin held up the paper.

“It doesn’t have to be the whole book. It can just a piece of paper.”

Then she unfolded it, sat up straight and placed the paper with the single word scrawled on the paper.

“And ‘Scribe’ is an alias. It’s not a real name, so for now, your boss will be safe.” She looked pointedly at Sonny, then stole a glance at L. He was leaning over to look at the word on the paper.

Scribe had been written in pen on the paper. Sonny, however, was not paying attention. His focus was upon the spot where Ryuk had stopped following Lupin. She couldn’t see the robot’s face.

“So…” He finally said. “This is Ryuk.”

The three sat in silence, shock resonating through the air, although it mingled with the silent cone of success as well. Ryuk, however, seemed the most surprised.

“…Huh. Robots can see Shinigami now. Well, I’m impressed.” He laughed. Lupin glanced at L and they exchanged looks. She raised her brows at him, a small victory smile on her face. It faded when his focus drifted to the paper and he then made a motion for it. She complied and handed it over.

Sonny returned his attention to the other two as well, and Ryuk shifted closer.

“She’s right, you know. Aliases won’t work in the Death Note. That’s why you hadn’t been killed earlier before.” The Shinigami said to L and chuckled. L was unperturbed as he studied the piece of paper.

“Interesting…now, about this ‘Scribe’ person… Sonny-san, you said you had some information for us?”

He handed the paper back to Lupin. She looked at the word—no, a name—, long and hard before she folded it back up and stuck in the back of her jeans pocket. She looked back up at Sonny.

“I never said I had information, technically. You asked for it and I agreed to give it to you.”

L nibbled on his thumb for a moment before nodding. “Of course.”

Then he pulled his hand away and dipped it beside him and pulled it back up with…a ho-ho confectionary sweet in his hand. Lupin stared. And she groaned, sighing to herself.

I have a feeling this is going to be a long session…

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I'm going to bed nyao.

"Collision" Chapter Five [COMPLETE]

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:21:13 GMT

Okay, Arky! Let them spelling/grammer nazi senses sniff out the baddies in this one! ...When you have the time of course. xD Haha-- *Shot* ...I deserved that. x3 But, in all seriousness, here is your lovely chaptah. <3

Contact

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It is only at the first encounter that face makes its full impression on us.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

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Her coffee was thrown out, wasted in the sink. It had started tasting sour in her mouth. Maybe it was just her? Maybe. The phone call earlier, as it happened to be, was a pointless telemarketer advertisement. She wanted to hang up with a force of anger, although she had instead politely told the telemarketer nobody was home but her, she was but a kid and hung up. Lying wasn’t exactly her best of characteristic traits, but it sure as hell beat being an honest idiot that was being played for all she was worth. And this was a paranoid world; lying sometimes became an essential key in life.

Princess jumped up on the couch and started pawing at Lupin’s feet, whining for the wolf to come and play with her. Lupin nudged herself over and sat up, attacking the terrier and bringing her to sit on her lap. “Oh, Rat, where do we go from here? Hmm? Wise Rat, give me some answers.”

The dog merely stared with those bug-eyed brown eyes, whined again and Lupin sighed, leaning her head back once more, eyes closed. “Thanks. Your infinite wisdom has helped me once again.”

“You talk to your dog? Talk about strange.”

Normally, she would have jumped or flinched or cringed at the sudden voice. She would’ve been scared shitless, unprepared by it… And in all honesty, she would have felt that oncoming pressure of how this was all real and not a dream crash down on her once more.

Instead, she was tired and her nerves were shot and beyond repair for the moment. And it was only…day two, now, wasn’t it?

Lupin indolently rolled her head over, opened her blue-gray eyes and blinked owlishly at the two figures standing in the living room.

“Yes, as well as electronic devices and idiot drivers on the road. Got a problem with that?”

The Shinigami merely laughed, although the pause he had taken to for a moment made her realize he was probably taken aback by her tone. She decided she didn’t care. L remained silent while Ryuk replied, “No. I just thought it strange.”

Ryuk was still Ryuk and L was still L. She remained indifferent, same as them, and sat up. Princess leapt away and off the couch, trotting across the tile floors and out of the room. When she passed Ryuk, she suddenly tucked her nubby little tail against her body, her ears flattened and her pace quickened from a slow canter to a fast trot.

Ryuk laughed and watched the little terrier before shifting his gaze back to Lupin. She stood up and stretched before picking up the Death Note. She ignored Ryuk’s change in focus and looked to L.

“You sure you want me hanging onto this thing?”

It was a straightforward question, obviously. She doubted her ability to be trusted with the thing. Not that she’d use it, no, she wouldn’t. She was solid on her reserve on that issue. It was her ability to hide it and keep it hidden. Her room, while plentiful with hiding space, could also be easily pillaged and with the right amount of searching, anyone could find anything…if they had the patience to comb through every crevice of her room, her closet, the underside of her bed, her drawers—

Drawers. Her clothes drawers…

“If you’re having doubts, Miss Lupin—,”

“No, no…I think…I found a good hiding spot, ah…I was just concerned on that part. I think I’m okay now.”

Her drawers were built into the desk of her room that took up one side of her room. There was a small empty space between the bottom drawer and the floor. If she took the drawer out…no one would ever think of searching there…except inside the drawers, right? Plus, they were bloody difficult to yank out and put back in. Maybe it could work.

“—Miss Lupin?”

Lupin hadn’t realized she was looking at the Death Note. She blinked and looked up, a small smile on her face. “I’m fine. I have the hiding spot.”

“Oh? Well, you should go do that now. Before we have anymore…unexpected guests.”

He did not look at Ryuk, although the Shinigami seemed to understand the comment was directed towards him. He stepped away from L as the young man prowled around the corner to the kitchen past the wet bar. “Is it all right if I find myself something to eat? I’m rather hungry.”

Lupin nodded, not really paying much attention to him. Hide it, hide it, hide it. That was the simple mantra that was churning through her mind at the moment. Hide the damned thing, and don’t bring it out. Ever.

That…that actually sounded good to the wolf. It was a temporary solution for a hare-brained problem that should be dealt with immediately, but it would work. Although…she couldn’t help but think that burning the book would be better in the long-run, to get rid of this problem for good.

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The doorbell rang around three o’clock that day. It wasn’t unusual that it rang, although it was a rarity around this time of day. Maybe it was someone trying to sell something. Perhaps it was one of Lupin’s siblings’ friends, asking if her brother or her sister could come out and play. Or perhaps it was a random drop in from a friend of her own; which, she hated, given she’d like some future warnings…

It rang once more. Lupin closed her eyes momentarily, opened them back up again and got up once more. L remained in the ottoman to the right of the couch, Lupin’s laptop on the arm of the chair. He paused to look at her, hand poised over the keyboard, head tilted slightly to the side.

“Are you going to get that?” He asked. Lupin sighed and nodded silently, pushing herself up from the couch. Ryuk watched the girl get up before following at a leisurely pace. Currently, he was rather elated, considering Lupin pulled out the last three apples out of the fridge for him. He was finishing the third one now. A nasty thought crept into her mind as she heard him behind her, crunching away on the fruit.

Wonder if I should put him through apple withdrawal for making me put up with this shit? It came and went. She didn’t want to end up like Light; dead by Ryuk’s hands, her name written into the other Death Note he owned. Glumly, her lips tugged into a dissatisfied frown. He’s probably planning on killin’ me anyways, what’s the point of pissing him off even more?

Lupin stopped in front of the doorway and paused to look through the peephole. It was a precaution she always took before ever opening the door. A white face stared back impassively and Lupin backed away almost immediately. Her eyes widened and her heart immediately began to race and her hands began to shake. Ryuk paused in chewing his apple, looking as the girl stared at the door, visibly shaken and anxious. “J-Jesus…”

The doorbell rang once more.

“What? Aren’t you gonna answer it, kid?”

For the most part, Lupin wanted to ignore the Shinigami behind her. Instead, she continued to stare at the door in front of her, swallowing dryly before looking back at the peephole. A gold eye stared back, peering right at her. She backed away once more before reaching for the deadbolt on the door. Like hell, oh, like hell, she was gonna let some freaky person in her house!

The door flung open before her hand even touched the knob. Crap. She didn’t lock the bottom lock, did she? Crap.

In place of the front door and the screen door, stood…a robot. One Lupin recognized and certainly, she couldn’t forget a blank, smooth white face that of an NS-5. NS-5… She stared, bewildered and wide-eyed at the gangly sight of black and white, and gold eyes staring emotionlessly at her.

The symmetrical face was turned towards her and the wolf didn’t even notice the other two standing directly behind the first. Ryuk was no help at all, first looking on in amazement before he let out a small fit of giggles.

“First I run into a dead man and now robots? This is like a movie.” He cackled before finishing off the apple quickly. It would do no good for the robots to notice a floating apple, now would it?

She swallowed again, feeling her throat ache from how dry is suddenly was.

The white and black robot stared at her a moment before speaking in that steady, calm voice. It was unreal, emotionless, and yet still…strangely human. The familiar shiver of fear twisted up and down Lupin’s spine when the robot spoke, directly at her.

“We have a delivery for you, Miss, if you please. From Scribe.”

“Delivery?” She blurted out. Her mouth was working before her mind was and before she could question the robot further, he stepped inside. The other two, which by now the wolf had noticed, followed the first one and moved swiftly, mechanically, towards the living room. Lupin stood there in a daze, blindsided by the sudden intrusion before she followed on the second and third robots’ heels.

“H-hey, wait a minute! Just, stop a minute!”

The last robot stopped and turned attentively towards Lupin. The other two had begun moving towards the ottoman beside the aquarium.

“Is there a problem, Miss?”

“Hell yes, there’s a problem! Get the hell outta my house!”

They should listen, right? They were programmed to listen to humans in the movie I, Robot, so why not here?

“I’m sorry, Miss, but we have our orders. As soon as we are finished, we shall leave the premises. In the meantime, we need the space to work in. Please step aside while we work; we wouldn’t want you injured in the process.”

Then the robot turned away from her, as if she hadn’t just stopped him (Or is it an ‘it’?) from intruding any further.

The two NS-5 robots lifted the ottoman and the little footrest and moved effortlessly towards the den. The third grabbed the large antler lamp in one hand, yanked the cord with the other hand and followed after the first two. Lupin stood still right on the spot, shell-shocked before a squeak escaped from her lips as she watched. The empty space in which the ottoman had once preoccupied suddenly seemed like it was too much. It was just a big gaping…space, to put it in extremely blunt terms.

Lupin turned heel and followed after them. A large part of her thought they were taking it away from her house, outside, perhaps to take away. Oh, God…screw her parents abnormal behavior towards L, they were going to flip if they found their house pillaged by…robots. Which Lupin was sure they’d never believe.

Instead, she found them organizing the den to accommodate the other ottoman. While the three worked, Lupin noticed two more entering the house. She immediately caught onto the one with blue eyes. The name slipped from her lips before she stopped herself.

“Sonny?”

The blue-eyed robot turned to her, a strange curiosity on the robot’s perfectly symmetrical white face.

“Yes, may I assist you in any way, Miss?” The voice was the same. That curious, child-like observance of the world around him look was the same as well. Her hands trembled at her sides and her heart continued to hammer away. Saying the name was half-bad. But she had his attention. He continued to watch her expectantly.

“Sonny.” She stated more firmly. The robot remained rooted to the spot, before he nodded.

“Yes. That is my name.” He paused. “Scribe was right. You are rather perceptive…in a manner of speaking, of course.”

Lupin collapsed on the stairs besides her, staring in disbelief. A laugh huffed out and she shook her head, blinking rapidly a few times.

I, Robot.

This…was an unexpected twist.

OoOoOoOoOoO

L had remained a silent bystander in the partaking of the room transformation. He had long ago forgotten about the computer sitting beside him on the second ottoman, and he finally stood to watch as the strange robots work efficiently and quickly. They were quite strong, he realized. If one was able to lift the heavy wooden ottoman with little to no effort, than what else were they capable of?

They were graceful, at least. No bumbling around, no long-time efforts to get one project done that took hours at a time… Nothing like what humans could do. L was impressed, to say in the least. Whoever created them, well…they seemed something of a genius with humanoid mechanics. Of course…he couldn’t help but notice that only the one robot stood attentively beside the girl, and quite probable without knowing it, Ryuk’s as well.

The robot remained silent and quite dismissive of any work, merely watching in silence as the others moved about.

One account L stopped to look at and step out of the way from was the huge, black lacquered coffin into the living room. It was placed right in the space where the other ottoman had previously taken residence.

The sight of the coffin perturbed him and the sudden thought of someone dying raced through his mind. Although…in reality, he was too small to fit in it, it was much longer than even him. Never mind the girl, he figured at least four, perhaps five of her, could fit in it. He made a mental note to further investigate the coffin.

He returned to the robots. One of them, one of the worker drones, turned to the girl and she watched, somewhat surprised. He then saw the slight mixture of curiosity, fear and even a hint of anger crossing her features. The clench of the jaw was what gave away that last one.

“Miss, we need to operate within your garage. Can you please open it for us?”

She remained silent. L ticked his lips down further, ever so slightly. “Why should I? You’ve already fucked up my house enough; can’t you just go now?”

Ah, the stubborn, prideful type. No wonder she was bent on having herself convinced he was a cosplayer yesterday. She didn’t like admitting defeat easily. That, at least, was good. She might find this puzzle difficult, but she won’t give up on it with him.

“I am sorry, Miss, but our orders were clear. We must finish the renovations before we follow your commands. We will leave as soon as we are finished. The garage, Miss?”

The robot motioned with its hand to her and she glowered at it. Her jaw clenched even more before she stood up abruptly and stomped off, past him and towards the aquarium. She went out a sliding door and a few moments later, the sound of a garage opening signaled she had complied with the robot’s request.

L knew it was, without a doubt, not in a willing manner. She obviously made her point that she wanted them gone…and cooperating with them was the only course of getting them to leave sooner. He strolled over where Lupin had disappeared just as she popped back inside, that scowl still on her face.

It was surprising how easily she had progressed from anxious to angry.

He pulled her aside before she could brush past him, allowing the robots to move silently past the two of them towards the garage. When the door shut behind the last one, L turned to Lupin.

“If you continue to act like this, Miss Lupin, you may not remember what we’re trying to do here. Stop worrying about your home and focus on what’s important.”

“What’s important is my ass is gonna be handed to me when my parents—,”

“That is irrelevant right now. The fact that they are here is proof enough that they were sent here by the same person who brought Ryuk and myself here as well.”

“What about me?”

Ryuk hovered just outside L’s peripheral vision. He turned to look at the Shinigami. “You were not brought here by your own choice, were you, Ryuk?”

He scratched the back of his head, tilting it over. “Not that I recall. Last I remember, I was heading back to the Shinigami Realm after I—,”

The Shinigami stopped short. L narrowed his eyes slightly. “After you what, exactly, Ryuk?”

“Er…I shouldn’t say. It’ll mess things up. For you, I mean.”

L regarded the Shinigami warily. He didn’t miss the sudden change of tone; that anxiety in the otherworldly creature’s suddenly stiff movements. Lupin watched him as well, her eyes narrowed just as suspiciously at the Shinigami. Although, unknown to both L and Ryuk, she already knew what he was going to say before he stopped himself short.

“If you do not tell me, I can simply look it up on the Internet. Which would you prefer?”

Lupin pursed her lips at Ryuk, before she blinked and nudged L. He glanced at her and she jerked her head over towards the wet bar. L followed the motion and stopped short.

One of the robots hadn’t left the room. It was the one with the blue-eyes. Not gold.

“Sonny”, Lupin had called him. Sonny currently stared at him and Lupin, although he doubted that Sonny could see Ryuk. He stared at the robot.

“Is there something wrong, Sir? You seem to be…unwell. I don’t believe talking to oneself is a healthy sign in humans, is it not?”

L looked to Lupin and she returned the understanding gaze. Yes, he couldn’t see Ryuk. She frowned, her brows furrowed at him.

“This…isn’t good, is it?” She asked him. He didn’t answer at first, looking back at Sonny. The robot moved forward, servos moving quietly.

“What is your intention here, Sonny-san?”

Sonny paused, staring at L with that same child-like curiosity in those strange blue eyes of his.

“‘San’…what is the meaning of that word? I don’t believe I’ve heard of this term before.”

Lupin, surprisingly, answered before L could.

“It’s a title. For the Japanese. It’s…it means something along the lines of Mr., Mrs., or Miss.”

Both he and Sonny looked to her. Ryuk looked to the girl as well. “Ooh. Very nice.”

L once again chose to ignore the Shinigami. “I was not aware you knew any Japanese, Miss Lupin.”

She turned away, arms loosely crossed over her chest. She almost appeared shy. “I…read manga. And stuff. Learned it way back in middle school. And I don’t know much. Japanese, I mean. Just a little to get me outta trouble and stuff.” She muttered quietly.

L nodded. Ah. Manga. That cleared it up some. Some manga-kas would leave translations or notes in the back of their books to help American readers understand certain foreign words.

He turned back to Sonny, ignoring Ryuk’s quiet laughter. “If you please, Sonny-san. What, exactly, is your purpose here, if you’re not willing to help your…comrades.”

Sonny regarded L for a long moment, his attention back to him. Lupin moved away. Ryuk stayed. Finally the robot answered.

“I was given instructions by Scribe. I believe he is the one who brought you here…and chose her as his test subject for this experiment.”

Oh.

Well…

That would explain some things.

OoOoOoOoOoO

As it turned out, L had been right. The sooner Lupin had cooperated with the other robots, the sooner they left. The garage had been cleaned up of its messes and the renovations had been…rather extreme. Or so Lupin stated.

There was no longer “a pile of random crap”, in her words, and the shelves that contained a multitude of “more useless crap” had been sufficiently cleared. No cars, except for an extremely new-looking Chevy Camaro, were in the garage. Outside, though, another Camaro sat idly by. Strangely enough, both were a bright, golden yellow.

The only difference was the racing stripes on the one outside, and the plain paint job on the one inside. But, L had not focused on either car, except for a few split moments. Lupin had been more focused on the contents of the garage.

The garage was clean, she had told him quietly, when they had come outside. Clean as whistle, and…changed. It was more uniform and orderly.

There was a large storage fridge in the garage now, right where all the junk had once resided. It was up and it was running, humming away and working the way it was designed to. Two large steel cabinets had also been put in place next to the fridge. Lupin hesitantly moved towards it while L stared off at the other robots. A large truck was parked in front of the driveway, blocking anyone from entering the driveway or from leaving it.

An illegal parking job. How…predictable. They don’t want people coming in or out, disturbing their work. The robots were preparing to leave. Sonny stayed, watching the others.

He was silent as he watched the others finally climb into the truck, while one strayed towards them, eyes emotionless, as opposed to Sonny’s curious and open-eyed gaze.

“NS-5 Model Sonny is to stay with you, under Scribe’s orders. He will assist you in any way that you need. Feel free to have him service you in any way.”

There was a derisive snort of laughter that emanated from Lupin as soon as the robot finished speaking. All of them turned to look at her and she was holding one of the cabinet doors for support, doubled over with the other hand holding her abdomen. She was giggling madly.

“Is there something wrong, Miss?”

She snorted again, shook her head and her hand simultaneously and stood up straighter, unable to keep a straight face. “N-no, no…just…oh, God.”

Lupin turned away, although L heard her mutter something along the lines of, “So wrong, so wrong…” She laughed a little more.

He turned back to the robot. “Who is Scribe, if you don’t mind my asking?”

The robot watched him, silent for a moment before answering, “I’m sorry, Sir. I’m not a liberty to divulge that kind of information to you. You may ask your NS-5 for that information later on, if you wish.”

And then the robot turned around and went back to the truck, got in, and the truck revved up before pulling out onto the streets. Then it was gone.

L turned to Sonny. The blue-eyed robot looked back while Lupin once more stood beside L. She was tiny, he noticed. She barely came up to his shoulder, although he knew if he stood straight…she’d be outmatched in height by several inches more. He returned his attention to the robot.

“I believe you have some information we need from you, Sonny-san.”

Sonny remained immobile, then blinked and nodded once.

“Of course, Detective Ryuzaki.”

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Collision" Chapter Five [INCOMPLETE]

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:24:13 GMT

So, here it be! Part of chapter five! 8D

Contact

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It is only at the first encounter that face makes its full impression on us.

- Arthur Schopenhauer

OoOoOoOoOoO

The dog merely stared with those bug-eyed brown eyes, whined again and Lupin sighed, leaning her head back once more, eyes closed. “Thanks. Your infinite wisdom has helped me once again.”

“You talk to your dog? Talk about strange.”

Instead, she was tired and her nerves were shot and beyond repair for the moment. And it was only…day two, now, wasn’t it?

Lupin indolently rolled her head over, opened her blue-gray eyes and blinked owlishly at the two figures standing in the living room.

“Yes, as well as electronic devices and idiot drivers on the road. Got a problem with that?”

“You sure you want me hanging onto this thing?”

Drawers. Her clothes drawers…

“If you’re having doubts, Miss Lupin—,”

“No, no…I think…I found a good hiding spot, ah…I was just concerned on that part. I think I’m okay now.”

“—Miss Lupin?”

Lupin hadn’t realized she was looking at the Death Note. She blinked and looked up, a small smile on her face. “I’m fine. I have the hiding spot.”

“Oh? Well, you should go do that now. Before we have anymore…unexpected guests.”

OoOoOoOoOoO

The doorbell rang around three o’clock that day. It wasn’t unusual that it rang. Maybe it was someone trying to sell something. Perhaps it was one of Lupin’s siblings’ friends, asking if her brother or her sister could come out and play. Or perhaps it was a random drop in from a friend of her own; which, she hated, given she’d like some future warnings…

It rang again. She closed her eyes momentarily, opened them back up again and got up once more. L remained in the ottoman to the right of the couch, Lupin’s laptop on the arm of the chair. Ryuk watched the girl get up before following at a leisurely pace. Currently, he was rather elated, considering Lupin pulled out the last three apples out of the fridge for him. He was finishing the third one now. A nasty thought crept into her mind as she heard him behind her, crunching away on the fruit.

Lupin stopped in front of the doorway and paused to look through the peephole. A white face stared back impassively and Lupin backed away almost immediately. Her eyes widened, her heart immediately began to race and her hands began to shake.

“J-Jesus…”

The doorbell rang once more.

“What? Aren’t you gonna answer it, kid?”

For the most part, Lupin wanted to ignore the Shinigami behind her. Instead, she stared at the door in front of her, swallowing dryly before looking back at the peephole. A gold eye stared back, peering right at her. She backed away once more before reaching for the deadbolt on the door. Like hell, oh, like hell, she was gonna let some freaky person in her house!

The door flung open before her hand even touched the knob.

In place of the front door and the screen door, stood…a robot. One Lupin recognized and certainly, she couldn’t forget a blank, smooth white face that of an NS-5. NS-5… She stared, bewildered and wide-eyed at the gangly sight of black and white, and gold eyes staring emotionlessly at her.

“First I run into a dead man and now robots? This is like a movie.”

She swallowed again, feeling her throat ache from how dry is suddenly was.

The white and black robot stared at her a moment before speaking in that steady, calm voice. It was unreal, emotionless, and yet still…strangely human.

“We have a delivery for you, Miss, if you please.”

“H-hey, wait a minute!”

The third robot stopped and turned to Lupin. The other two had begun moving towards the ottoman beside the aquarium.

“Is there a problem, Miss?”

“Hell yes, there’s a problem! Get the hell outta my house!”

They should listen, right? They were programmed to listen to humans in the movie I, Robot, so why not here?

Then the robot turned away from her, as if she hadn’t just stopped him (Or is it an ‘it’?) from intruding any further.

The two NS-5 robots lifted the ottoman and the little footrest and moved effortlessly towards the den. The third grabbed the antler lamp in one hand, yanked the cord with the other hand and followed after the first two. Lupin stood still right on the spot, shell-shocked before a squeak escaped from her lips as she watched. The empty space in which the ottoman had once preoccupied suddenly seemed like it was too much. It was just a big gaping…space.

Lupin turned heel and followed after them. A large part of her thought they were taking it away, outside the open door and somewhere outside.

“Sonny?”

The blue-eyed robot turned to her, a strange curiosity on the robot’s perfectly symmetrical white face.

“Yes, may I assist you in any way, Miss?”

Her hands trembled at her sides and her heart continued to hammer away. Saying the name was half-bad.

“Sonny.” She stated more firmly. The robot remained rooted to the spot, before he nodded.

“Yes. That is my name.” He paused. “Scribe was right. You are perceptive…in a manner of speaking, of course.”

Lupin collapsed on the stairs besides her, staring in disbelief.

I, Robot.

This…was an unexpected twist.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Collision" Chapter Four [INCOMPLETE]

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:30:24 GMT

HERE IT BE~ Almost finished, chapter four of Collision.

Panic

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Who said anything about panicking? This is still just the culture shock. You wait till I've settled down into the situation and found my bearings. Then I'll start panicking.
- Arthur, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

OoOoOoOoOoO

She checked her email and her art messages over on DeviantArt. She got her boots shoved onto her feet; her hair combed out, and picked up her room a bit. Put away her homework from yesterday and packed up her art binder. Finally, she glanced at the clock after a few times of checking over the past hour and let out a breath. Lupin turned to the door, facing her Autobots poster and the Marines poster she got from the college fair, both from about a year ago. Hand grasping the knob, turned and—

Lupin jumped in fright at the sudden face that appeared in place of her doorway, those big eyes with the black bags underneath them staring at her with little to no indifference. The wolf gathered herself quickly, remembering why he was here, what he had in his hand…

Then suddenly, the little black notebook with the innocent little name of Death Note was shown before her, pinched in that delicate two-fingered manner. She stared, taken by surprise, unable to see past it to look at L’s face. A few blinks later, she reluctantly reached for it and took it.

She didn’t stare at it. Instead she looked at L quizzically, still blinking, as if trying to comprehend what he had just done.

“Uh…Christmas is in a few months, but thanks?” She finally said, attempting at humor. He didn’t so much as give her the twitch of the lips, or a signal of returned humor.

Instead he stared right back for a few moments before responding to her. “I have come to the conclusion that this would be better left in your possession than in mine. I have no place for it and your…unique room, would be an ideal hiding place.”

“Wait, what? I don’t want this thing. I’ll have some creepy…thing chasing after me!”

“And by creepy, I assume you’re referring to the Shinigami.”

“Yes, that. My brain crapped out on me.” She replied with a huff and an annoyed tick of the eye. “And why not you? I mean, you’re probably the safest person it’d be better left off with.”

L did not seem to be dissuaded by Lupin’s argument. He pressed on almost immediately as soon as the words left her lips.

“Like I stated before, and please listen carefully, I don’t have a place to hide it in, other than my own person. That is not a safe place, and if your theory is correct and I’m highly convinced that it will be, more people will come. I don’t know who any more than you do, but chances are, they will be those who seek the Death Note for their own personal gains and purposes. Your room is a plethora of crevices, nooks and crannies. You won’t use it, I’m quite certain of that, and you can find a rather clever hiding place for it, I’m sure of that as well. It will be difficult to navigate through and to find one simple notebook, if you’re clever enough to find a place for it, that is.”

Lupin was somewhat overwhelmed by the argument, although she did see the truth in it. No, L didn’t have a place to hide and yes, unfortunately, it did seem that her room would be the only place to hide it. She was organized, yet in a very messy way, in a very pack-ratty kind of way. Her brother’s room was messier, but it was oversimplified. You could find just about anything with a bit of poking around and cleaning up. Her room…it was harder to navigate through, like L had stated. She had books, just about everywhere.

She had printed documents, papers from possible her elementary schools, middle schools and definitely from high school tucked away, not to mention college brochures and documents as well. She did have more nooks and crannies and crevices than probably any room in this house. Well, other than her parent’s office. It had the cabinets and had possibly even more documents of God-knows-what. If she couldn’t find a place in her room, maybe…

No, she’d find some place in her room. It made her strain to quickly go through everything. She stopped herself short and nodded, and she suddenly felt something akin to a burden she really didn’t want, but had to keep, fall on top of her shoulders.

“I’ll, uh…I’ll find a home for it.”

L nodded in return, and he smiled in sincerity towards her. “Good. I knew you would. Now, I think it’s time we got back to producing logical theories on the how and why I am here and of course, the possibilities of who might have done this.”

Then he stopped and stared past her, his eyes widening with a sudden unexpectedness. And, again, he did not at her, but right past her. Lupin stiffened, feeling not only that weight of burden on her shoulders, but also an added new weight of terror. She let out a soft moan and asked in a shaky, quiet voice, “There’s…there’s something behind me…isn’t there?”

He didn’t move, just stared with those wide eyes—that, if possible, seemed to have gotten even wider—and he remained wordless and still. She really didn’t want to look. Honestly, she really didn’t. Whose Death Note was this? Ryuk, Rem, or Shidoh? Maybe…Gelus? Her mind whirred for a short moments before she gathered up her britches and turned, even if it was painfully slow.

Oh, hell, she really didn’t need her name written in the damn book in her arms; she was having enough of an overly long heart attack so far.

Ryuk.

Of all the damned—! Aw, crap.

That comical, too-long-for-a-human’s-face grin was plastered characteristically upon that pasty grayish face of his; those bulging eyes with the small pupils set in the yellow where the whites should be; and the overly long arms, the slightly bent frame, all pressed into the dark, Gothic-esque chic clothing, complete with the silver jewelry…

Her breath caught in her throat at the ghoulish sight of the Shinigami and she remained speechless, even as the lips perked into an even more comical clown-grin, exposing the rows of sharpened teeth. A shiver twisted up and down her spine and she knew, just from the slight angle from Ryuk’s head, he was staring straight at her…or possibly even through her, but either way, it was a creepy kind of stare.

One she’d have to get used to, now all because of this damned thing in her hand…

Wait, though… Lupin felt a strange confusion sweep over her. She hadn’t used the Death Note, and neither had L. Usually Shinigami didn’t appear unless someone who picked it up had used it; it was one of the rules, wasn’t it? She was sure it was… So why was Ryuk even here, if neither of them had used it? It had taken Ryuk several days to even go to Light after he’d used it; and this was too sudden of an appearance.

She took a step backward, away from Ryuk and closer towards L. The grin widened ever so slightly on Ryuk’s face and she swallowed nervously. Then she hesitantly held up the Death Note.

“This yours?” She asked, anxiety lacing her voice. Ryuk for the moment stood there, still grinning with that shark-like grin of his before he let out a soft bout of chuckles. He pointed to it with that oh-so-long and very lanky arm, tipped with a sharp claw-like point on his hand.

“Yes, it is. And I see that it’s you who’s found my Death Note, correct?”

For the time being, L had remained a silent bystander, and Lupin wished she could turn around, look to him for help, but she was, admittedly, scared of turning her back on the Shinigami before her. Lupin nodded in response to Ryuk’s statement in return.

“Y-yes. I did.”

Then he lifted his head, and she assumed he was looking towards L, an almost quizzical look upon his pale face. “He can see me?”

“Yes, I can.” L replied before Lupin could. She was silently thankful for him answering in her stead. “And the Death Note shall remain in her possession. Isn’t that right, Miss Lupin?”

Ryuk laughed when L had spoken of her alias. All three of them knew it wasn’t her real name, but each of them said nothing in regards to it. Lupin merely nodded once more instead of verbally responding. Finally, though, she knew she’d have to say it sooner or later, and she’d rather get past this spot of trouble now than later. “I’m not using it, though.”

Ryuk stopped laughing and looked to her. He remained silent for a few moments. Then, “What’s the point of you having it, then? Why don’t you just give it back if you’re not going to use it?”

He motioned towards it. Lupin flinched away, her grip tightening on the Death Note.

“No. I’m hiding it from…possible arrivals who might wanna use it to kill people.”

“Well, that is the point of the Death Note.” Ryuk replied glibly. Lupin pursed her lips.

“Others are coming and I’m not letting them know I have it.” She stated, a quiver in her voice.

“Well, then you should just give it back, then. There’s no point to having a Death Note if you’re not going to use it…”

“No.” Lupin stated firmly. She sounded sure of herself, but she didn’t look it, most likely. L, oh, thank God for the young man, stepped past Lupin and stood before the Shinigami, seemingly unperturbed by the inhumanly appearance of Ryuk. Lupin took a step to the side, giving herself a reasonable berth between herself, L and Ryuk. Then L began speaking with Ryuk, stopped and turned to look at Lupin for a moment.

“Miss Lupin, why don’t you go finish off your coffee? It’s going to get cold if you don’t.”

Lupin took that as a cue to leave and allow L and Ryuk to speak in private. She swallowed, her throat feeling very cotton dry, as she confirmed his request with a soft acknowledgement and left her room. She felt awkward, overwhelmed and, surprisingly, angry with herself. She wasn’t going to give up the Death Note, but she wasn’t going to use it. Although it would seem easier to just give it back to Ryuk…he might just drop it for some other person to use and have his “fun” elsewhere. She couldn’t let that happen.

Keep these two quarantined—as horrible as it sounded—away from people, away from the world. If people saw these two…okay, well, in technicalities, it would simply be just L, since only she and him could see Ryuk…

Okay, okay, back to the subject. Lupin chastised herself sternly. I can’t let L go out in public and I can’t talk to Ryuk in public. That is, if I’m still keeping this thing…

She really didn’t want to, and she still felt L to be the safest keeper to consider, but she was the one with the room of special hiding places. And then there were the troubles of going out in public? Well, mostly one, really and that had a name: Fangirls.

Lupin herself was one, but she was mellowed out and might often get slightly excited upon a certain subject concerning a fandom, but she didn’t become rabid. Preferably, her approach is more subtle than most and if she brought L out, well… She could possibly kiss her ass good-bye, most likely. The wolf could already imagine the hysterical scenarios if they ran into trouble on the outside: crazy, awkward, rabid and possessive troubles.

While most would consider L “attractive”, Lupin considered him to be just a cool person to sit down, have a nice chat with and overall, merely hang out in a companionable sort of manner. She didn’t and couldn’t see any other type of relationship with a person like L. And that was what scared her the most. The fangirls attacking out of “love” for a fictional character that should be, well, fictional.

But now they’re real… She thought this in a morbidly morose sense. The wolf sat down on the worn leather couch, curled up with the Death Note tightly clenched in one hand in her lap. The other proceeded to reach for her now lukewarm coffee. She held the mug rigidly in her hand for a few long moments, and then brought it to her lips. She didn’t like this…suspension.

It didn’t do her well at all, considering her stress levels have skyrocketed since her awakening earlier this morning.

Morning…

Lupin’s eyes drifted to the digital clock on the stove in the kitchen. She sighed dejectedly. It was almost noon. Nearly lunch time. She wasn’t very hungry. She had lost her appetite after all of these stressing events.

The phone rang. She snapped her head to attention stared over at the ringing device that lay on the wooden coffee table before her lips dropped into a small frown and she reached for the phone after putting her coffee mug down. She needed a distraction. This phone call, if it was worth answering, would do nicely.

OoOoOoOoOoO

There was a tension in the room that remained, even when the girl had left. L watched her, holding a very possessive grip upon the Death Note he had given her. He still wondered if leaving it in her ownership would result in an advantage for him, or not. He would have to contemplate his decision later. At the moment…he had a Shinigami to deal with.

He’d only had an encounter with one, and that was Rem. It was Rem, wasn’t it? Of course it was, he was positive of it. He remembered the clever and tantalizing endeavor to capture the fake Kira, that ended in the inevitable capture…then Rem’s sudden appearance, along with the Death Note that apparently belonged to that particular Shinigami.

And now, there is this one. Ryuk. He remembered this face quite clearly; the Internet resources were profitable enough to reap some benefits from. Ryuk, the Shinigami that possessed the Death Note that Light was in charge of.

Kira.

The real Kira.

He had been right all along, of course, but he had never expected such things of Shinigamis…until Rem, and now, of course, Ryuk.

Ryuk still gave off that clownish appearance, although there was nothing particularly funny about those sharp teeth in his mouth, those bulging eyes or the devilish look in them either. Ryuk was still in a fit of chuckles as he watched the girl leave before turning his sights onto L.

Of course, L was scared of Ryuk. A Shinigami essentially was a god of death. Who wouldn’t be afraid? Clearly, Lupin had shown some form of humanly expression and looked absolutely terrified. Did Light look the same when he had encountered this death god…?

“So, you’re making her keep it, huh?”

“Of course. If Light comes here, it’s only natural I’ll have someone keep it safe. I would do it myself, but currently, I have no orderly power in this world…and neither will you.” L replied. There was no tremor in his voice like he had heard within Lupin’s, of course. He would be diplomatic about this and showing fear was not an option.

Ryuk laughed in return. He seemed to find this whole situation quite comical…until he stopped short.

“No power?” He questioned. L nodded once. The phone rang downstairs and by the second chirp, it suddenly stopped.

“Yes, no power.” He glanced at the computer console sitting on Lupin’s desk before moving towards the seat. He climbed onto it, but nearly fell over when the back of the chair gave way. He swayed as Ryuk stepped away lithely, chuckling quietly to himself. L steadied himself and positioned into his usual crouch, hands pulling out the keyboard.

Then he began to go to work. An Internet webpage pulled up, revealing Yahoo as the homepage. Irrelevant. Wikipedia was typed into the webpage bar, and it came up. Death Note was promptly clattered away on the keyboard, into the search engine. The page pulled up within a few seconds.

L could feel the otherworldly creature looming over him, standing just behind him, over his shoulder peering dubiously at what he had just pulled up within a minute or so.

Ryuk’s laughing had long since stopped as the search finished. He remained silent and L, too, remained as silent as his…companion.

It sickened him, to be sure. He was merely a manga character in this world, after all. It was a strange violation, he concluded, and a gross one at that. If this information—anything about him—were leaked out on the web like this in “his world”, as Lupin had so bluntly put it earlier, he would have, as he told her earlier, have it all erased immediately.

But it seemed, a very strange breach of logic and reasoning had been broken and he no longer resided in “his world”. And, apparently, he’d died in 2004, while it was 2009 right now. So. Five years, he’d technically been “dead”. How…strange.

He was alive, but he supposed to be dead.

Was it a paradox of sorts?

“This isn’t good.” Ryuk finally said after a while.

“Indeed.”

“No…not just this…but something else as well.”

L paused before turning to face the Shinigami. The comical clown-grin remained centered on Ryuk’s face, although the head was tilted in such a quizzical manner. He was looking at L, more concerned on the young man, rather than what was pulled up on the computer screen.

“Another problem?”

Something he didn’t know? What was it?

Ryuk gave a curt nod, then brought up a hand, the index finger pointed towards the roof, the others enclosed against his palm. “This is something important, and I’m only going to say this once.” He paused, tilting his head the right way once more. “I probably shouldn’t even tell you this…but…” He took to another pause before he continued. “Shinigami have an ability and that is to see how long a human has left to live…and their real names.”

L froze momentarily, muscles stiff and sudden straining from the tension. Ryuk must have noticed, but made no note about it. He continued once more. “Light could have killed you a long time ago after he met you, of course…if I told him your name.”

He relaxed. “But you didn’t.”

“Rules state I can’t. I wouldn’t do it anyways even if I could. It was more fun to watch him beat around the bush with you.”

Was? L’s eyes narrowed slightly at that. Well…at least he hadn’t died early in the game. That wouldn’t have done anyone any good at all. Ryuk laughed.

“I can see your name…but I can’t see your lifespan and the same with the girl’s. It’s strange. It’s as if someone turned it off and left me with only half of my eyes, just to see names.”

Once more, confusion riddled this empty puzzle. He was missing many pieces. He didn’t know exactly where to look. He was, as unfortunate as it was to admit, powerless. And, apparently, he was in a very similar, very parallel world that of his own. Everything so far seemed intact, and exactly the same as where he had come from; world-wise, that is.

The only difference was he wasn’t a manga and an anime character where he belonged and now Ryuk, it seemed, had been a god of death with strange and extraordinary abilities. Now they were both reduced a few notches, knocked down the bar and unable to figure a way out of this very problematic matter.

He was no longer a detective here and Ryuk seemed to possess only half of his “eyes”.

He’d have to ask about that later…if the Shinigami felt obliging in giving out any more information. He didn’t seem the type to spill his guts to anyone; well at least, not without a bargain.

Now Ryuk was preoccupying himself with looking around the room, staring at the strange ornaments, statues, dolls and other miscellaneous items around the room. L turned and clicked off the Wikipedia page and stood from the chair. Ryuk stopped looking about, turning his attention back to L. L finally spoke to the Shinigami.

“I believe we’ll need to work together to figure this out, Ryuk-san.”

Ryuk watched the young man, quiet for a while, before a low rumble began to emanate from the otherworldly creature.

Then he was promptly laughed at.

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"Collision" Chapter Four [INCOMPLETE]

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:32:56 GMT

Part of chapter four completed.

Conversation between Ryuk, L and Lupin seems awkward. Suggestions?

Panic

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She didn’t stare at it. Instead she looked at L quizzically, still blinking, as if trying to comprehend what he had just done.

“Uh…Christmas is in a few months, but thanks?” She finally said, attempting at humor. He didn’t so much as give her the twitch of the lips, or a signal of returned humor.

“Wait, what? I don’t want this thing. I’ll have some creepy…thing chasing after me!”

“And by creepy, I assume you’re referring to the Shinigami.”

“Yes, that. My brain crapped out on me.” She replied with a huff and an annoyed tick of the eye. “And why not you? I mean, you’re probably the safest person it’d be better left off with.”

L did not seem to be dissuaded by Lupin’s argument. He pressed on almost immediately as soon as the words left her lips.

“Like I stated before, and please listen carefully, I don’t have a place to hide it in, other than my own person. That is not a safe place, and if you’re theory is correct and I’m highly convinced that it will be, more people will come. I don’t know who any more than you do, but chances are, they will be those who seek the Death Note for their own personal gains and purposes. Your room is a plethora of crevices, nooks and crannies. You won’t use it, I’m quite certain of that, and you can find a rather clever hiding place for it, I’m sure of that as well. It will be difficult to navigate through and to find one simple notebook, if you’re clever enough to find a place for it, that is.”

She had printed documents, papers from possible her elementary schools, middle schools and definitely from high school tucked away. She did have more nooks and crannies and crevices than probably any room in this house. Well, other than her parent’s office. It had the cabinets and had possibly even more documents of God-knows-what. If she couldn’t find a place in her room, maybe…

“I’ll, uh…I’ll find a home for it.”

L nodded in return, and he smiled in sincerity towards her. “Good. I knew you would. Now, I think it’s time we got back to producing logical theories on the how and why I am here and possible the possible who’s who might have done this.”

Then he stopped and stared past her. Not at her, but right past her. Lupin stiffened, feeling not only that weight of burden on her shoulders, but also an added new weight of terror. She let out a soft moan and asked in a shaky, quiet voice, “There’s…there’s something behind me…isn’t there?”

He didn’t move, just stared with those wide eyes—that, if possible, seemed to have gotten even wider—wordless and still. She really didn’t want to look. Honestly, she really didn’t. Whose Death Note was this? Ryuk, Rem, or Shidoh? Maybe…Gelus? Her mind whirred for a short moments before she gathered up her britches and turned, even if it was painfully slow.

Oh, hell, she really didn’t need her name written in the damn book in her arms; she was having enough of an overly long heart attack so far.

Ryuk.

Of all the damned—! Aw, crap.

One she’d have to get used to, now all because of this damned thing in her hand…

Wait, though… Lupin felt a strange confusion sweep over her. She hadn’t used the Death Note, and neither had L. Usually Shinigami didn’t appear unless someone who picked it up had used it; it was one of the rules, wasn’t it? She was sure it was… So why was Ryuk even here, if neither of them had used it? It took Ryuk several days to even go to Light after he’d used it; and this was too sudden of an appearance.

She took a step backward, away from Ryuk and closer towards L. The grin widened ever so slightly on Ryuk’s face and she swallowed nervously. Then she hesitantly held up the Death Note.

“Yes, it is. And I see that it’s you who’s found my Death Note, correct?”

For the time being, L remained a silent bystander, and Lupin wished she could turn around, look to him for help, but she was, admittedly, scared of turning her back on the Shinigami before her. Lupin nodded in response to Ryuk’s statement in return.

“Y-yes. I did.”

Then he lifted his head, and she assumed he was looking towards L, an almost quizzical look upon his pale face. “He can see me?”

“Yes, I can.” L replied before Lupin could. She was silently thankful for him answering in her stead. “And the Death Note shall remain in her possession. Isn’t that right, Miss Lupin?”

He motioned towards it. Lupin flinched away, her grip tightening on the Death Note.

“No. I’m hiding it from…possible arrivals who might wanna use it to kill people.”

“Well, that is the point of the Death Note.” Ryuk replied glibly. Lupin pursed her lips.

“Others are coming and I’m not letting them know I have it.” She stated, a quiver in her voice.

“Well, then you should just give it back, then. There’s no point to having a Death Note if you’re not going to use it…”

“Miss Lupin, why don’t you go finish off your coffee? It’s going to get cold if you don’t.”

Okay, okay, back to the subject. Lupin chastised herself sternly. I can’t let L go out in public and I can’t talk to Ryuk in public. That is, if I’m still keeping this thing…

But now they’re real… She thought this in a morbidly morose sense, sitting down on the worn leather couch, curling up with the Death Note tightly clenched in one hand in her lap and the other reaching for her now lukewarm coffee. She held the mug rigidly in her hand for a few long moments, and then brought it to her lips. She didn’t like this…suspension.

It didn’t do her well at all, considering her stress levels have skyrocketed since her awakening earlier this morning.

Morning…

Lupin’s eyes drifted to the digital clock on the stove in the kitchen. She sighed dejectedly. It was almost noon. Nearly lunch time. She wasn’t very hungry, having lost it after all of these events.

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"Collision" Chapter Three [COMPLETE]

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:08:47 GMT

Arky, hun! Another surprise! I finished chapter three! Think of it as a double gift. xD Naw, but really, here's chapter three, dearie-dear. Any and all critique is welcome. I know I missed something! xD

Theory

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If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.

- Albert Einstein

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It was early. She hated waking up early in the morning. Perhaps it was the sudden absence of music. She loved listening to it when she went to bed. It was something she forgot to do when she jumped into bed and then got up ten minutes later to put on. The silence of the house and the white noise of the outside nightly world disturbed her. She needed something to fill in the gap.

One of her playlists was now playing on from her desktop speakers. She foggily tried to remember before it clicked. Walk Away by Mad at Gravity was playing now, and it was on… Well, the playlist didn’t really matter much; they all had music, what difference did it make?

She rolled over, glancing at the digital clock sitting beside her snake tank. She pushed away whatever was blocking her clock and moaned silently. It was seven-thirty in the morning. God, she hated them; she really did. She thought mornings should be illegal and sleeping in a law. Jokingly, she thought this many times, but all in all, she liked sleeping in, especially if she didn’t have work or school that day. Today happened to be one of those special days.

Lupin awoke again for a second time that morning, having realized she must have found some way to roll over and fall asleep again. Music was still playing, softly from her speakers, and she blinked away her sleep as she rolled onto her back to stare groggily at the ceiling. She exhaled slowly before kicking away her blankets, pushing herself to get out of bed and slowly pattered her way to the bathroom that connected to her bedroom.

When she came out a few minutes later, she was wiping away the contact solution on her face and looking around, appearing much more awake. She got dressed in a pair of jeans and a black tank top, snapped on her dog collar from her desk and turned on her computer screen. A few clicks of the mouse later, the music stopped playing from her speakers and she walked out of her room, quietly making her way downstairs. The black couch was empty; no signs of life or of anyone having slept on it.

She moved towards the living room. There was a crumpled blanket lying haphazardly on one of the ottoman’s arms. L was nowhere to be seen. She frowned before hearing the downstairs bathroom door opening. She turned to look over and saw the lanky young man coming out. He stopped momentarily when he saw her, watching and silently watching. Lupin couldn’t find the strength to say anything; her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and she finally just sighed and waved at him. Saying sorry was hard for some people and easy for others. Lupin was still trying to find a way to say sorry and make it actually sound legitimate.

Finally she found the reserve to say something, in the very least, but it wasn’t something she had wanted to say, it just came out. “Erm…” Lupin started, before clearing her throat. “Do you want something to eat?”

She stopped herself from saying his name, or anything at all. She didn’t know if she was to call him L or if she should just call him Ryuzaki for the time being. It felt slightly awkward to the wolf.

There was silence behind her, the rustle of the young man moving about. She opened the fridge and rummaged about, although she found nothing appetizing or appealing. A cup of coffee sounded like a very good start. Eggs and bacon? Cereal or oatmeal? She wasn’t a traditional breakfast eater. Actually, she rarely ate breakfast and when she did—usually at a restaurant for family brunch—she liked ordering fried steak or something very meaty; something more lunch-related.

When Lupin turned to look at L, she was thoroughly surprised to see him standing right beside her; she hadn’t even noticed him in her peripheral vision. He, too, was looking at the inventory of the fridge but showed no interest of anything in particular. Then he shuffled away and moved towards the pantry. She closed the door of the fridge, but not before pulling out her coffee cream. Mmm, hazelnut creamer.

The wolf placed it on the table. Filters and coffee grounds were in the pantry.

“Anything?” She asked him when she approached. He roved over everything and he finally glanced at her.

“You’re acting quite different this morning, Miss Lupin.” He simply replied. It sounded somewhat accusatory to the wolf. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, finding more interest in the floor tiles and her bare feet.

“I…did some thinking last night.” She answered truthfully.

“Oh?”

She began placing on big toe on the other and shifting from one to the other. Her lips twitched slightly. “Yeaaaah… I’ve, uh…decided I’ll believe that you’re really L…erm…” Lupin paused momentarily. “Should…should I continue calling you that…? Or just Ryuzaki?”

“Ryuzaki will suffice for now, Miss Lupin. And I’m relieved to hear that you’re taking to my side. I was beginning to worry for your sanity at first, but after taking your statement from last night, I believe we do have a rather troublesome situation to consider.”

Lupin looked up in surprise and confusion. “…Huh?”

He stepped out of the pantry and she shuffled out of his way. L pointed towards the office, right behind the large fish tank aquarium chock full of happy little tropical fish and one very large hermit crab. “I did some research last night, on one of the computers in there. I was…intrigued.” He looked to her. “I’m afraid your words troubled me and what I saw was rather disturbing.”

Understanding immediately crossed her face. “…Oh. Wikipedia?”

He shrugged. “More or less. I would have all that data wiped out within the hour, if I had Watari and my…status here. But I’m currently powerless. I’m sure you’ll understand that it’s not a pleasant position for me.”

“Okay…I’m sorry…?” She answered uncertainly.

Then he smiled slightly. It made her shift weight again; it was her only telltale sign of her discomfort. “And I believe when I get back, I’ll have enough substantial evidence to put Kira away. I assume you’re quite aware of him because of the manga?”

Lupin blinked and looked back at him. “Oh. Good, uh…good news, then?” She once more replied with uncertainty lacing her tone. He nodded, although she was sure he didn’t care to take heed of her anxiety; he was most likely ignoring it completely. Well, now things are gonna go screwy, aren’t they? Me and my big mouth.

Well, she supposed some things would go right at least. In honest opinion, she thought Light to be a tad on the psychotic side. Of course, that applied to him needing to be in a straightjacket for the rest of his life, but all in all, she was somewhat relieved at the end of Death Note that he got what was coming to him. It wasn’t that she hated Light, no, but she thought his tactics in gaining what he wanted weren’t agreeable in some situations to her state of mind. Otherwise, she didn’t have much problem with him. But, it only made her even more nervous, however, when she relayed back to her previous thoughts last night. What if more people come? More specifically, what if people came and they were the owners of the Death Note?

What then?

She hoped she could at least keep L safe; she felt a sudden and strange obligation to keep his real name a secret.

“Uh…Ryuzaki?” She hesitated greatly, unsure of how to approach this. He turned to look at her and she honestly felt as though he really could see into people, the way he looked at them. She cleared her throat.

“I, uh…I wanted to apologize, for last night I mean. I was…out of place. And…I…” She paused, pursing her lips. “I’ll keep your name a secret. I mean, the real one, in case other people come.”

L gave her a somewhat inquisitive, yet understanding look; it was strange, because she saw no change in his expression, although she was certain he was looking at her like that.

“I see. I thank you for that, Miss Lupin. But what do you mean by, “in case other people come”?”

Lupin frowned. “I have a strong feeling…that others will come. No, it’s more of a certainty. I don’t think you’re the only one. I’m pretty sure other people from where you’re from, from your, ah, ‘parallel universe’—let’s call it—will most definitely come. And that might put you at risk, considering your identity is a lot more open here than it is where you’re comfortable in.”

He looked away, considering her words. His hands, she noticed, were dug into his pockets and he still retained that painfully hunched over position. He curled and uncurled his feet on the tile floors before looking back at Lupin. “I see. I believe you are right, Miss Lupin. Again, I thank you for your cooperation and I appreciate your sentiment. If others do come, and I believe you are most certainly right about that, I appreciate the offer to help preserve my identity. Thank you.”

She nodded. “I…I guess it’s the least I could do, for being such an ass to you.”

He gave a slight head-bobbing nod. “Indeed you were.” He agreed. She took it with grace. She knew she could be an ass; she wouldn’t try to even deny it.

Finally, she felt that the subject, while necessary to breach, was becoming too grim. She cleared her throat and pointed to vaguely behind her. “Do you want some coffee, Ryuzaki?”

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After fixing coffee—apparently, it had substituted breakfast as a substantial source of energy—and painfully watching as L piled his cup full of soggy sugar, to practically the top of his mug, he and Lupin sat on the living room couch. She stared in disgust at the coffee he held rather delicately in his forefinger and thumb’s grip. He glanced at her.

“Is something the matter?”

She swallowed, finding it hard to do considering her mouth suddenly felt very dry and raw. “Ugh…I think I’m gonna be sick enough for the both of us.” She looked away from the coffee mug. Jeeeezus.

“Well, be sure not to get any on me. I won’t appreciate that.”

He drank from what Lupin could only assume was a very sickly sweet cup of mornin’ Joe. She stuck out her tongue in disgust. “Noted.”

L put the mug on the table and Lupin followed, unable to look away, as much as her baser instincts told her to. She gulped again and sipped her own mildly sweet, but not too black, cup of coffee. It smelled and tasted more appealing to her.

“Right. Down to business.” L stated, snapping Lupin out of her thoughts of gross sugar-coffee and whatnot. She held her mug rigidly in her own hands, reveling in its warmth and she turned to look at the young man, crouched over on the couch and she was amusingly reminded of a wide-eyed praying mantis for some reason. He certainly had the long enough body for the job. He just needed the even longer fingers to complete the look…and perhaps saucer-sized eyes. The image seemed to fit in Lupin’s mind, creepily enough.

“First, I am going to say this: My situation is anything but pleasant, as I’m sure you’re very aware of.”

Lupin nodded. “Hey, if it’s any consolation, you’re doing better than I would’ve been doing. I’d be spit-cussing at anything and everything.” She replied.

“Thank you,” he said before continuing on, “As I’ve stated, I’ve concluded there’s nothing good about this at all. How I managed to be on one end of the world—namely, Japan—and now here, in the United States. California, to be precise.”

Again, she nodded, not bothering to correct or verbally agree with him. There was no need; he was spot on. Yes, this was California, and no, she hadn’t the foggiest how he came to be here either.

“Of course, theories of magic are out of the question. It’s merely a folk story and fairy tale. Logic is the only standing point here. The only questions I have are who, how and why.”

She realized he must have been bouncing his reflections off of her mostly, instead of actually intending her to participate. “Well…I think another theory to consider is how you crossed over from a world you’re comfortable and familiar with—namely, where you’re an actual detective—and how you came here—a world where you’re a manga and anime character instead.”

This time he nodded. “That is also something to consider, you’re absolutely right. It is troublesome and I’d hate to depend on the bare minimum. Unfortunately, it seems that it’s the only option I have.”

L reached for the coffee and took another sip of it. Lupin hid behind her own mug, so she wouldn’t have to think of its contents. She had never been much of a sugary person, except for maybe sodas, Gatorade, coffee with flavored creamer and the occasional piece of minty gum or even a package of little candy bits like Skittles. Other than that, overly sugary things like cookies or candy bars just made Lupin plain sick.

“Well, you do have Internet. I guess it’s better to have that than be stuck in say, a medieval time period.” She joked, although he didn’t smile at the jest. Her small peal of laughter died down fairly quickly and she took another sip of coffee.

“The Internet is only useful as long as the website pages are available. Otherwise, I’m quite limited to what information I seek…if it is indeed even on the Internet.”

“True…”

She paused and rubbed her forefinger back and forth on her mug, lips tipped into a frown. “What if…someone and not just…a freak accident resulted in this…rather odd transfer from Japan to the States as well as transferring between…well, universes? On purpose, I mean?” She offered meekly. It was a meager attempt at providing help.

He fell silent and bit at his thumb, nibbling for a few moments and looked away, thoughtfulness crossing his face. “True. It does seem like a…possibility. But how would it be possible, is my question. How would one thing, or person as you’ve stated, be able to perform such a feat to take me out of my own environment and stick me in this one. And the next question to examine is why are you, out of the six billion people on this planet, to be my sole guide in this parallel world.”

Lupin may be many things, but completely stupid or ignorant wasn’t one of them. She felt that underlying insult pointed at her although she said nothing in regards to it. He already thinks I’m an idiot.

No surprise there. She wasn’t a super-genius like him. She probably wasn’t close to intelligence with Light, either, but that didn’t mean she was a lost cause, exactly. She could probably, PROBABLY, boast more knowledge upon dinosaurs on L…but what took her years, would probably take him only a day or two. Lupin pursed her lips silently and forced herself to take another drink of her coffee. It tasted stale to her all of a sudden.

She pulled the mug away from her lips, coffee still wet upon them and she set the mug down. Lupin sighed.

“I know it sounds like a farfetched idea…” she began, “but…this stuff seems to happen a lot in manga and anime adaptations, and movies and stories as well. What if someone…could do stuff like this? Take someone from their world and, uh, possibly open a portal and just…” She bit her lip, letting the sentence fade. “Sorry. I probably sound stupid suggesting something like that. It could be something else, too. Sorry.”

L didn’t bother waving it off. “No, no. It was a thoughtful suggestion, although as you’ve stated previously, quite farfetched. I don’t believe something of that caliber could be attempted. Although…” He paused. “If Shinigami can exist, then what if…hmmm.”

L looked off once more and picked up his overly sugary coffee, although he had yet to even take a drink. Lupin nibbled on her lip some more before she felt something paw at her and she jumped slightly. She didn’t notice L turning to look at her, as Lupin’s attention had reverted to the little terrier dog her mother had gotten a few years ago.

Princess was her name. Such a predictable, unoriginal and dreadful name for a girl dog; and yet, Lupin’s mother was normally a hype for originality. “Peanut would’ve been better!” Lupin had often stated in complaint, although in reality, she normally called Princess, “Rat.”

“Hey, Rat, hey.” She rubbed her hand flat on top of Princess’s head and the terrier bobbed her head in rapid succession after the appendage, snapping playfully at the wolf’s hand. She finally got up and snatched the suddenly retreating dog up and tucked her under her arm.

“Hang on, Ryuzaki. I gotta take her out. Don’t want her pissing in the house.”

She was given no reply, although she had a feeling he had heard her. Opening the sliding glass door with some effort, Lupin stepped into the backyard and set Princess down, who trotted towards the grass and sniffed about the yard before squatting. Lupin turned her back on the dog and collapsed into one of the outside chairs, curling up in the seat. Sometimes, the big tortoises that plodded through the backyard would come over.

They had gained a somewhat infamous stature of gathering around bare feet for some strange and unknown reason. Lupin’s mother learned that the hard way and had never gone outside bare foot when she once had three tortoises gathered around her chair when she had gone out smoking one weekend morning.

Lupin found it utterly hilarious when she saw the sight of her mother, curled up on her chair, with three very large and very heavy expectant reptiles gathered around her, all of them staring at her mother’s wriggling, bare toes. The frightened shrieks from her mother’s mouth had brought hysterical laughter from Lupin’s.

The wolf snorted at the memory, her eyes closed and a happy little grin on her face.

She didn’t realize Princess had finished her business until she heard the telltale prattle of the dog tags jingling about. Lupin opened her eyes and rolled her shoulders, glancing around.

She blinked.

Something was on the table that hadn’t been there when she looked.

Well, Lupin was positive it hadn’t been there. She was quite positive. But her memory in morning hours weren’t usually that great, so maybe she missed it. It wasn’t that unusual.

A notebook? Maybe it was her brother’s. He sometimes left normal things in strange places and strange things in normal places. Lupin got up and prowled the two feet towards the table. It was an ordinary black notebook, although it wasn’t a spiral one; she knew her brother preferred them, especially the easy-tear off ones. She frowned and picked it up, rubbing her thumb over the cover before flipping it over.

She let out a squeak and immediately dropped the thing back onto the table, eyes widened and mouth gaping open, attempts at summoning an intelligible word failing to form once it reached her mouth.

Lupin stared at the thing, or more importantly the two words that were scrawled on the top of the little black notebook in white letters.

Death Note.

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She didn’t need to have her name written down in that damned thing; she was already having a heart attack because of it. Panic was starting to blossom in her chest. Hesitantly, she reached for it, withdrew her fingertips away—as if burned—before returning to her reluctant task. Finally she quickly snagged at it, as if she wanted to rip the metaphorical band-aid off as quickly as possible. Her hands trembled as she opened it.

There they were, clear as day: Rules on how to use the Death Note, right on the inner front cover. She closed it with a sudden snap; feeling sick to her stomach, dry in the mouth and throat and full of pain in the head. Lupin closed her eyes, trying to will away this sudden onslaught of multiple aching ailments on her body and mind.

“Could be a prank, but it’s not, it can’t be…” She muttered to herself.

It hadn’t been there. The notebook hadn’t been there a few moments ago, she was definitely positive, she really was… But, then again…she often told people she had a memory worse than an Alzheimer’s patient when it came to certain things. Mornings were her worst enemy. She had panicked once when she lost her debit card last year and called to have it cancelled. She found it later that day in her workbag. She had panicked pretty early in that particular morning. It was early now, since it was almost ten, but she still wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and even with a few sips of coffee couldn’t magically wake her ass up.

She stared down at the notebook, trying to figure out what to do.

Show it to him, just do it, do it, do it! …No. Can’t show him, he’ll think I—… What’re you talking about! You’ve got nothing to do with his being here! Come on, Loopy, just think, think, think…

Lupin moaned in her throat and she finally pulled the notebook into her arms and hid the cover by pressing it against her thigh. Hide it, figure this shit out and then show it to him.

She pulled the screen door open, motioned for the dog to come inside and then closed both the screen door and the sliding glass door. She didn’t put the notebook down, nor did she allow it to remove itself from her thigh. She had to hide the name. Figure out what it was doing here. Then give it to L for safekeeping. He was more than trustworthy if it were to be in his possession. He’d take care of it, wouldn’t he? Of course he would, of course.

The wolf hadn’t realized the figure of her thoughts had suddenly materialized practically out of thin air beside her. She jumped at his presence, locking gazes with those wide, staring eyes. He watched her for a few moments before motioning towards the notebook glued to her side.

“Did you leave something outside, Miss Lupin?”

She blinked once, forcing herself to be as calm as possible, although a large majority of her just wanted to panic, thrust the thing in his face and tell him to take it away. Or destroy it. Either one would suffice, in Lupin’s panicky opinion. Finally she replied to him.

“No. No, it’s…my brother’s. He must of left it out overnight.” Lupin answered before turning to leave, watching him over her shoulder. “I’ll just go put it…up in his room. Be right back.”

She turned to go, and barely took a few steps before the thing was suddenly snatched from her hand from behind. She whirled around, eyes wide and her blood pounding in her ears, heart throbbing painfully in her chest. She was one step away from having a panic attack before she blurted out, “It’s not mine, I swear to God it’s not!”

L held the book between his thumbs and forefingers, pausing momentarily to open it delicately between those specific fingers, and thumbed through the pages quickly. Finally it was snapped closed and he stared at her. She drew herself in sheepishly, dropping her gaze. “I…” Words failed her. The floor once again piqued more interest to the wolf than L’s once more, accusatory stare. “I wanted to figure out what to do with it before I brought it to you. I swear, I wasn’t gonna use it. I wouldn’t have the guts to, even if I had the choice to use it, I swear.”

It all came out rather quickly, although she was sure she got her point out across. She really wasn’t going to use it. She knew what it did, yes, but she wouldn’t use it. Lupin swallowed thickly, and it hurt to do so. Her left foot scrunched in and out, in and out, poking at the hard tile floor as she continued to stare holes into it with that intense, guilty stare of hers.

“I—,”

“Enough.” It was a soft statement, but it was chastising and yet stern. Lupin swallowed again. She braved lifting her gaze to meet L’s. He merely watched her a moment, met her gaze and then turned to the ottoman behind him and situated himself in his characteristic position, moving the Death Note back and forth, examining it over and over. Lupin remained glued to her spot, although she wanted to come forward.

“Ryuzaki…?”

“You merely found it lying outside, you said?” He asked without looking at her.

“…Yes.”

“Then why lie?”

“…I…didn’t know what else to do. I just…wanted to…” She paused. “I wanted to figure out what to do before giving it to you. I don’t need it and you…would be better to keep it…figure out what to do with it.”

It was an earnest answer, at the very least.

L remained silent before nodding once. “I see.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Just don’t lie to me, Miss Lupin. I don’t appreciate it. It has been Light’s continuous mistake with me.”

The comparison to Light was a bitter blow, but Lupin took the bluntness of it all with as much grace as she could allow. “What do we do?” She finally asked softly, looking around. She wanted to make sure she didn’t suddenly have a Shinigami hanging over her shoulder, breathing down her neck.

Once more, there was silence on L’s end.

Finally, “I will inform you…within the hour of my decision.”

He already knew, Lupin decided. He was just giving her an estimated time to calm down, she realized.

Calm…calm down. She thought.

Calm down… Yeah… That sounded nice to do right now.

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"Collision" Chapter Three [INCOMPLETE]

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:38:05 GMT

More postage-ness! Sorry for the overdose! Part of chapter three for Collision. Extremely rough around the edges dialogue in here; I plan to fix it up later and hopefully get some more editing later on from the Arky (when she has the time and finishes her work, of course. xD FINISH EET; DON'T DELAY, WOMAN! ...IN SLOW MO! XD)

So, here's part of chapter three. :D

Theory

Reviewers:

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If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.

- Albert Einstein

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It was early. She hated waking up early in the morning. Perhaps it was the absence of music. She loved listening to it when she went to bed. It was something she forgot to do when she jumped into bed and then got up ten minutes later to put on. The silence of the house and the white noise of the outside nightly world disturbed her. She needed something to fill in the gap.

One of her playlists was playing on from her desktop speakers. She foggily tried to remember before it clicked. Walk Away by Mad at Gravity was playing now, and it was on… Well, the playlist didn’t really matter much; they all had music, what difference did it make?

There was silence behind her, the rustle of the young man moving about. She opened the fridge and rummaged about, although she found nothing appetizing or appealing. A cup of coffee sounded like a very good start. Eggs and bacon? She wasn’t a traditional breakfast eater. Actually, she rarely ate breakfast and when she did—usually at a restaurant for family brunch—she liked ordering fried steak or something very meaty; something more lunch-related.

The wolf placed it on the table. Filters and coffee grounds were in the pantry.

“Anything?” She asked him when she approached. He roved over everything and he finally glanced at her.

“You’re acting quite different this morning, Miss Lupin.” He simply replied. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, finding more interest in the floor tiles and her bare feet.

“I…did some thinking last night.” She answered truthfully.

“Oh?”

Lupin looked up in surprise and confusion. “…Huh?”

He stepped out of the pantry and she shuffled out of his way. L pointed towards the office, right behind the large fish tank aquarium chock full of happy little tropical fish. “I did some research last night, on one of the computers in there. I was…intrigued.” He looked to her. “I’m afraid your words troubled me and what I saw was rather disturbing.”

Understanding immediately crossed her face. “…Oh. Wikipedia?”

“Okay…I’m sorry…?” She answered uncertainly.

Then he smiled slightly. It made her shift weight again; it was her only telltale sign of being uncomfortable. “And I believe when I get back, I’ll have enough substantial evidence to put Kira away. I assume you’re quite aware of him because of the manga?”

Well, she supposed some things would go right at least. In honest opinion, she thought Light to be a tad on the psychotic side. Of course, that applied to him needing to be in a straightjacket for the rest of his life, but all in all, she was somewhat relieved at the end of Death Note that he got what was coming to him. It only made her even more nervous, however, when she relayed back to her previous thoughts last night. What if more people come? More specifically, what if people came and they were the owners of the Death Note?

What then?

She hoped she could at least keep L safe; she felt a sudden and strange obligation to keep his real name a secret.

L gave her a somewhat inquisitive, yet understanding look; it was strange, because she saw no change in his expression, although she was certain he was looking at her like that.

“I see. I thank you for that, Miss Lupin. But what do you mean by, “in case other people come”?”

Lupin frowned. “I have a strong feeling…that others will come. No, more of a certainty. I don’t think you’re the only one. I’m pretty sure other people from where you’re from, from your, ah, ‘parallel universe’—let’s call it—will most definitely come. And that might put you at risk, considering your identity is a lot more open here than it is where you’re comfortable in.”

He looked away, considering her words. His hands, she noticed, were dug into his pockets and he still retained that painfully hunched over position. He curled and uncurled his feet on the tile floors before looking back at Lupin. “I see. I believe you are right, Miss Lupin. Again, I thank you for your cooperation and I appreciate your sentiment. If others do come, and I believe you are most certain right about that, I appreciate the offer to help preserve my identity. Thank you.”

She nodded. “I…I guess it’s the least I could do, for being such an ass to you.”

He gave a slight head-bobbing nod. “Indeed you were.” He agreed. She took it with grace. She knew she could be an ass; she wouldn’t try to deny it.

Finally, she felt that the subject, while necessary to breach, was becoming too grim. She cleared her throat and pointed to vaguely behind her. “Do you want some coffee, Ryuzaki?”

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Sonny!

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:19:06 GMT

Okay...so, for the list of characters for Collision? I was thinking of adding Sonny from I, Robot. Just thought I'd throw that idea out there. I'm very close to considering it and adding him in a few chapters; if so, he'll be the third character to show up, after L and Ryuk.

...Opinions?

Why Lupin Doesn't Believe in God

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:21:26 GMT

This...was extremely difficult to write, as some things were reflected upon how I grew up and what I had to grow up with. I won't say what's true and what isn't, but this is just something that I normally don't write in my stories: Family abuse. Take as you will, but this is one reason why Lupin (and, I suppose it is a reflection of how I feel towards God, as my humble and contrite opinion) doesn't believe in God.

Possible snippet for a future chapter that will eventually end up in some Allen and Lupin interaction time.

Why Lupin Doesn’t Believe in God…

“I yelled at her, you know.”

It was a calm, deliberate way of engaging in conversation. Allen watched Lupin’s backside carefully, although there wasn’t much to look at, other than, well, Lupin’s backside. She had her arms crossed over her chest, he knew, but her expression was hiding. He waited, knowing that something more was to come. His patience paid off.

“In therapy, I mean. I yelled at my own mother.” She actually laughed, but it sounded stiff, forced even. “I told her…why I resented the way she treated me as a kid. Brought up everything. Cussed a few times. She didn’t like that, you know. She thinks it’s a sign of disrespect.”

“To some parents, it probably is.” He replied cautiously. So far, he’s learned she was sharp at turning words against their users; similar to how that doctor did.

Lupin shook her head. “When I was yelling at her…it made me think of how she’d…” She paused, hesitating. He didn’t need to see the uncertainty on her face to know it was there. The way she was reluctant to continue was enough evidence for him. She finally expelled a breath, shifted her weight from the right leg to the left and continued.

“She’d hurt me, when I was a kid. And…I remember when she hit me with a belt buckle in the eye, when she was spanking me. She told me to lie about. She said that God would forgive me for lying and when I thought about it, after I yelled at her in therapy, it made me think. If God would forgive me for lying, then shouldn’t he be able to do more than just forgive? Shouldn’t he have stopped my mom from hurting me?”

He didn’t like where this conversation was going, he knew that much. He wasn’t here to convert her to believe in God, but he was also curious as to why she denied his existence. Allen pursed his lips and knit his brows together. People had their reasons, of course, and he knew Lupin was building up her argument right now. That didn’t mean he’d like to hear what it was.

Allen also had a hard time believing that the sweet woman he’d met, Lupin’s mother, had done such things to Lupin. He really did, but then again, he hadn’t been the one to grow up with the woman as Lupin had. She would know much better than he would. Lupin had also claimed…that the woman he’d met was not her mother; just a brainwashed, empty shell of a drone of what her mother was, that the woman he’d met was a result of all this madness that was occurring. He merely took her word on it and left it at that.

“It…made me think back to all the times she’d hurt me, just because she was angry with me.” She laughed again and that bitter tone resounded off from it. “She kicked me in my groin, just because I wasn’t putting a heavy book over a paper cover of another book right. It was to keep the paper cover from curling over or-or just…bending over and ruining the cover. Came up behind and hit me good.” She paused again. “She just tried dragging me out the door when I was still…bent over and crying in pain, telling me to stand up and start walking right.”

She shifted weight again. “And she chocked me. Just because I forgot to give my bird some water for a few days and she told me that was how the bird felt. I almost blacked out, with her chocking me and pinning me under her weight. And I still wonder why God didn’t help when I prayed to him to stop my mom from hurting me? Why didn’t he just…come down and say stop it or just—… I just stopped believing because he never did come.” She sighed heavily and finally turned to face him.

He was surprised to see such strain in Lupin’s face to keep herself from crying. Her lip trembled and there was an angry glimmer in her eyes. “I just…I had a crappy life, so what? I got mentally and physically abused, big deal. I’m not so different from one family or the next. I grew up fine. Sure, it took a month’s worth of camping in the wilderness to make me a little better, but so what? I’m here because of who I am, not because of some single anthropomorphic entity was guiding me all along the way.”

Another sigh, but it was forced, just like her laughs. Allen shifted uncomfortably, wisely staying silent. She was venting now and interrupting, well…he decided not to think of the consequences. She was talking and that was fine for now, but if she started yelling…

She shook her head, and the tears shone over her eyes. She ignored them and blinked them away.

“That’s why I don’t believe in God. There is no God in my life. He hasn’t helped me, or the millions of kids like me, or even worse off than I am. I live a pretty good life, don’t I? Four walls, a roof over my head, food in the pantry, ready to eat… I got the crappy end on how I was raised, just because I was—I was the “guinea pig,” and my brother is growing up to be an asshole because she didn’t raise him the way she did me. With fear of physical abuse, you know? She can kick me out now, but she can’t do jack shit to him and he knows it. That’s why he’s such an asshole; he can flaunt it in her face and she can’t do jack shit about it.”

She sniffed and brought a hand up to her face, hiding her mouth and wiping at her eyes. She turned away. “There is no God because he didn’t help me when I asked for it and all those damned preachers would always say that he’d be there if I needed him. And you know what, they lied to me. I asked and got nothing in return. That is why there is no God. And until he comes down and tells me why he wasn’t there when I needed him or when the other kids like me needed him, then I’ll believe in him. I’ll go back to church, I’ll read the good book, I’ll pray to him again…”

Lupin sniffed again and bit her lip, “But until he does…I won’t believe in someone who can’t even prove he exists to people he supposed made.”

She looked him in the eye, that hard glint remained, even when the tears threatened to roll. “You can believe in him, if you want. I don’t care. I’ll respect whatever it is you believe in, don’t get me wrong. You can say there’s a God and I’ll just…respect that. Whatever. But for me…there isn’t a God.”

A tear spilled down her face and she immediately wiped it away, and if anything, it looked like she got angrier over it. She wiped her hand on her pants and sniffled once more, shook her head and stood there, her head hung and her eyes glued to the floor, glaring at it.

“Believe in what you want…and let me believe in what I want. That’s all I ask, if you’re gonna stay here.”

Disturbed of Mind: The Wolf's Den

"Blank Pages" Chapter Two [COMPLETE]

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Whoo, getting on with this story. Changed the story title...again. xD

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This melancholy London—I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. One feels them passing like a whiff of air. - William Butler Yeats, Letter to Katharine Tynan, Aug. 25, 1888

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28 Meme - Number 10: Dancing

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"Forgotten Sights" Chapter One [REVISED]

"Collision" -- Snippet

Juxtaposition

"Forgotten Sights" Chapter One [COMPLETE]

Chapter Fifteen [COMPLETE]

"Collision" Chapter Fifteen [INCOMPLETE]

"Collision" Chapter Fourteen [COMPLETE]

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"Collision" Chapter Thirteen [COMPLETE]

"Collision" Chapter Thirteen [INCOMPLETE]

"Collision" Chapter Twelve [COMPLETE]

"Collision" Chapter Twelve [INCOMPLETE]

"Collision" Chapter Eight [INCOMPLETE]

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Dead, dead, died, I died, I was dead…

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"Collision" Chapter Three [COMPLETE]

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"Collision" Chapter Three [INCOMPLETE]

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Sonny!

Why Lupin Doesn't Believe in God

This melancholy London—I sometimes imagine that the souls of the lost are compelled to walk through its streets perpetually. One feels them passing like a whiff of air.
- William Butler Yeats, Letter to Katharine Tynan, Aug. 25, 1888