Once leaving my flat, I trudged down the road, pulling the collar of my coat up in an attempt to keep the chill out. But I knew it was futile, really; the chill was in me, the cold feeling creeping up my back was disgust with myself, and fear for those around me, and sadness that Gildas hadn’t come with me. In any other situation, I would have stayed if he stayed. I would follow him to the ends of the earth and all the way back if that was what he wanted to do. But this was something I had to do right now, with or without him. I couldn’t put him at risk, I just couldn’t…Once I had learned how to control my magic, I would come back and check he was okay…
For some reason, something felt strange. I could hear footsteps behind me – and I knew it couldn’t be Sha’dak, seeing as he was floating beside me. I turned round, only to see a dark shape jump behind a lamp post. I could tell from their profile it was Gildas, but he obviously didn’t want me to know he was there. Oh well. I kept walking along the path, my thoughts swirling around my head. Why didn’t Gildas want me to see him? Maybe he just felt awkward around me after this morning…whatever it was, it needed sorting out. But I still didn’t want to put him at risk, so I forced my feet to keep moving.
I turned to Shiva. “You’ve done your job. You can go. But first, is there any way I can use your powers... without summoning you?” Shiva contemplated the idea. “I do believe that using the words will be enough, though the power will be severely limited. You will create Ice, but the ice will not be cold enough to stay for long.” Not ideal, but it would do. “You’re dismissed.” Shiva twirled, and began walking away, disappearing all the while.
Axel waltzed in, clapping his hands. “Well done. Mastery over fire in such a short time, that’s a record! No-one else has been such a quick le..” Axel stopped. He was looking at me, and I knew that look. He was seeing somebody else in my place. Someone else had the strength, or at least the speed that I had. I was not letting this happen. “Who are you remembering, Axel? What’s his name?” Axel’s jaw dropped. He took an involuntary step back. “H-how did-d you?” Ugh. So simple-minded. His fire was no longer of any use to me... But if I wanted something done quickly and efficiently, he would be helpful. He can live a little longer.
“Sha’dak,” I said, after a while of silence, “Do you think this is really the right thing to do? Leave everything behind and pin all my hopes on somebody I’ve never even met before…What if L won’t help me? Or if he can’t help me? Or…what if I hurt him by accident? I…I’m scared of myself right now, Sha’dak, and…it’s just…it’s so damn lonely!” I couldn’t move anymore – or maybe I just didn’t want to. Sha’dak looked at me, munching on a banana. “Look,” he said, pausing to swallow the lump of yellow mush in his mouth before carrying on, “what I think, is that you don’t have a choice here. You could stay here, and put you and your friend at danger, or you could just check this L guy out. If it doesn’t work out then…you’ll just have to plan it out from there.”
I nodded. Yeah, that sounded right. I had to go and see this mysterious L, what else was there I could do? I carried on walking again, mumbling a quick “thanks” from behind my coat. At the train station, it was really hard to stop myself from ordering two tickets; even though it was lucky that nobody else could see Sha’dak, it was going to take a lot of getting used to. Sat on the train, I couldn’t help but sway in rhythm with the train. Sha’dak, however, was considerably worse off, and kept being thrown to the end of the compartment, giving out loud grunts of pain that only I could hear. I wanted to check he was okay, but I couldn’t – without drawing unwanted attention to myself.
At the other end of the train ride, there was an hour’s break before I could catch the train that would take me to L’s hometown. So, I decided to take Sha’dak and look around the city we were in now. It wasn’t all that busy, so I enjoyed looking in all the shop windows – and I bought a load more bananas for later; Sha’dak was already well through his current bunch. Then, we got the next train to our destination. As we walked out of the train station, I was surprised to see it was already starting to get dark. I found myself wondering about Gildas again, but shook him out of my head. This was no time to lose my resolve.
I turned to Zexion. He was looking at me, admiration in his eyes. Obviously, he was too surprised about my interpretation skills. But that wasn’t all that was in his eyes... It was... Argh, why can I not place it? Somehow, Zexion is messing with my thought processes, and there’s a tension in my chest... What is this, some form of Magic? “Axel. Wait outside. The adults need to talk.” I pushed Axel out, muttered a quick “Diamond Dust.” At the mouth of the cave and turned to Zexion. I inwardly smiled. Axel will consider me too powerful to consider melting the ice himself.
Zexion looked embarrassed. Confused... Humorous? I couldn’t tell. What’s wrong with me? I looked up into his deep, blue eyes... “Zexion. There’s something you’re not telling me.” He looked down, scuffed his shoes against the rocky floor. “I know you watched me dancing. Then there was that look in your eyes earlier, what are you hiding from me?” I was taking a risk here. I was admitting my weakness, he would pick up on that. “Well, Gildas, it’s a little embarrassing, and you’ll hate me for it, and it’s not that I mean to or anything...” Flash. Hold up. He was stalling. Think, Gildas, Think! He held my hand when we first met. He watches me dance... really watched me. The look... that darned look... Not admiration. No... It can’t be!?
“So, Sha’dak, lead the way to this L person,” I muttered, as quietly as I could. Thankfully, Sha’dak had heard me and I didn’t need to repeat myself. I quickly followed Sha’dak, and he led me through the winding streets, until we stood outside a blue front door. I glanced nervously at Sha’dak, who gestured toward the door. “I can’t knock, my hand would just pass through it,” he laughed. I knew this wasn’t true, but I still reached out with my shaking hand and rapped smartly on the door. It creaked open eerily quickly, but, peering into the gloomy interior of the house, I couldn’t see anyone.
“Come in then!” came an exasperated voice. It seemed to float out of the darkness. “And don’t forget to wipe your shoes and take off your coat!” That voice…it was rough, like he was used to shouting, and yet it had a quality to it that made my heart melt. So, I stepped into the gloom, trusting the mysterious voice, and wiped my shoes. I stuffed my coat into my bag, and then looked around. I couldn’t see anything. Suddenly, lights blared on, and I was blinded. Slowly, my vision fizzled back, and I finally got to look at L.
Why is this revelation so important? What does it mean... nothing! He loves me, so what? It doesn’t matter to me, what do I care? He’s just a pawn, a chess piece to be played and discarded! Why do I care so much? It couldn’t be that... Do I... really? I... can I really...?
He loves me. He must do, it all adds up! “You see Gildas, I..” I cut ahead of him. Flash. Mouth opens. Words tumble out. Mind is stopped. “Love you...” I say. I didn’t even think that one through. I’ve admitted a weakness, he could kill me with this. I look up. Curse my human nature. I see that... he’s smiling. Tears in his eyes. He let the tears flow. Like sapphires, they lined his face before dropping to the cavern floor. I took his hand, as he had taken mine. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve. I stepped forward, pulling him into a hug. We stood like that for a long time.
Axel finally got bored and melted the ice. He walked in, all high-and-mighty. He stopped. Gazed at me and Zexion, hugging. “Well well, Zexy. You two hugging, does that mean?” Zexion looked up, and nodded. Axel’s face lit up. “Where to next then, he-who-owns-Zexion’s-heart?” I laughed. That sounded good. I ended our embrace, but held his hand still. “I had Ice. Fire beats Ice, I now own Fire. What beats Fire? Why, Water of course. So next stop: Leviathan, in the Lunar Tide Laboratory.” Of course, the lab had been empty and abandoned for years. But they didn’t know that...not yet.
L’s appearance came as a shock to me. He stood on one leg, slouching slightly. He wore plain blue jeans with a long-sleeved white t-shirt, which only highlighted how pale his skin was. But his white skin contrasted brilliantly with his mane of shaggy black hair, perfectly styled into a controlled mess. “who are you?” he asked, and as I realised I was staring at him, I flushed. “My name’s Haru,” I managed to say, “and Sha-…someone told me you could help me with a problem I have.”
Saying that made L whip round. “Who said that?” he hissed menacingly, “Who knows of my existence? My whereabouts? Tell me now!” L had suddenly undergone a dramatic transformation. Previously, he had been cautious, but in a relaxed way, whereas now he seemed to tower over me, crackling with electricity. I was too shocked to lie. “I met a Shinigami today, and he told me about you. He said he had seen you from the Shinigami realm.” This really seemed to agitate L.
“A Shinigami…” he muttered, turning his back on me and rifling through a drawer. “A Shinigami is-” I started to explain, but L cut me off. “I know what a Shinigami is” he snapped, rounding on me. He showed me two photographs; one of a brown-haired boy, who looked about sixteen, and another of someone who looked just like L, but with different coloured eyes. “A Shinigami killed my only two friends.” His voice was barely more than a whisper. My eyes snapped back to his face, and I could see the sadness in his eyes. “I – I’m sorry…” Somehow it didn’t seem like enough.
After two days of travel, something dawned on me. Zexion made me so happy, I felt like flying... so happy...so weak. Around him, my guard was always down, my heart always open. It made me sick how prissy I was becoming. I needed to fulfil a destiny, and that destiny said nothing about a blue-haired boyfriend.
He was heartbroken. I fed him the usual lines: “Now’s not the best time for us”, and “We can be together someday...” God I was good. My acting even worried me! Of course, it hurt to do it. But how could I have power with him holding my hands? I needed to walk alone. No-one to hold me back.
“Now show me your Shinigami.” There was more authority in that one sentence than I had ever used in my life. “I – I can’t. My friend took the Death Note with him. But my Shinigami is here with us. His name is Sha’dak.” Behind me, Sha’dak sniggered. I turned to him, and saw that he was holding out the Death Note, still encased in ice. “Wow. Your Shinigami obviously really wants you to be the holder of the Death Note.” L’s voice was softer again now. “But how are you going to get it out of the ice?”
I thought fast. “I know a way. But, now that you know the Death Note is real, as is my Shinigami, you can tell me your life story, and then I’ll get it out,” I bargained. L nodded, his eyes not leaving my Death Note. “Agreed. Not that my story’s worth hearing…But if that’s going to make you show me your Shinigami, then fine. But first, some cake may be in order.” Then I was shown to the living room, where I perched myself awkwardly on the edge of a sofa, while L walked off. He came back with two slices of cake, each on a plate, and sat down. Then, he began his story.
“About nine years ago, a killing spree began. Someone based in Japan was killing all the criminals – they managed to kill hundreds, maybe even thousands, before they were finally caught. I was on the team of people investigating this ‘justice’ killer; who was soon dubbed ‘Kira’ by the public. Eventually, I found my main suspect – but I had very little proof, and the person had also become my best and first friend during the course of the investigation,” he said, pausing every so often for a bite of cake. Here, he indicated the photo of the brown-haired boy.
He continued speaking, “I suspected my life was in danger, so my ‘manager’, I suppose you could call him, found a replacement who looked very like me. He became a good friend while he was pretending to me, and then…he was killed by a Shinigami. Then, last year, my successor in the investigation managed to prove that Light Yagami, my best friend, was really Kira…His own Shinigami killed him that day. Now, show me your Shinigami, as promised.”
I gaped at L for a moment, unable to speak. His ‘life story’ had taken all of about three minutes, and still left me with dozens of questions. But I knew it would be futile to push this strange character – especially as I came here to ask for his help. I nodded, and set the Death Note on the table in front of me. “Fire,” I said confidently, greeting my favourite fireballs. But when I put them up to the Death Note, the ice refused to melt…Clearly, I was going to need something stronger.
After Axel had finished giving me ‘evils’, he began helping Zexion through his traumatic break-up. That took about a day before Zexion was back to normal. He takes things so personally! Note to self: Find intelligence without emotion. Undead, perhaps?
“L,” I said, snuffing out my fireballs, “how do you make a spell stronger than usual?” L answered right away, his eyes fastened on the Death Note once more. “Well, with healing spells you just add the ‘-a’ sound to the end. I don’t know if it’s the same or not with black magic, though.” Then L realised what he had said, and swore loudly, but I took no notice. I had already said, “Fira.” Instead of the customary fireballs, a huge sphere of fire, about the size of my head materialized and hung in the air in front of me. I used my hands to gently push it forwards, until it could melt the ice. I dispatched the fire sphere with a flick of my wrist, and grabbed the Death Note with the other.
I watched as L’s eyes hung on the Death Note. His hand crept out, almost subconsciously, and touched the Death Note for a second before I took it out of his reach and slipped it into my bag. “L,” I said, “This is my friend Sha’dak.” L’s eyes slid from his hand, to my face, to Sha’dak’s face. He looked Sha’dak up and down, several times, as though drinking his features in. “Okay. I trust you now, Haru. But I will always be keeping an eye on your Shinigami friend here. So what did you need my assistance with?”
I explained my plight in simple details, not mentioning Gildas much, but I did tell L about the episode in the park. He took everything I said in, and didn’t look scared at all. “So, I need your help to learn how to…control it.” L nodded. “I specialise in white magic, not black, but I suppose the principles on controlling the magic don’t differ from one to the next. I will try to help you.” I smiled, but something wasn’t right. “Why, L? Why are you helping me?” L smiled then, too, his first smile in front of me. “Because I trust you – which is rare – and because I’m lonely. I could use a friend.” That, I understood.
I wasn’t sure how long I spent training with L. We ate at strange times, and slept at strange times. My body clock was thrown off completely, and the time just passed in a blur. But L taught me many things; techniques to control my magic, or to focus it on one particular thing or person, or to make them stronger. He taught me to believe that if I could stop accidental uses, then I should also make my magic stronger, just in case I ever needed it. “Because being a mage always tends to bring bad fortune.” Once L was satisfied that he had taught me everything he knew, we had become firm friends, and knew more about each other. I had spoken about Gildas and he about Light, and I felt that I understood L a lot better.
I began to relax. It was our fifth day. We had trekked for a while. Time for lunch. Axel started a campfire, Zexion located some rabbits and I asked Axel nicely if he would cut them up for me. He had the weapons, not me. Second note to self: Find a scythe. Any would do.
We enjoyed our roast rabbit and had a nice rest, before continuing on our journey, as guided by my (Haru’s) map. Am getting a tad worried about Axel. Since mine and Zexion’s tragic affair, he has become more friendly with me. Is he flirting, or just being himself? I can never tell.
However, on the final day of my training, L turned to me and said, “We have to go and find your friend; Gildas, was it?” I span around from the book I had been studying. “What? Why should we? Why do we have to?” I was freaking out, and yet I wasn’t completely sure why. Surely I should have wanted to go see Gildas. “Because if he can summon, he’ll attract the wrong kind of attention; and we can’t let him fall into the wrong hands. I figured you would want to see your best friend, so I already sent Sha’dak out looking for them – there he is now, actually.” He pointed out the window, and surely enough, there was Sha’dak. L put on some shoes and opened the front door. I had o choice but to put my own shoes on and follow him away from his house, my bag slung over my shoulder once more.
We came to a cross-roads. Axel stood up, tall and proud. “I say we go Left!” Zexion remained cool as ever. “Central makes me sense. It’s the way we’ve been heading.” Of course, I had the map. “The map says that the Laboratory is actually North-east, between those directions” I pointed Left, then Central. “Therefore, we’ll have to travel through that small wilderness.”
Sha’dak led us to a crossroads that Gildas would reach soon, as long as he didn’t double back. So we chose a bush, and crouched down inside of it. L started whispering about a plan, but Gildas had just shown up and I couldn’t pay attention to anything other than whose company he was keeping. I couldn’t help but mutter, “Ugh! He’s with those two creeps in the black coats. What is he thinking?"
“Axel. I don’t want to risk using my power, I may need it later. Yours is expendable. Burn a few bushes to ease our passage?” Axel gave a sly grin. “As you wish, Master.” That set my spine tingling. That sounded good, real good. Weird. Axel spread his arms, and several bushes caught aflame.
L looked up, and crept into the next bush to get a better look, but as he did so, the bush was suddenly ablaze!
“YEOWCH!” A man screamed, and a tall man (just) ran out of the burning bushes. He tumbled to the floor, rolling to put out the flame. I stifled a laugh. When he rose, I got a good look at him. Black, messy hair. A white jumper. Long, blue jeans. Black trainers hid his feet. He was a walking fashion disaster. He nodded at us, and spoke in Japanese. I was totally confused.
Axel stepped forward, replying (also in Japanese) with a sarcastic tone of voice. The man bowed. “My apologies. I thought everyone spoke Japanese.” My scratched his leg with his other foot, before looking at his behind. Must’ve been scorched quite nicely. He mumbled, scratching his head as he did so. I could’ve sworn I saw his lips move just in the right way...to say Cure.
“You. Peasant.” I began, doing my best imperial voice. “What are you doing here?” I heard a smothered laugh from the bushes. He was not alone. “I am simply travelling, good sir.” He said, humble as could be. “I’m on my way to the nearest town.” He was a good actor, and a good liar. His companions were not.
“Axel.” I started. “Someone’s there. Burn that bush.” He began. Smoke trickled up into the sky. Black, leathery wings unfurled, and a pig-like creature flew into view. Sha’dak. I heard a muffled “No, Don’t!” from a third bush. Too late. But in Sha’dak’s pocket... Death Note!? I checked my own. Gone! That absolute wretch! How did he melt the Ice? The man was a White Mage. That Cure was obvious. So that could only mean...
Haru unlocked Fira. Of course. And that voice in the bush was her. “You. Girl. Show yourself!” I shouted.
That made me angry. Who on earth did he think he was, calling me ‘Girl’? Me, who had been his one friend for as long as either of us could remember? So I gathered up all my courage, and strode out from behind the still smoking bush. I flicked my wrist towards the bush, letting out a jet of water. Shock registered in Gildas’s eyes. “That’s right. I learnt a few techniques.” I decided to show off, now. Using Fira, I created a wall of flames around the crossroads, trapping the six of us in the centre. Then, I used Thundara to make a barrier of electricity around Zexion and Axel.
Gildas seemed angry now. He shouted, “Diamond Dust!” and a wall of ice flew up behind me, cutting off L and Sha’dak. I smiled playfully. “So it’s just us again now then, Gildas.” That suited me perfectly. I called up my new sphere of fire, and began pulling pieces of it off to throw at the floor, just in front of Gildas’s feet, until the fire was all gone. My only problem was that I couldn’t bring my self to hurt him.
“I can play with fire, too, now. Watch out, Haru. Hellfire!” he shouted, a demented look in his eyes. He seemed to throw a small meteor at me. I could see it coming, but didn’t react. At the very last minute, I seemed to dive sideways, and I felt the heat of the meteor as it flew past me, only just missing me, before it was absorbed by the wall of fire. I stood up, and patted down my clothes. Gildas was crazy now, he was too attracted by the power that summoning had bestowed upon him. “Diamond Dust!” he shouted. Out of his outstretched hands came a beam of ice crystals, and again I acted without thinking.
Out of my hands flew a stream of fire, stronger than ever before because all my emotions – my stress, my anger, my fear, my sadness – were projected in that stream of flames. My fire beam met Gildas’s ice beam in the middle of us, and we struggled frantically, trying to force each other back. Then, a shock spread through the floor. I flew back, smashing through the wall of ice, whereas Gildas was forced through the electric barrier. Then, I think I must have fainted, because I felt numb; I couldn’t move, and then my sight faded to black.
