I followed the boy’s finger several times; unsure of what was going on. Why would Gildas have a Death Note? I shook my head – that was impossible. He wouldn’t…right? I looked at Gildas carefully. He looked confused, almost dazed, and pale. He raised one trembling hand to his forehead, raked his hair back, and whispered shakily, “Me?” The little boy nodded. Blank turned to Gildas and spoke quietly. “I’m betting it was Sephiroth, then.” Gildas nodded slightly. “But why? Why do I look like him?! What connection could there possibly be?!” he practically roared. The little boy’s lip wobbled, and he started sobbing loudly. Misa made some half-hearted ‘shushing’ noises, and I ushered him out of the front door quickly.
Back in the living room, Zexion was comforting Gildas. I didn’t want to disturb them, so I just hovered anxiously in the doorway. Riku tiptoed over to me, and whispered in my ear, “He’s just a bit upset.” I rolled my eyes. “Just a bit?” I echoed sarcastically. Eventually, Zexion stepped back, and Gildas had calmed down a lot. He was still breathing heavily, though, and Zexion looked close to tears. “I’m s-sorry…I am so…so sorry, every-everyone,” Gildas stuttered uncertainly. “I just…don’t get it…Why do I look like him? I just want…to know wh-why.” I nodded. “I think we all do,” I breathed quietly.
Behind me, Riku tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear gently. I shuddered at his touch, still annoyed about Kairi. “So it all leads back to Sephiroth then. We find him, we find the Death Note – and Kairi.” I hated to even say her name. Why did I feel so strongly about this? What was this hatred rising up in me? It was so unlike me to hate people, I was normally so calm and…nice? Wasn’t I? Was this just my true colours shining through? Was this what I hid behind a smile? I didn’t want to talk to anyone, just curled up in a protective ball on the sofa and let the others’ voices wash over me completely.
I noticed Haru sitting in a ball on the sofa. I noticed Zexion’s comforting hand on my shoulder. I noticed Misa come back through the front door with the now calm (if a little worried) little boy. I noticed them, but I didn’t take them in. Everything I saw or heard was forgotten in an instant, my energy tightly focused on the revelation that Sephiroth had the Death Note. I already knew he looked like me, but now he had the Death Note, how many possibilities did this open for him? He could kill Zexion… he could kill Me, or anyone… and he could do it in my name. He could murder women and children in the name of Regent Gildas I, ruler-come-tyrant. The possibilities were endless.
I stood up and walked out the living room to the hallway. Zexion and Riku followed on behind me, as I walked out the front door, and called my name as they ran after me down the road. I ignored them. I couldn’t take this. Sephiroth had to be found, now. I kept walking, nearly running as the road turned. Ahead loomed the clock tower. I opened the door at the side, and started climbing. Getting bored, I summoned up a gust of wind and rode that to the top, stepping out to the rooftop. Behind me, the clock hands ticked away silently as I looked over the edge. Drastic times called for Drastic measures, or so they say. And, as one brave summoner did before me, I placed my right foot over the edge, placing all my faith in the powers of my Aeons that they would not let me fall. Left foot. Right foot. I stepped further into the air, with nothing holding me up. Once I had reached a certain point, I looked down, finding myself high above the fountain in the central park of Twilight Town.
I now had enough space around me to do what I had to. Regent Gildas was a strong and just ruler, not a dancer. But I needed the powers of the Aeons, I needed them all, and I needed them now. I performed each dance, linked onto the next, ending with the dance to summon Neo Bahamut. They came in turn, Shiva, Ifrit, Ramuh, Leviathan, Typhoon, Titan, Ultima and Diablos, with Neo Bahamut towering behind them all. Passers-by stared up in horror and fear. Nothing mattered anymore. “Aeons! Lend me your strength! A great and terrible foe has come upon us, and I require your strength once more! His name is Sephiroth. He has acquired a black notebook, entitled ‘Death Note’, and before long will use it to kill innocent men, women and children alike! Shiva and Leviathan, scour to the west, Titan and Ifrit to the east. Ramuh, you and Diablos must check to the south, and Ultima and Typhoon look in the north. Neo Bahamut, due to your draconic nature and endurance, I beg you, check the entire earth twice over! Fly through the atmosphere, on the edges of the Earth and find him! I’m sorry to ask this of all of you, but I must do this. You must look for… Look for a man who looks exactly, exactly like me! I will wait here, on the Clock Tower rooftop. Please, hurry!” The Aeons nodded in turn, flying off in their pairs and searched for the man who would be the undoing of us all. I looked down, people clapping and cheering. And there was Haru, unmistakable in her purple robes, punching the air along with everyone else.
I watched Gildas in amazement. He was so strong, so powerful…and I couldn’t do anything. I cheered for him, just like everyone around me was, but inside I wanted to cry. Riku caught up with me, and took my hand, but I wrenched it back and ran off. I could hear him calling my name, but I didn’t stop running, didn’t even look back. I had no idea where I was going, but that didn’t stop me. Riku used to make me feel safe and warm and protected, but now when I looked at him, all I could see was Kairi…what was wrong with me?
I stopped running, and opened my eyes. I had no idea where I was; some deserted alleyway somewhere. I could still hear the crowd’s roars, and walked away slowly, further from the noise. I wanted to be alone. I needed that. Before I knew why, I was running again. And then I felt an ominous bump, and knew I had run into somebody. I opened my eyes slowly. And then gasped. The man in front of me laughed deeply. I knew who this was, even if I had never met him before. “…Sephiroth?” I asked nervously. He laughed again in response, sending chills through me. I knew I needed to run, but I couldn’t. Something was holding me to this spot. Some powerful spell that I alone couldn’t break.
I raised myself up to the spire’s point. Standing tall, I gazed at the horizon, where Ramuh and Diablos flew off in the sunset. The sun was a burning orange, the clouds above it pink from the fading light. I looked down again. The purple robes were gone, and so was Riku. Where had they got to? I doubt it was anything romantic; even I could see the anger in her eyes since Kairi came along. Maybe she felt…second best? Either way, they were gone. Suddenly, I felt a laugh well up in me, and I couldn’t hold it back. No-one else heard it, but I could feel the malice it held. What was going on?
I stood there for a while, laughing menacingly and looking worriedly around for a sign. I needed to know why I was laughing, and why it was so evil, could this mean something? I bent over with the laughter…and I froze. I couldn’t move. All I could see was the ground below me, as I hunched over. And then I began to fall. Slowly at first, like a domino tumbling over, then faster as gravity pulled me forward. This was it… after all I’d faced, all the love and sorrow and happy memories, this was it. I mentally closed my eyes, waiting for the crash. And then…
I felt so…cold? Warm? I wasn’t sure what it was, but I felt something. I needed to get away, get help, get someone! I tried to move, but it sent a shocking pain through me that made my eyes water. Sephiroth smirked, and flicked his hair away from his face. “So…you are travelling with Gildas, correct? And Blank…yes, Blank. And Misa Amane, holder of a Death Note – or she was, at least. Zexion, a master tactician with too many brains for my liking. And finally, your Riku. But he’s fallen for that girl, correct? What was her name..?” He was playing with me, trying to make me angry. And it was working.
“Kairi.” Hearing her name finally made me snap. I tried to launch myself forwards at Sephiroth – I wanted to gouge his eyes out. But that pain just ran through me again, and I stopped, hatred coursing through me just like the shocks. “Hurts, doesn’t it?” breathed Sephiroth, once he had finished laughing. I looked up at him silently, keeping my face deliberately blank. He smirked. He knew how much the pain was weakening me; I couldn’t take much more of it. I needed help, as much as I hated to admit it.
What was going on? Where was the crash, the pain, the darkness? Why wasn’t I dead? I rushed towards the ground, and then I hit something but I didn’t know what, but it didn’t hurt at all. I heard moans, a groaning sound… a man? I couldn’t see, still not being able to move, and I couldn’t do a thing as I began rolling off of whatever I had hit. I hit the ground, my eyes staring painfully up into the darkening sky. Movement to my left, someone getting up? I didn’t see the clothes, as the person wearing them wasn’t concerned with their own pain, their own discomfort. “My love? Are you okay?”
I wanted to say something. Anything to let him now I was fine, to know that I was still conscious. I began to wonder. What if he thought I was dead? What if they buried me, mentally alive, and I stopped breathing in that dark and lonely place? What if…Zexion cried… I couldn’t take it. I was so upset at the look on his face, the moist, beautiful eyes staring down at me in suffering and concern. And then, a breakthrough. A solitary tear ran down my cheek, and my eyes felt wet. Not a single one had dropped from Zexion’s eyes. I was crying myself, and that alone made Zexion know I was okay, alive. He smiled, pulling me into a one-sided hug. Why was this happening?
I breathed deeply, in, out, in, out, trying to conserve all my energy. No doubt I was going to need it at some point. Sephiroth laughed again, infuriating me yet more. But I forced myself to stay still. I knew I had to. Sephiroth was speaking again, but I refused to listen, knowing he would only be mocking me further. Then I felt something around my waist, and the painful shocks were back. I screamed this time, unable to hold it in any longer. I heard Sephiroth laughing again, and then everything just fizzled out.
