FireCacodemon: Welcome back to another chapter of The Gate's Consciousness. Darker Than Black belongs to Tensai Okamura.
Chapter 1
Ten years ago, was when the two gates appeared. Heaven's Gate dominated part of South America, while majority of the Gate dominated Brazil there were parts of it that stretched over and covered Bolivia and Paraguay too. Hell's Gate appeared in Tokyo and a wall was swiftly build around it. Both gates created an area of chaotic space and gave birth to beings known as Contractors and beings known as Dolls, on top of that, the moon vanished and the sky that the world loved so much was stripped away and replaced with what was known as the 'fake' sky. While each Gate appeared opposite to each other, the two Gates balanced each other out well and inspired a lot of research facilities to try and understand the very nature of the two gates, each with their own success and failures. Other organisations were interested in Contractors and Dolls and wondered how they could control Contractors and Dolls, what their abilities were and how they could help society in general. It was safe to say, they found a way to capture and control Contractors but they never truly understood Contractors and Dolls. Not even Contractors and Dolls understood what they were themselves, Contractors were beings with supernatural powers but each time they used their power, they had a payment to make, hence the term Contractor. For Dolls, they were passive mediums, able to send out observation spectres that only Contractors could see. Dolls didn't have a payment but only certain materials or products could be used to send their observation spectre out. Both had a weakness, neither of them understood emotions or even showed emotions. Contractors were used as ruthless killing machines because of this face, they couldn't feel happiness, sadness, anger, hatred…guilt. Dolls on the other hand, needed people to tell them what to do, they could relay information but needed to be looked after constantly yet society still found a way to use them. It only took them five years…before they sent Contractors to war in Heaven's Gate…
Five years have passed since the war that took place in Heaven's Gate, many stars had fallen from the night sky but they were replaced with new stars and people just continued as if nothing had happened. Something happened during Heaven's War which caused the Gate to vanish but not without taking everything around it within one-thousand five-hundred kilometres, this was after researchers discovered high levels of Contractor activity as well as the bizarre effects from what is now called: Solar Maximum. Researchers are still trying to understand the connection between Contractors and the disappearance of Heaven's Gate but without much luck. All that's left to do now is to research into Hell's Gate. The wall between Tokyo and Hell's Gate is where the research facility known as PANDORA (Physicalquantity Alternation Natural Deconstruction Organised Research Agancy) is based.
"Sir, we're detecting some activity inside the Gate," a researcher known as Mina Kanaswamy reported. The Indian researcher turned her attention to another member of staff, she shuffled her long, brown hair out of her eyesight so she could have a better look at the staff member. The staff member she was looking at had fuzzy white hair and a bearded chin with wrinkles around his eyes from the countless sleepless nights for research, blue eyes and spectacles perched on his nose. The older researcher smiled and smartened up his green tie which lay over his pink shirt which was covered by a white lab coat.
"Can you pinpoint the activity?" Robert asked Mina.
"I'll do my best, sir," Mina responded before she turned her attention back onto the screen, trying to locate where the activity was. They already had to change their maps more than once as Hell's Gate either created large craters in one zone or filled in a crater in another zone of the map. "Sir…?" Mina stopped typing away on her keyboard and focused on the screen.
"What is it?" Robert asked, confused on why she stopped.
"I've failed to pinpoint the activity…whatever caused it has stopped, I'm sorry," Mina apologised but Robert walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder, making her flinch slightly.
"The fact that there's activity in the Gate is enough evidence that it's still alive." He smiled at Mina. "Don't worry, keep up the excellent work and we'll find it eventually~" He sounded happy that she had at least tried, unlike others she worked with. She had worked with another researcher who always scolded her if she failed to pinpoint exactly what the Gate was doing, even if it was only there for a few milliseconds.
"Thank you, sir."
Darker Than Black – The Gate's Consciousness – Chapter 1
A dark blue car pulled up in front of a small run down looking building. Once parked, a tall woman stepped out, her hair was tied back into a ponytail which was fastened by a pink hairband. To go along with her ponytail, a pair of glasses sat on the bridge of her nose. Her clothing consisted of a dark blue tone while looking professional. Walking over to the building, she gently knocked on the door and waited. It was already so late in the night that the owner of the house was probably asleep but she knocked anyway. After waiting a few moments in silence, she knocked again. This time, she heard someone shuffle from inside the building and a light switched on upstairs. A few more moments passed before the front door opened revealing a tired young man. Scruffy black hair with midnight eyes looked at Misaki before he sighed.
"You can call in the morning…you know?" He asked her while trying not to sound so irritated that he had been disturbed from his sleep.
"Yeah…sorry but work got in the way, you know?" Misaki smiled nervously. "How have you been Li? I know it hasn't been easy for you recently…Not with it being the anniversary of your sister's disappearance…"
"Just…been sitting in the darkness…and falling asleep in it, as normal," Li forced a smile on his face. Misaki noticed but didn't complain.
"Well, do you want to hang out tonight? Grab something to eat and whatnot?"
"Sure, that sounds like fun. Let me just grab my coat and shoes and we can go." Li ducked back inside and grabbed his coat and slipped his shoes on and headed outside where Misaki was waiting. She smiled as Li joined her side.
"It isn't that cold tonight, you probably don't need that green coat," Misaki smiled. Li looked at his coat for a few seconds before agreeing with her. It wasn't that cold during the nights so he probably only needed a light, waterproof coat.
"I'll be back in a second then," he pushed open the door to his home once more and hung up his thicker coat and instead plucked a waterproof coat off one of the hooks and slipped that one on instead.
"Better." They both agreed and headed off into the night.
FireCacodemon: Well, that's the end of the chapter. See you next chapter.
