Kelsier: Teasha-san does not own Mistborn or Death Note. Was that quick enough?
Teasha: Yes, good job. Enjoy, people!
Recap:
"Do you know what atium, malatium, or feruchemy are?"
L paused, looking at her carefully. Eyeing her every breath. "Where did you hear those words before?" he finally asked, as if being careful of every word that came out of his mouth.
"Oh, I found them in a book," Zara answered. "I asked , um…" she pointed to Near. "…him about them, but he said he didn't know."
"Oh," said L. "Well his name is Near. And what's yours?"
"Zara," she answered. "But you never answered my—"
She was cut off by L. "So let's get going, shall we?" he changed the subject. "Now where is Misa?"
"Off somewhere else, which I am perfectly fine with by the way," Light answered.
"Wait, but isn't she your girlfriend?" asked Zara. Everyone froze, looking at Zara.
Finally, Light broke the silence. "I guess you could say that," he started. "But to be honest, I can't really stand her."
"She's kinda obsessed," added Mello.
"Oh."
"But Misa not being here, that could be bad," muttered L under his breath. "Do you know where she went, exactly?" he asked.
"Uh, I'm not sure," Light answered, uncomfortably. "She was gone when we woke up. But she does that, occasionally, right? I didn't think anything of it."
"She normally does this?" asked L.
"Yes," answered Mello. "It's kind of a relief for her not to be here. But she always comes back anyways, so it can't be too bad, right?"
"I see…" L trailed off. "It may be her…" his last words were too soft for Zara to hear. It was too bad she didn't have L's tin yet, because as she leaned forward to listen, all she heard was nothing.
"So, shall we go?" asked Matt. "Where are we headed, anyways?"
"It's a secret," said L, raising a finger to his lips. "You'll have to follow me closely, and be wary of any signs of an inquisitor. They may be patrolling the area, but usually they don't bother. Just be careful." He handed everyone a vial. It was a mixture of metal flakes and water. Normally, alcohol worked best, but water was often safest, especially when dealing with teenagers. This L person must be smarter than he looked.
"Okay, this is most of the metal I have," he said as everyone downed their vials. "I wasn't counting on an extra person here, so I still have metal left, but be careful." He handed a vial to Near and one to Light. "Everyone who has an extra vial will be on protocol, okay? As in, protect the others. We don't want people running out of metal halfway through this, but it should be enough to get there and back."
Everyone nodded, and Near and Light downed their extra vials of metal. L took the remaining two and placed them in his belt. "Let's go."
He crawled out of the window first, then dropped a coin down and jumped off the ledge to make room for everyone else. As he lowered himself to the ground, Light prepared to go through. Soon enough, everyone was on the ground, burning metals. Zara had missed the heightened senses that tin gave her, and had missed the warmth of feelings in the chest that pewter gave her. She smiled brightly as she looked at the others.
L raised three fingers, then counted them off silently. Three, two, one. And he was off, running through the grass outside of the building they had been in. Zara hadn't realized how huge it was from the inside, but could easily see it now. It towered over her and the others, but even so, she could see herself jumping up onto it while burning steel. If only she could right now.
She chased the others as fast as she could. Pewter really did change one's abilities. Even a trained runner wouldn't have been able to keep up with her right now.
L dropped a coin, jumping almost halfway up the height of the building. The others behind him also dropped coins, following him at a breakneck speed. It was then that Zara realized she didn't have any coins. Crap, she thought. I'm done for already!
Then, she felt a hand grab her waist. She turned around to see that Mello had been behind her. He dropped one of his coins, raising them up higher into the air. Zara looked down, realizing how scary it was to jump like this. She felt as if she had no control over where she was going.
"Thanks," she muttered anyways. If it wasn't for him she would have been far too behind, even if she did use their coins.
Once they were high enough, Zara realized that the others had stopped. "Is this it?" she asked, in a whisper. L nodded, pointing to the window they were crowding around. Zara looked closer, until she saw… a small room, with metal walls and a large metal door.
"What is this?" she asked.
L pointed at the room again. "Wait and you'll see."
She looked closer. There was no one in the room, but even so, her tin enhanced ears could pick up screaming. The screaming of a woman. The doors burst open to reveal two inquisitors dragging a woman into the room. Behind them, another person was dragged into the room, but this person was not screaming. He was quiet. Serene.
The inquisitors dragged them both over to the metal table in the center of the room. They laid the man on top of it, then the screaming woman on top of the man. She struggled, but was no match for the inquisitor pinning her down. Then, the other one walked over to the side of the room and brought out a hammer and a large, metal spike. Zara recognized what the spike was made of. It was pewter.
The inquisitor brought over the spike and placed it calmly onto the woman. It was smiling. Now the woman was struggling furiously, calling out and pleading for help. Zara could see what was coming next. Even the man struggled, crying out that he didn't want it anymore. Telling them to stop.
The inquisitor with the hammer raised it, then beat it down into the woman. It went directly through the woman and into the man. They both screamed, but that only caused the inquisitors to smile even more.
"Hemalurgy," L spat quietly. "What a disgusting art."
Zara eyes widened as both the man and the woman screamed even louder. Then, the woman stopped. She was dead. The inquisitors pulled the dead woman off of the man, revealing the pewter spike, which was driven straight through the man's left eye. He clawed at it, yelling for the pain to stop. But he was alive, somehow. He should be dead.
"Do you wish to continue?" asked one of the inquisitors, the one who had pound the spike.
Although the man was still screaming, something seemed to… overcome his senses and personality. And that thing said "Yes." So they nodded, and the one who had held down the woman left the room.
"What was that?" asked Zara, horrified.
"That was hemalurgy," answered L. "It is how you make inquisitors."
"But how are they still alive?" she asked.
"Hemalurgy is a… special art," he said. "It is the art of stealing allomantic and feruchemical abilities. So, for instance, that man can now store physical strength with pewter."
"You never explained feruchemy," she said, confused.
"Oh," said L. "Then all you really need to know is that it requires two people. One who has allomantic or feruchemical abilities and one who does not. The only downside to this disgusting art is that it requires for the allomancer or feruchemist to die."
"So… every spike on an inquisitor shows how many people died for it to be that way?" she asked, looking down at the man with one spike in his eye. He wasn't screaming anymore.
"Correct," agreed L.
"I can't believe you showed this to her," spat Mello, next to Zara.
"I'm sorry?" said L, taken aback.
"She didn't need to know this," he argued. "She didn't need to know how… disgusting those creatures are."
"Well, my teacher once told me that even if something is disgusting and terrible," he explained. "Even if it's something you wish you could forget, you still need to know it, because you're not going to be able to avoid it. Such as now…"
"Huh?" asked both Zara and Mello.
"Listen closely," clarified L. Zara could hear more screaming. And it was coming her way.
AHAHAHAHA, cliffhanger! Don't you love me?
