Teasha: So, I know that everyone was… annoyed… about what happened last chapter, am I right?

Kelsier: Yeah… *grumbles*

Teasha: Also, I know that this chapter will probably not be… great… but either way, I'm proud that it's out so no dissing me!

Kelsier: You're so defensive! And you don't even own Mistborn or Death Note!

Teasha: No, but I do own this plot, plus Zara, Carlyle, Nilima, and Fellson are all mine!

Kelsier: On with the story!

Recap:

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" shouted Beyond.

Suddenly the doors burst open. The three inquisitors from before came into the room—rushed, actually—and closed the door behind them. Fellson locked it. All three had large smiles about their faces—smiles that Zara found sickening to look at. She figured that if they had real eyes, they would be twinkling with madness. After all, Fellson's lone and undamaged eye was.

"Ruin!" Sazed shouted at the inquisitors. "You give me back my inquisitors now!"

"Silly Sazed," replied Marsh, causing Sazed to whirl around. How many times would Marsh become a pawn? "They were never your inquisitors. They were of Ruin all along—not Sazed."

"Give them back," Sazed insisted. "Or I'll—"

"You'll what?" Marsh smirked. "Use your little 'feruchemy powers' and kill me? Go ahead and try. You're not the God you once were anymore. You cannot control me." He raised his hand high into the air, as though to slap Sazed. Then, a blur went by and a snap was heard throughout the room.

But Sazed wasn't the one who was slapped. Zara fell to the ground with a thump, causing her to bite her lip as if to hold in a scream of pain. She looked up at the others carefully. Mello was seething, Matt's glare was darkening, and even little Near seemed to be enraged. Why did she help him? She hardly knew Sazed, but something just… came over her. As if she knew that she had to protect him.

Sazed stared down at her, stunned, as she held her enflamed cheek. It hurt.

"You son of a bitch!" Mello cursed, jumping at Marsh as if to attack him. "How could you just hit a girl—" He was cut off as Marsh punched him in the gut, without even turning his head. He wasn't fazed in the slightest.

"She was in my way," he said simply. "And besides, it's not like you could defeat me anyways. Why try now? HA!" he laughed. "You wouldn't even be able to kill Marsh. After all, it's not like Vin could."

Zara's face paled.

"You know why she didn't kill him, and it wasn't because she couldn't!" Sazed shouted. "She didn't want to kill him because she knew he was being controlled! BY YOU!"

Marsh smiled. "I know. And that is why you humans are so foolish. You don't know when to stop caring and when to start thinking logically." He turned his head up to face the ceiling, spreading his arms out wide as if challenging them to attack. "Oh, how good it feels to be freed again. To be able to control my own powers again. To live." He sighed. "If only you hadn't done such a good job patching up this world. It would have been nice to see the ash fall again."

"Would you just get out of here?" asked Mello idly. "You're sickening me."

"Right. I'm the sickening one." Marsh snapped his fingers in the air, causing the other inquisitors to come to his side. "Haven't I told you? You cannot control me. Now get out of my way before I make you."

Sazed rushed to the side of the room, dragging Zara along with him.

"What are you doing?" she argued.

"Hush," he whispered, holding a finger to his lips. "If you're not careful, he'll just destroy you. And trust me, he will have no problem with killing someone after he's been trapped all this time."

The others moved out of the way as well, although Matt and Near had to force Mello to move. Zara could tell that all he wanted to do was kill the bastard now. But at the same time, he must have been convinced to not try to kill Marsh—or Ruin—or whatever it was—because he complied.

"Such thanks to you, and good luck next time," Marsh called as he walked out of the room, his inquisitor train following him. "Oh, and I'd suggest not following me. We wouldn't want a little… accident to happen to a certain friend of yours."

"What are you talking about?" asked L.

"A lovely girl; she seemed to like the color pink…" Marsh trailed off. It connected in Zara's brain right then. Misa. "Well, I'll be off now." He waved his fingers as he left the room, smiling wickedly.

Zara's shoulders slumped as she slid to the ground. What was she supposed to think now? Her eyes were wide with fear as she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tight. Her head was swimming with what he had said. It just kept repeating and repeating and repeating… She shook her head to try to clear it out. What was going to happen to them? And to Misa? She just… didn't know what to do anymore.

What was going to happen now?

"Well that sucked," said Matt, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. "Who would've guessed that all this would happen?"

Zara sniffed. "I know. And it's only been my second day here, too. Time passes so quickly in front of me." She stared up at the ceiling.

"Well, what's going to happen now?" L asked, directing the question to Sazed. "After all, you're the one who knows this thing the best."

"True, but even I don't know what it was planning," said Sazed. "The only thing I was certain of was that it wanted to be freed. But since that's happened already…"

"You don't know what it could want anymore," finished Beyond.

"Exactly."

Silence filled the room. Finally, Zara could think for just a bit. But… she didn't even know what to think about anymore. She kept on getting this terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. Her head was dizzy and her face was still noticeably pale. She… was… just… broken.

"Wait!" shouted Near, an idea lighting up his face. "What about the other one? Uh… Preservation! That's it! What about him?"

Sazed shrugged. "I don't know. Preservation manifests the mists itself, not anything with a hemalurgic spike."

"Wait, what are hemalaougis… uh, whatever they're called. What are they?" asked Zara.

"A hemalurgic spike is like those inquisitor spikes," answered Sazed. "They are the spikes that steal allomantic or feruchemical powers and bestow them upon someone else. You see, allomancy is a power of Preservation. Hemalurgy is a power of Ruin. And only feruchemy is equal, because nothing is used to fuel it." He held up his arms. "The metal bracers and rings I wear are feruchamical storages, so what they really do is they store something, such as speed, so that I can draw it out for a later use. But only I can draw it out—no one else."

"Wait, how will this help us?" asked Mello impatiently.

"I don't know," said Zara. "I'm just trying to think of something—anything—that could possibly benefit us."

"God, stop being so negative all the time!" shouted Light, annoyed. "At least Zara's trying to help! Tell me, do you have any better ideas?" Mello looked down at the floor guiltily. "I thought so."

"Would everyone stop fighting?" asked L. "Near was on a roll until you interrupted him." Zara muttered something along the lines of sorry while Mello rolled his eyes. "What were you thinking of Near?"

"Well, I figured that if Ruin is the evil one, Preservation—Ruin's opposite—should be good, right?" said Near. "And maybe since we're both against Ruin, Preservation could join us."

Sazed put a hand up to his head. "Okay, now this is just getting too similar to what happened last time. Ruin's going to see through this plan easily. Plus, in case you didn't know, he can hear you."

Everyone stopped and turned to face Sazed. "What…?" whispered Beyond.

"Ruin is practically omnipotent. He can hear and see anything that's going on, or at least, almost anything. Also, if you have a hemalurgic spike, he can talk to you in your head. However, he cannot read thoughts."

"So…" started Mello.

"'Be careful what you speak,'" said Sazed. "'It can hear what you say. It can read what you write. Only your thoughts are safe.' One of the Lord Ruler's more helpful bits of information. However, He failed to mention that Ruin cannot see anything written in metal, nor can he see anything surrounded by metal. It took lady Vin quite a while to figure that one out."

"Well I think that we should stop sharing what we know and get some rest," said L, standing up. "After all, I have a feeling that we'll have a lot on our minds pretty soon."

"Sounds good," agreed Zara, yawning.

Kelsier: That wasn't a satisfying ending, Teasha-san!

Teasha: In this world, I've learned to take what you get.

Kelsier: Meanie! Review and favorite now ;D