Near the Lake
By Hidden-Pen (Original by Allquall)
Chapter Twenty-One: Ling
That damned girl was more elusive than I anticipated. So cunning for such a quiet mistress, then again if she really was Kaori, it made sense.
Trailing her was like following a feather in a snow storm, she was always moving around, and around each corner I had almost lost her, if it wasn't for my persistence. It was damn near impossible to keep a safe distance while still keeping her in vision, and what I considered safe, was a spot where she can't hear or see me.
"I'm watching you Ling…" I said to myself out loud.
"What are you doing…?" I asked out loud.
Ling was making several bank transitions that day, it appeared as though she was giving a large portion of her money to family members and friends. Perhaps she was moving?
"Show me your secrets, Kaori…" I spoke waiting behind a wall.
I felt like a spy standing there. As if I was waiting for the moment to make my great escape.
Ling left the bank and started heading downtown. I watched closely as she stepped onto a subway, this was my chance.
I stepped on that same subway on the next car down, and placed my hood over my head., while setting up my cell phone headset.
I dialed her number which I had obtained through a little snooping around in Nagisa's things via Rei.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Ling Walters, it's nice to talk to you." I spoke quietly. Fortunate for me none of the other passengers coul hear me.
"Who is this?" She questioned.
"I'm on the same train as you, and I wanted to talk to you." I spoke.
"This train? Right now?" She questioned.
"Yes, don't bother looking for me though, we'll talk when the train gets off. Where are you heading?" I asked.
"Downtown, near the river." She replied.
"Good, we'll talk there. If my suspicions are correct, we can't be seen together here. There's too many cameras." I commented.
"Cameras?" She asked.
"Yes, I'll explain later." Said I.
The train came to a stop at the end of the line, which was Ling's stop.
"Go to the destination, I'll meet you there, we can't be seen getting off together." I commanded.
"Alright…" Said she.
I waited until she was out of sight before dismantling my headset and stuffing it into my pocket. I casually walked off the train following where Ling had wandered.
My wandering had led me to an old train intersection that Ling had directed us to.
"Are you the one from the subway?" She asked.
"Yes." I spoke.
"Remove that hood, I don't trust people who hide." She retorted.
I did as told and lifted my head to reveal my face.
"Who are you?" She asked.
"Chikaru Minamoto. A friend of Nagisa's back from Astraea." I smiled.
"Ugh, I just can't get away from you people anymore can I?" She hissed.
"That meaning?" I asked.
"First that damn Shizuma, then that freak show, and now you." She sneered.
"Wait, freak show? Who are you talking about?" I asked curiously.
"That girl that says she's God or something like that." She rambled.
My mind clicked, God? Angel? This had to be Kaori, our assumption was wrong, Ling wasn't Kaori, but she knew who Kaori was.
"Tell me, what is this girl's name?" I demanded.
"I don't know." She responded.
"Liar!" I exclaimed.
"You know who she is! You're lies could cost more people their lives, now tell the truth!" I screamed.
"I really don't know." She sighed.
I decided she wasn't going to talk unless I forced her. It was time to draw my weapon yet again, which of course I did.
"Alright, since you like playing games so much. Why don't you tell me where this came from?" I asked throwing an envelope on the ground.
She bent over slowly with her hands in the air as a sign for me not to shoot her, and picked it up and examined it's contents.
I had filled it with photos of Kaori that I had been sent over the years.
"Recognize any of them?" I asked.
"Not a single one." She responded tossing the envelope back to myself.
"Sticking to that story huh?" I asked.
"Look, all I know is that girl tells me to make sure that I have to deliver some photos of people to her every now and then. She gives me a list of people, and tells me to photograph them, I send them to her through an email. That's all. I swear. I don't know her name, I don't know what she looks like, I don't know anything about her besides the fact she threatens to kill me if I don't do as told.
"What kind of pictures?" I asked.
"People, I told you. Always different ones, mostly members of the AI, and the Raven Clan." She answered keeping her hands up high.
"What's the email address?" I questioned.
"It won't matter, it's untraceable. I've tried. She's craftier than that. She wouldn't be that dumb." Ling said.
She was right sadly, at this point in the game Kaori wouldn't be making novice mistakes such as to trust such an air headed girl like Ling. She more than likely manipulated Ling through Ling's own emotion for Nagisa. That sounded like something Kaori would do.
"Alright, the girl that is telling you to take these pictures, her name is Kaori. She's a former Astraea student, however not like the others you've met." I explained.
"How's that?" Ling asked.
"Because she was supposed to be dead nearly four years ago. Kaori had a rare disease that killed her after she was elected as Étoile with Shizuma Hanazono. That was possibly one of the saddest days in the entire school history. However by some either unnatural, or just plain coincidental event, Kaori still walks this Earth. She's managed to keep herself alive, that or fake her own death, which would have been hard as Hell, considering we all saw her funeral." I told.
"So she can defy death?" Ling panicked.
"One way or another she has. However if you work with me and not against me, we'll catch her. We'll stop her before she goes too far. I'm not your enemy, I'm your friend, but you have to help me so I can help you." I coaxed.
"It's too late for all that. I don't want anything to do with that girl. She's demon spawn, and deserves to burn in the darkest part of Hell." Ling let tears drip from her eyes.
"I can't do this anymore…" She sniffled.
"Do what…?" I asked.
"This is the end of the line." She choked on her own words.
"What're you talking about?" I questioned.
"I'm done, no more. I've already lost Nagisa, and now the torture doesn't end. Why can't you Astraea people leave me alone? Why can't you let me live my own life?" She sobbed.
"Look Ling, I can help you, I can catch this girl, you just have to hang in there." I attempted to calm her down.
"It's too late, this ends here. I'm no longer a player of this game." She looked up with tears streaming down her face as train whistled bellowed through the air.
"Good bye Chikaru Minamoto, it was a pleasure meeting you." She smiled half heartedly.
I said nothing.
"Tell my parents that I'm sorry, and that I love them, and tell Nagisa it's not her fault." She wiped tears from her eyes.
"Wait, Ling, you don't have to do this." I tried to talk her out of it.
"My mind is made up…" She sighed.
"Ling, just let me talk to you, think about what you're doing. This is crazy, you've got your whole life in front of you, don't just piss it all away like that!" I reminded her.
"My life was meaningless a long time ago." She responded.
"Come one, I'll help you, I can make things better if you give me a chance." I calmed.
"Good bye Chikaru." She answered.
She closed her eyes and took a step back onto the tracks.
"Ling!" I yelled running to save her but I stopped just as the train erased her from my vision.
A split second later blood splattered all over, some of which applied itself to me. The only part of Ling that was left.
I was frozen in shock. My body wouldn't move as it tried to process the events that just occurred right before it. A girl just killed herself, right in front of me, possibly one of the most horrifying moments in my life next to seeing those photos of my parents.
With that, Ling Walters, was no longer a part of this Earth. The only pray I had given to her, was the hope that she was free from suffering at last.
I decided to leave the scene before someone noticed what had happened. It wouldn't be wise to be in an area where someone just died while being covered in blood.
I stealthily used the bushes to go about town so no one would see my cloths. Which was a tricky task, because being downtown thanks to Ling, made it that much harder to not be seen. I had to sneak through the dark allies and such to get back.
It was nearly a ten hour trip back home, and I had to climb through the window to avoid being seen by Thief.
As soon as I got back up to my room I tossed my bloody clothing into the laundry.
I walked into the bathroom in my underwear and splashed water on my face to wash away the blood. I looked up at the mirror, and seconds later threw my head over the toilet bowl as vomit hurled itself out of my body.
I dragged my body into the upright position, and looked again at myself in the mirror. I was surprised to see such a strange person looking back at me.
The girl I saw had hair that looked like it had grown a foot an hour, and I could only see a small sliver of her left eye. Her body was that of a woman, and less of a young girl. Her hips were more curved and elegant than I remember, and her breasts must have been at least two sizes larger than I recalled.
Gazing at that girl, nay, that woman, made me realize something I had refused to accept for all this time. I had grown up. My childhood was gone, I was a grown woman now, now some kid anymore. The last few years of my child life were spent chasing a killer I didn't have the strength to get. I had lost things I could never get back, no matter how much I wanted them.
What about Ling though? She can't get anything back. She didn't even get the pleasure of living as long as I have.
Here I am though, twenty years old, and I'm not one step closer to capturing my parents killer than I was three years ago.
I had become stronger, smarter, more determined, and yet she still eludes me.
Ling had made me realize, that time is so precious, and if you waste your time you never get it back, and before you know it… Your time is up.
"Kaori…" I spoke out loud.
"I'll have to spend the rest of my time hunting you down, for Ling's sake…" I said.
I slid up to my desk in my room and pulled out a pen and began to write a letter.
"Dear mother and father,
It is with great sadness that I write this letter. I have lost my way, and I can't seem to get back on track. I've been struggling with this for some time.
I have lost the love of my life, and torment still follows me to this day even. I can't escape it, her anger, her rage, her despair. I can't continue living like this. I have decided to take the coward's way out.
Don't cry for me, because when you receive this letter, I'll have already been dead for some time. Dead I am, but I am not lost. I am still here, I'm with you in spirit, forever and for always. I love you, very much, and I know you'll never forget about me.
Your loving daughter,
Ling"
IT was the least I could do, as I did promise Ling I'd tell her parents she loved them, and I would be damned if I resented someone's dying wish.
I walked to the center of the town to deliver the letter to the post box.
After the blue box ate the letter, I could hear my phone ring. I already had an idea of who would call at this hour.
"You bitch." I hissed upon answering.
"Well that's not too polite." Answered Kaori.
"To Hell with you. Ling didn't have anything to do with this, it's me you want." I was burning with fury.
"Believe me, it wasn't my intention for Ling to take her own life, and it was not my fault, if you recall, Ling was fine until more people from Astraea got involved. It made her feel worse about Nagisa, as if it was being rubbed in her face that she had lost. I am not at fault, if anything you are." Kaori explained.
"Bullshit, I was involved because of you, so you have no excuses." I growled.
"Complaining to me won't bring her back." She commented.
"I think you know how to revive the dead don't you? You have powers that allow you to do these strage things, don't you??" I asked.
"You are mistaken, I have no powers, no magic tricks, everything I do is 100 mortal. It may be beyond your comprehension, but it is indeed quite mortal." She replied.
"Liar." I retorted.
"The only things I have that are not mortal, are understandings of some of how superior beings conduct business." She laughed.
"Bring Ling back then." I demanded.
"I can not." Said she.
"And why not?" I furiously asked.
"You do not understand the rules of death do you?" She questioned.
"Enlighten me." Said I.
"First of all, all humans must die. It's something we can't avoid. As a human you are damned to the confines of death, there is no such thing as immortality, and man is foolish to search for it. Humans can not be immortal. Secondly when people die, they can never be brought back to life." She explained.
"So all those ancient times of people trying to revive the dead?" I asked.
"What about Jesus rising again!" I declared.
"Don't misinterpret what I said. I said humans can not come back to life, key word being humans, Jesus did not return as a human, now did he? Besides, all of that is a fairy tale anyways." She laughed.
"What makes you say that?" I asked.
"Because, I happen to know something that you are pondering as well." She giggled.
"What would that be?" Said I.
"A Goddess walks among the humans." She answered.
I froze, this means she knew that I was aware the Goddess of the Demon existed, which meant the Goddess, and Kaori, were one of the same.
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A/N: Farewell Ling. I kind of feel bad that people have to relive Ling dying, however it's not as if you didn't know it was going to happen this time. However we learn that Ling is NOT our Kaori either. Kaori is STILL eluding Chikaru, the sign of a true genius.