Rebirth
White Eyes- Gackt
Space catches the lunatic moon,
cradling it in both hands, in fear
until my voice reaches,
dawn will not be welcome
all your words...
all your mannerisms...
they were still too fragile for me
you never touched the hand I held out to you.
I gave you a kiss, you, so cold
no matter how many times I scream out your name,
no one can erase the sadness accumulating around me
I trembled, amidst this sin
of continually making even our finding one another,
into a mistake
all my feelings...
all my heart...
still remembers you even now.
You, who so loved the sky at dawn,
in the end you showed those tears in the light,
you showed me, just who you were.
Oh mounting sadness no one can stop,
Fall forever for all I care! Deeper!
It doesn't matter how you make us suffer,
it won't tear us apart!
Until this body rots, it won't be taken by anyone!
you never touched the hand I held out to you.
I gave you a kiss, you, so cold
no matter how many times I scream out your name,
no one can erase the sadness accumulating around me
Oh my one and only, fly high into the air
held by the earth turning a silver shade
Whenever I look up, you'll be smiling
and one day, we'll meet again in this sky
Ch.9- Exam And Farewells Of Reluctance (2 of 2)
...3:45pm.
"Kali Terrence?" General Hakuro asked.
No one was there.
"...ahem." said a voice.
He, as well as everyone else on the board looked down.
"Hi!" she piped.
The board looked at one another in disbelief. The furher, though, like most of the time, looked amused.
"Your much too young to be Mrs. Terrence... she is 16, how old are you? 10?" a younger man of the board asked.
She shook her head, blushing since everyone was calling her small. 'I didn't know everyone thought I was so cute... oh well. I hope it just doesn't mess with my grade.' she thought.
"Why, you probably aren't even an alchemist." a chubbier man said, pointing to the gold tripod in the center of the room, "prove it."
She shrugged, strolling over to the tripod she merely pulled herself upon it and plopped down, her legs dangling a foot above the floor. "Better?" she asked.
"Wow. We haven't had someone this short join since Edward Elric." the chubby man from before haughtily laughed in his throat.
Kali could have sworn she heard someone yell in the distant back of her mind WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT YOUR HUGE MOTHER WOULD SIT UPON HIM, STAND UP, AND WONDER WHERE THE HELL HE WENT TO SEE THAT HE ACTUALLY WAS SO SMALL THAT SHE COULDN'T EVEN CRUSH HIM LET ALONE SEE WHERE HE WAS!
Kali shuddered at the voice and blocked it out of her subconcious hearing.
"Well then. Lets get back to business." Hakuro grunted. "What is your reason for joining the military?"
Kali waited as the board sat there patiently. "...is that all?" she asked after several seconds.
He nodded kindly, in which brought her (for once) to GREAT thought.
"I meant," he continued, "I suppose you should know... you got the worse marks in the whole class." he informed her.
Her face dropped and she scolded herself inwardly for not studying harder back in Juneshire.
She thought deep... then deeper... then she came to the logical conclusion that she always gets when she thinks JUST hard enough.
"No reason."
The board anime-fell.
"...pardon?" Haruko said, getting up.
The man with the patch looked shocked as well... wait...what?
Kali finally noticed he had a patch! Her eye twitched.
'Only... pirates... have... those... he must be bad, then... wait, I love pirates! no, stop it Kali, your thinking off cue... gah!' she thought. 'Argue over that later!'
"I mean... well, as you have seen," she said, trying to sound as old as she really is, "Im not exactly the best at alchemy... but its really the only thing im at least half good at." she said.
"I think we've heard enough," an old woman frowned.
"Go on." the man with the patch urged. Everyone looked at him.
Like she thought, he must be someone of importance for him to not be objected to... maybe she was the fuhrer she had been hearing so much about in town.
"My whole life I never really had a...direction, I guess, and one day I woke up and realized that I cant just be a little kid my whole life... even if im as cute and small as one, I think I realized that I should have more responsiblity with my life and start a career or something... I tried baking, animal care, even cleaning, which I hate, but then I thought that the best to do was to help people so... I thought what the hell, I'll join the military!" she finished, letting it sink in.
"...that is the most absurd-" "Thank you very much for your time, Mrs. Terrance. Report back to the training grounds of HQ at 4:00 to receive your final test," the fuhrer smiled.
Kali left that huge room thankfully, taking a deep breath of relief, she ran off to find Sloth.
--------
Sloth's form is seen laying against a tree trunk in the park, passed out.
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz- gah!" Sloth woke up from a tug on his shoulder, looking over he realized it was Wrath.
"Surprise!" she twirled to show off her new outfit, a white form-fitting sleeveless shirt, black pants, brown small-heeled boots and a leather trench-coat like the one he was wearing. "Now we match."
"Ung... yeah... who are you again?" he asked, slightly annoyed at her awaking him and very disturbed at the thought of walking around with matching trench-coats. He stood up after stretching comfortably. "What time is it?" he asked, choosing not to ask where she got the money for the clothes, she replyed.
"Oh, a little after 4:00pm... you sleep a lot! ...and did you just ask who I was? your really hopeless!" she yelled.
"Yeah but im not deaf!" he yelled back, still not quite sure where he was. This has happened to him for the past ten years, he stands there a second to catch his bearings, then groans.
"Crap, Kali!" he exclaimed, about to run off, Wrath grabbed his shoulder.
"Just you wait here, idiot! you aren't running off to that military base, we aren't supposed to go anywhere near it!"
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because, the master said so." an icy voice from behind said.
Wrath flew to Sloth's side, revealing an amused Pride. "Took you long enough to find us, Pride... and what the hell is wrong with you appearing behind me all of the time! ITS UNNERVING!"
"Just came to collect you two idiots."
"...who are you again?" Sloth asked.
"Yeah, what is wrong with him? he keeps forgetting things!" Wrath said, shaking his arm in annoyance, "is he broken or something?"
"He is suffering from alzheimers, while you are suffering from tone deaf... aka. learn to control your volume!" Pride said to her.
"You cant tell me what to do!" she yelled.
"YES I CAN!"
"NO YOU CANT!"
They squabbled like that as Sloth chose this time to slip away in the trees.
--------
"Riley! your here?" Kali said, approaching the icy-eyed alchemist's piercing glare.
"Yes, and im surprised to see you've made it this far as well... why is it that I can never be rid of you?" she asked, sighing in frustration.
Kali wasn't listening, though, she had been unsuccessful in finding Sloth and couldn't wipe the sad look from her face as she thought of all the possibilities.
'He probably just fell asleep by a tree, or something.' she thought hopefully, picturing an image of a chibi-sloth sleeping with a nose bubble as he snored, smiling a bit, she then thought of the worse possibility, 'what if he left without saying goodbye...'
"Welcome, alchemists, one and all! I am proud to announce that only you, 9, finalists that have made it this far have a chance at becoming part of the military!" a voice said upon the stage a few yards away. "All around you, you will see all elements needed in your transmutation, the final test in which you will test to impress our three judges: General Hakuro from the East, Major General Archer, and Furher King Bradley!" he announced, all other alchemists broke into applause, but Kali was way too high in the clouds and in her mind to realize it.
'OR WHAT IF HE GOT RAN OVER, OR WHAT IF HE LEFT A NOTE AND I JUST DIDN'T FIND IT, OR WHAT IF HE GOT KIDNAPPED, OR WHAT IF HE ATE SOME BAD SUSHI AND WAS SENT TO THE HOSPITAL, MAYBE HE...' she gasped 'LEFT WITH WRATH!'
She went into a mental blind rage of all the things she'd do to that woman if she lay a TOE on Sloth...
"START!" they announced.
Riley stood up to the lake, and using merely water and oxygen- she transmuted the lake.
Up rose the water to form the cold crystals in which edged farther and formed to create a palace of ice as big as the lake.
Hakuro nodded approvingly, looking amazed at the crystals. Archer nodded slightly, more looking at Riley than the creation, and Fuhrer Bradley smiled in wonder at the creation, she most likely got top marks. She fanned herself mentally but didn't let it show in the least until they walked to the next random alchemist who was making what looked to be statues of each of the judges using the trees provided.
Kali finally snapped to it when she realized the judges were walking around.
She reached inside of her pocket and took out the only real element she would need. A moon stone.
She drew the transmutation needed. It looked much different than the usual needed one, since this she had created not long ago herself. She then placed her hand onto the transmutation, the spare moon stone inbetween the earth and her palm as it was pointed at the mountain by the trees.
She concentrated... at first, yes, it was going quite well. She had cleared her mind of all thought, the mountain forming into a sleek and beautiful silver color, creating light by the sun... until she thought of the anger and physical pain she wanted to inflict upon Wrath- did she tell herself 'Stop thinking such negative thoughts and concentrate' was it much too late to stop herself
Just as the fuhrer and the two other judges were to see her creation, the white she had created turn to a blood-red, dying the stone to a more see-through and firey red, and before she could stop herself yet again it spread to the wooden statues and the ice palace, even the large currently-in-progress model of Central city, and the sun didn't help, either. The sky above reflected the newly made ruby to make the sky an odd orange tint and the clouds pink in the sky above them.
She finally pulled her hand off of the transmutation and looked at her work, emberrassed. This wasn't the stone she meant to use at all... now she'd get bad marks for sure, plus she messed up all the other alchemists work, too.
She swallowed her fear and turned to face the judges, smiling weakly.
"My... god." Hakuro breathed. Archer looked like he struck it rich, and the Fuhrer was looking at Kali, as if she were a ghost.
Kali took a deep breath and began bowing furiously, over and over again. "ImsosuperlysorryIdidntevenmeantomakethiskindofstone,rubyisntmyfavoriteyousee,Idgladlytakeitoveragainifyougivemeanotherchance,please,please,pleaseforgiveme!" she exclaimed, out of breath.
"We have...the tallys... ahem, scores... Hakuro." Bradley said to the gawking man.
He nodded, scribbling onto the final scores, he handed it to King Bradley, who cleared his throat again.
Kali braced herself. She thought she had no chance, imagine the look of surprise she got when he called out her name first. "Kali Terrence and Riley Windston."
Riley looked at Kali, still shocked it seemed. But Kali, on the other hand, was on the verge of tears. She needed to hug someone!
-------
Kali skipped out the front of HQ, very satisfied with herself... although, not with her performance, she knew who exactly had gotten her there- and it had not been her.
"Sloth!" she yelled happily, he was, this time, waiting by the flag pole. She ran all the way across the courtyard and into his arms excitedly.
"I made it! I made it! I passed the tests!" she exclaimed, grinning ear to ear.
He smiled down at her, "Thats really good, Kali."
"Isn't it? Well, its all thanks to you, Sloth! hadit not have been for you, I probably wouldn't have made it... they're still cleaning it up," she laughed.
He nodded, then looked over his shoulder for a second, kneeling down to her level he began talking low.
"Listen, Kali... I... I dont think I'll be coming back," he grimaced.
Her smile faded and she couldn't help but feel her cheeks burn as she held in tears, "what?" she asked.
"No, its not like I dont want to! believe me I do. Its just... I, well, I've been keeping something from you that I know I shouldn't have and in which you'd probably hate me if I told." he smiled weakly, "But I'll tell you anyways-"
"NO!" she snapped, "I dont want to hate you! you...I... I never got to tell you something!" she protested.
He hugged her. "Thank you. I've never had a friend like you, who doesn't want to hate me." he whispered in her ear, laughing lightly.
Something inside her died. She could feel it. Her stomach had dropped, and her heart felt weak. But why? she wanted to tell him the truth to how she really felt, although she thought that maybe it would be a lie since she didn't know exactly what it was... and even if it was what she is guessing it is... why would it matter? he would have nothing with her, like he wants.What could she ever offer to a guy like him? She would do best to stay out of his life... only as a friend.
"Now what is it that you wanted to tell me so bad? before I go?" he asked.
She looked at him in disbelief. What was she to say? "I...I... I hope you... become happy..." she said.
He seemed confused.
She smiled, putting on a facade. He'd best not worry about her. "You know! you always look sad. You need to be happy, and thats what I want... but...also... can you promise one thing before you go?" she asked.
"Anything."
"Please... dont forget about me..." she said weakly.
He was about to protest and tell her "he would never forget about her" when they heard a voice in the street.
"HEEEEEEEEY! WERE LEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAVIIIIIIIIINNNNG!" Wrath yelled, drawing out her words.
Sloth, instead, nodded to her, smiling. He then leaned over and kissed her on her forehead.
"Promise, and dont you ever forget about me." he said as well, winking, he simply stood up and walked off towards his two new travelling companions, and after getting scolded by Wrath about getting too close to HQ, they vanished from her sight and she stood there until the sun went down until what felt like forever.
Next time on Rebirth:
Ch.10- Cant We All Just Get Along?
Greedy is the heart when given more than its share of needs, creating them more into wants. A female Greed thinks over the way she has been acting after a night of partying, during which time she meets the old Greed and speaks over 'coffee' the next morning at the run-down Devil's Nest, creating a likely friendship. Meanwhile, Kali and Riley get situated into their room in the barracks. Yes, thats right, they're roommates!
Time Will Tell- Utada Hikaru
I'm always told that
Crying won't change anything
But no one cries with that purpose in mind
I worry and I just can't help it
I just can't control the time
Take off into the blue sky
From this long runway!
Time will tell
When time passes we'll understand
Cry, it's ok if you don't try so hard
When time passes we'll understand
Cry, there's no hard road to tomorrow
Surely, surely, surely
Even if there's rain, if we fly above the clouds
Always blue sky
Even the sun seems so close
Like you could grab it with your hand
Dont get depressed alone
We just can't control the time
Take off into the blue sky
From this long runway!
Time will tell
When time passes we'll understand
Cry, now I can't even fool myself with these excuses
Time will tell
When time passes we'll understand
Cry, so now it's ok to cry if I feel like it
More, more, more
Time will tell
When time passes we'll understand
Cry, it's ok if you don't try so hard
When time passes we'll understand
Cry, there's no hard road to tomorrow
Surely, surely, surely