Short chapter, I know. Chapter that hasn't come out in a long time, I know. But I think I will slowly get back into writing and stuff you know

Chapter 5

Memories Fade

Raito

The mission was to gather two souls outside of this strange abandoned warehouse. They had been walking together, but had heard a strange noise creaking above them. L transformed into a scythe, falling into Raito's hands. "Hey, if you're going to convince me to go on a mission, then you should be the first one transforming, not me," Raito exclaimed.

"Let my body kill one, and your body kill one, how about that?" L asked. Raito was reluctant to continue holding onto L, because in honesty he was starting to become afraid from the creaking noises of the pipes. Sewer water dripped eerily into a puddle where the ground was, and the fans in the ceiling caused sunlight to dance on the concrete floor. A shadow from above passed by, breaking the pattern, instantly causing Raito to form a stance and hold guard. He warily observed the pipes that lined the ceiling, his eyes following the directions the noises were headed

He heard a giggle, "They're here for us, they're here for our souls."

Raito was glad they completed one thing in training, if nothing else. Both his hands were free to hold onto L, because the chain was attached at his right hand, almost as if it was a second extension of his radial and ulna. The chain base attachment could be changed to where he so desired, whether it was his left hand or his right hand, or his chest where the chain actually began. This allowed freer movement.

A shadow dripped down, and instantly Raito threw out his chained scythe, swinging it around the shadow. But the shadow did a weird pull-up and avoided it. "Wow that was close, wasn't it close brother?"

"Yeah that was close," an identical voice replied, "too close, sister."

They had opposite genders, Raito observed, yet they looked and sounded the same. "Twins," L commented. He had already read up on what they did, chaos lovers who found their favorite hobby in blowing people up. L had explained everything the day before they headed out to the center of the city. He had a habit of studying.

The two shadows melted into a puddle in front of them, then reappeared as if they were coming out of water. Blackened figures, they certainly looked strange and scary. Raito held onto L, but his body started freezing up. Something seemed familiar about the warehouse. He remembered a boy with white hair, he looked no older than thirteen years old. The boy loved playing with toys.

"Raito?" L asked, Raito had stopped moving. He was still holding onto the chain and sickle, but it was as if he had lost all feeling in his body.

"Raito, turn into a scythe, I'll take care of it," L said, coming out of weapon form. That was when the twins attacked. They charged holding their knives and dangerously whirling around. Raito barely avoided it when L pulled him out of the way. "Raito, turn into a scythe!" L started panicking, Raito was unresponsive. Who was Nate River?

L tugged their invisible chain, the pain woke him up. As fast as he could, Raito turned into a scythe. L held onto him, it was natural. Raito could feel his body being tossed about, yet his mind wasn't watching the fight. His mind was staring at all of those clocks on his wall. They ticked by. Every single time the clock reached forty seconds, Raito would start counting again. He looked around the lonely room, the ground was carpeted, the same color and texture as his living room floor, where he played with Sayu when she was just a baby.

Raito saw a door, hidden between the clocks. The ticking never stopped when he opened the door. Outside, there was only darkness. He took a tentative step into the darkness, curious what was outside of the room. But from what his eyes could see, there was nothing. He slowly closed the door, returning to the room.

"Raito?" he could feel his body vibrate when L said his name. Suddenly, he was rushed to consciousness. He was back inside his weapon, he could see and feel L connected to him, through his soul and chain. "I've defeated them, but can you tell me what happened to you?"

Raito took a deep breath, and returned to his human form. He scratched the back of his head, glancing nervously around the warehouse. It looked almost exactly the same as if he'd been there before. "I'm not really sure, Ryuuzaki." The two of them reached for the souls they were to absorb.

"Do you know how we're supposed to do this?" Raito asked.

"Well, weapons can absorb souls in multiple ways, just whatever feels right to you," L replied. He was being kind, Raito realized. Raito had done nothing to earn the soul he was about to absorb. He had been a mindless weapon. In a fight, the weapon and the meister were supposed to be active in the fight, in order to reach the peak of power and soul resonance. Also, they were both weapons and meisters, they couldn't simply just let one fight when their advantage was being attached to take any enemy off guard.

"Thank you, Ryuuzaki, I'm sorry for being unable to perform during our first fight," Raito felt, for no better words, ashamed of himself. He had no idea what caused him to freeze up in the warehouse. He turned to look at L, who was staring at him curiously.

"No worries, Raito-kun, it's not a problem until we face someone stronger," L said. Raito almost started feeling guilty, as if he couldn't perform to his top quality, but then he remembered it was L who was speaking. When he said 'no worries,' it meant 'it's okay.' It was only L who would turn this into a logical statement about being prepared for the next fight. He wasn't trying to be condescending like Raito would expect most people to do in this situation.

He took the soul and it seemed to sink into his body. Somehow he felt just a little bit more powerful with a single soul. He looked at L, a little bit horrified that L was eating the soul he'd acquired. "How does it taste?" Raito asked, knowing how picky with food L was.

L gulped it down whole, frowning, "Not bad, actually."

Raito raised his eyebrows, "Come on, then, let's get out of here."

L nodded, and the two of them headed out the door. The sun was setting. Raito had a feint memory running down a sandy path, he could remember he felt pain in his chest and his hand. Next to him, there had been a chain link fence very much like the one him and L were walking past. There was warehouse after warehouse. Somehow, his heart beat slowed down as they passed the familiar stairs where he died.

L

Raito's lack of conversation was worrying him. When they returned to the school, they went in and reported their success. Could it be Raito's memories coming back? Maybe, maybe not. L had no idea. But as they reported to their Lord Death, L asked about moving into an empty dorm. The Shinigami shrugged and said okay, so they bid their farewells to Maka, while Soul was clinging onto L for questions.

"How was your first mission? Maka just keeps wanting to train, I wanna go on a mission to, come on please tell me?" Soul asked again and again.

L gave up, and responded, "Soul, Maka, you guys are plenty strong enough to take on one stars. Trust me, start now and you should have ninety nine souls in some years, and plenty enough training for taking on a witch,"

"It was that easy?" Raito couldn't help but ask.

L nodded.

"You weren't there?" Maka asked Raito incredulously.

"Uh, I was, but I sort of panicked," he replied.

She gave a short nod, "I guess it's your first time killing an evil human, that's understandable."

"So how'd you consume the soul?" Soul asked both of them.

"It just sunk into my body," Raito said to soul, frowning.

"I ate mine," L replied. Soul's eyes grew wide, and L could have sworn he saw stars in them.

"That's so cool," he said.

"Well anyways, thanks for having us, but since we're finally a pair, we get to be assigned our own dorm," Raito said politely.

They both nodded. Maka piped in, "Well, we'll miss having you both around."

L had never had any friends outside of Raito. He was starting to get used to their presence, and sometimes even enjoyed it. But it would be better for soul resonance.

Raito and L packed the few clothes they bought in their new world, and moved out.