I guess I felt pretty inspired to be here posting the next chapter so soon... instead of uploading my other fan-fic... again -_-. Disregarding all of that, I would like to thank all of those who have put this story on their favorite/alert list :D. I suppose, as an author with a bit of pride, I will also acknowledge my gratitude for those who have added me to their author favorite and/or alert list :D.
blackshadow98: Thanks, and I agree with you on that. Don't we all just wish we could try to save someone on Death Note? Other than that, I've read a few fan-fics with those ideas you had in them, and I don't want to just follow suit. I have a very different idea in mind... and you'll just have to read to find out what it is ;).
KhinGotRice: ... um... I assume you're just joking about that bolded part right? Moving on to the rest of your review and the other one: Thank you so much. I wanted a story like this, too, though the idea was kind of foggy in my mind until I started typing and thinking about all the things that would sound interesting and believable... And having her replace the girl in the motorcycle scene was an unshakeable event in my mind. I knew that no matter what I did, I had to have her there to make the story more interesting and to add on to it in further chapters.
I was running. The ground quickly rushed past me in a black-and-white checkered blur. The small amount of air I was able to take in felt stuffy and smelled like Walnut.
I tripped over my own feet, but corrected myself and continued on, looking for something significant. My confidence faded as nothing popped up and I was left with only the decorative, barren landscape.
I started to become frustrated as my running grew more pointless and I found I was unable to stop of my own will. Legs growing more and more exhausted, I stumbled frequently and wondered where I was going… and what I was leaving behind. No answers arose to satisfy my questions.
When it was nearing the point that I felt I might actually collapse, greyish figures appeared in the distance. Mercifully, my legs began to slow into a walking pace so I was able to catch my breath a little. Once I was able to fully appreciate my odor-detecting glands, I also realized that there was a small scent of Windex. I grew more curious, and the heat in my legs seemed to fade with each new step. I gingerly approached the growing… chess pieces?
Sucking in a deep breath, I strode up to them. They were all regularly shaped and seemed to be in their beginning positions, and the floor below them held smaller tiles than the ones I had been traveling across, big enough for only one piece to fit on. What struck me the most as odd was not that they were all twice as tall as I was, but that there were three different colors: light grey, dark grey, and… purple? I shook my head to clear it. None of this dream made sense to me since I was not an avid fan of this popular strategic game, but I was pretty certain that the traditional colors were black and white. Not two different shades of grey and some funky color like purple in it.
I stared at this weird design that my mind had come up with, and jumped ten feet in the air when a voice began whispering to me. "Everything has a meaning." It was feminine and breathy, like speaking too loudly or with too much emphasis might shatter its ability to communicate.
"Wh-what do you mean by that?" I hadn't thought it possible to shake in a dream, but now my stellar mind was proving me wrong.
"Look at the colors and decide what you think. You might want to clean some of the pieces to get a better view of them."
And, as the mind usually does when dreaming, I accepted the voice as if I heard her every day. Turning, I walked onto the playing board and made my way to the middle. I turned a full circle, just taking everything in and starting to think things through out loud… well, out loud in my dreamscape.
"The colors aren't regular… but two different shades of grey… which means they could represent different aspects of a common idea… or a common opponent, or area. Is that right?"
"Only you know the answer to that."
"Tcchh. Fine then." I tuned the voice out as I moved on to the next characteristics that were blaring out at me. "… and these purple pieces… purple's the color of confusion… or bruises… and a lot of other stuff, but if I'm thinking in terms of common things, confusion would be the best choice… And each purple piece of one thing matches up with the same one on the other side… Hm…."
"Maybe a closer look will help? You can clean them with the Windex behind you." she reminded me of what she had said earlier about cleaning.
"What Windex?" I turned and saw a bottle of the chemical liquid at my feet along with a rag for cleaning. "Oh."
Even though I tend to be lazy, I walked all the way up to the dark grey king first. I sprayed a small amount on the neck and began wiping the dust away with the cloth. "It's a… a notebook?... No," I examined it closer as there seemed to be words on it, "a D-Death Note." Chills ran up my spine as I spoke the words aloud. It gave me an ominous feeling, but I stored the information away to think about after I had seen what the rest of these dusty structures held on them.
"Try the other king next."
I winced. "If you're not going to be of much help in figuring these out, you can at least not boss me around." Despite having said that, I followed her suggestion, moving across to the other side. I began cleaning the light grey king. "This one has a… mansion on it… It's pretty detailed." I bent my face down and tried to decipher the tiny script written along the gates of it. "Warney's? … No, it says Wammy's… Wammy's House." I straightened back up. "The kings of this game are a mansion and a Death Note?"
"In essence, yes."
Hmm…. "Why are the queens both purple?" Not even waiting for a response that I knew would tell me to find out for myself, I walked to the more feminine structure beside the light-grey king and began dusting. "… it's a balance? What the hell's a balance doing with a mansion?" I strode back over to the queen on the other side and uncovered a balance on her as well. "A balance on both sides?... A balance… a balance…" I knew it was a symbol for something, but I couldn't quite remember what it was. "Oh yeah!" I snapped my fingers in triumph. "It most commonly stands for the idea of justice."
"That is right."
I sighed tiredly. "I'm not getting it. Why am I being shown all this? I don't understand how a notebook, a big house, and justice all ties in together."
"Keep on working and you will see."
I made no argument against her, though I might have in another time. Truthfully, my interest was piqued, and I hadn't had something to take my mind off of everything in a while. Moving over to each individual piece, I began dusting all of them and taking mental notes of it all.
"Let's see… I'll just take care of the entire dark-grey side first and then move onto the other one." I moved to the bishops on each side. The first one was this side's choosing color, holding a grotesque face that made my hand freeze for a second. I didn't know what to make of it… I didn't even know the gender. It had hair that reminded me of Medusa… and a bandage wrapped around the head, covering one of its eyes. The one eye that was visible did not have any irises, just a long, snake-like pupil. There was a bat's snout positioned in the middle of its face, and the large, full lips were slightly parted so that I could see two long fangs. It looked horrendous, inhuman… but I wondered at why it was a bishop, placing my hand on the features and tracing them quickly.
"Rem." I looked in the general direction above me as the voice sounded in my ears.
"What's that?"
"The name of the creature. Rem." I nodded like it was common to give names to such beasts, moving on to the bishop on the other side of the king. This one was purple like the queen.
A few seconds later, I found I had uncovered yet another beast-like face. It was completely covered in bondage. The only things that seemed to be capable of feeling the air were its similarly slanted eyes, the bat-like nose, and the jagged mouth. There didn't seem to be any lips, just long canines jutting out of dry skin where they shouldn't have.
"Sidoh." The voice provided. I quickly moved across to the other purple bishop on the other side. There, I revealed the same face.
"Interesting… If I'm thinking in the right direction, then all of these purple chess pieces each hold the same image on a different side… which means that they benefit both?... or that they fight for both?" I moved back over to the dark-grey side and the first knight. Yet again, a mysterious being stared out at me. His hair was all up in spikes; his eyes were large and humorous, though they too appeared to only be pupil… or maybe just iris? I couldn't tell since the carvings weren't exactly colored in. He also seemed to trend that nose the other two held, so I came to the idea that they were part of the same species, though I could have been wrong considering how not similar they were concerning other facial features.
"Ryuk." the whisper supplied again. I simply nodded, I knew there was no way I would remember these names when I woke up.
The next knight rooted me to the spot in shock… It was the same face as the guy who was in that store when I got attacked. His hair was still perfectly aligned, and not a blemish appeared on his perfect-looking face. But his eyes were what spoke to me the most. They were narrowed in suspicion and with the promise of supplying revenge on all those who went against him. I just stared at him for a couple of minutes, wondering why he had appeared in here of all places.
"Light Yagami." I took in a breath and held it as my suspicions of what his name was were confirmed.
"Wh-why is this dude in my dreams." The ever-imposing stutter had shown himself once again in the face of my confusion.
"You'll have to decide that for yourself. Now, why don't you look at all of the other images and then think about how they all fit together?" Moving in what felt like a mechanical fashion, I continued to dust and spray and wipe and clean until the whole air around me smelled like Windex mixed with dust, and that was just on the one side I was currently at.
"You know," I coughed, "you should really learn how to clean better instead of making games out of the dusty objects to trick other people into cleaning."
"I can't 'clean', as you say. I am merely an embodiment of your desires. I have no arms or legs to touch with… and if I did all this for you, you wouldn't have a firmer grasp on the point of it all and would be more likely to forget everything. This way, at least you will remember some of the carvings."
Not admitting to seeing her point, I looked over all the clean figures and started to assign them the correct names as she had given them to me. "DG King is a Death Note, DG Queen is possibly justice, DG Bishop is Rem, Purple Bishop is Sidoh, DG Knight is Light Yagami, DG Knight 2 is Ryuk, DG Rook 1 is Misa Amane, DG Rook 2 is Mikami Teru, Purple Pawn 1 is Soichiro Yagami, Purple Pawn 2 is Mogi Kanzo, Purple Pawn 3 is Matsuda Touta, Purple Pawn 4 is Aizawa Shuichi… Then the rest of the dark-grey pawns are: Kiyomi Takada, Higuchi Kyosuke, Naomi Misora, and Raye Penber… That's it right?"
"Yes, now just move onto the light grey ones. You already know what's on the purple structures, but you should clean them off anyways."
"Oh, so you really are getting me to clean up for you, eh?" I would have stopped, but this was fun for a foggy mind like mine at the moment.
"No, if you want anything to continue on, you must understand that relationships are a key factor and everything has a meaning on this board. Leaving images unseen could lead to leaving key evidence unheard."
"I didn't know this had turned into some investigation."
"Everything has a –"
"Yeah, yeah, I get it already! It all has a reason behind it!" I stomped over to the other side and began dusting the purple ones first since they would hold no surprises. Moving onwards towards the still-dirty pieces, I patiently scrubbed and listened to all of the names I was given, memorizing the way they sounded in my ears and recording them on my mental…er, thought mental notepad.
"Let's see, forgetting about the purple ones… LG Bishop is Mello, LG Rook is Near, LG Rook 2 is Matt, LG Pawn is Rester, LG Pawn 2 is Lidner, LG Pawn 3 is Gevanni, and LG Pawn 4 is Watari." I waited for her to confirm that I was correct.
"Don't forget the knights."
"What's with the emphasis on that last s… oh, I forgot about the second light-grey knight…" I went up to it, wondering why it had slipped my mind. I hadn't even registered its firm existence, only knowing that it was there in general as a rule. "Well," I began rubbing the last figure clean, "the first knight was… L? Yeah, L… and this one is… damn." The filth didn't seem to want to come off, so I had to put a lot of elbow grease into it. "Almost… got it!" I froze in shock at the final face in front of me… and it was me. "Why am I-I on it?"
"Because, you too have a role to play in this mindful game. Whether your piece moves you in the right direction or not lies solely within your own choices."
"Are the people… and things… on these pieces placed according to how strong they are in the game? Is that even a question you can answer?" I cocked my head, listening for the voice I had grown accustomed to hearing.
She seemed to take a while with responding, thinking over what would be her best option. "Fortunately, I can tell you that. No, they are not labeled according to their ranks… but rather, their abilities. Just because an individual holds a talent qualifying them in the pawn range doesn't mean that talent isn't stronger than one holding the rook position."
"And was I right in assuming that the purple coloring stood for confusion?"
Another pause. "Not quite. The individuals are unable to tell which side they are truly working for… but it also means that they bestow benefit on both, therefore acting as opponents on each side. The same idea applies to regular pawns. While they may not be willingly benefitting a certain side, they are still doing so, even if they haven't had the chance to help the color they wish to. This qualifies them in a different color-area."
"Alrighty then." I inhaled and exhaled deeply a couple of times, taking in the noxious cleaner perfumes as well as the woodsy smell all around me. "Well, now that that's all settled… what next?"
Just as I said that, the light-grey pawn with Watari's face I had been standing next to moved on its own all of a sudden. "Holy Shit!" I squeaked and jumped aside so I wouldn't be toppled in the process. "What the hell?! Why didn't you warn me, whispery… thingy?"
"They were triggered by your question, I didn't have enough time to say anything. It would be best if you moved off the board and just watched the pieces."
I jogged to the end where I had first gotten on and moved onto the larger squares I had started this dream with. I faced the chess game happening before me and watched the moves being made with intent eyes. Apparently, Watari had merely moved forward one space, not really doing much harm. The other side followed with Soichiro Yagami… and the lighter side copied this move. Next came Aizawa from both sides, then the Matsudas, and finally the Mogis.
"The first gaming pieces are making their moves… but they're not really paying attention to what the other is doing… more like they're doing it blindly or out of the sake of repeating each other's copies. Though I don't see why the opposing side would bring forward the pieces that helped the opponent as well."
"Purple pieces move of their own accord, their movements just happen to 'fit the bill' of both cases." Her voice had begun to sound more distant for some reason, but I didn't pay much attention as to why.
"Hmm…. It looks like it's dark-grey's move…" But, before I could think any further into what their next move would be, or what strategies would be used, a large sound penetrated my foggy conscious.
It was… a ringing sort of noise. As it grew louder, the pieces began to all fade away.
"Wait!" I shouted, but to no avail, for they had all vanished by the time the word had left my mouth. The checkers, both small and large, followed suit, and then I was left with that ringing that kept getting louder and louder…
I jolted awake.
The ringing filled my head as I registered a faint vibration in my pocket. It was my phone.
Taking it out, I checked the caller ID. Seeing Ms. Kyara's name in bold, I hurried to flip it open. But I was too late and heard a disconnecting sound. Darn it… I'll just call her back.
My gaze fell on my necklace on the floor, where it had ended up in the process of slumber. Pieces began to click as I felt the ache in my limbs and felt the puffy and warm areas around my eyes. By the time everything came back to me, the assault, the leader, and the accident, I was cold both inside and out. There was nothing left to be. I had already gone through the regular emotions before I went to sleep; all that was left was to be numb. That… and feeling that weird confusion from trying to remember my dream from the night before. It felt as though something important had happened in it, but I couldn't quite remember what. There had been chess-pieces… and a voice… and something to do with colors? But there were also faces to go along with the chess-men and -hierarchy. I couldn't remember the names, but two faces remained crystal clear: the boy I had dubbed to be the brown-haired OCD dude, and a guy with really messy hair, eyes that reminded me of a panda, and a thin facial outline, though not majorly so.
But that didn't matter at the moment. I shook my head, telling myself it wasn't that important and I could just forget about it for a while. Grabbing my necklace from the floorboards, I placed it around my neck again, sitting up and stretching my body. What matters the most right now is calling Ms. Kyara back. And so I did.
Ignoring the fact that my sinuses were clogged, making my voice deeper and sound sick, I punched in her phone-number and held the device up to my ear. It rang for a few seconds before Ms. K picked up.
"Orijinaru! I've been trying to get ahold of you for so long! Where were you?" Her voice was tight with worry as she addressed me.
"I'm at home, and I was sleeping in front of my door for the night."
"Your door?... Why?"
"I… I should ha-have listened to you… I went out yesterday, and didn't start coming home until it was dark… and… a-and something happened. I lost my purse… b-but a man… he w-was killed." My voice faded into a whisper as my stuttering intensified due to the cold temperature the room seemed to be in.
She was quiet on the other end, and I waited as patiently as I could for her to answer. I began to think that she had already hung up, and was about to close my phone, when she replied, "I'll be right over."
I heard a click on the other end and knew she was probably getting into her car as I sat there shivering in the cold.
Deciding that just standing there wasn't going to do me all that much good, I headed to my bedroom, pulling on my pj's and grabbing the blanket off my bed, preferring to be waiting out in the living room. I decided to try to brush my teeth, thinking all the shaking my hands had begun doing would create an electric toothbrush effect with my mechanical one. I washed some of the dirt off my face, too.
Walking back out to the living room, I hopped over the top of the couch with my large blanket and wrapped it tightly around my sitting figure. Cautiously, I tried to clear my nose in the way most kids did those days: I sniffed until I actually got air into my nasal passageways, then I sniffed some more. I only stopped when I knew my nostrils were now slightly swollen, but knew that would go down in a few minutes' tops.
Slowly, my body began to warm up underneath the heavy fabric, and my puffy eyes began to feel more normal. I sat there then, just twiddling the necklace around with my fingers. That boy appeared in my dream and in real life… some significance to it? Maybe, maybe not… Perhaps I just developed a strange crush on him. That wouldn't be too far-fetched. He was pretty good-looking for an OCD dude. But I wonder who that second face was? Maybe he w-
Knock knock.
I felt like asking, "Who is it?" and then making one of those cheesy jokes… but I knew that would just be the stupidest thing ever. It was best to ignore my strange urges whenever I was in a tense situation. So, I got up and walked to the door, making sure to keep the blanket around my head and shoulders to retain my warmth.
I opened the door… and saw two men standing there. They weren't much in the way of body-builds, but an authoritative aura still radiated off of them. One had short-cropped blonde hair while the other guy had long and black wavy hair. I couldn't see exactly what they looked like since they wore sunglasses much like the ones worn in cliché cop movies.
"Excuse me, ma'am." The blonde spoke up from slightly behind the other one's left shoulder. "We're going to need to ask you a few questions."
All of my previously acquired warmth fled quickly away.
IMPORTANT NOTICE! READ! Alright, this isn't as important as I make it out to be, but I have a poll up on my profile asking my readers whether they would like me to post a one-shot interpretation of Orijinaru's dream. I promise you, it all has a meaning behind it, and telling you wouldn't be ruining the story, so why not give you the option? Vote on my poll, or vote in a review and I'll just post the vote in the poll. I want to feel accomplished, I guess :D.
Anyways, thanks for reading and be sure to post a review and help support this story if you like reading it ;).