A/N- Hello! I'm returning, if very sporadically, to the wonderful fandom of Darker Than Black! I'm busy with schoolwork and an orchestra audition, but hopefully I'll be able to upload more...that is, if you like it!

So...Here it is!

Animum Debes Mutare, Non Caelum

"You must change your disposition, not the sky" -Seneca

Chapter 1: Letting the Stars Fall

He felt the stars fall. Streaks of white light descending into the black, leaving behind a void just as large and just as prominent. He could feel the light behind his lids, in the blue irises of his eyes, and the blast of nothingness as the star struck wherever it was that it was fated to strike: heaven or hell?

Limbo? Perhaps there wasn't a choice.

Rain hit the window panes, a steady rhythm of tap! tap! tap! and he raised his head to tilt marginally to his right. Through the bleary glass, the wall of Hell's Gate was clearly visible- how could it not be?- and Hei released a slow breath through his teeth. His life was falling apart, quite frankly, and he wasn't sure how much longer this, whatever this was, could stay together.

His persona of Li? Fringing at the seams. Misaki Kirihara had finally discovered a thing or two, and now popped up whenever and wherever he was going. Having lunch? She was there. Buying vegetables? She was there. And just straight walking to the park, well, her flashy blue Porsche was never that far away.

His job at the Syndicate? Huang had moved away, had voluntarily erased his memories to run off with some other Syndicate castoff. Her name was Shihoko if Hei remembered correctly. Mao had been transferred to Russia for some budding branch called Section 3, and Yin...well, Yin had a malfunction back at programming. Apparently they had tried to reboot her system, but she had developed so much of a soul that she simply couldn't take it. Her body had rejected the computer data and she was now in a state of shock. Sometimes flitting between her original doll-like state to that of a normal, albeit apathetic, teenage girl.

And finally? Pai. It had kept him going- the dream of it all- but now? What was there anymore? What Syndicate did he work for? He hadn't been contacted since- well since last June when everyone had left, and who was supposed to contact him anyway? As far as he knew, the Syndicate had simply dropped him off the chess board. Accidently?- he doubted it. The thing was, what did he have to live for anymore?

He had figured out most of what happened at Heaven's Gate: Pai, Amber, and Havoc had raced to the center of the Gate, Havoc had dropped off a bit sooner due to unwelcome company, and then the two girls somehow blasted the entire area off of chartable existence. Not as detailed as he had originally hoped, but that's as much info as Mao had hacked into before getting zapped by a foreign agency. And really, what was one detail more or less?

Everything was gone.

Tap! Tap! Tap! He wondered absently if Yin had made it to the stand safely. Or if Huang was finally happy. If Mao still remembered him, if the Syndicate still remembered him, and if Misaki finally knew him. Tap! Tap! Tap!

.oOo.

Headlights swerved in front of the apartment complex, wheels rolling firmly to a stop. Misaki Kirikara hadn't meant to drive here really, but apparently she had, somewhere deep inside. She groaned and shut the engine off, watching as the rain pelted her windshield incessantly. She knew she had an unhealthy fascination for the exchange student known as Li Shengshun, but she also knew that she led an unbearably boring life. Work. Paper work.

For some odd reason, contractor activity in Tokyo had dwindled from the top ten to next to zero over the course of a year. There was no explaining it. But the point was, Misaki rarely had a chance out of the office. Long gone were the days of chasing down BK-201 and the various contractors that plagued Japan's underworld. Now, all there was to live for was work. Boring, civilian work, along the lines of robberies. Nowhere near as exciting or as involved when contractors had lit up the Tokyo sky. And so, consequently, Misaki found herself wandering the busy city, happening to wander across Li from time to time. Which was odd, since school was still in session, but she thought nothing of it. Universities had flexible enough schedules, right?

Sometimes she would catch sight of that pretty silver haired girl that sometimes hung around Li. Not that she was looking or caring... but she was curious. European sister? Chinese brother?

Misaki really had no hope. Obviously they were together, with a pet cat she did recall, and possibly that gruff looking man she assumed to be the girl's father. Curious, too, how she couldn't remember the last time she had seen them all together. She stared back at the apartment building, then back at the steering wheel.

Oh, forget it.

She pushed the key in the ignition and roared away.

.oOo.

The next morning, Misaki dragged herself back to work with a frown marring her face. More paper work- did the stacks never end? What happened to the days of chasing BK-201 from rooftop to rooftop? Or of catching doll traffickers and smugglers? She groaned and reorganized some folders, even as her thoughts returned to BK-201. The last time she had seen him was, goodness, at Alice Wang's party, where his sudden heroics managed to save both her and Saitou. Ever since, she couldn't even think of him as a heartless contractor anymore, he was just...well, he must have felt something! What possible logical reason would there be to spare the chief of police?

A knock at the door broke her reverie, and she started as none other than MI-6's top field agent strode into the room and folded up his sunglasses.

"Hello, Misaki!" he said cheerfully, stowing his shades in his pocket.

"November? W-what are you doing here?" She peaked behind him, wondering if his entire team had come visiting, but it was just him and his dapper white suit. MI-6 had pulled out all their agents from Tokyo once it proved to be a contractor dead zone, which meant that Misaki hadn't seen or heard word of November, April, or July since last year. Why he suddenly showed up now was beyond her. Surely he wasn't interested in her new 'desk job.'

November gave his usual charming smile and went to stand in front of her, hands clasped behind his back.

"April and July will be up shortly, I believe. But you mean to say that you don't know?"

Misaki froze. "Know? Know what?" she asked, brown eyes widening behind her thin frames.

"Oh." November frowned and tilted his head thoughtfully. "There's a star on the move. They're calling it the Wanderer...I would have thought your Astronomics would have picked it up by now. MI-6 has been tracking it for a few months now."

"Astro- you mean-!" Misaki blinked in realization. "There's an active star in Tokyo!" she screamed. That meant...that meant-! There was hope?

November nodded. "GN-198. It's a relatively old star, but has recently become active. No one knows why, and for that contractor to come here to Tokyo, where activity has practically been null? Let's just say MI-6's interest was definitely piqued."

"So there's no other intel on this contractor?" Misaki clarified excitedly. "You don't know who it is or who they work for."

"Correct. It's a liability." He stared down at her fondly with his ice blue eyes, before glancing quickly at the calendar hanging over her desk. "Ah! I knew I was right!"

Misaki caught his gaze and threw her arms out to cover it.

"Hey, don't-!"

"Your birthday is this weekend!" November exclaimed, pointing to the clearly marked September 28th, circled in red highlighter.

"Don't you have a meeting to go to?" Misaki growled halfheartedly, regretting her decision to let Saitou in charge of the schedule. "Hourai doesn't like to be kept waiting."

November shrugged. "I've already seen him. -Oh, April, July!"

The two newcomers stepped into the room, April smiling gently, and July looking bored to death.

"Good morning, Misaki."

"Morning." July added tonelessly.

"What do you mean you've already seen him?" Misaki asked. "I didn't see you come in at all."

"Oh, that's because you were deep in thought." November said. "I watched you for a bit. You didn't twitch a muscle."

Misaki frowned indigently.

"It must be really boring now that BK-201 has dropped off the radar." April commented. "It's amazing you can even concentrate on civilian claims. I know I'd be dying."

"Only barely." Misaki admitted with a sigh. "I didn't even want to come today."

"Which is exactly why we want to take you out." April grinned.

"N-nani? What?" She must have heard wrong. Contractors asking, no, wanting to take her out? April blinked at Misaki's stunned expression and then shot a glare at November. "You didn't tell her?"

November shrugged. "Surprise! We're taking you to the Tokyo Music Festival!"

"Happy birthday." July murmured.

"Er-" She wasn't sure who to deal with first: April's excitement or November's complacence. "Why? My birthday comes around every year, you know. I haven't celebrated it since grade school." She shuffled some papers on her desk and stapled a bundle of finished reports on pedestrian life.

"All the more reason to get out and live." April urged. "Besides, we've already got tickets."

"Please come." said July, placing a hand on her arm. Misaki melted.

"Oh, al-lright." she stuttered. "But how much do I owe you?"

November shook his head. "Have you never heard of a gift before? Well, this is one of them."

"But they're 5,000 yen!" Misaki screeched, leaping out of her chair. April looked bemused.

"Relax, Misaki. That hardly puts a dent in MI-6's wallet."

"Th-this comes out of MI-6?"

November smiled. "More or less. It's from our paychecks, but what good is money if there's nothing to spend it on? Besides, I think we could all get back into the life of Tokyo. We've been away and you certainly look like you need a break." He eyed the papers apprehensively.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt." Misaki said slowly.

"Excellent! Then it's settled!" April clapped her hands. "Come on July, let's go back down to Astronomics. And November, I'll see you later, okay?"

"Of course, April."

He turned back towards the police chief and nodded. "I'll pick you up at your apartment at one on Saturday?"

Misaki actually cracked a smile. "Yes, and thank you, November."

A/N- Hey! So I'm actually not sure when Misaki was born, but for my sake, her birthday is now September 28th! Also, I know this is probably longer than what I normally write, but updates should be longer too.

I hoped you liked it, because I've got more that I just don't want to throw away. :) So PLEASE REVIEW!

Thanks!

Bleu Tsuki