Categories > Anime/Manga > Death Note > Shinigami: Death of the Old World
When Sidoh got back to Justin’s throne, Gukku and Deridovely were just arriving as well.
“How did it go?” asked Justin.
“We met up with a group of about seven shinigami near that patch of apple trees, and when we told them the story, they seemed interested,” said Gukku.
“Sidoh?”
“It was horrible! The only shinigami I found was Kinddara, and when I tried to tell her what the King was up to, she bit me!” Sidoh complained.
“Just why are we doing this, anyway?” asked Deridovely.
“The more shinigami we have on our side, the better off we are,” said Justin. “There are about five hundred shinigami in this realm, and I bet not one of them likes the idea of being killed. If we get them all on our side, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with- the King may have an anti-shinigami weapon, but he’s still only one shinigami, and if we have the numbers, I can see being able to do something about him.”
Already, the crowd around Justin’s throne was growing. More and more shinigami were flocking to the area, asking if the rumour they’d heard was true. The fifty or so shinigami who had been there when Rem had arrived were milling about, assuring the newcomers that it was, that they’d seen Rem herself, and that Nu had confirmed it. Nu herself had gone missing-she was very good at slipping away without anyone noticing.
“Hey, Justin,” a mould-encrusted shinigami called. “Where’s Rem? I wanna see her, myself.”
Justin shook his head. “It’s too dangerous for both Rem and the rest of us if she’s out in the open. If the King finds her, it will be the end of her and whoever she’s with.”
“So where is she?”
“I can’t tell you that. I’d like to be able to trust you all with that information, but in a large group such as this, I can’t be sure someone won’t accidentally or purposefully let it slip to the King where she’s hiding.”
“Wait a minute…if that’s the case, isn’t it kind of risky that he’ll hear about this gathering?” asked Zellogi.
Justin sighed sadly. “That can’t be helped. Yes, there is a risk that this will attract the attention of the King. But the shinigami can’t do anything about the King’s plans if they don’t know about them, and they won’t know about them unless we tell them. Any actions we take will carry a degree of risk, but they must be carried out regardless, because if we do nothing, we die.”
Deridovely gulped. “So if the King finds out we’re here, we’re toast?”
“Not necessarily. So long as there’s no evidence that we actually met Rem, I may be able to pass this off as just a bunch of shinigami getting overexcited about a juicy rumour, and that any planned action against the King is also nothing more than a rumour. That’s why I have to keep Rem’s hiding place secret. If someone hears her location through association with us and tells the King, and he finds her, then we’re in trouble.”
“…you are the only one who knows where she is, right?” Sidoh gulped.
“Ryuk knows too, but that’s because he’s hiding with her. Everyone’s heard about his role in this whole situation, and if the King finds out that he’s responsible for Rem’s escape, I doubt the he’ll be pleased with him. I figured Ryuk was better off in hiding, as well.”
“Hey, Justin, what does the King really look like again?” a shinigami asked, and Justin turned away to answer him. Deridovely took this opportunity to have a muttered conversation with Gukku.
“Dude…do you think this is a good idea?” he said, quietly, so they wouldn’t be overheard. “I mean…maybe we should just stay out of this.”
“What are you talking about?” Gukku whispered back.
“I mean, like Justin said, the King’s probably gonna hear about this sooner or later…wouldn’t it be better not to be around when that happens?”
“Dude, the king’s gonna kill everyone, including you, unless we get rid of him! How can you not want to help?”
“He’s the freakin’ King, Gukku! What are we gonna be able to do? I’ve had enough of all this…seems to me like going against him is gonna do nothing but shorten your time…”
“Do you really think so?” asked Sidoh.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Sidoh!” Deridovely snarled. “Mind your own business!”
“How you managed to eavesdrop from so far away, I don’t know, but don’t do it again,” said Gukku, definitely annoyed. They turned their backs to Sidoh and walked away as they continued their whispered conversation.
At that moment, Midora drifted out of the sky and went up to talk to Justin.
“I talked to five in the swamp near the big rock. Sounds like they’re coming. And…” she couldn’t finish.
“And what?” asked Justin.
Fear flashed in Midora’s eyes, and her voice trembled a bit. “The King’s back in the tower. He’s moving the Old Man puppet around again, making it talk…he says he wants to see three shinigami. Kinddara Guivelostain, Daril Ghiroza…and…and Sidoh.”
At this, the crowd fell silent, and all eyes turned to Sidoh. Sidoh was certain this was the feeling humans had when they wet themselves with fear. He looked at Justin imploringly, who gave him an apologetic shrug.
“Sorry, Sidoh…you’re going to have to go. It will look suspicious if you don’t.”
“But…but what could he want with me?” Sidoh squeaked.
“…I don’t know,” Justin admitted. “You’ll have to go see. Just remember-you have no idea that Rem’s alive, or who Rem even is, for that matter; and as far as you know, the King is the golden thing that hangs from the tower, same as always.”
“I bet I know! The King’s summoning him to be in the first batch of ones to die,” said Zellogi.
Justin shot him a furious, exasperated glare. “Yes, Zellogi, I also thought that might be a possibility, but I suppose I just forgot to mention it, because that’s a great thing to tell Sidoh before he has to go face the King by himself. Being out of his mind with terror is really going to help him stay calm and collected. Thank you so much for mentioning that.”
Sidoh completely lost it. “NO! NO! NO! I’M NOT DOING IT! I’M NOT GOING! I DON’T WANNA DIE! I DON’T WANNA…!”
“Calm down, Sidoh!”
“NOO! I CAN’T DO IT! I DON’TWANNADIEIDON’TWANNADIEIDON’TWANNADIE…!”
“CALM DOWN, SIDOH!” Justin roared, rising out of his chair.
With a cowed “eep!”, Sidoh fell silent.
Justin sat back down. “I can’t deny that it’s a possibility the King is summoning you with the intention of killing you… but I don’t think that’s the case. I think he wants you for another reason, one that we don’t have enough information to predict right now.”
“What makes you think that?” Sidoh sniffled.
“…right now, it only makes sense that the King’s number-one priority is killing Rem and her rescuer, before they can tell anyone what they know and put everyone else on high alert. Frankly, if we didn’t know about his plan, the King probably could have killed us for years before we noticed. Shinigami wander off all the time, and it’s not like we keep tabs on each other or anything. It’s going to be much harder to kill us all if we’re onto him, and the King will probably try his hardest to prevent that before he goes ahead with his “culling”, so you’re probably safe for now. I don’t think he’s going to start until he either finds Rem or learns that he’s too late, and if Rem’s memory serves her right, it’s not you he’s going to start with. It’s going to be the lowest-ranking shinigami…and me.”
Sidoh still looked terrified, but considerably less so than when he’d been screaming hysterically. “…Is going to him really my only option?” he asked.
“It will be better for you if you do. If you go to him willingly, it will suggest that you have nothing to hide, and if he has to come looking for you, he’ll probably be pissed. Just stay calm and keep your facts straight. Go now…if he’s impatient, making him wait any longer won’t help you.”
Sidoh gulped audibly as he looked in the direction of the King’s tower. Reluctantly, he spread his wings. He pinched one of them, but he didn’t wake up…so this wasn’t just a nightmare.
“So, you’re certain he’s gonna be okay, huh?” Gukku said as Sidoh flew off.
“I’m not certain at all, but he wasn’t going to go unless I gave him some reassurance. He might be all right, and he might not. I don’t know how intelligent or sane the King is, so I can’t judge his odds,” said Justin. “All I can say for sure is that right now, I’m glad I’m not him.”
As Sidoh was flying, he met up with Daril Ghiroza, who was understandably heading in the same direction he was.
“Any idea what the King wants?” Sidoh asked.
“Not a clue,” she replied.
Sidoh started to ask Daril if she was scared or not, but then he remembered that he hadn’t seen her in the crowd around Justin’s throne…at least; he didn’t think he’d seen her…
“So…did you hear Ryuk’s story?” Sidoh asked, hoping that this wasn’t the kind of question that made him seem suspicious.
“Yeah, Midora told us. You ought to tell Ryuk to lay off the apples. It sounds like they’re starting to screw with his brain.”
So he hadn’t seen her, after all… “You don’t believe it?”
“Of course not! It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Why? Should I believe it?”
Uh, oh…was he supposed to tell her so she’d want to join their side, or was he supposed to lie to keep her from telling the King?
“Uh, I dunno…” he said.
“How can you not know, Sidoh?” she asked. “According to Ryuk’s story, you were in the tower and helped find Rem. Did you get amnesia that day, or what?”
Oops…oh, crap, he was blowing it! “Uh…just kidding. I don’t believe it either…er, what I meant to say was, it isn’t…uh, um…because it isn’t. True! I mean, it isn’t true, because I wasn’t. You know, in the tower...”
“…Doorknob,” Daril snickered under her breath. Sidoh sighed inwardly…he was used to being called names…he guessed it was better to be giggled at for a change, rather than snarled at…
Kinddara was already waiting at the foot of the tower when they arrived, right beneath the golden behemoth of a puppet… “No, no, no! Don’t think of it as a puppet…I’m supposed to act like it’s the real King...” Sidoh thought.
As they landed, Kinddara grinned sinisterly at Sidoh, baring every single one of her teeth. Sidoh clutched at the wing she’d bitten earlier and suppressed a shudder.
“Good. You’ve arrived,” said the large golden “shinigami” with two faces that was suspended from the tower. “I’ve called the three of you here for a very important reason, but I can’t tell you what it is, out in the open like this. Please…come inside.”
With that, a door of the tower that was otherwise invisible slid open right in front of them. Daril looked surprised, and Kinddara looked…well, still slightly manic, as usual, but they both went inside without hesitation.
“Oh, no…I’m dead. I’m so dead…” Sidoh groaned mentally.
“Why aren’t you coming in, Sidoh? Is something the matter?” the King asked.
“Uh…nothing…” Sidoh squeaked, and then winced as he heard how scared he sounded.
“There’s no need to be frightened, Sidoh. You aren’t in any trouble,” said the King, his voice gentle and comforting. “It’s all right. You can come in.”
The King’s voice was hypnotic…really, how could you not trust him, when he talked that way? Despite having seen Rem firsthand, despite having been in the tower himself when the crucial events were occurring; hearing the Old Man talk the way he’d always talked was almost enough to make Sidoh think that the whole thing really was just a story…
“Come on in, young one. You have nothing to fear.”
Slowly, cautiously, he went through the door and into the hallway.
“How did it go?” asked Justin.
“We met up with a group of about seven shinigami near that patch of apple trees, and when we told them the story, they seemed interested,” said Gukku.
“Sidoh?”
“It was horrible! The only shinigami I found was Kinddara, and when I tried to tell her what the King was up to, she bit me!” Sidoh complained.
“Just why are we doing this, anyway?” asked Deridovely.
“The more shinigami we have on our side, the better off we are,” said Justin. “There are about five hundred shinigami in this realm, and I bet not one of them likes the idea of being killed. If we get them all on our side, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with- the King may have an anti-shinigami weapon, but he’s still only one shinigami, and if we have the numbers, I can see being able to do something about him.”
Already, the crowd around Justin’s throne was growing. More and more shinigami were flocking to the area, asking if the rumour they’d heard was true. The fifty or so shinigami who had been there when Rem had arrived were milling about, assuring the newcomers that it was, that they’d seen Rem herself, and that Nu had confirmed it. Nu herself had gone missing-she was very good at slipping away without anyone noticing.
“Hey, Justin,” a mould-encrusted shinigami called. “Where’s Rem? I wanna see her, myself.”
Justin shook his head. “It’s too dangerous for both Rem and the rest of us if she’s out in the open. If the King finds her, it will be the end of her and whoever she’s with.”
“So where is she?”
“I can’t tell you that. I’d like to be able to trust you all with that information, but in a large group such as this, I can’t be sure someone won’t accidentally or purposefully let it slip to the King where she’s hiding.”
“Wait a minute…if that’s the case, isn’t it kind of risky that he’ll hear about this gathering?” asked Zellogi.
Justin sighed sadly. “That can’t be helped. Yes, there is a risk that this will attract the attention of the King. But the shinigami can’t do anything about the King’s plans if they don’t know about them, and they won’t know about them unless we tell them. Any actions we take will carry a degree of risk, but they must be carried out regardless, because if we do nothing, we die.”
Deridovely gulped. “So if the King finds out we’re here, we’re toast?”
“Not necessarily. So long as there’s no evidence that we actually met Rem, I may be able to pass this off as just a bunch of shinigami getting overexcited about a juicy rumour, and that any planned action against the King is also nothing more than a rumour. That’s why I have to keep Rem’s hiding place secret. If someone hears her location through association with us and tells the King, and he finds her, then we’re in trouble.”
“…you are the only one who knows where she is, right?” Sidoh gulped.
“Ryuk knows too, but that’s because he’s hiding with her. Everyone’s heard about his role in this whole situation, and if the King finds out that he’s responsible for Rem’s escape, I doubt the he’ll be pleased with him. I figured Ryuk was better off in hiding, as well.”
“Hey, Justin, what does the King really look like again?” a shinigami asked, and Justin turned away to answer him. Deridovely took this opportunity to have a muttered conversation with Gukku.
“Dude…do you think this is a good idea?” he said, quietly, so they wouldn’t be overheard. “I mean…maybe we should just stay out of this.”
“What are you talking about?” Gukku whispered back.
“I mean, like Justin said, the King’s probably gonna hear about this sooner or later…wouldn’t it be better not to be around when that happens?”
“Dude, the king’s gonna kill everyone, including you, unless we get rid of him! How can you not want to help?”
“He’s the freakin’ King, Gukku! What are we gonna be able to do? I’ve had enough of all this…seems to me like going against him is gonna do nothing but shorten your time…”
“Do you really think so?” asked Sidoh.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Sidoh!” Deridovely snarled. “Mind your own business!”
“How you managed to eavesdrop from so far away, I don’t know, but don’t do it again,” said Gukku, definitely annoyed. They turned their backs to Sidoh and walked away as they continued their whispered conversation.
At that moment, Midora drifted out of the sky and went up to talk to Justin.
“I talked to five in the swamp near the big rock. Sounds like they’re coming. And…” she couldn’t finish.
“And what?” asked Justin.
Fear flashed in Midora’s eyes, and her voice trembled a bit. “The King’s back in the tower. He’s moving the Old Man puppet around again, making it talk…he says he wants to see three shinigami. Kinddara Guivelostain, Daril Ghiroza…and…and Sidoh.”
At this, the crowd fell silent, and all eyes turned to Sidoh. Sidoh was certain this was the feeling humans had when they wet themselves with fear. He looked at Justin imploringly, who gave him an apologetic shrug.
“Sorry, Sidoh…you’re going to have to go. It will look suspicious if you don’t.”
“But…but what could he want with me?” Sidoh squeaked.
“…I don’t know,” Justin admitted. “You’ll have to go see. Just remember-you have no idea that Rem’s alive, or who Rem even is, for that matter; and as far as you know, the King is the golden thing that hangs from the tower, same as always.”
“I bet I know! The King’s summoning him to be in the first batch of ones to die,” said Zellogi.
Justin shot him a furious, exasperated glare. “Yes, Zellogi, I also thought that might be a possibility, but I suppose I just forgot to mention it, because that’s a great thing to tell Sidoh before he has to go face the King by himself. Being out of his mind with terror is really going to help him stay calm and collected. Thank you so much for mentioning that.”
Sidoh completely lost it. “NO! NO! NO! I’M NOT DOING IT! I’M NOT GOING! I DON’T WANNA DIE! I DON’T WANNA…!”
“Calm down, Sidoh!”
“NOO! I CAN’T DO IT! I DON’TWANNADIEIDON’TWANNADIEIDON’TWANNADIE…!”
“CALM DOWN, SIDOH!” Justin roared, rising out of his chair.
With a cowed “eep!”, Sidoh fell silent.
Justin sat back down. “I can’t deny that it’s a possibility the King is summoning you with the intention of killing you… but I don’t think that’s the case. I think he wants you for another reason, one that we don’t have enough information to predict right now.”
“What makes you think that?” Sidoh sniffled.
“…right now, it only makes sense that the King’s number-one priority is killing Rem and her rescuer, before they can tell anyone what they know and put everyone else on high alert. Frankly, if we didn’t know about his plan, the King probably could have killed us for years before we noticed. Shinigami wander off all the time, and it’s not like we keep tabs on each other or anything. It’s going to be much harder to kill us all if we’re onto him, and the King will probably try his hardest to prevent that before he goes ahead with his “culling”, so you’re probably safe for now. I don’t think he’s going to start until he either finds Rem or learns that he’s too late, and if Rem’s memory serves her right, it’s not you he’s going to start with. It’s going to be the lowest-ranking shinigami…and me.”
Sidoh still looked terrified, but considerably less so than when he’d been screaming hysterically. “…Is going to him really my only option?” he asked.
“It will be better for you if you do. If you go to him willingly, it will suggest that you have nothing to hide, and if he has to come looking for you, he’ll probably be pissed. Just stay calm and keep your facts straight. Go now…if he’s impatient, making him wait any longer won’t help you.”
Sidoh gulped audibly as he looked in the direction of the King’s tower. Reluctantly, he spread his wings. He pinched one of them, but he didn’t wake up…so this wasn’t just a nightmare.
“So, you’re certain he’s gonna be okay, huh?” Gukku said as Sidoh flew off.
“I’m not certain at all, but he wasn’t going to go unless I gave him some reassurance. He might be all right, and he might not. I don’t know how intelligent or sane the King is, so I can’t judge his odds,” said Justin. “All I can say for sure is that right now, I’m glad I’m not him.”
As Sidoh was flying, he met up with Daril Ghiroza, who was understandably heading in the same direction he was.
“Any idea what the King wants?” Sidoh asked.
“Not a clue,” she replied.
Sidoh started to ask Daril if she was scared or not, but then he remembered that he hadn’t seen her in the crowd around Justin’s throne…at least; he didn’t think he’d seen her…
“So…did you hear Ryuk’s story?” Sidoh asked, hoping that this wasn’t the kind of question that made him seem suspicious.
“Yeah, Midora told us. You ought to tell Ryuk to lay off the apples. It sounds like they’re starting to screw with his brain.”
So he hadn’t seen her, after all… “You don’t believe it?”
“Of course not! It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Why? Should I believe it?”
Uh, oh…was he supposed to tell her so she’d want to join their side, or was he supposed to lie to keep her from telling the King?
“Uh, I dunno…” he said.
“How can you not know, Sidoh?” she asked. “According to Ryuk’s story, you were in the tower and helped find Rem. Did you get amnesia that day, or what?”
Oops…oh, crap, he was blowing it! “Uh…just kidding. I don’t believe it either…er, what I meant to say was, it isn’t…uh, um…because it isn’t. True! I mean, it isn’t true, because I wasn’t. You know, in the tower...”
“…Doorknob,” Daril snickered under her breath. Sidoh sighed inwardly…he was used to being called names…he guessed it was better to be giggled at for a change, rather than snarled at…
Kinddara was already waiting at the foot of the tower when they arrived, right beneath the golden behemoth of a puppet… “No, no, no! Don’t think of it as a puppet…I’m supposed to act like it’s the real King...” Sidoh thought.
As they landed, Kinddara grinned sinisterly at Sidoh, baring every single one of her teeth. Sidoh clutched at the wing she’d bitten earlier and suppressed a shudder.
“Good. You’ve arrived,” said the large golden “shinigami” with two faces that was suspended from the tower. “I’ve called the three of you here for a very important reason, but I can’t tell you what it is, out in the open like this. Please…come inside.”
With that, a door of the tower that was otherwise invisible slid open right in front of them. Daril looked surprised, and Kinddara looked…well, still slightly manic, as usual, but they both went inside without hesitation.
“Oh, no…I’m dead. I’m so dead…” Sidoh groaned mentally.
“Why aren’t you coming in, Sidoh? Is something the matter?” the King asked.
“Uh…nothing…” Sidoh squeaked, and then winced as he heard how scared he sounded.
“There’s no need to be frightened, Sidoh. You aren’t in any trouble,” said the King, his voice gentle and comforting. “It’s all right. You can come in.”
The King’s voice was hypnotic…really, how could you not trust him, when he talked that way? Despite having seen Rem firsthand, despite having been in the tower himself when the crucial events were occurring; hearing the Old Man talk the way he’d always talked was almost enough to make Sidoh think that the whole thing really was just a story…
“Come on in, young one. You have nothing to fear.”
Slowly, cautiously, he went through the door and into the hallway.
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