FicWad

Human World, 2014 CE


Ryuk breathed a sigh of relief when he finally spotted the sun glowing on the horizon. Since that close call, they’d flown all night with no further sign of Daril or Sidoh…or Kinddara, wherever the heck she’d gone. Of course, he knew it was stupid to think they were safe just because the lights were coming back on-the hunters were just as real in the light as they were in the dark-but, still, it was encouraging. Well, to him, at least…Rem looked like she was going to fall out of the air if she kept it up any longer. She had even more worry stretched across her face than usual, and her wing strokes were getting wobbly.
“Hey, Rem. Can we take a rest?” Ryuk asked.
With a weary-looking nod, Rem plopped down on the ledge of a building, and Ryuk landed beside her.
“…You don’t look tired…” she said.
“I’m not tired. I’m doing fantastic,” said Ryuk, grinning as usual. “You’re the one who needed the break. If you won’t ask for one yourself, then I guess it’s up to me, isn’t it? No, no…don’t bother arguing,” he interrupted as Rem opened her mouth to speak. “Unless you’re going to try and tell me you really can fly for days on end with no break?”
“…Thanks,” she mumbled. Ryuk could tell that Rem was trying to look annoyed, but she wasn’t pulling it off, either because she was secretly relieved or because she was too darn exhausted…probably a little of both, he thought.
“So, you’re looking pretty wiped. What’s up? The usual hunter/King/being a fugitive thing, multiplied by five because of the close call?”
“Yes, that’s about it,” Rem sighed.
“Well, cheer up, Rem. Remember; if it does come down to an epic life-or-death chase, you don’t have to be faster than Daril and Sidoh. You just have to be faster than me.”
Ah…finally, a smile! Ryuk thought he might have heard a giggle, too, but he couldn’t be sure.
“I couldn’t do that…leave you behind…”
“There you go again, Rem. I keep saying I’m lucky you’re too soft for your own good...”
“Don’t misunderstand me. I meant that I couldn’t outrun you. That’s all.”
Ryuk’s jaw dropped. For one moment, he thought she was serious, but then she started laughing again…just a little, but he could definitely hear it this time. “Ouch. That’s harsh,” he chuckled, delighted.
Ever since he’d gotten her to drop the serious demeanour that one time in the alley, after the movie theatre incident, he’d been determined to do it again; but this was much more than he’d expected. Never in a million years would he have expected Rem to actually…well…play along. It had taken months, but really, it was more than he ever could’ve asked for. He guessed it was the second close call that had done it…it had scared the hell out of her, finally forced her to break down; just like last time. He almost wished they could bump into the hunters more often, if it made her this much easier to get through to…it really was a treat, seeing this rare, happy, playful side of Rem. It bugged Ryuk to see her worried. Hell if he knew why. It just did. Ryuk figured it was probably just an optical illusion, caused by the beam of light reflecting off the mirror-like side of the skyscraper next to them and onto their ledge, but Rem seemed to be…sparkling, somehow, as she laughed. It really was pretty, the way the light hit her to make her look as golden and glowing as a sunray…
What was he supposed to be, a poet? Ryuk gave his head a shake, laughing at his own weird musings. He’d have to remind himself not to let his mind wander again. Oops…scratch that. He’d just seen something…
“Hey, Rem,” he said, pointing to a building that said ‘library’. “There’s something I wanna do in there, before it fills up with humans.”
“What’s going on with you and books all of a sudden?”
“It’s not a book I’m interested in. We need to go now, though…early on, so no humans notice that a computer is looking up ‘Moloch’ on its own.”
“Moloch? That sounds…”
“Familiar? I think I’ve had this conversation before with someone else…the King used it as his alias, while he was looking for you, but I’d heard it before then, in the human world, and he said he’d done a little something down here…it’s been driving me nuts, wondering...”
Rem looked down at her feet…was she biting her lower lip? Maybe a little…
“Actually…you’re right, that is…interesting…”
It only took one look between them, and they were off.

Ryuk had no idea how to work the stupid ‘library catalogue’ thing, but once he finally found a computer that was set up for the internet, it was easy to type ‘Moloch’ into the search engine while the librarian was in the back room fooling around with returns or something. He’d seen Light do this about a million times...he clicked on a few links, scanned them over.
“What does it say?” asked Rem.
“Moloch,” Ryuk paraphrased as he read the screen, “A middle eastern god to whom child sacrifices were made, usually by fire…used to describe person or thing requiring costly sacrifices…then it branches off to describe his role in…what, seven different religions? Don’t any of these sites have a simple, clear-cut story like the Kira ones did? You know, a ‘legend of Moloch’ or something?...Let’s try pictures,” he said, clicking on something on top of the screen. “Well, that’s no help at all…I mean, they’ve all got horns, but the King doesn’t look anything like a cow…well, that one’s sort of similar, but really, nothing’s jumping out…”
“It could be that he did whatever he did so long ago that it’s been distorted over thousands of years…or it might not be the same Moloch…”
“How many Molochs do you know, Rem? This doesn’t feel like a coincidence…”
“Well, coincidence or not, I think our time is up. The librarian’s looking this way, and she seems puzzled…I think she’s noticed the computer scrolling on its own…yes, here she comes.”
“Darn it…what the heck is this ‘Moloch’ stuff about? What did he do?”