Pitch Black

"Try and keep it down, will you? He's trying to sleep."

"Well if he'd like to sleep he bloody well should be at the damn school, not running amok and holding dead girls' bodies!"

My eyes drifted back open, and the same swinging light greeted me. I was still in the pub. I looked over and saw a bar, and a large, bald, unshaven man wearing an eyepatch and missing a few teeth behind it was arguing with a younger man with blonde hair, whose back I could only see.

"Well, Mr. Hartsford, you had better hand me those teas. I paid good money for them and unless you want to lose business for a rumor of dead girls' bodies being found at the front of your pub, you should just quiet yourself before you wake the poor boy up, now."

The larger man grumbled loudly, and slammed two teacups on the bar. "I had better not see your arse around here for a while, Xavier. Ya play dirty games, ya do. Always bringin yer trouble to this pub-"

"Trouble? Please, you bring more of that here yourself without my contribution, and I daresay your customers aren't exactly the most clean and law-abiding either. Kindly apreciated though, so I owe you many favors."

I sat up in my seat, aware that another blanket had been thrown on me, and of stabbing pains in my left arm and cheek. I grimaced and felt the left side of my face; a heavy bandage met my touch. I also noticed that I was no longer wearing the clothes I came in with, but a long-sleeved, dry, white cotton shirt and a pair of black fleece trousers. I had on new socks as well. The upper part of my left arm was wrapped in bandages, too. I pulled the blankets around me tighter, and ignored the pain in my cheek and arm. I stared at the surface of the table, trying to remember what had happened.

"Ah, look whose awake." The voice of Xavier Belial met my ears, and he came to my table and put a steaming cup of tea and buttered bread buns in front of me. "Thought you might be hungry. Here." He pushed the tea towards me. "Warm up. You were as stiff and cold as the corpse when I found you. You might have pneumonia. Get your strength back." He sat across from me and smiled before sipping his tea.

I gradually took the warm cup of tea in my hands and, with shaky movements, put it to my lips. "Th... thank you." I said feebily.

He replied with another smile, and pushed the buns towards me. "Eat. It'll be thanks enough."

I sighed, and rubbed my tired eyes with my now-warm hands. "What's going on?" I asked him wearily. "Wh-where's Lynn?" All I could remember was her running off into the cold night, her fingers slipping from my grasp.

Xavier's smile vanished. "She's dead, Jack. She was hit by lightening, remember?"

My eyes widened. "Y-you're lying, Belial. Please tell me you're lying."

He shook his head sadly. "You were out in the rain, and she got hit. I went out of Huntington's to deliver something to Samu-er- Mr. Hartsworth here-" he indicated the large man behind the bar. "-and I saw you holding onto her body. Took all my strength to get you off of her. We took you in here and Mr. Hartsworth called the police. They would have taken us both with them for questioning, but I told them to leave us be, because you were asleep. They're just going to bury her in Huntington's cemetary with a standard coffin since she has no immediate family or guardian... The school will pay for it." As I listened, tears began streaming down my face.

"Will they give her a service?" I asked in a choked voice.

"That's up to them." Xavier replied.

I stayed silent, watching my tears crash against the surface of the table. "How long did I sleep?" I said quietly.

"About an hour. It's around 9 or 10 now. Your wet things are over there." He pointed to a chair standing in front tof the fire. My previous cloths and socks were hanging on the chair and my shoes were closer to the fire. I glanced over at it and then sighed.

"I don't know what I'll do without her..." I said under my breath to myself. Lynn had always been one of the only two comforts I had in Huntington's, and now she had been taken away from me from sheer stupidity. I would never forgive myself for this- if only I had just tightened my grip around her hand, raced her back into the safe hell of the school, she would still be alive...

As if reading my thoughts, Xavier sipped his tea and said, "This isn't your fault, Jack. Don't blame yourself. If she hadn't been so stupid and run off into the pouring rain, when lightening is striking every where-"

"Don't you dare call her stupid." I said immediatly. "If I hadn't bought that sherry and known its strength she would still be alive. It's my fault."

"You bought sherry?" Xavier asked. "What kind?"

"Amontillado."

Xavier snorted, and I grew enraged. "That's one of the strongest wines I ever tasted. You two should know better than that." He downed more tea. "Ah, how foolish our youth can be. Cheers." He smiled at me.

I slammed my hands on the table and got up. "Everything's a bloody fucking joke to you, is it?! You act like I knew the strength of the sherry! I knew NOTHING! That stupid grin on your face is solving NOTHING! Now wipe it off this INSTANT before I wipe it off for you, you'll die looking like the fucking clown you are, Belial, I swear it!" I swiped a knife from the table up and held it to his throat, looking him clear and dead in his eye.

Xavier looked at me with an intense calmness that boiled my blood. Careful to avoid the knife, he took another sip at his tea. "Put it down. A steel knife and a weak mind are not a good combination."

The knife shook, and then clattered to the table. I sunk back into my seat, sobs beginning to rack at my body, cursing the unfairness of my situation. Xavier stayed silent.

I sobbed until my eyes were completely dry. I wiped my face and began to drink my tea and eat the buns ravenously. My body became warm, but still could not fill the hole in my heart. Xavier smiled at me as he watched me gorge myself.

The night was still young, and it was still pouring outside. Xavier gave Mr. Hartsworth a tip before telling me we had better be off and not intrude in his company anymore. I changed back into my original clothes, still slightly damp, and thanked Mr. Hartsworth before leaving with Xavier. He had given me his coat and held his umbrella as we walked back to the large and dark sillhouette of Huntington castle.

I noticed he wore nothing but a black sweater and jeans. I looked at him curiously. "Aren't you cold?" I asked.

"Not as cold as you'd get if you weren't wearing the jacket."

I sighed. "Don't think this changes anything between us. I still despise you."

He smiled. "I expected nothing less."

The conversation dropped there, and we returned to the castle. We silently went our separate ways, me giving him his coat, and as soon as I got inside my dorm, I sank into my bed. Weary. Tired. Feeling as if I could sleep forever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The voice announcing Lynn's death seemed all the more a painful reminder the next day. That weekend her casket was buried in Huntington's cemetary, a stone's throw away, of course, from the Square. To my surprise, she had a small service, in which the students and teachers came to pay their last respects. She was dressed in a white gown, her hair neatly done, and her eyes closed, as if she was sleeping. I looked in disgust as I saw students, who were some of the people that had teased her for having no parents, say how much of a shame it was that she died, and laying flowers around the hole she was to be put in. They lowered her casket, a basic but sturdy wooden one, inside soon after, and the hole was closed. The rest of the school went back, getting out of the cold spring-morning air. Brandon and I stayed for some time, but soon he left as well after I insisted I wanted to be left alone. I stood there, lost in my own thoughts, staring down at where Lynn was buried and thinking the same thing over and over; she deserved better.

Not to my surprise, Xavier came from behind me, and put down flowers at the grave as well. Violets, her favorite. He stood beside me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Get away from me, Xavier." I said quietly. "I'm not in the mood for your antics today."

"I'm not in a mood to cause antics today." He replied. "Now isn't the time to giggle at your misfortune." Out of his pocket, he suddenly took out a white candle, lit it with a match in his other pocket, and stuck it into the earth that was covering Lynn's casket. I asked what he meant by it.

"I do it when people die." I said. "It's the amount of time one has to move on and forget. Like the flame of anger they have when the person dies. When it goes out, that's when you have to start finding peace and closure that she is no longer living."

I didn't reply, but knew exactly what he meant. But for all it was worth, that candle would have been burning for all eternity.

I didn't quite remember what happened after that. What I can remember was that Xavier and I stood there until dusk, when the candle finally burnt out. And then, I suddenly felt his presence more than I had ever felt anyone's; even Lynn's. He was next to me, but I wanted him closer- to feel his heat and smell his scent. I felt empty, and lost, in a dark place now that the candle burnt out, longing for the only light that was beside me. Instinctively, I leaned over and kissed his cheek softly, hoping it was thanks for him sticking by me all day and into night. I felt him tense up lightly at my lip's touch, but he relaxed and turned to face me. He had no smile, but the little of his face I could see in the growing darkness had eyes burning with a fierce passion I had seen in no one else before, not as beautifully as his. He brought his face closer to mine, and his eyes closed. He lips came in contact with mine, first lightly, and then firmly staying in place.

And then, everything went black, the only feeling being one of deep shame and regret.

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The King then decided that he now, of all times, hated Light more than anything.