Second Strike

Chapter 6: The Old and The New

Light arrived at the rooftop's top, where Maria leaned against the border, her black hair swaying in the wind. 

As Light closed the rooftop door behind him, he greeted her, "Maria, how are you?" Maria's response was curt, "What did you come here for, Light?"

Feeling unwanted, Light paused, gathering his thoughts before saying, "I found a Master Spark." Maria turned, her glasses reflecting the distorted sky's waves, and chuckled, "Oh Light... I know you're desperate but come on."

With a serious expression, Light leaned closer to her on the rooftop's edge and explained, "The kid I came with can use both inner and outer spark. If we train him to master both, we could..." 

He was interrupted by Maria's words, "Light, the war is over. This is our life now. Even if that kid is a master spark, there's nothing left to fight for. We are happy here."

Challenging her perspective, Light looked at Maria and said, "Maybe you are, but what about the people outside?" Maria sat on the border and inquired, "What about them?" 

Light continued, "We used to protect them, and after the war, the Unity took away all their freedom... they are hostages, and they don't even know it. It's our fault."

Disagreeing with his assessment, Maria responded, "It's not our fault-" Light, growing angry, interjected, "It is! As spark users, we must take responsibility for the old sparks' mistakes and fix them. The Unity is just a dictatorship disguised as democracy. People have no say in anything, and we can't even be happy outside this bubble..."

Stepping back, Light stared intensely into Maria's eyes, and with a firm grip, he held her hands and pleaded, "Even if you don't agree with me, help me train him. You are the best outer spark I know." Maria sighed and smiled, reminiscing, "You're just as clumsy as when we were together..." 

Finally, she relented, saying, "Fine, I will help, but my people cannot know he is a master spark. We won't get their hopes up."

Light nodded, thanked her, and walked away, searching for Cloke, while Maria watched him go.

Coming out of the store, Cloke wore a brand new "Zeus" outfit, his mask covering his face as always. He donned fingerless black gloves, black cargo pants, and a long-sleeve black shirt with a lightning bolt spray-painted on it, feeling more connected to the sparks in this attire. 

Light found him and said, "I see you're already getting comfortable," to which Cloke responded, "Guess I am." Cloke then asked, "Where did you go?" Light looked back at the building where Maria was and replied cryptically, "Let's just say we found you a new mentor." 

Cloke excitedly responded, "Really?!" Light smiled and said, "Yeah, but it's time to go." Cloke was disappointed, "Huh?! We have barely been here!" Light continued walking toward the portal, saying, "Tomorrow your training will start, so take this day to prepare mentally," while affectionately rubbing Cloke's hair as a sign of care. 

They both left the spark society and returned to the vacuum store.

On his way home, Cloke stopped at the hospital to visit Emmanuel. As he entered Emmanuel's room, Cloke greeted him with a smile and said, "Yo!" Emmanuel, looking very bruised and barely able to move due to his fractured bones, managed to smile back, saying, "Yo!" Cloke sat beside him and said, "So, do you think I look as handsome without the mask?" Emmanuel chuckled, teasingly replying, "You look worse than what I imagined." 

They both shared a laugh, and then Cloke sincerely said, "Hey, I'm sorry for all this... this is my fault."

Emmanuel quickly responded, "It's not... I'm an officer, these things can happen..." Cloke insisted, "Yeah, but this happened specifically because of... you know... Zeus." which Emmanuel responded, "At least this happened to me and not to you," which Cloke found bittersweet.