When he knocked, the cacophony of sounds faintly ceased, and then,
Approaching footsteps, the sound of hands clenching hard against the knob, a faint pause of suspicion, and then,
The door creaked open slowly, a face bubbling from the side,
The voice spoke out, looking at him with caution and firmness, but then, the familiar smile appeared, as Ryuk scratched the back of his hair.
"Do you not remember me anymore, Old Jack?"
He asked, watching as the door was fully opened up, and Old Jack fully stepped out, shock and disbelief written over his face.
His lips tried to move, to mutter a couple of words,
All that came was a bunch of incoherent words, but all were silenced, as the man took a step forward, appearing before Ryuk and pulling him into a deep manly hug.
"I could not forget that voice even if I wished," he said, and a moment later, a new presence appeared behind him, alerted by the exchange.
It was Mrs. Lynia (the Half-Fallen One), and she looked at him, first a bit lost, but quickly enough, disbelief filled her as she stepped forth, her hands wrapping around them both.
"Ryuk," she called out, a smile of relief spreading across her lips. Ryuk felt one forming on his own as well.
He felt warm, but it wasn’t from the outside.
A warmth quite unlike what he was used to.
"It’s good to be back," he whispered, the embrace holding for as long as half a minute, before he was ushered into the room.
In the clouds, a figure saw all of this, none other than the Grand Elder, whose eyes of caution slowly faded, giving way to a gleam of realization, a small smile on his lips.
"He... he’s the youngest person I have ever met with so much potential."
"Even with an incomplete soul and missing true body organs, he possesses a great slumbering power."
"One that could be difficult to constrain if unleashed," he mused silently to himself.
"But his people, they are the anchor that binds this power, giving it a reason and keeping it constrained."
"His family is more important than we all thought and must now be protected at all costs."
"You know, my stomach cannot handle all of this alone," Ryuk said, looking with a watering mouth at the entire table before him.
It was filled to the brim with everything a hungry man could ask for, but too much for him.
"Please, Ryuk. Act more like that golden goof than the dickhead, okay," Mrs. Lynia teased, faintly eyeing Old Jack, who could only roll his eyes helplessly.
’I just had to be cursed with that name for all eternity, huh?’ Old Jack thought helplessly, drawing a seat from the side.
"Fine, then, I’ll join in," he said, his mouth unconsciously watering from the dish.
Displaying no courtesy, he picked up the cutlery at his side—fork and knife in hand—and dove right in.
Mrs. Lynia took her seat, but she didn’t seem to possess much appetite, instead looking at him.
An action that invoked his nervousness, but when he looked into her eyes, her relieved expression held great worry in them.
"Did I worry you both so much?" Ryuk muttered, and Old Jack answered after taking a good bite.
The food was sweeter than he expected, and the taste lingered pleasantly on his tongue.
"Did you really make us worried?" he asked, but then continued.
"Well, I don’t know."
"We were at home, both I and Lynia, navigating through Work Panels, and my bonehead getting many rejected applications, and then, all of a sudden—"
"It was the sound of a phone call."
"I thought it must be heaven finally seeing my hard work, but guess what came through the other side?" Old Jack rhetorically asked, before imitating a familiar voice.
"Ryuk, it’s Ryuk. He’s not breathing!"
Of course, it was Morgaine’s voice he imitated, although Ryuk couldn’t believe his ears when he heard he wasn’t breathing.
If that really happened, it was bad news—and at a bad time too.
"What was worse," Mrs. Lynia said, "is arriving at the Hospital building only to find its top having been blown off, and a wave of aura that knocked everyone in the hospital out and stopped anyone from being 200 meters close to you."
"Now, not only were you dying, but you were also releasing a wave of power that kept anyone from getting near you. We had no idea whether you were alive or dead, and no one who could help could even approach," she explained, her voice calmer and more serious than Old Jack’s.
"Eventually, a Grand Elder of the Family showed up, the only one who could help."
"Morgaine trusted him, so we agreed for you to be taken, but to be honest, we were just going with the risk that he would at least be able to save you from what we feared to be certain death, while we wouldn’t be able to do anything." She completed as silence blanketed the room.
"I’m sorry for putting you through so much," Ryuk said softly, pausing mid-meal. But before he could say more, Mrs. Lynia gently took his hand and replied—
"We’re just glad that you’re okay," she said, watching as he smiled, but then, light crisscrossed in her eyes when she saw Ryuk’s hand, too, began turning golden from the point of contact.
The golden color continued to spread, covering his entire body—even the tattoos on his exposed neck shifted, their hues turning to gold.
The same golden as the Half-Fallen One.
She took her hand from his, watching the golden color persist for about 5 seconds, before returning to its shimmering purple, but then she held him once more, only for the golden particles to quickly spread all around again.
She turned to Ryuk in confusion,
"Even if you ask me, I can’t say what they are because I have no idea how I even got them," Ryuk said, before they could ask him about the tattoos.
"It’s like they’re adapting to the closest energy source around you. When I placed my hand," Mrs. Lynia said, holding onto him,
"They adapt my energy," she said, watching as Ryuk’s tattoo once more turned gold.
"And when I remove my hands, they return to their normal purple."
"An Adaptive Type of Energy?"