CHAPTER ONE

Light stood in a corner of the holding cell, staring at the opposite wall and wondering how his life had been reduced to this. It was all L´s fault of course. He´d outsmarted him, switched the notebooks, and tricked a confession out of him. It had moved pretty quickly after that. He´d been brought to trial and sentenced to a life of slavery. He sighed deeply, leaning against the wall. If only he still had the damn notebook, or even a fragment of it. He could still have gotten to L. He knew his name. He just had no way.

Around him, there was a quiet murmur of talking among the people in the holding cell. All sorts of people. Some old, some younger. But they were all dressed similarly. The females wore a dress made of thin material which really didn´t cover very much. The males wore simply trousers and shoes. Nothing on top. They´d all been transferred here this morning. Wherever "here" was. All Light had seen after they´d been taken from the truck was this holding cell and they´d been left there, handcuffed. Outside it was simply a long corridor. Occasionally people passed through it, looking at who was in the cell, getting an idea of what was on offer at this afternoon´s auction, but Light paid them no attention.

Your time in slavery depended on the severity of your crime. Lesser crimes meant you could be rented out to someone for a few years, or months. The more serious crimes meant the rest of your life in slavery. For the worst crimes, murder, rape, etc, that meant probably a life of hard labour until you eventually died from overwork. A life of building roads, or buildings, working in mines, wherever your company brought you really. Eat, work, sleep and repeat. That was what his life was going to be from now on, he thought with another sigh. It was almost ironic, he realised. These new measures had been brought in after the rise of Kira, when people decided that the death penalty was too cruel.

His train of thought was broken as the door at the end of the corridor opened and three armed guards approached. They opened the cell, took two people out, a male and female, and left without saying a word. Light could hear a voice in the distance speaking. The auction must have started. He listened carefully as someone was brought out and described as an ideal house slave. The female perhaps? Or was he being sexist?

Around thirty or forty minutes must have passed and over half the occupants of the cell were now gone. He looked around, wriggling his wrist as best he could in the handcuffs to try and relieve the itch. There were five of them left now. Himself, three men and a girl. The guards were back again. They opened the door and came in, grabbing the girl roughly by the arm while the third guard stood with his gun, ready in case they tried revolting. But what would be the point? The second guard grabbed him by the arm and pulled both of them out of the slave and up the corridor while the third guard locked the door. The corridor was poorly lit, but Light could make out some more empty holding cells as they were escorted towards the door at the end.

Through the door, there was a room filled with people and Light squinted a little as his eyes adjusted to the bright daylight after being in the poorly lit holding cell for hours. He looked around at the crowd of people before being pulled to the front, standing to one side while the girl he was with was dragged out. A pretty thing, he thought as he wondered what her crime had been. Not as serious as his apparently, she was being rented for three years. Of course it didn´t take long for her to sell and then she was quickly moved away to another room.

Light now found himself being dragged out to the front. He lowered his eyes to the floor, suddenly very self-conscious while they described him as dangerous. Ideally suited to hard, physical work, blah, blah, blah, life sentence, blah blah. He kept his eyes on the ground as the bidding started. It turned out there was quite a demand for those being sold for life and the price kept rising. He glanced up eventually when it appeared to be down to two bidders. One he could see, a man in the third row, possibly in his forties. He couldn´t make out the second bidder. He was in a corner right at the back, wearing a hat. Those two kept going for a few more minutes, the price rising and rising, until the man in the third row eventually gave up.
"Sold!" the auctioneer called out, bringing down his hammer. Light hadn´t realised how much of a shock those words would bring, he´d tried preparing himself for this moment, but nothing could have prepared him for how those words would crash through his system. He allowed himself to be pulled into the next room without protest and there, he was given a shirt to wear, before being quickly restrained again, and they fitted him with a microchip in his upper arm. Like an animal, he thought with a sigh. To make sure that if he did escape, he´d be found pretty quickly

Soon he was brought into yet another room, still in handcuffs, where there was a sort of reception desk and on one side an elderly gentleman filling out paperwork. Light cocked his head a little as he was brought over. He recognised him.
"Watari-san!" he said with delight. It had been Watari who´d bought him?
"Your slave sir," the guard said, passing Light over and handing Watari the keys to the handcuffs.
"Not mine, I´m simply buying for a private bidder," Watari replied in his usual gentle voice, bowing politely before gently escorting Light out of the building.
"L?" he asked hopefully as the older man led him to a car and nodded confirmation. He opened the back door, helping Light in before putting a seatbelt on him and closing the door. L had bought him? This was perfect! L had said he was sorry Light was Kira. He´d considered him a sort of friend. He´d obviously bought him to help him out. Maybe even get him out of the country.

Watari remained silent while they drove, never once letting Light out of the handcuffs. They had to keep up appearances, Light guessed. There´d be plenty of time to be let out once they were with L. After a forty-five minute drive, Watari turned into the underground car-park of a large building and parked the car. He got out and walked around to Light´s side slowly, opening the door and helping him out of the car.
"This is where L is based now?" Light asked as Watari led him through the security precautions slowly in the direction of the main building. The older man didn´t speak for a moment, as if considering what he was allowed to tell.
"L owns this building," he told him softly, "It´s got everything he needs for both his personal life and his work. Very high tech offices, an expansive living area and more," he said, "It´s impossible to get in or out without mine or L´s authority," he added, glancing behind him at the boy. "Not too much further," he said, leading Light into an elevator and pressing the button for the fifth floor. Light understood what he was being told. He´d need to really grovel at L´s feet for this favour L had done him. But if it meant freedom, he´d do it.