A New World
By Gaerdir
X
X
"Do gods of death eat apples?" - L, Death Note
X
Light fought to keep the smirk off his face.
He knew exactly what Near was planning, bringing him to this old warehouse. Near thought he was one step ahead – but he was playing right into Light's hands.
L would've never fallen into this trap, he thought.
L… the name brought back multitudes of memories, most so convoluted in feelings that it was far beyond what Light could understand of human emotions. He was certain he had hated L in a way…yet he felt some sort of nostalgia every time he thought of his former adversary. Could it be possible that he had thought of L as a…
…a… friend?
Perhaps, during the time when he had relinquished his possession of the Death Note to escape suspicion he had felt so… yet geniuses only feel at home among others of similar capacity, and it seemed Light, through his own ingenuity, had murdered the only other person he could actually enjoy competing against, even if the existence of such a person threatened his own life.
He pushed open the door.
There was a small figure crouching on the floor, flanked by two men and a woman. Light knew instinctively that none of them would be Near, leaving the diminutive person.
The figure looked up, flashing in Light's face a cartoonish visage of L.
Anger pumped through Light's body. What was this supposed to be, psychological trickery? Was Near using L's mask to unnerve Light? It should have been obvious that such a cheap trick would fall flat.
Both Light and Near could sense the building antagonism between them both, rapidly rising, tantamount to a destructive force.
"Please remove that mask, Near. It hurts my consciousness that the face of an irrefutable genius could be worn by such a pathetic successor."
Both the SPK and the police force tensed.
"Oh," said Near in his characteristically emotionless voice. "Then you have but a small inkling of the rage I feel when L's very legacy has been adopted by one who is unworthy of even being a member of the police. Perhaps…even I cannot measure such anger. Yet, in accordance with your wishes, I will remove this mask."
And at last, Near's face was revealed.
At no other time of his life had Light wished he had made the deal with Ryuk more than that moment. He felt malice, a hatred bubbling up within him that he could not tap into even when he rid the Earth of its most vile scum. It was an emotion reserved only for the devil in disguise, who, with the cloak of humanity, shielded evil from the trident of pure justice.
Near smiled at him, the very image of his predecessor.
It was as though someone had stabbed Light in the heart. Flashes of L, their time spent together, working together, solving, thinking, realizing, talking...drying each other on that last day, shot through his mind, the psychological equal of an endless barrage of bullets. He could have never admitted it to himself before, but he finally did so now: killing L had been, for a long time, his greatest regret of his life. L had been the world's greatest detective ever; he had prevented homicides, serial killers, murders that would have devastated the world. Furthermore, L was Light's only equal, and his constant reminder that he could make no mistakes.
After his death, Light's life had slowly fallen apart into ruins. He was taking more risks, slowly exposing himself as Kira to anyone who looked hard enough. He was recklessly passing around his Death Note, risking his safety on a whim. L had been Light's regulator, the one who ensured that Light could not risk taking even the slightest chance.
And looking down into Near's face, he once again felt disgust at the inefficiency of L's professed equal.
"Hmph." Light said derisively. "To think we've been the errand boys of a mere child is quite a deprecating thought."
"Light-" Matsuda started, before Near cut in.
"Indeed, Light I may be a child- yet it depends on how once perceives childhood. Many adults, engulfed within their mundane lives, prefer to diversify people based on their age groups. They view everyone below the age of thirteen as a child, thirteen to eighteen a sultry teenager, and only after eclipsing the growing age are adults willing to accept people into their so called 'civilized society'. They believe that they have no time to spare to actually understand the personality of an individual; that it trespasses upon the time that they could spend earning for the family. And, trapped by this hallucination created by the laziness of their minds, they continue to perceive reality as such. You seem to be among this monochromatic group, Light Yagami."
"Yet being a 'child' cannot be simply stated by observing the age of an individual, no more than the future can be told by gazing towards the stars. The word 'child' has a deeper, more insightful meaning. A child is someone who is, indeed, a person who has basic views about opinions. A child believes that everyone who does not give them a treat, whether good willing or not, is essentially a wrong-doer. A child believes everyone who hurts someone else, no matter the motivation, is evil. And a child," Near's eyes flashed: "believes every wrong-doer should die, and not be given a second chance to repent."
Light could feel the rage festering within him, reaching near exploding point. Yet this was not the time to defend himself, not yet. That time would come.
"In other words, children perceive the world as white and black. Everyone is either purely good, or purely evil. Teenagers, at least the stereotypical ones, tend to view the entire world as the same shade of gray, that everyone has an equal potential of good and evil within them, waiting to be tapped. Disappointingly, most adults never pass this phase. Finally, the truly mature adults realize that the world isn't black or white, or even a uniform gray. The entire world is filled with different shades of gray, with the innocent still able to kill in necessary circumstances, but be unwilling to; and the evil be able to save others when they reform. People have different capabilities, and these capabilities change over time. The world is an endless wave of grays, from near white to nearly opaque, with everyone shifting abilities."
"Among us gathered here I can tell most of you agree with me, that reality is an ever shifting world of grays. Yet only one of us here cannot make that distinction, and that title, naturally, goes towards my instigator, Light Yagami. It's a pity, since your father was one of the most mature men I've ever seen." Near gestured towards the motionless Light.
Light could feel the uneasy glances of his colleagues. He fought for control over himself.
"Impressive, Near," Light said. "Perhaps I misjudged you. Now would you please explain why we came out to this out-of-the-way warehouse?"
"Hm?" said Near, sounding thoroughly surprised. "Oh, I thought you could tell that to us."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" said Ukita from behind him.
Light shook his head in mock exasperation. "He's like L in his own way. No matter how much I redeem myself, he'll never take me out of suspicion."
"Don't flatter yourself, Yagami," Near said. "You've never even tried to redeem yourself. It's like you've come to terms with being Kira. Never mind that, we can discuss it during your leisure time in jail. To the others, other than us two: The SPK, especially Giovanni, have discovered that the notebook currently lies in the possession of another person, a mere pawn in this chess game between Kira and I. This person was specifically chosen as he views Kira to be a God, and would never dream of disobeying him. We call him X-Kira; but the rest of the world knows him as Teru Mikami."
"Oh yes, I've seen him on that accursed show," growled Aizawa, patting to make sure the Death Note was still tied to him. "He basically worships Kira."
"Yes, and I'm sure we're all aware of that fact. Something you might not know is that Mikami is methodical beyond what may not seem humanly possible, living like a machine. Everything in his life is planned, from how long he sits idle on a subway to the times that he visits the gym."
"How is this relevant, again?" Light asked, trying to conceal his grin.
"We have realized, as a part of his mechanical schedule, Mikami visits this place every day to carry out his killings. No doubt, he will return here today, see us, and write our names. From the way he is behaving, we have no doubt that he has the Shinigami eyes and thus can kill us on the spot."
The Japanese Police Force screamed in outrage.
"WHAT? YOU TELL US THAT AND YOU EXPECT US TO LET HIM KILL US LIKE THAT? WHAT DO YOU THINK WE ARE?" screamed Matsuda.
Near frowned at him. "I'm sorry, but we cannot stop him. We can only prove who Kira is by letting him write our names.
"WE WILL NOT DIE FOR YOUR EXPERIMENT!"
"Matsuda, calm down!" said Mogi.
"IN MY MIND YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN KIRA!"
"MATSUDA!" yelled Aizawa. "Do you honestly think that Near would simply let us die? Do you not realize his name would be written too? Have faith, and listen to what he says."
"Once again, I must thank you Aizawa. To resolve your doubts – and your anger, Mr. Matsuda - Giovanni took advantage of Mikami's time in the gym and was able to acquire the Death Note and quickly realized that Mikami filled exactly one page of names per day. We calculated the number of days until today, and replaced all the pages after it. Therefore, he will be writing on fake pages that will have no effect on us."
The urge to laugh was becoming dangerously high. An involuntary chuckle escaped Light, but even Near seemed oblivious to the sound.
"My plan is: we let him write the names on the fake page. The only name which he has not written is the name of Kira."
"He's here!" gasped one of the SPK members.
A deadened silence blanketed the room, punctured only by Near's whisper. "Everyone – please do not interrupt him, pretend as if you haven't noticed him."
Mikami's voice was slowly becoming louder and louder. Everyone could hear him shouting delete into the air, triumphant in his victory. His crazed eyes glowed as he shouted his final delete into the air, sealing victory for his god.
"Teru Mikami," Near's calm voice resounded across the warehouse. "Please come in."
Mikami looked up, obviously terrified.
"Yes, Mikami. Don't be afraid. I'm sure Near is thinking the same thing. If you wrote our names, we die in forty seconds. Since you did, there's no reason for you to be afraid." Light said.
Mikami's eyes bulged. His mouth wordlessly formed a three letter word. And he pulled open the door. As he was silhouetted in the white light, Light suddenly felt grateful to him, his devoted follower who had never failed the cause. He smiled slightly, knowing it would carry his approval.
Mikami stepped inside.
"So, Mikami – how long has it been since you wrote the names?" asked Light.
Mikami glanced hungrily at his watch. "Thirty six seconds, thirty seven, thirty eight, thirty nine…"
And the world shook as Mikami shouted: "FORTY!"
Matsuda knelt, trembling, expecting the inevitable. He looked up. "Hey noth-"
Suddenly, he gasped, clutching at his chest, convulsing until he finally lay still. Light watched with uncontrollable glee as he fell. Slowly, as though synchronized, everyone around him collapsed. Light couldn't control it anymore.
"YES NEAR, YOU WERE RIGHT! I AM KIRA! I AM JUSTICE! I AM THE GOD OF THIS NEW WORLD!" The hysterical laugh finally escaped him, a caged beast set free after years of captivity.
Near, with one last glance of incomprehension, fell to the floor, never finding out about the second Death Note, never suspecting it, because Mikami was more trusting in his master than he could have ever suspected.
Light knelt by Near. "Insult me all you want, Near - but you'll always remain a child to me. Only a child remains unsuspicious of what is laid before him. Only a child would see the obvious and assume it to be true. Mikami was blatantly obvious in his killing – did that not instill any sense of doubt into you? No, you arrogantly believed yourself to be always correct. Mikami was writing in a fake notebook; Kyomi in the real one. You altered the FAKE notebook, you pathetic fool!"
"You were never L's equal. You weren't even close to him. L would have suspected something along these lines. He would've caught me. I've made more mistakes in this one year than I made before in my life. I was reckless. I was careless. And yet you, with your entire SPK division, with the Japanese police force, with L's help, with Mello and countless others, STILL COULD NOT DEFEAT ME? YOU WILL ALWAYS BE INFERIOR TO L!"
"In the same way you will always be to me," Mikami said, holding his pen again and showing Light's name still drying in the notebook. "You accuse Near of being a child, and yet do you think I would not realize your devilishness when you let Takada die? That moment, I realized you weren't a God after all – simply a mortal pretending to be divine. You are not fit to rule this world, and I will do it for you. Thank you for showing me the path, master."
Light's eyes widened. "NO-" he said before he felt the clutching in his chest. He felt the pain that he had inflicted on countless other unsuspecting individuals. He felt his sins weigh down on him, the pain of thousands of lives burdening him with their weight, forcing him to bear them for he was the one who took them. And in that moment, he saw the world in shades of gray, and the vile concept of Kira.
Light Yagami died staring into the eyes of the monster he had created, the perfect, emotionless Kira who would create a perfect world. But who were people to judge? All of us are born with imperfections. We have no right to decide who should live or die. Indeed, living in the world is a game of shadows, finding enemies who are forever hidden, and attempting to destroy them would destroy an entire dimension without which the world would not exist.
And with his dying thoughts, Light knew that this current Kira would never realize the grim, cold truth until he came near death, when all cities were destroyed and the world was in ruin.
FIN