Disclaimer: Writer Tsugumi Ohba created Death Note and all characters involved. Some original characters created by me.
- - -
Prologue
Under the God of the New World... life was still cheap.
This was one of among many observations broadcaster Genya Valgreen couldn't help but make as he made his way out of the studio where he'd just spent the past seven hours at work. Possessing little in the way of unique physical features with his trimmbed black hair and gray overcoat, no one paid the man any more attention than the rest of the men and women rushing through the throng to their cars. As if it were just the same, ordinary routine as they'd seen years before now.
There is only one difference. Genya mused, unable to deny the muttering disappointment he felt towards the majority of his colleagues. Two years ago, we didn't focus on just one story. We covered sports, common interest, economic figures...
But as his boss said, the ratings didn't lie. They'd still do those things, still cut away to weather and disasters and foreign aid. But no one cared. There was only one story that everyone wanted to hear: KIRA. The anonymus murderer who had proclaimed himself a new God in-between killing over half Japan's criminals, causing heart attacks without touching them.
Genya sighed. He still felt the need to stop and examine that for a second every time it came to mind. Surely there was something forensics had missed. Surely there was some real, factual way that 'Kira' had killed his hundreds of victims. Surely this couldn't be the power of a real, actual 'God'.
Could it?
Didn't matter. God or not, everyone wanted up-to-date televised info on the most baffling case the police force had ever encountered. When would Kira's next voice-distorted message arrive and spur his growing number of followers to new courses of action? Which criminals would die next? What was God's will? These were things Genya had never even dreamed of having to announce on live television, locked up there with news about Leprechauns or real-live Kaiju. Supernatural foofah meant to lure the weak-minded. Tabloid trash.
Genya snorted. Kira couldn't be 'God'. It was impossible. Unthinkable. And yet, if he valued his employment, his career, his life, he had to keep telling hundreds of thousands of people that that was exactly the case. The whole situation made him sick to his stomach.
His residence wasn't more than 3 blocks away from the studio and as always he greeted its red-gray motif with a happy soul. Finally, a time when he could just forget about the whole mess for a handful of hours, get some dinner ready, have a shower... spend some quality time undisturbed by news anchors who worshipped Kira or a boss who worshipped the ratings that he created.
Today must have been worse than he'd thought- it wasn't often thoughts of that dominating topic surfaced even here, after he'd cooked a vegetarian meal for one. Valgreen was no gourmet, but had been naturally forced to learn a few bachelor tricks. But now it was Kira's supporters which dominated his thoughts instead of the taste and texture of his homemade meal.
His own personal dislike aside, was it possible that what Kira had pledged to do would become reality? After all, the police had long since given up trying to catch an invisible assailant. News networks like Genya's actively supported him or her, as did several foreign nations. Even the special task force created to catch Kira he'd heard passing rumors about no longer seemed to be actively pursuing leads. He'd made commitment when this madness had first started that he'd resume courtship of a certain fine lady over at the studio once the massive juggernaut that was the 'Kira' news story had drawn to a close. But what if it didn't?
"Impossible", he reminded himself aloud. This would pass as all things must. There were still wars that had held the public eye for longer. All he had to do was bear it, humoring the Kira fanatics and covering each death with his customary drollness. No one wanted to see their news anchor flipping out, no matter how disturbing the implications of a killer who could strike anywhere, at any time.
The idea relaxed him immensely. Time was Kira's enemy. Eventually, like the wars, time would catch up to Kira. He would become nothing but a statistic, a sensation. They would still report the deaths, the panic they created in the criminal underworld. But these would be commonplace events, no longer the acts of a divine power. And Genya Valgreen could get back to covering news less gruesome than a dozen grisly deaths of wanted criminals or corrupt officials. Cheered, he got back to the asparagus stalks-
-Choked.
What? On these things? Impossi-
-Coughed. Slipped. Legs gave way like gelatin dessert. But how? This stuff is fresh, I cooked it thoroughly, how could-
-Hit the carpet. He couldn't breathe. The ceiling light shined on his face, brighter and warmer than he remembered. But even that was beginning to fade as jolted senses screamed in desperation for oxygen. KIRA?!
-Black spots swimming. Voice cracking in vain to speak a single syllable. Impossible! This is wrong! I've never comitted a crime! God, please don't-
-Ceiling light fading. Lungs bursting. I... I've been good!!
-Dark.
- - -
Part 1 - Impostor
Something had gone wrong. ICPO inspector Aizawa could tell that much the moment he stepped off the elevator into the large warren of computers and screens that comprised the special 'Kira' task force's eyes and ears on the world.
For one thing, Matsuda wasn't talking in a vain effort to either buoy everyone's downcast spirits or promote his financier, 'Misa-Misa' Amane. Like the rest of the men present, he was held rapt by the live broadcast taking up two of the multitude of monitors they had set up just past the lounge area.
For another, inspector Light Yagami wasn't present, wasn't seated in that central office chair that used to belong to another. Normally they were inseperable as Soichiro Yagami's brilliant son had thrown himself into their quest. But now? He was nowhere to be found. Where was he?
Light. Aizawa mused unhappily. No matter what that brown-haired young man did, no matter how hard they worked the Kira case, nothing could ever fully cure inspector Aizawa of the niggling notion that Light was in fact the very killer they sought to catch. Their late boss had, after all, been a legendary sleuthing genius. L had never been wrong before. And he had suspected Light more than anyone else here. There was no cure for this burning suspicion in his heart. Not if they continued to work this impossible case until the end of their days, or until the Japanese government finally gave in to growing pressure from Kira supporters and shut them down for good. Whichever came first...
"And so we bid a fond farewell to one of our own", the black-haired newscaster was saying, silouetted as she was before an ordinary urban street. "It's important to have a reminder now and then that no one here is immune to tragedy, not even those of us who are committed to reporting on it. Genya, you will be missed."
Aizawa stopped breathing. There were two more heart attack fatalities listed in the display bar at the bottom of the screen. Neither of them had any connection to criminals.
And wasn't it convenient how Channel 6 News, one of the most fervently pro-Kira biased networks was suddenly referring to these deaths as a 'tragedy'?
"Get me a private line. I want to check out Judgement", he spoke up from behind Matsu. Off to the side, one of the technicians nodded wisely and tossed him some headphones. Channel 6 was known to be biased, but it hadn't been created solely around their target. Judgement, though, was the most current voice of the Kira supporters, created for them to espouse their own views and loyalty.
Sure enough, a furious debate was already in progress on that channel; four men in casual clothes sitting in a studio that had once been used for a popular cooking show. One obese shape he quickly recognized as multimedia tycoon Demegawa, perhaps the most influential of all Kira's supporters. Not to mention one of the most willing to abuse his newfound power as a so-called 'voice of Kira'. And sitting opposite him...
An obvious foreigner with bright blonde hair hanging down his back in two streams. Dark green eyes radiated serenity that the other two debaters currently lacked, and that Demegawa probably had never had. Who is that?
"I'm not saying we can ignore this deviation, Omishori", the young man was saying, trying to make himself heard over an unusually restless crowd. "I'm saying that God's judgement, and His process of selection, remains a mystery to us all. Who here can say whether or not Genya Valgreen and those other two were truly innocent of all crimes? A criminal concealed by a squeaky-clean public image is nothing new. I'm saying we must show Kira a little faith before accusing him of killing innocents. Especially since he hasn't done anything like this before now."
"At what point would you renounce your faith then, Duval?", the tall debater Aizawa guessed to be Omishori shot back. "When children lie dead in our streets? There is no mistaking Kira's hand in this- he even left his mark at each death."
Aizawa blinked. "Is that true?!" Then he remembered that he was the only one wearing the headphones, though some of the others were gravitating over to his television regardless. "They said Kira 'left his mark' at each of these deaths", he felt compelled to explain. "Which is weird, considering none of the others had a 'mark'. Rather, his mark is having no mark. Heart attack symptoms, no sign of any causes or injuries. Right?"
"R-right", stammered one of the techs. Despite their lack of expertise in criminology they always seemed to want to be kept in the loop in return to maintaining the massive electronic setup that had belonged to L. Not a hard thing for Aizawa to do, given the lack of new information in the case until now. "Local police said that they found a small wooden box at each murder site. With the word 'KIRA' on it."
Aizawa shook his head. "Ridiculous. Kira's never announced himself that way before. Never needed to. Ranikamil, get down there and see if you can get one of those boxes."
Their newest agent, a young forensic expert with skin as dark as Aizawa's, nodded and left. Just as quickly, who should walk in and take Ranikamil's swivel chair than Light Yagami. "Hey", he called to them in the closest thing he got to an 'enthusiastic' tone these days. "What's going on guys?"
As if you didn't know. Not fully informed maybe, but completely clueless? That's not like you at all. You're just playing dumb, Light. And I can't help wondering why. "See for yourself, boss. There were three Kira killings last night. All innocent."
Light stood, eyes wide. "No way! He's never done that before. Are you sure they're the same as all the others?"
"Not entirely the same", Matsu pointed out. "There was a small box with his name on it at each site. We just sent Ran-Ran to try and grab one."
Light absorbed that, seemingly balanced between suprise and stalwartness. "Stay on that. It's obvious that we have someone trying to impersonate Kira, maybe someone 'inspired' by him."
Aizawa could no longer fight the urge to pounce on such an unguarded statement. "I'm not so sure of that, Light. We know that he's been killing people with another copy of that notebook we took off Kyosuke Higuchi. Doesn't mean he can't kill in other ways, too. Maybe that notebook of his ran out of pages, or was destroyed somehow."
Taken aback, Light simply nodded and traveled over to L's chair. Innocent or no, there was enough suspicion towards him among other members of the task force that any sign of favoring Kira could be Light's last. Yet he's still the boss, Aizawa acknowledged grimly. For now.
"Who's that?"
Following Light's gaze, Aizawa saw that Judgement's camera had travelled back to the young blond man from before. Duval was still defending Kira, this time against a live caller who denied Kira's power as nothing but fancy tricks. "The police don't care", the anonymous caller was saying in a decidedly tearstricken tone. "They don't give a damn. They've been glad that criminals are dying off. Maybe now they'll get off their asses and do something about this maniac. It's about time that Kira showed his true colors."
Duval stood, about to reply when an off-camera signal stopped him. "I wish I could take a moment to talk with you about this sir, but it seems we have a message from God that may just settle a few of your troubles better than I ever could."
"Pretty good Japanese", Ide remarked. "Barely any trace of a European accent."
True. Aizawa noted. And diehard Kira supporters are still few and far between anyplace but Japan or America. What's this guy's stake in it?
"This is Kira", the audio feed cut in, electronically distorted as it always was whenever Kira saw the need to speak directly to someone without the easy giveaway of voice identification. "Of course now, more than ever, it's important to prove that that is true, that I speak the truth to you, my followers. So at the end of this recording, I will give you the names of the next three criminals that I am going to kill."
He should have run for the elevator then. Someone else could have fed him the names and he could have tracked down likely suspects before Judgement's half-hour slot was even over. But no one wanted to move and miss a second of this. On the other side of the camera, Demegawa, Omishori, Duval and their studio audience were held equally enrapt.
"Vicious criminals have killed three innocents while masquerading as me", Kira's voice continued. "They wish to tarnish my reputation, forever despoiling the Perfect World I seek to build. They will be punished for it. Search the murder sites and you will know the truth. These criminals have used their weapons to kill from afar, but there is no substitute for God's power. Do not allow this last, desperate attempt by the criminal and the corrupt to sway your hearts from our great goal."
"Until those responsible have been caught, to prevent further confusion I will continue to announce the criminals that I am going to punish on this channel. Any other unexplained deaths you hear of are the work of evil men... evil men like Miguo Katamori, Qatada Nejion, and Jiang Sanamuto. Miguo Katamori will soon die from decapitation. Qatada Nejion will soon lose his left arm, and Jiang Sanamuto his right arm."
And just like that, the spell was broken. "Nagisa Square!" Aizawa barked as he sprinted for the elevator and his car at the bottom. "Streets to the south and the freeway to the north! Matsu, take the highroad off 12th and Mercy! Look for unmarked, speeding vehicles!" It occured to him once the elevator's mirrored doors had closed that Light might have had his own plans to catch the fallout from Kira's inflammatory broadcast. And he was still the boss. Technically.
"To hell with what Light wants", the inspector rebuked his reflection on the elevator doors. "If this leads to the real Kira... I'll take whatever comes."
-
Within the space of five minutes, the task force had cleared out of their secret headquarters, racing to catch some sign of reaction within the criminal fraternity. Even the two technicians had left, one headed to the police station to help Ranikamil analyze the mysterious boxes and the other driving with Matsuda. Neither had been aware that the other was leaving in the chaos.
Which of course left Light 'L' Yagami all alone, to himself.
"Heheheheh. Gotta say that was funny, watching 'em run like little chickens. Nice timing."
Almost alone. Ignoring the capers of his demonic companion, Light got back to L's chair to watch the unfolding chase, monitors locked onto both Aizawa and Matsuda's cars. "It's good that they're alert, Ryuk", he said. "It means I don't have to help them so much to catch this imposter. And it's good for Aizawa to have something else to do instead of always trying to prove that I'm Kira."
The decrepit-looking Shinigami chuckled heartilly behind him. "Maybe you should thank him."
In an instant, Light's face shifted from familiarity towards his friend to a look of pure rage. "NEVER. This person's killed three completely innocent people, leaving Kira's name at the scenes. Not even Misa ever went that far. There's only one reason they could be doing that- to destroy my reputation. No one's going to follow the law of Kira if they think he kills the innocent along with the guilty. Even that phone recording's just a gray fallacy now."
"Gray what...?"
Light sighed. Sometimes Ryuk was welcome company. Other times, Light couldn't help but yearn for someone on his intellectual level, someone else who shared his grand vision of a perfect world... L had been the only one who fit the former, but had been sadly lacking in the latter. He'd had no choice but to kill him. "From legal studies. Gray fallacy is created when two opposing parties make claims that are mutually exclusive. When that's a public event like a lawsuit, the average person won't be able to believe in either claim without decisive proof... I've lost you, haven't I?"
The Shinigami was in fact looking out the window to watch the inevitable traffic chaos dozens of floors below. "Heheheh. Yep."
"Well, the point is, I've denied the accusations before they got started. With any luck, Aizawa will be able to recover the evidence I used to back up my claims. I told Misa to write those names at midnight. It's 12:04 now; they should all be dead in the way I specified- head, left arm, and right arm. All that's left to do is catch the impostor." Not bad, considering this game only started five hours ago. Such a simple trap, but one I didn't expect, not with L out of the picture.
Sure enough, Aizawa's car had already torn into the slums that framed Nagisa Square on the monitor, feeding Light sound and sight from the sound and camera screen they'd placed within the car's dashboard. These were truly the lowest of the low in Japan. Miles of grafitti over rusty, ruined indsutrial housing providing a kind of shelter only fugitives or criminals would use. Being so large, it was the perfect hideaway.
Just a little longer now. While Murphy's Law always had to be accounted for, Aizawa and Ide had indeed chosen wisely. Dozens of immobile, broken-down cars littered these streets, but the ones that didn't show any signs of damage would give away the presence of criminals desperate to find some place they could hide from Kira's power. See how they like being the hunted ones. Light thought in satisfaction. The balance of power certainly had come a long way since he'd first aquired the Death Note and met Ryuk. Sooner or later the screaming from one of the three criminals he'd named would pierce the quiet darkness, and they'd have a severed arm or a head as evidence.
There! Before he could even think of making a call to them, squinting headlights lit up the back of Aizawa's car. Light's vidcam shifted wildly for a moment as the driver instinctively wheeled into another alleyway, but even Light stopped to stare for a moment when the other vehicle roared into view- an unmarked 18-wheeler, more than twice the size of Aizawa's car.
But it wasted no time in trying to intimidate the inspectors, instead blasting off towards the district exit with Aizawa's car in hot pursuit. Any doubts that they'd only stumbled upon an extremely paranoid shipping company were dispelled once the trailer door slid open to reveal a pair of men with suits, ties, and most importantly, guns. Nejion's men, Light noted, remembering their faces from the task force's index of criminal suspects. Trying to escape his fate. But I don't see a body- did they leave it at their hideout?
In the tight passages of the square, Aizawa's mad swerving and Ide's return fire could only save the driver and passenger from direct hits- the car's windshield was soon totally destroyed along with the rearview mirrors and bumpers. Both the hoods kept up an indiscriminate spray of bullets as they tore out onto the freeway.
"Matsuda", Light spoke up hurriedly on both the car's vidcams. "Get back to the freeway, there's an unmarked truck there. Try to cut them off. Ide, go for the tires. You can't get them directly while Aizawa's swerving like that."
"Excuse me", the driver's irritated voice shot back. "This is suicide; I'm falling back to tail 'em. Put in a call to the locals if they haven't noticed this already."
"Got it" Without wasting a beat, Light switched over to a phone line to make the call. He couldn't deny the agreeable feeling of power he felt while acting from the center of the late L's massive nexus of electronic communications and information, working as a sort of 'master coordinator' for the task force.
If he so desired, from here Light could have simultaneous use of up to four phone lines, fixed cameras in several criminal hideouts, the live vidcam links in each of their cars, and internet access. Each with their own screen and plenty more leftover. None of it compared to the head-rush feeling of writing in the Death Note of course, but circumstances had conspired so that Light had been unable to use it himself for weeks now, instead having to relay the names of the guilty off to an increasingly clingy Misa Amane. The vast computing power of L's network would have to do as a substitute for now... and the evil ones were still dying off. That was what truly mattered, not his personal comfort.
A massive screech snapped him out of his reverie. Ide had finally hit his mark on those tires, taking out two at the rear and causing the vehicle's chassis to sag sharply to the left. The driver's only response was to speed up even further... thus causing one of the gunners to fall out of the back onto the road, rolling to a stop before standing and running out of the vidcam's range.
Light supressed a scowl over that. The car had stopped. Aizawa was going after the gunner instead of the truck. True, a live captive could be useful but the body or severed arm of Qatada Nejion was what he needed. Matsuda was coming from the other side, but long experience with that idiot had taught Light never to trust him with anything important. If he screws this up...
"Y'know, I never realized how much you cared about your 'image', Light. Heheh."
Light shut the Shinigami up with a glare and checked the other vidcam. Matsu had at least chosen his approach well; the truck was now trapped by columns of vehicles on both sides with his car coming up the middle lane. Even as the larger vehicle swerved about in an attempt to scare civillians on either side out of his way, Matsuda's car came on, pulling into a braking that blasted Light's headset with static. Cursing, he was about to bring the thing back up to his ears when the image on the screen made him think again.
Two agents tumbling out of both sides of the car. The truck lumbering onward. Glass cracking. Fire, and then darkness.
"That idiot", Light couldn't help but mutter. For once, he wasn't talking about Matsuda. That truck driver should have stopped. He hadn't a clue as to the likely outcome when two gas-powered vehicles impacted each other at speeds as high as that. As a result, it was likely he, the remaining gunman and any other evidence they had with them had just gone up in flames. Damn it. Just have to pray Aizawa catches the other one. Too much to hope for that the police might bag someone connected to Katamoi or Sanamuto in transit.
On to other matters. For a moment there, he'd been so engaged in the chase that he'd forgotten about something else he had to do before Ranikamil came back from the police department with that box. Casually, with no hint of worry, Light strode about the room systematically picking at the corners, beneath chairs and tables as Ryuk looked on in boredom. Aizawa had been clever, but not clever enough. And so predictable. In ten minutes' time he had retrieved five listening devices, each one less than the size of a cell phone. Plugged each of them into the mainframe by their USB ports.
Light shook his head as he double-checked the time he'd spent talking to Ryuk with what he'd said for the rest of the chase. "That man! He never quits. I don't think he'd give up if L himself came back from the dead to tell him he'd been wrong about me."
"That'd be a bit difficult to pull off, I think", Ryuk echoed back merrily. "Unless you want to put on a white T-shirt and eat candy all the time. Why don't you just... y'know."
"I already told you. The rest of the team would suspect me just as much as Aizawa does now if he suddenly died from the Death Note. Yes, I could kill them all, but then even if Interpol didn't suspect me, I'd have no excuse to continue using L's network. And that's already helped me to find more criminal names and faces than any other database in the world."
The young man's bitter logic seemed to have cowed Ryuk for now. He simply glided off to look for something else to amuse him. In the meantime, the computer had done its work; all five bugs had four minutes and fifty-five seconds of Light talking to seemingly no one replaced with utter silence until the chase had started. Without a word, he put each one back in it's place and stood-
-Yawned wide. Whoa. Long night. 12:33, right? Though Light had never needed huge amounts of sleep even in high school, he had also been investigating and micromanaging both Kira's followers and the Interpol task force for more than 28 hours straight. As imperative as it was for him to stay alert, some downtime was past overdue, and even if it wasn't his mortal body would not take 'no' for an answer much longer.
Even the God of the New World has to sleep, he mused to himself between rest and wakefulness, his body involuntarily sliding itself onto one of the plush couches arrayed behind the monitor cluster. But now I can afford to. The truth will come out that chemical weapons were used to kill the three innocents. Kira's image will be restored among the faithful and we can put the whole fiasco behind us... minus an Interpol car or two...
-
The smell of some very strong coffee was the first thing Light percieved. Still fuzzy, he averted leaning over just in time to notice that someone had been holding an entire pot of the stuff beneath his nose. "Wha-?"
"Sleeping beauty wakes at last", agent Ide observed snarkily from the other side of the lounge. "We figured it was time."
Light looked around. Everyone was back at headquarters, safe and sound. One of the technicians was in his chair, Aizawa looking over some files and Matsuda holding the coffee pot that had nearly burned him.
And there was sunlight coming through the windows. Frantic, he checked his favorite watch. 10:46. "Hunh?! Why didn't you guys wake me up earlier?!"
Still watching the screens, Aizawa chuckled. "Well we would have, but for all that snoring. And Ide only suggested using the coffee pot now. Wonderful stuff, that. You should try it sometime."
Hiding embarrassment did no good when everyone could see the mortification on your face. Light turned to the sun. "I don't snore. And coffee's not my thing."
Right on cue, the techie flipped a switch to broadcast the definitive sound of snoring, eliciting a good laugh from everyone around the table but Light. They probably had made visual recordings too. Note to self- don't ever sleep in the headquarters lounge again. "Ha ha ha, very funny guys. So. What's new with Nejion's men? Assuming you had time to catch them in-between making me look like an idiot."
Just like that, the reason for their uncharacteristic attempts at levity became clear- they had bad news. "No one? Well I'll tell him then. The good news first.", Aizawa decided after a long, uncomfortable silence. "It wasn't easy. I had to chase him five blocks, but I caught the one who fell out of the truck. Say hello to Chiru Surotawa, serial murderer and professional honey trap."
Again right on cue, a screen switched to show the man Aizawa had caught, locked up in the very same spartan metal chair they'd once held Misa Amane in. Just like her, the handsome criminal had been bound and blindfolded, silouetted by blinding lights. Gagged as well, presumably to drown out whatever army of profanities he would have otherwise spewed out at the cameras watching him.
"Good work", Light acknowledged. "But I doubt he'll talk easily." Especially if his confession helps Kira restore his image. "What about the three criminals Kira said he'd killed? Any sign of them?"
Ide frowned. "Yes and no. We never found a trace of their bodies, but... when we went back to Nejion's hideout to look, we found this." With that, he placed a wooden box on the table. A box identical to the ones that had killed Genya Valgreen and two others, it's top blasted apart like a bomb. Another wooden box marked 'KIRA'.
A chill permeated Light's neck so strong that he almost reached for the coffee pot to burn his hand. Anything to distract him from the implications now raging through his brain like lightning.
Now the forensic analyst Sugarne Ranikamil, their youngest, greenest member spoke from near Surotawa's cell, adjusting his glasses nervously. "I analyzed that one and one of the first three, sir. Like you suspected, they're likely a remote delivery method for chemical weapons. There's traces of some common flammable substances and substantial charring on both, but the rest... must have burned up when they were set off. We won't be able to tell what exactly this nerve gas' makeup is until we capture a live 'Kira-Bomb'. Worse, there isn't sufficent difference in composition to tell exactly when each one went off. All I can tell you is this new one went off sometime within the past 12 hours."
The same time as those criminals died. Someone planted a pre-detonated one in Nagisa Square after Nejion died. Now no one will be able to tell if the Death Note killed them or the so-called 'Kira-Bombs' did.
"And Light... I'm sorry. It's not the only bomb that went off while you were sleeping", Matsuda cut in tenatively. "There was a new one this morning. Logan Daisuke, his whole family..."
He could no longer conceal the shock. Thankfully, this time it was fully warranted. Mr. Daisuke had been Light's civics professor. A short, balding man wearing a sports jacket who nonetheless had some of the only class discussions Light had ever been genuinely interested in. Daisuke was as innocent of crimes as a newborn baby, and far more valuble an educator. Why is this happening?!
"Did... you know him, Light?"
Standing there amidst a crowd of faces who knew what was happening was bad but didn't have an inkling as to just how bad, he saw it.
A similar thing had happened to Light several times whenever he or L had won a decisive move in their little game of deceptions. There were any number of explanations for it he could think of. It could have been that repeated use of the Death Note allowed one to identify intangible threats by sight. It could have been a sixth sense for dangers to his master plan, of which L had been the greatest. It could have been just his own imagination playing tricks on him.
Whatever the case, it was not a blue glow that surrounded his opponent this time, contrasting with the red radiance Light himself emitted while in this state. All he could see of his foe was a shapeless black void before him, darkness threatening to drown out his red light. A phantom, clearly invisible to all the rest as they wondered why their boss was staring for so long at an empty space.
But that red haze in Light's eyes would never be beaten so easily. Were that so, he could never have gotten this far. His quest would have ended with that oafish FBI agent, Raye Pembur.
With L dead I thought I had won this game. But there's new player on the board now, who won't stop his plans until my Perfect World lies in ruin. But... this is only the beginning. Know this, phantom- I am KIRA. God of the New World. I destroyed L. And I WILL destroy you!
-
If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen.
If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.
TBC
-
M: So there it is, the start of my first written fiction in about a year, and my first time doing a story on Death Note- a serious story, unlike the most popular ones, but I digress. Hopefully the creative spark will last this time, but either way I will definitely finish this one. Hoping to maintain a schedule of about one new chapter a week. Depending on feedback this can become faster or slower.