Hey, so I said before I had another story in mind. This is the one I was talking about. Hopefully you guys like it. I've been busy with school and hadn't had time to write, but now I do. Again, I don't own any of the characters. Credit goes to the writers of Death Note. Anyway, that's all so enjoy the story and Happy Holidays!
It was late at night, and only a small light was lit to illuminate the room. The man sitting alone at the desk was busy working. He had been doing so for a long time now. This was a particularly difficult case as he needed a solution as soon as possible. Of course, this type of work was exactly what he had expected. This job was certainly no walk in the park. However, there was something about this case that seemed to stump him. A mass of people were being held hostage and he needed a solution to persuade the man to let the people go before anyone got hurt. It was a complicated situation and needed to be handled cautiously.
He glanced at the clock which read 3:30am. He had been at this for hours. Perhaps getting some rest might help. With a sigh, he shut off his laptop and headed for bed. This wasn't the first time he had been up this late working and he knew it wouldn't be the last either. He climbed into bed and tried his best to sleep. He didn't realize how tired he was until he started drifting off to sleep. Several minutes passed when he opened his eyes and he was no longer in his bed. He was standing outside a very familiar building.
For whatever reason, he approached the building and was suddenly inside. The building was filled with kids running around. They all seemed happy and only glanced at him as he passed by. Out of nowhere he bumped into someone who seemed quite irritated.
"There you are, Roger wants to talk to us, so hurry up." The boy pushed him out of the way and continued down a long hallway. He followed the boy who stopped at a door at the end of the hallway. He knocked on the door and a voice signaled for them to enter. There was an old man sitting at a desk with a solemn expression on his face. He looked up when they entered and cleared his throat to speak.
"Thank you both for coming. I have something important to tell you."
He spoke again but his voice had become muffled and it was no longer understandable. The boy he had followed listened intently and soon his expression changed. He looked angry and started yelling at the old man. Suddenly he started to leave, the old man about to follow him. He stormed out, yelling something before he slammed the door. The old man said something and followed the boy. Even with the muffled voices, he knew exactly what had happened. Perhaps it was better that it was muffled. He didn't want to hear the terrible news again.
Without warning, the scene changed and he was no longer in the building. He was now sitting alone in the yard of his old home. He looked around. Nothing had changed from where he left it. He got up to look around and was about to go inside when he heard a voice. He turned around, but he saw no one. Again he heard the voice, but this time it got louder and he could now understand what it was saying.
"Near," the voice said.
Whoever it was knew his name. He looked around again, but still he couldn't see anyone. The voice continued to call him and seemed to get louder each time. The person speaking, spoke in a calm voice. It called him again, and this time he decided to answer.
"Who's there?" he asked.
"I wanted to speak to you." The voice said.
"Who are you and how do you know me?"
For a second the voice didn't answer, but then it spoke up. "There's no point in reasoning with this man. No matter what you say, he's likely to hurt someone."
"What are you talking about?"
The voice ignored his question and continued. "You need to come up with a solution to rescue those people. Focus on saving them. This man won't listen to reason, so you don't need to try and persuade him."
He didn't know how to respond. After all, just what was he talking about? It sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"This is how you'll be able to save everyone," the voice continued. "If you do this then no one will be harmed."
"I don't understand, what are you talking about?"
There was no response and it seemed like whoever was speaking had left. He tried asking more questions, but there was no response. He started to wonder again what the voice meant, when it suddenly hit him. The hostages. But how did the voice know? The scene changed again and he was back at his desk. Not long after there was a knock at the door and the old man walked in. He was about to speak when there was a sudden crash and he woke up with a start.
He knew it had been a dream, but it was a very odd dream. He glanced over at his desk and thought back to what the voice had said. How silly he was acting, worrying about who it was and how it knew him. It was only a dream, so it was his subconscious mind that came up with the solution. Still, does that mean he should try it? It would make things a bit easier.
"I suppose I could try it." Near said to himself. "I just have to be careful of how I approach this."
The following morning, Near begin to work on the case again. He had gone over a few solutions and only one seemed the most logical. Seeing no other way, he decided to go through with it. He sent his men in and they managed to rescue the hostages. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like this solution was so obvious. How come he didn't think of it before? Wait, of course he did. It just happened to be in a dream. It's just the voice in the dream didn't sound familiar. Then again, dreams never made sense anyway.
The day carried on as usual as Roger had recommended another case that Near should tackle. By the time the sun set, Near had made a breakthrough on the case. Wanting to take a break, Near decided to sleep earlier than usual. He laid in bed a while and wasn't really tired. Dismayed, he got up and went back to desk to keep himself busy till he was tired. Hours passed before he started to doze off.
Once again he was back in his old home, but this time he was inside his room. This time things got strange as he saw a younger version of himself sitting at the head of the bed, covering his ears. Outside the room he could hear a man and a woman arguing about something. Things seemed to get worse and his younger self desperately tried to ignore it. Near remembered this day. He knew exactly what was going to happen. It was enough for it to happen once, but he didn't want to be reminded of it. Just like that, the scene changed and he was in a black car with a man driving.
The car pulled up to the building from last night's dream and the man got out. Near followed him. The man looked at him and smiled. "Things will be better here." He said.
He started to approach the building when he stopped. Near was confused and went up to him. The man seemed to have frozen. In fact, everything was put on pause.
"This is strange." He said out loud. He looked around and figured he could try and change the scene again. Yet, there was nowhere he really wanted to visit. He started walking down the sidewalk when he heard someone speak.
"Near." It was the voice from last time.
"You did what I said, and no one was harmed. I'm glad."
"Who are you?" He asked. He had a feeling he wouldn't get an answer, but it was worth a try.
"I'm here to help you. I noticed you solved that second case rather quickly. However, I think you should go back to the file. There's something you forgot."
"How do you know that?"
There was no answer, and it seemed once again that the person speaking must have left. The scene changed again and then he woke up. He was still at his desk and the light was still on. The case file was on the desk. He looked through it, seeing if he had forgotten something. He read this file many times and seemed unlikely that he had. Sure enough, there was one small detail he didn't take into consideration when solving it.
It happened again, he thought. Is this is a coincidence? It has to be. There's no other logical explanation.
In the morning, Near retuned to the case and this time used what he had forgotten. It turned out better than before. This case, while easy, had rubbed him the wrong way when he had a solution. While this was still very strange, Near ignored it. However, he wouldn't be able to for long.
Every time he was working on a case, the same voice would come to him in his dream and provide him a solution. He started to get used to it and had become dependent on what the voice had to say. No matter what the situation, the advice it gave was always right. The more this happened the less Near questioned it.
This continued for a while and one night Near went to bed sooner to hear what the voice had to say about the current case. As usual he went through different dreams and then waited for the voice. For a while, nothing happened. Then the voice spoke.
"Near, I have something important to say."
"I wanted to ask you whether or not I should –."
"I can no longer help you. I've interfered too much already. I'm sorry."
"Why not?" Just as Near asked this, he saw a strange looking man step forward.
"Are you the one that's been helping me?"
The man nodded. "I shouldn't have intervened. I had my chance, now it's your turn. I know you'll do well."
"I don't understand. Why can't you help? What's different now?"
"Nothing. You don't need my help, you never did. You can solve these cases without me. I'm sorry, I must go. I'd wish you good luck, but I know you don't need it. It was nice talking to you Near. Goodbye."
The man turned and walked away. Near called him wanting to at least know who he was, but he already disappeared. Near then woke up more confused than ever. When the sun rose, he sat at his desk again. There was a knock at the door and a man walked in.
"Good morning Near."
"Good morning Roger."
Roger sat down at his desk and sipped his coffee. "Are you all right Near? You seem distracted." This was true as he was still thinking about his dream last night and hadn't even started to work on anything.
"I'm fine, I'm just a bit confused."
"Why is that?" Roger asked.
Near hesitated for a moment. He could tell Roger. Maybe he could help him understand. Near started at the beginning, telling Roger about the first few dreams. He then said how the voice was always right and how he constantly followed his advice. Finally, he told him about the recent dream.
"That's certainly odd. I'm no expert on dreams, but I'm sure there's some explanation."
"There doesn't seem to be. I don't really understand it."
"What about the voice? You said you saw what he looked like. Did you recognize him from somewhere?"
"No."
"Well what did he look like?"
"He looked tall, but I wasn't sure because he didn't stand up straight. His hair was messy and he was wearing a long white-sleeved shirt and jeans. Honestly if I had seen him before, I definitely would remember him."
Roger was silent for a moment and gave Near a very confused look. "Near, have you ever met L?"
"No but I've heard him speak through a computer. Why do you ask?"
"The man you described in your dream well um…you described L."
"That's impossible. I've never seen him before."
"I assure you, what you said described L perfectly. I'm just as confused as you are."
It all seemed impossible. Near couldn't think of any logical reason for it. He remembered what the voice said. He didn't need him. Near felt ashamed of himself, relying on a voice in a dream to help him. It sounded ridiculous. Yet, the voice was right. He sighed and opened his laptop.
"I'm sure there's an explanation for this Roger, but it's one that, while it seems to explain everything, is an idea I don't want to entertain. Nor do I believe I will ever know exactly what happened. However, the voice was right. I don't need luck. I can do this. I never needed its help. After all, it is my turn and I intend to take full advantage of that."
With that being said, Near turned on his laptop and begin working on a new case.