Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. Ebony is the exception to this statement however.
Chapter One Ebony
"Miss Ebony, please wake up and pay attention!" came a very irritated voice. My body involuntarily lurched forward as my face met table, and warm drool splashed from the damp drool towel I always had with me in class and onto my face. I twisted my face in disgust as I found a dry spot on the black towel and wiped my face off, looking around the room of geniuses. My gaze stopped at the scowling old man in his sixties, hair thinning to the crown of his head. His jacket was wrinkled slightly as his hands were placed on his hips. I looked behind him and saw the word "Hitler" scrawled out on the chalk board I leaned back, putting my shoes on the table and pushed my chair to where it was balancing on two legs.
This man wasn't our teacher, no she was taking a vacation. She always did around the same time every month and the reasons varied from her menstrual cycle, to it was test time and I was always more "unruly" around said time. I was leaning toward the latter of the two, once my grades plummeted, so did my behavior, the reason were two totally different from each other.
"I wasn't asleep, just resting my eyes. If you ask me investigating Hitler's mental state seems to be a waste of time, he killed himself supposedly. Many serial killers show signs of madness before they die," I stated matter-of-factly, almost as if I was bored, truth is I was. There was a stunned look on the teacher's face; I was right on subject to what was being taught. I heard a snicker roll through the class, my gaze settling on the table in the top left hand corner of the room, the familiar sounds of virtual reality swords crossing carried throughout the room, a distinct snap of chocolate interrupting the noise as the crash of dozens of pencils that were stacked to form the Leaning Tower of Pisa fell.
I crossed my hands over my well fitting black t-shirt and crossed my skinny jean clad legs, I was bored out of my mind. The only reason I was a dunce was because nothing seemed to gain my interest. I had tried working a few police cases like the ever so famous L, but to my demise I finished it only because I had nothing better to do. Everyone went back to listening to the lecture while I played with my pencils, stacking them trying to build some impressive statue, wishing I had an apple or something similar.
I was supposed to be "competing " to become a successor to L, but my photographic memory and attention span normally got the better of me, I don't know why I continued to show up to lessons. The material was common sense to me, and I assumed other people. Taking the wonderful example of Hitler, he got power, and then after killing a bunch of people he killed himself, supposedly, out of madness, it was karma, in theory.
I personally didn't care if I was the next L, the four-or-so years I've spent here were wasted on me, I was actually questioning why I was still at the orphanage in the first place. People only hung out with me because I was creative in dealing with boredom, and I saw through the holes in the simple one sentence per rule system. After a year the rule list became a lecture.
My brain felt like a bored mush as I swept my ebony black bangs to the side. I sighed and looked at the clock, I still had an hour of this torture until I was free to do whatever I pleased, and that was normally consisted of using my laptop for anything interesting, and of course finding nothing resting on the roof with an apple, sometimes an orange, and any fruit really. I groaned loudly causing the class to snicker, and Roger, the balding part-time teacher full time caregiver to glare at me and set his book down with a little more force that was necessary.
"Alright, I'm letting you out early, go do whatever it is you do. Ebony, may I have a word?" I internally groaned as Roger let everyone leave. I saw a reassuring smile from a few people who enjoyed my antics as they left. I picked up my almost blank spiral and walked to the front of the room, leaning against a table knowing what was to come.
"Now before you lecture me on the importance of effort hear me out. I'm insanely bored, I really don't care about being L's successor, and I enjoy the abnormal. That's why I misbehave and I've tried taking on cases, but they are all the same, the only difference is who the bad guy is." There was a sigh as I was released too. I shrugged and left the room. This was becoming too ritualistic, and like class, it was getting boring.
"So, how'd it go?" asked Matt oh-so innocently. His red hair was framing the goggles that made him infamous to the gaming world, but hid his dark blue eyes from reality. His black and white long sleeve shirt, gloves that almost reached his elbows, and jeans were his typical attire, when we went out he normally donned on a vest with fur lining with pockets deep enough he could bring his DS and a handful of games. I shrugged and pushed some of my mid-length black hair from my crystal blue eyes. I started half skipping down the hall as my best friend buried his nose into his PSP like it was a book.
"He tried to lecture me on effort for the tenth time, this week. I cut him off before he even started. I hate class so much!" I leaned my head back and shouted the last words with emphasis. I heard a chuckle from the gamer beside me. I frowned and looked around, what rule have I not found a loophole to? I wasn't allowed into Roger's office without a "guard" that wasn't Matt or Mello but that never stopped me, I already pranked his office and was awaiting the fruits of that task.
"So now what?" I shrugged and went turned toward rooms, I had no clue on what to do, messing with Mello never ceased to be fun, but he was going to be busy studying, trying to beat Near who appeared to not even care. I smiled and altered the course slightly toward the blonde's room. "You're evil." I heard laced with a chuckle behind me.
"I know," I simply replied. I navigated through the hallways and found Mello's room. I knocked politely and smiled in case the hot-headed blonde decided to actually open the door. This would be monumental if he did. From my first day here Mello ignored me, and I couldn't have that. I pestered him until he realized I was no threat to his precious rank on the board to become L, we exchange some normal conversations, but not many.
"Go away!" yelled Mello. I frowned and opened the door throwing myself on his bed as he spun around on the chair that faced the desk. "What didn't you understand from those words? Aren't you supposed to be smart?" I tapped my chin as I got comfortable, looking up at the white ceiling of the room.
"Yes, if you look at my IQ, but you know I love to bug you so, here I am!" I threw my hands up for emphasis. I heard Matt chuckle as he leaned against the door frame, Mello just frowning in annoyance. He turned toward me and narrowed his eyes, it was working. One for Ebony!
"Shut the hell up would you?" I frowned and sat up, moving my long bangs from my eyes again. I looked at Mello and considered his request. This is how everything normally started, one request and I normally replied with a smart answer and then the chocoholic would chase me threatening to kill me. His black attire seemed to make him more dangerous, but next to Matt he was my best friend.
"Try asking nicely," I suggested with a shrug, putting my index finger on my chin in fake thought. I heard Matt chuckle from the door frame as Mello frowned in anger. His icy blue eyes glowing the dangerous glow that was always the first warning when dealing with him. I wasn't in the mood for exercise however so I was going to have to change the subject and fast.
"Good luck, you should know by now Mello doesn't ask nicely," Matt said lightly not looking up from his game earning his own frown from the blonde. I thought about stealing a piece of chocolate from the hidden chocolate stash under the bed I was sitting on, but I thought ill of it with Mello sitting right in front of me.
"Whatcha doing?"I asked dragging the last word as I shifted my position to hanging upside down from the bed. A glow from the laptop to his left caught my attention. I replayed the last two minutes, the glow wasn't there earlier, in fact I was 86% positive that the laptop was turned off.
"Homework," grumbled the kid in second place of being L's successor. I looked around the dark room, most people expected candles to be lit and positioned around the space he called his own, but it was just black with various posters of chocolate companies, it captured Mello that's for sure.
"Doesn't look like it." My voice continued to have the sing-song quality I knew ticked the genius off. I smiled as he turned and gave me the devil's stare. I shifted into a more comfortable position upside down and tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for the possessed laptop, other than the fact it was haunted. To be perfectly honest I wasn't sure where I stood on the whole ghost concept, I was open to where I'd accept them, but I was a skeptic at heart.
Someone hacking into the computer was a possibility, but the best hacker at Wammy's was leaning against the door frame of the room I was contemplating this in, playing Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII by the sound of it. This was more likely, though who could it be? I made a mental note to ask the red head to track the signal if I couldn't figure it out.
"Why are you hanging upside down?" I stuck my tongue out and looked at the desk, recognizing the Japanese characters that littered his screen. I felt my eyes widen as my brain took over and started translating the words as best as it could from my position. This is what I get from reading a Japanese to English dictionary.
"What are you doing with Japan? And to answer your question I'm upside down because I want to, but I must say this is giving me a killer headache." I saw the red head shake his head at me as I pushed myself off of the bed, doing a flip landing on my feet lightly as I read the headline. "'Man dies of heart attack.' That's not news, people die of heart attacks all the time." I turned my nose up at the article.
"Try reading the entire article dumbass," ordered Mello. I repeated what he said in a mocking tone giving a sassy headshake to go along with it. I took the laptop from the desk and skimmed through the article. I smiled and laughed at the stupidity of the reporters, the doctors and all. The blonde watched me, crossing his arms as I skimmed through it a second time. I paused and looked at his eyes, he hadn't read it himself. This supported my theory of the laptop being turned off when I walked in.
"Try calling them dumbasses, they're saying there was no cause for the heart attack. Heart attacks can be brought on by anything. If this guy was diabetic for example there's a certain chemical that can be added into their insulin, not much, and it can cause a heart attack as well as be undetectable by most doctors. But this is interesting I must say." I noted that this guy was a criminal, odd. It wasn't much of a loss, this guy was holding people hostage, once he died everyone got released, it was too convenient.
"This is no freak heart attack," I mumbled under my breath. I crossed my legs and brought my hands together in front of my face, my elbows resting on my knees. I read the sectioned labeled "related articles" and more headlines with more deaths linked to heart attacks and criminals. This….this was murder, many of them labeled with the name "Kira". Cue the lights going out leaving my face lit up by the screen and ominous music in the background.
"What's this? Is the ever bored Ebony actually interested?" teased Matt. I turned toward him and shrugged nonchalantly. I was, I couldn't deny this. He put the gaming system in his pocket and walked over to sit beside me, hands in the pockets of his jeans.
"Yeah, but L's involved, I'm far behind if this article is dated within the same time the actual death happened. It's almost been about two months, there is no way I can catch up and solve this case with only public knowledge." I closed the lid of the laptop and handed it back to Mello. I stood up and left the dark room, actually thinking about trying on the test tomorrow, just to surprise everyone. I shook my head as I walked into the kitchen and pulled out an apple, looking at the fruit happily.
I went over to the sink and rinsed the fruit under the water and dried it with a towel, inspecting the gleam of the fruit as I took a bite, the sweet juices running down my cheek. I smiled in a small bliss wiping the apple juice from my chin and licking it off, not wanting to waste any. I took a seat, letting the apple work whatever magic it seemed to have.
There wasn't much to go by, only one heart attack that ends up saving about eight people. This was without considering the other articles, those were similar, and they might not even be related. My gut said that they were however. I drummed my fingers on the table and chewed the apple slowly. There was only a slim chance, if I put a number to it, about 12% that this was a murder, since there were a number of other murders, this was an undeniable fact. The question was who? Who was able to go through with these murders? I didn't believe any of the hostages were responsible, I saw a picture of them fleeing, all looked scared at relieved at the same time, but as a detective in training, in theory, I had to suspect all eight of those people.
"You're thinking about something, care to share your thoughts?" I turned to see Near, a small kid who looked almost the complete opposite of me, we both were fair skinned, but he was paler. While I had black hair and wore clothes to match he was in all white. My eyes were a deep medium blue; his was like a sea of grey. I turned my head to the side and thought for a second.
"There was a mysterious heart attack in Japan, seem too convenient. It has me interested. Only about a 12% chance it's a murder," I explained inspecting the apple, purposely leaving out the other details of the case. I saw Near grab a lock of his hair and started twisting it around his finger, his nonchalant expression was nothing new.
"Really? But it's only one death. How does that justify such a conclusion?" I watched as the pale boy sat next to me sitting with one leg on the chair. "But I must agree, the time of his death was too convenient."
"At least we agree on something." I paused and took another bit of my apple and looked at Near, studying his face. "I'm almost done with my magical brain food, I'm going to climb a tree, it's been a while since I've done that. Is it against the rules yet?" Near shook his head. I smiled, things I did normally ended with it getting banned, unless it was something constructive like reading. All the books I wanted to read I had memorized in the Grand Library of Ebony's Brain.
I walked outside, the cold almost winter air of England making goosebumps rise on my skin as everyone outside turned toward me and smiled, when I was involved it was interesting. I smiled and ran over to an oak tree, jumping up and with shaking arms pulled myself up.
"Ebony what's up, what did Roger want?" asked a brunette sitting within the branches looking down at me as I hung upside down from the branch I was sitting on. I looked at her and smiled.
"Just the same old effort speech Shine. I'm actually thinking about trying on the next text to prove to them that I'm not a waste of time," I said. I never did try on the test, I took the time to take a nap, answering the questions randomly, trying on about half of them then getting bored. Shine was about a year younger than me, about 13. I was one of the older kids at the time.
"That's a great idea, make Roger think he finally got through to you and then crush it in an instant after you get the test scores, you're brilliant!" it was evident that she was being sarcastic, the eye roll that followed wasn't necessary. I frowned and stuck my tongue out at her, breaking off a part of the tree and throwing it at the girl.
"Ebony!" yelled Matt. I looked toward him, twisting my hips to get a better view. I opened my mouth to ask what was up, but I found myself falling, landing on my head. I sat up and rubbed the back of my head, closing my eye as I asked him what was going on. "Watari is here and he's asking to see you." I coughed on my own spit, looked at the red-head in goggles in front of me. He nodded as if that was going to make me believe him.
"I don't believe you, give me proof," I said crossing my arms, turning away from the gamer, my head still throbbing. Man, I hope I didn't just give myself a concussion. I felt him trying to pull me inside. I looked at him and dug my fingers into the dirt, yelling that I was being kidnapped by some madman.
"You're really making this difficult," he sighed and let go of my ankles. I turned and smiled triumphantly, the smile quickly disappearing as an old man in a suit appeared behind him. Matt turned and saw Watari, smiling sheepishly and explained how I was being difficult.
Watari was an older man, well into his 70's. His whitish-gray hair lay limply on his head, and he still had more than Roger. His eyes were almost closed and a pair of glasses was positioned perfectly on his nose. Like Roger, he was wearing a suit, however this one looked more expensive. Needless to say it drew the eye away from the deep set wrinkles on his face.
"I was not! You offered no proof, and I'm dead last in the race to become L so why should I believe that Watari, a person who is known to be around said famous detective, wants to talk to me," I defended standing up. "And seeing how he's here, I believe you." I brushed off imaginary dirt knowing I now had a grass stain on my stomach.
"Very well, Miss Ebony would you please follow me," Watari said speaking for the first time. I followed him into the house, people watching stunned as me of all people were getting talked to by this man. I put my index finger on my chin. The laptop acting weird and now a personal visit from Watari, this was too fishy, and it all lead to L. What was he up to?
"Mr. Watari, if this is about my effort level than I must say you'll be wasting your breath. I am however going to actually try not to get bored during my next test," I said slowly, unsure how to talk to the older man. I felt a gentle hand lead me into an office and he closed the door. I turned my head, so much for running.
"Please sit down, and I assure you that you are in no trouble," invited the warm-hearted man. I nodded and sat down uncomfortably, instantly noticing the bowl of purple grapes. I pointed to the bowl and began asking if I could eat some, but Watari cut me off saying it was alright.
"Thank you," I said taking the blue bowl taking five grapes and stuffing them in my mouth. "What's this about?" I asked my voice still clear through all the fruit in my mouth as I began to chew. Watari sat behind his desk and looked at me.
"Near said that you are showing interest in the heart attack that happened in Japan a couple of months ago, is this true?" I paused, dropping the grape back into the bowl in shock, that weasel! I narrowed my eyes slightly, he was lying. L set this up, this proved it! Near wasn't the weasel, it was L. "He also said even though you don't show it you're actually brilliant." I frowned and played with the fruit in my hand as I put it in my mouth, savoring in it. The only test I took seriously was the one I took to get into the orphanage, both Watari and L knew my potential from that single test.
Seeing how this confirmed that the site I got my information from was accurate, that simply meant that unless I were to miraculously join the famous L on this case, my chances on solving this before him was 2%. It wasn't looking promising for Ebony folks. Seeing how Watari was here, I had every right to assume that L was already on the case, though I already knew this from the Old English Text MT "L" that accompanied a title that supported this. I looked into the warm slits of Watari's eyes as he smoothed out the jacket of his suit.
"What do ya wanna know? I don't think I can be of any help, it was a heart attack, there's many things that cause heart attacks. What strikes this as unusual was the fact that nothing in the autopsy showed what possibly could've caused the heart attack. I have a few options, my favorite being the addition to his insulin in the case of him having diabetes. This of course points toward murder, and with my limited information and the atypical status of this case, the probability of L taking it compared to mine are numbers on two totally different sides of the spectrum." I paused and finished off the last grape, frowning at the bowl. "I just answered your question didn't I?" I received a nod, I needed to get better on not spilling everything I thought, or knew, at once unless I was thinking about it, it was a bad habit, I admit it.
I turned my head, toward the door. I excused myself to a brief moment and kicked the door, hearing both Mello and Matt on the other side grumbling in pain. I smiled and sat back down, another thought coming to mind. "It seems like it was an accident. It seems like it was a desperate move, that whoever was in charge of this man's death didn't think it would work. In that case it's anyone who is remotely curious, and that doesn't narrow down the possible suspects if this is in fact a murder case." I pause and looked up from the floor at Watari, slightly blushing. "Uhh… sorry, I forgot I was in here, just thinking."
"It is quite fine Miss Ebony, I actually wanted to see what you thought about this," explained Watari holding his hand up and shook his head. I looked at him there was something else, he wouldn't have pulled me away from my mischief unless something wasn't connected to this. I looked at him and tilted my head, trying to get him to tell me what's going on. I sighed as I responded to the silence.
"L thinks the same thing doesn't he?" I asked almost disappointedly as I hung my head for a moment sighing before looking up again. I received a nod, and I matched his with my own, slower thoughtful nod. "Is that all?"
"Actually, I am sure after I tell L he will want me to come to you asking what you think after hearing that these murderers continued." I sighed and threw my head back, I always wanted to be different. In normal school I was the genius, here I was the dunce, but I knew that L and I had similar thoughts on the same thing, how much he knew about this just from this murder was beyond me. I didn't dare to ask because I figured I wasn't going to get anywhere.
I was released, and it didn't take long for Mello to pin me to a wall and interrogate me. I smiled and let him yell in my face, the smell of chocolate filling the air around me. "What did he want?" he growled, apparently he wasn't called back with Watari. I paused a thought for a moment, unsure how to respond and not die, but I was quickly losing interest.
"He wanted to know what I thought about the weird heart attack. I was right though, it is pointless L is already looking into it." I felt Mello's thumbs digging into my shoulders. I ducked under his punch and started running, so much for a lazy day. I wasn't about to tell him that there was a good chance I was going to better him in the text tomorrow, and he was even going to study.
"Get back here!" I heard behind me. I yelled back a no, and continued running through the house, sliding under a table, biting my tongue to keep from laughing. The table was knocked over while I scrambled to my feet and ran outside, taking refuge in a tree.
"What's happening?" asked Shine. I smiled up at her pulling myself high within the foliage. My arms started aching, my breath coming in shortened gasps as I continued to pull myself higher, not even paying attention to the ripping sound of my right sleeve tearing in the tree.
"The Big Bad Mello is chasing me," I said laughing as he looked up at me from the ground. "Oh, while I'm up here, I think this is the appropriate time to tell you that I plan on taking the test tomorrow seriously, have fun being third!" Mello exploded beneath me, looking for an appropriate rock to throw at me.
"You bitch! You don't even study, how the hell do you think you're going to score better than me?" I paused, he had a point, but then again I've never tried on a test. On the first test I read through the questions, and getting a feel for the gifted population I missed only one, I got fifth. After that I knew getting a perfect score wasn't going to make me stand out so I stopped trying after I figured out how the test worked, about two tests later.
"You have a point, but the last time I actually took a test some-what seriously I only missed one, and it was on purpose. I was fifth, remember? You were so proud of getting second you probably didn't pay much attention to the fact that Matt got third but you did notice like always Near got first." I hung upside down again, smiling in Mello's face. I did a curl up as he tried to punch me. "Missed me!" I laughed as I pulled myself back up and dropped down running, and with my luck bumping into Roger.
"Ebony get your ass back here!" I heard as he didn't see what I just did. I started explaining what was happening, not needing to say much now that Mello was right there yelling at me. "I'm totally going to kill you!" he was grabbing my shirt, cutting me off.
"You two cease this behavior, and go to your rooms!" ordered Roger. The blonde released my shirt. I readjusted the cloth and turned toward the caretaker. The vibrant grass stain on my black t-shirt wouldn't help the position I was in, telling the caretaker that Mello and I weren't fighting was pointless.
"On my way can I get some fruit? I-uh, am actually applying myself toward something and I like fruit." Roger looked at me curiously, unsure how to react. I was being punished so to go with it he should say no to my request, but at the same time I'm showing the initiative, and he didn't want to discourage me.
"I suppose that request is reasonable." Score two for Ebony.
So yes, this is another Cannon following fan-fict. I'm trying to focus more on her antics and thoughts during the case rather than re-telling the story. So, any help here (suggestions) would be used eventually.
Let me know what you think, I appreciate it.