Hello there! This is my first story EVER, so I hope you like it. I don't think the prologue is too good, but I'll try to improve in the next chapter. Please read and review, I would like any kind of feedback! I do not own Death Note (unfortunately), otherwise L would still be very much alive.

Prologue

It's night-time, and the room is dark. A large computer monitor is the only source of light, casting soft bluish shadows across the bare floor and walls of the room. It's a small cubicle - white walls, wooden floor. The monitor and a microphone, standing in the middle of the room, are the only visible furniture. It's all quet, deathly silent safe for the soft buzzing of the computer, which shows nothing but static at the moment. There is no visible movement.

A pale black-haired man sits in the corner in an awkward position, dead obsidian eyes staring straight frowards, unblinking. He is dressed in a white sweater and baggy jeans, and his feet are bare. His breathing is quet, yet rapid, unnerved. L Lawliet was trying very hard not to throw something at the stupid monitor.

He had just watched yet another news report. More deaths, more tragedies. More people dying of heart attack. Only it's not the same as before. This time, it's not Kira.. or at leats, not ONLY Kira. That much L had already figured out. Kira was a prefferencial killer, he killed only people who, in his mind, deserved to die. He only killed criminals and thugs, and occasional policemen that got too close to his track. These killings were much more random, involving civilians and innocents, people that had done nothing do deserve death. Yet the cause of death was the same - a sudden heart attack. It was too convenient to be a coincidence.

But that was not the reason L was so distraught. He had spotted something among the murders that went deeper, much deeper than even Kira's case went. Much closer to home than L liked it. Among the deaths were six teenagers, seemingly nothing important or interesting. But to L, those were the most significant deaths of all. He knew all of them by name, or at leats by alias. All of the six belonged to Wammy's House, an orphanage that acted as a training facility for children with exceptional intelligence. L himself had come out of the orphanage. What surprised and confused him most of all is that the murderer actually managed to kill them. It was common knowledge within the police force that Kira cannot kill a person without knowing their face and true name. A Wammy's House, the children weren't even called by their names, only by aliases, so they would never be in any danger. Until now..

The monitor suddenly came to life, and a large W appeared on it, taking up the entire screen. L looked up at it, still deep in thought, but listening non-the-less. "Yes, Watari?" he asked softly.

"There's been another murder, L." A hoarse voice of an old man spoke through the speakers, full of regret and pain. L's brows furrowed at this - he had never heard his mentor so off-set. "It's Linda this time. She was found in an alley a few blocks from the orphanage. She was stabbed three times"

L's head flew up immediately. Linda. She was a little girl who was taken into the orphanage just a few years ago, and the last that L had heard, she was a brilliant and talented artist. But that wasn't so important right now. What was important is that she didn't die from a heart attack, like the rest of them. She was stabbed. But why?

"She was stabbed?" L thought out loud. "But why? Why didn't he kill her like the rest?"

It seemed Watari had the answer. "Maybe he couldn't find any record of her name"

L raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, she was one of the few students who didn't reveal her name when she got to Wammy's" Watari answered. "It's possible she didn't tell anyone, ever"

"Hmm.. So that means that the killer had somehow managed to get acess to the files on all the children at Wammy's.." L muttered, "But that's impossible, otherwise he would have already killed all of us.. But what other way is there for them to get this information? Unless.. they told him? That would explain why Linda was stabbed - she just wouldn't tell him her real name.."

"L?" Watari interrupted the man's train of thought. L raised his head once more. "There's something else" A small pause followed, but L didn't say anyting. He was patient. "There was a message written on her left arm, post-mortem. I'm sending it to you now"

"Very well" L's voice sounded surprisingly small and tired. The monitor flickered and a picture appeared on it - a message scribbled on a girl's arm in careful letters using a permanent black marker. Someone definitely wnated to make sure the message is received. 'This is just the beginning. I will have my vengeance.'

L sighed. That told him absolutely nothing useful, other than the fact that all of Wammy's children were in grave danger. He had suspected that much already. L put his thumb in his mouth, thinking deeply. With another sigh, he spoke: "What does the police force make of this?"

"They are putting it out as isolated incidents, completely unrelated. I'm afraid they won't help you this time, they don't want to get involved. They're even pulling the plug on the Kira case"

L continued biting his nails in silence for a moment, thousands of thoughts racing through his mind at the same time. "I will continue working the Kira case, Watari" He stated. Not a plea, a demand.

"I'm afraid even you cannot carry an investigation by yourself." Watari said "You need a team with access to classified information, among other things"

"I know" L answered simply. "I have something in mind for that. Get me on the line with Wammy's House as soon as possible"

~oOo~

On the other side of the city, a young man named Light Yagami is sitting in his room, fiddling with a pen as he watches the evening news report. The black Death Note lies closed by his side, a look of determination and frustration on his face. Ryuk, the shinigami, was standing over him, chewing on a blood-red apple from the fruit basket. Neither were speaking. The only sounds in the room were those of the television and Ryuk's chewing.

'Fifteen more bodies were found today in the residential areas of Tokyo. Twelve of them were teenagers, seven females and five males, and three were middle-aged men. The cause of death in all cases were proven to be sudden heart attacks. The main question is: is it the work of Kira, the liberator? If so, why had he moved on to killing innocents..'

"This is ridicious!" Light exclaimed, violently pressing the OFF button on the remote, turning off the TV in the middle of the broadcast. "I didn't do any of this!"

Ryuk laughed darkly as he finished the apple, "You're not the only one who can posess a Death Note, you know" He said. "And not all humans are as.. obsessed with justice as you are."

"That's true" Light said, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "The truth is, it's been too dangerous for me to write names lately. Detectives from the police force are all over the place, and I'm afraid L is on me. Maybe this could provide the distraction I need.."

A loud thud of the front door echoed through the house, startling Light. He stood up and looked out of his room - to find his mother barging in through the door, looking positively horrified.

"Mother?" Light asked softly as he descended the stairs, Ryuk trailing him. The senior took his mother by her arms and led her to the living room, settling her down in a sofa. "What's wrong?"

"I-I.." Sachiko Yagami tried to speak, but her body was shaking so violently that she couldn't. That was when Light began to get worried, he had never seen his mother so terrified.

"Calm down, mom" He said softly, putting a comforting hand on Sachiko's shoulder. "Take a deep breath and try again. What happened?"

Sachiko took several ragged breaths before speaking, though stuttering severely. "It's Sayu! She's.. dead.." She burst into violent tears, stopping herself from saying anymore.

But that was enough for Light. His eyes wide, hands shaking slightly, he grabbed his mother, bringing her to face him. "How? Who? Why!" He practically yelled at her.

"She.. had a.. heart attack.." Sachiko managed to get out in-between sobs.

Light froze in place, still holding his mother tightly. "I.. Mom, you should go lie down.." He helped Sachiko into her bedroom before retiring to his room and locking the door behind him. For the next few moments, he sat on his bed, staring silently in front of him.

It was Ryuk who broke the silence. "What's wrong? You seem rather distraught."

"Didn't you hear?" Light growled back. "My sister is dead! Just because some idiot felt like writing HER name in their Death Note!"

"So?" Ryuk asked in a bored voice. He really didn't understand humans.

"SO!" Light fumed. "I have spent months trying to make the world a better place, for people like her! I will find the one who did this and I will illiminate him. He will be punished."

"If you say so" Ryuk answered, his voice still filled with boredom, as he reached for another apple.

Light turned away from the Shinigami and stared into the black sky outside the window, his Death Note grasped in his hand. "I will find you, wherever you're hiding, and I will illiminate you. That is my justice."

~oOo~

The news report has reached even the farthest outskirts of the city. In a large, seemingly abandoned house on the edge of a cliff, a petite blond-haired girl sits lotus-style in a small room filled with computers. Every screen shows the same thing - the evening news on crimes and deaths in the city. The girl is rather small, pale, and her blond hair reaches to her shoulders, and is held by a black bow. She is tapping her fingers on the keyboard impatiently, her large blue eyes darting from one screen to another behind the frames of her glasses. Light bangs can be seen under her eyes in the dim light of the monitors.

"This is not good, not good at all.." She whispers to herself as she watches the news, and her expression gets more frustrated with every minute that passes, every word that is said.

Suddenly, the power goes out. The girl stares at the blank monitor in front of her for a moment, eyes widening slightly in surprise. She tries typing, but it's no use - the power is really gone, so the computers are dead. She stands up sharply as she realises something, and rushes out of the room, moving swiftly and silently, yet somewhat unsure of what she is doing. It takes her five minutes to pack a mesenger bag with everything she needs - and it's then that she hears a knock on the door.

The blond freezes up, eyes darting from one side to another like a trapped animal. A minute passes.. then another.. Then, the sound of a door going down is heard and the girl darts towards the opposite end of the house. A shadow is following her, but the girl doesn't turn around to see who it is. The shadow slowly closes in as they run around the house, and then..

The blond girl jumps out of a window, sending pieces of glass flying everywhere. A few get stuck in her arms and legs, but she keeps running, straight into the darkness outside. The shadow had stopped following her, staring out the broken window as her slim figure rapidly retreats. Then it turns around and walks away.