"That's right…"
"I… am Kira."
Spoke Light Yagami, the brown-haired serial killer who faced the two groups of detectives with a confident grin. These two groups were the Japanese Task Force, who originally served the world's greatest detective, L, while the other group was the SPK organization, or "Special Provision for Kira", sent by the United States, under the command of L's successor, Nate River. Or… as he is to be known… Near, the "third" L.
"And what will you do about it? Kill me right here?" Challenged the accused killer, with his arms held upwards as if to signal a fight.
"Kira has become law in the world we now live in. He's the one who's been maintaining order. I have become justice… The only hope for mankind…"
"Kill me…? Is that really the right thing to do…?"
"Since Kira's appearance six years ago, wars have stopped. And the global crime rate has lowered by nearly seventy percent…"
"But it's not enough! This world is still rotten, with too many rotten people!"
"Somebody has to do it!"
"And when I got that notebook all those years ago, I knew… I had to be the one to do it. No… I was the ONLY one who could!"
"I understood killing people was a crime…"
"There was no other way! The world HAD to be fixed! A purpose given to me!"
"Only I could do it…"
"Who else could have done it?! And come this far?! Would they have kept going?!"
"The only one… who can create a new world… is me."
Silence filled the warehouse as the speech Light gave came to a close. His words were not lies; the acts of Kira contributed to a time of peace on Earth. Indeed, wars had come to what seemed to be an indefinite pause, and the crime rate in countries all around the world had lowered to unbelievable levels. Despite the moral shortcomings of Kira's work, the world could not deny that he provided a valuable service. And up until this point, nations all across the globe had actually accepted the will of Kira. Perhaps it was due to the fear of opposing an unnamed killer of such power, or perhaps they truly believed in his work, but nevertheless, the world had entered an age in which Kira's will was law. And his only opposition, even after the man's death, was L; the world's greatest detective.
"No."
The single-worded response filled the room, drowning out the heroic words of Light as he stared with discontent. It was Near himself, who without missing a step, did not surrender even a moment of thought to the nonsense spewing from Light in his emotional tirade. Near could not be swayed with pretty words coming from a madman.
"You're just a murderer, Light Yagami."
"You yielded to the power of the notebook… And confused yourself with a god."
"In the end, you're nothing but a crazy serial killer. That's ALL you are."
"Nothing more… And nothing less."
"That was fifty years ago…" spoke an elderly white-haired man, sitting at an old wooden desk. This man was none other than Near, the man who stopped the vicious killings of the madman Kira fifty years ago. Despite his advanced age, the man bore a facial expression like that of a bored child that finished playing his video games weeks ago and had nothing left to play. He appeared to be looking at a black book with pages torn and dark stains everywhere; the Japanese letters for "Death Note" etched across its cover.
Of course, this was not the true notebook capable of murdering people by simply writing their names upon it and thinking of their face while doing so. That one had been burned away long ago, in the aftermath of the young detective's victory. But this one was a fake, created by the SPK during their process of capturing Kira all those years ago. While he wasn't typically a sentimental man, Near had kept the fake notebook all those years as a sort of memorabilia. Upon closing the notebook, opening up his desk drawer and placing it inside, he looked up at the ceiling; his memories of the event fifty years ago now filling his thoughts.
Following the defeat of Light Yagami and the end of the Kira case, Near resigned himself to the role of "L"; taking command of the world's police forces as the number one detective, capable of cracking cases beyond the scope of even the most well-funded agencies. Of course, to the world, he was still the original L, for the death of L Lawliet had never been made public. After all, the world knew not of L's true identity, and for them to know he had been replaced, would only lead to the devaluing of the name itself. Near would have to maintain the existence of L, while taking on the role as his own.
Simultaneously, the death of Kira was not made known to the public. While the morally ambiguous nature of Kira's work was questionable, Near and the other members of the SPK and Japanese task force believed that Kira did in fact impact the world on a positive note. So long as he could no longer continue killing, the fear that Kira would punish criminals for wrong-doings allowed a steady low crime rate to be maintained throughout the world. And of course, Kira, in some circles, was elevated to the status of a god.
Religion had begun to sprout, honoring Kira as a vengeful deity punishing the wicked. And among those devout, their opinions and beliefs were made known across many nations; including the Supreme Court gay marriage decision in 2015 that took place in the United States just two years after the Kira incident, with his followers proclaiming to those who supported the decision that Kira would punish homosexuals for their "perverted ways". They had also voiced their opinions of many events throughout the world, including the economic suffering of the Greek people in the same year and the incompetent politicians of the United States. Of course, this was naught but words. Many began to believe Kira had died, that the detective L had finished the case and won the fight, while others believed Kira had simply decided to remain inactive until the day would return that he would rise again to bring peace to the world. In many ways, one could say this religion was based upon the same idea as Christianity and the eventual second coming of Jesus, in that Kira would come once more to do his work and create a new world for the good of heart.
The world moved forward, with crime slowly returning as the majority of the world began to believe that Kira had finally left from this world and there was no longer anything to fear. But still, his followers remained devout, and waited even to this day for his glorious return.
In this way, fifty years passed…
"Hyahh!" yelled the young boy, dressed in a bright white Taekwondo uniform tied with a green belt as he thrust his closed fist outwards for the taller male adult also wearing the same uniform with a black belt wrapped around his waist standing in front of him. With a mere side-sweep of the arm, the older male pushed away his strike and stepped forward, closing the gap as he prepared a kick. The younger boy, a bit frightened, closed his eyes in the process and as the leg came flying, it suddenly came to a halt mid-air.
The older male grinned, lowering his leg to the ground as the boy slowly opened his eyes.
"You've got to keep your guard up, even while attacking, Kenny." The older man smiled softly as he lectured the boy, who in turn, nodded reluctantly and walked back to the line formation. "I hope everybody learned a lesson today about guarding in sparring." He continued, addressing the formation of twenty-some students lined up and all wearing their martial art gi.
"Yes sir!" roared all of the students, as the instructor nodded. "Very good. Class dismissed, everybody." The class slowly cleared out, as the instructor stood at the front of the classroom. This man was William Light, a twenty-three year old martial arts teacher who had begun attending graduate school for a degree in Physics. While not attending classes, he enjoyed teaching at the Taekwondo school where he himself had studied ever since childhood. He deeply enjoyed teaching, always presenting an optimistic smile to everybody, especially the children he taught on a daily basis. To their parents, he was a kind young man, and to the other instructors, he was a valuable co-worker and fellow martial artist.
As the classroom emptied out, Will could hear his phone ringing in his pocket. "I'll be right back in a bit, sir." He called out to the head instructor who was sitting at the front desk, nodding in response to Will as the latter ran out the back exit out of the school's office area into the back alley. Slowly taking out the phone and pressing the green button signifying the acceptance of the call, his once-gleeful demeanor quickly darkened into a serious composure.
"This is L."
While Will took the call, unbeknownst to him in the skies far above his hometown, a strange black notebook was falling at an accelerating rate. As it eventually hit the ground, its cover flapping from the wind pressure to close its contents from view, the cover read: Death Note.
And so the next note falls…
Author Notes: So, this will be my first attempt at writing an actual story rather than a one-shot chapter, so please bear with me as I get accustomed to doing this the right way. This chapter was meant to serve as an introduction and to establish the setting of the story and the main character. I will try to make my chapters much longer once I get into the swing of things.
I decided to tie in some recent events that have taken place, mostly in the United States, such as the Supreme Court gay marriage ruling and whatnot, sort of to tie in the world of Death Note with the real world. This will help both me to write this story properly and also for all of you to better understood the pacing of the story.
The fans of Death Note will notice the surname of the main character, William Light, was indeed taken from the forename of Light Yagami. Whether this alludes to Will being a "good guy" or a "bad guy" in the story, however, you'll have to read on to find out!
For those of you that have come to enjoy my poetic one-shots thus far, I hope you will enjoy my sequel to the Death Note series. Until the next upload, I leave you with this tagline for my new series, Death Note – Next Note: "As long as there is a Kira, there must be an L to stop him."