A/N: This whole idea for this story was an out of the blue deal… I'm not even really sure why I started it. I mean, even when I told Iludehcaj about it… he said that I should just focus on the numerous projects I've already started. I understand that I'm probably going to end up stressing myself into sickness over all four of these unfinished stories… but does that mean I care? No! This is just too good of an idea for me to pass up!
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of the characters! Also, for this chapter as well as any one that follows and it is mentioned in, I do not own the concept of the Life Note.
Chapter 2: The Burden
I wasn't sure where exactly I was going… or why I was going there. Walking was never a big thing with me, and it still wasn't. But I felt the irrepressible need to just continue moving.
I made it out of the main headquarters building and I was instantly filled with the presence of many other Americans around me, as our headquarters was set up in New York… just like the SPK had been.
Normally, I dislike being around other people… especially those that I don't know. But at this moment, it was as if they were not even there.
Before, during the Kira era, I would've never dared step foot outside the building for risk of Kira worshipers getting out of hand.
But, now that things were calm and the real Kira was no longer alive… it felt a bit safer to walk outside.
I'd never been one for the outdoors, and even now the feel of the winter air around me was a foreign concept that I tried not to let overtake me. But now… now that the world was safe from Kira and his idiotic ideals, it felt better to travel just a bit out of my comfort range.
The people hardly noticed me. We were all just trapped within our own heads and in our own worlds. No one else mattered and nothing could break us from our personal world. That's just how this city was sometimes and it was times like these that made me appreciate that.
My legs carried me to a park that was not far from the main building; it was close enough that I could still see it from the entrance.
I began walking inside it just as snow began to fall from the heavens down to the still ground. There was hardly anyone else here and I was thankful for that. The solitude of the surroundings would allow me to be able to think better.
I took a seat on one of the lone benches along the cobbled path and pulled one leg up close to me; my thoughts began to overtake me again, now that I was by myself.
What was I going to do?
How could I attack this case without running the risk of ending at the same fate that L did?
Gangs and the sort were no mystery to me… I had knowledge about how they worked based on what books and teachers had taught to me in past years, but that was it. I'm sure there were still things about that lifestyle that I did not know because it was kept so underground.
So how was I supposed to know what to look out for when things were beyond my knowledge?
It wasn't as though I could send someone in to join one gang or another in order for me to find these things out. No… Rester had said that this Kira was killing off lower-level mafia and gang members… which means that we would run an even higher risk of the person we send in getting caught… or being killed.
'Hm…' I began to think to myself, 'I could begin to look into the victims and where they were before they died first, to see if that has anything to do with it. But I can't put much thought in the assumption that I'll be able to find much more out about these victims. I just don't have those kinds of connections… I wouldn't even know where to begin to look.'
I sighed, letting my head fall to my awaiting, open hand, though continuing to look out across the park that was beginning to be covered in a soft veil of white.
This was frustrating… I hadn't even officially taken the case yet and already it was proving to be quite the difficultly.
But it was exactly what I had wanted.
I sat there in silence for a few more minutes, my body only lightly shivering as a result of the cold weather that was around me. My eyes drifted listlessly across the park ground, never really seeing the area in front of me yet still recognizing that it was there.
All of a sudden, something caught my eye. Something that was falling from the sky that I instantly knew shouldn't be.
It was white like the snow that cascaded down to the Earth around it… but it wasn't snow. I could only watch in a stoic amazement as it finally plummeted to the ground below, about ten and a half feet away from my position.
I was frozen as my mind told me what it looked like, but I tried not to think about it.
I stood up, my curiosity overriding everything else. If this was, what I thought it was, then it needed to be destroyed before anyone else could get their hands on it.
I cautiously made my way over to it, but stopped a few feet away when my grey eyes observed it.
It was a notebook… just like a Death Note in every single way except one. It was white.
My hands hesitantly picked it up from the snow and turned it over, reading the black print that was engraved into the cover: Life Note. [1]
My brow furrowed together into confusion. I'd dealt with Death Notes, but… I'd never thought such a thing as a Life Note would exist… or be possible for that matter. However, when one looked at the actions that the Death Note brought about… they would think that was not possible as well.
So, maybe something like this was possible after all.
I carefully opened the cover of it, finding it to be extremely thin… with only a few pieces of lined white paper in it on the right. On the left, were the rules… just like the Death Note was designed.
The Life Note is a naturally occurring event that takes place upon the Earth once every decade; it was made to balance out the Death Note. Because it is naturally occurring in the hope of balance, there is no equal to shinigami attached to it.
The person who's name is written in this note, will be restored to life.
The cost of this is half of the writer's remaining life.
The person who is restored back to life will automatically gain back all of their predetermined time on Earth. If no time was left on this Earth, such as if the person died of natural causes, then they will automatically gain the half of the writer's life that was sacrificed.
This Note may only be used by the same writer once.
That was all there was… just those four simple rules and a small note about the Life Note's existence.
I looked up at the grey sky, wondering how it could be possible for this to have happened… here… now. It just… didn't make sense at all.
Of coure it was simply a random act, and was, by no means, an act of fate. The notebook had fallen from the heavens above to this place, an area that is normally filled with people. It was just a coincidence that i had happened to be here and that it had happened to drop nearby.
I sighed, knowing that I needed to destroy this Life Note.
It didn't seem as bad as the Death Note had been… but it wasn't as though I could risk it at all. If anyone else got this, who knew who they would decide to bring back from the dead.
I really wanted nothing to do with this notebook, and I really didn't want to take it… but it had to be destroyed, just as the Death Note was. The world should never know of their existences.
With that, I gripped the white notebook tighter to me and began to head out of the park again; my destination was now to return to the headquarters. I'd take the notebook there and destroy it later on.
-
When I got back to the headquarters, I didn't stop in at the investigation room even though I knew my team was probably worried about my whereabouts and probably wanting to know our first plan of action.
I needed to find a safe place for this burden before I returned to them.
The only safe place that I was positive it would not be found at was in my room. No one dared go into my room without my permission, and even if they did they would never go through my things. Everyone within this building understood my privacy and respected it.
I entered into my room and went to my desk that sat on the same wall as the door. There were books piled upon the top of it, and another stack next to the side… it wasn't that I was trying to make the area messy or cluttered… I just needed that many books for research and what not and i preferred to keep them that way.
I pulled open one of the empty top drawers and carefully slipped the notebook inside, face down so that, if anyone did open this drawer, all they would see if a white notebook… and I doubted anyone would be suspicious of that.
After slipping the drawer closed once again I sighed… I had to get back to the team and try and figure this case out now.
The entire way back to the investigation room I contemplated this case… considering what actions I should take first and what I would do if those ones did not work. Second guessing my own actions… it sounded insecure… but it was the safest thing to do in case things did not go the way I wanted them to right off the bat.
The moment I entered into the room, every pair of eyes fell onto me, but I didn't look at any of them and only continued to act as though nothing was wrong. I crossed the room over to where a large brown box was and sat down in front of it, then opening the top of it and pulling out the first smaller box that was inside.
Dice.
I'd had Rester go out and get my some more boxes of dice a couple of days ago, but I suppose maybe he hadn't gotten them till today. It was fine… I hadn't completely needed them until today anyway.
The eyes were still on me, but I tried to pay no mind as I began building the base to what would be the first building of an entire city.
"Near… sir?" Rester started, speaking up for the rest of the room.
"We'll begin the case now." I said, cutting him off so he could neither ask where I had gone or what I had done. I did not want to discuss anything about my time outside of this building. I wanted to start this case… I wanted to solve it myself.
"Yes." He said with a small amount of defeat evident in his words as he turned back to the computer screen he'd previously been looking at.
"What are we to do first?" Logans said as she threw her brown hair over her shoulder and turned back to the screen she was sitting in front of.
"Pull up the list of victims." I said, looking up from the small base I'd begun to build to watch as a list of twenty ragged looking men's pictures with names under them appeared. I quickly memorized the look of each of them but noticed nothing of obvious similarity between them.
"Show me the gangs or the mafia teams that they were in." I said next, watching the screen as my fingers blindly placed another die into place.
There was the quick sound of clicking on the keyboard but only a couple of the pictures gained titles underneath the names. "That's hard information to find, Near." Joseph said. "We haven't been able to figure out a lot about the victims other than who they really are based on previous records."
I exhaled a heavy breath. "I understand." Yes… I'd expected something like this. "Pull up a map showing where each of the bodies were found."
Joseph was the one to type things in this time, which wasn't surprising, and within a moment a map of Las Vegas appeared up on the front screen, different red dots were scattered around the area.
I eyed the entire thing, trying to find some connection between all of the dots… but they were completely random.
"Please bring up a grid over the map." I asked, feeling the slight confusion coming over my features. I was hoping that by having a more prominent grid over the map and seeing where each of the dots fell on it, it would show me if there was something in the placement of where all the victims were found.
Unfortunately, once the grid was in place it all still looked randomized.
I sighed to myself… this was going to be a very difficult case indeed.
A/N: Hm… I always thought that writing a crime story would be difficult because you always have to be about 10 steps ahead of the reader and work backwards (know who did it, how they did it, then what the clues were, ect) but… surprisingly this is already beginning to come out quite easily. Maybe it's because Near is confused now. I'm not sure.
1: Yes… I am aware that there is a rule in the Death Note that says that once a person is dead they cannot come back or whatever. Well… perhaps that rule doesn't exist in this story. And i know that someone is going to give me hell about having it in the story but, before that person does, think it over a minute and remember that this Life Note isn't going to be playing a major role in the story. It's main reason for being there is simply to bring Mello back. That's it.
Let me know what you think!
Please review!
-Forbiddensoul562
