A/N: Just to make sure, I'm not strictly following the book or the movie so I'm sort of just mixing everything up. Just so it's not so… expected. Get what I mean? Okay, never mind. Yeah, I've been taking ages to update, I know, I know. I'm getting lazy... But I'll make it up, really… when I… find my Inspiration Faerie… Yeah… she's got to be somewhere…
Chapter 3: The Cross
The rain fell from the clouds in a torrent of tears. The empty street held nothing but a heavy darkness…
A cross…
And blood spattered on the ground.
A hand was automatically raised to wipe the single tear that had escaped from her eyes. Lucretia sat up in her bed and ruffled her hair.
"I had a dream," she said to herself. "I had a bad dream… there was blood… everywhere…"
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A man leaned on a telephone booth in bustling Tokyo. His hat and high collar covered most of his face in shadow. He held a phone up to his ear and waited for the voice on the other end to answer as he took a drag on his cigarette.
"Hello?" a cold voice answered.
"She's in Japan," the man said.
"What is she doing there?"
"Most probably on that case, you know… that one," he tilted his head up and blew smoke into the air.
"With that detective?" the voice on the other end asked.
"Yep."
"Do you know where they are?"
"Hn… now, if their whereabouts were that easy to find, they'd be dead by now, don't you think?" the man replied.
"I don't care even if they're on the moon, find her and keep an eye on her!" the voice hissed at the man before disconnecting.
"Yessir!" he gave a mock salute and pocketed his phone. "Bastard…"
The man took another drag out of his cigarette and threw it onto the ground before stamping it out. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and looked at it carefully.
"Hannah Wrighting…" he muttered. "I'd be damned if I knew where they are."
He cursed and strode off into the crowd.
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Lucretia took a sip of her tea as she mused about their latest findings. Kira could manipulate the time and method of death. There has been a leak in the ICPO. The FBI is currently investigating in Japan. And the world's famous detective is eating candy like nobody's business. Honestly, how could he be so carefree while dealing with a murderer that has supernatural forms of killing. She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She had a headache now. Why did she agree to do it in the first place? Oh, right, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and she was feeling bored. Suddenly that didn't seem like a good enough reason to fly across the world.
"Is there something wrong, Lucretia?" L asked her, cocking his head to the side.
"No," she muttered, sighing.
"Chocolate?" he offered.
She smiled but it turned out to be more of a grimace, and took a piece before putting it into her mouth. Caramel… delicious. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the time. The ICPO would be coming into the office any time now. Watari had been out half an hour ago. She was getting jittery, as if something bad was going to happen. Some other psychologists, like Ben, thought that Kira and L were the same person. That they were split personalities… She smacked her forehead. Don't be stupid, Lucretia. Now, focus on the case and try to be of some help around here instead of gaining weight by eating all these confectionaries. That was what she would have liked to do. But somehow, her mind just could not focus on the case.
There was something about the man in front of her that seemed oddly familiar. The hunched posture, the messy black hair, the sleepless eyes and the sloppy manner. Where? Where had she seen it before? She searched in her mind but could not find one memory of him anywhere. It was frustrating her. She felt that she should know this, but she did not. She leaned forwards and took another piece of chocolate from its box and popped it into her mouth, relishing in its sweetness. An image came into her mind and she froze, eyes wide.
"Are you sure you're alright, Lucretia?" L asked. "You look pained."
She jumped in her seat and stared at him. The image slipped right out of her mind just as soon as it had come at the sound of his voice. She could have cursed at him, but she remained calm and took a deep breath.
"I'm fine," she said.
L nodded and went back to his food while Lucretia poured through files. She should have arrived earlier, she thought ever since L had filled her in on every little detail he did and found since he arrived in Japan. It was simply amazing. Lucretia stopped. She just thought of something that L had told her about this FBI agent who had been following one of the Chief of ICPO's family members. She looked for the Chief's file and found the pictures of the rest of his family there, along with their past achievements and whatnot. L really likes knowing every little tiny detail, doesn't he...
That's the one, she told herself, taking the picture of Yagami Raito from the file. The agent had been following the boy. The last day of his investigation, Raye Penber had told them that Raito could not be a suspect. On that day, Raito had taken a girl out with him to Space Land and their bus was hijacked. That criminal had been involved in several previous crimes… and he had died that day. Raye also mentioned that Raito tried to attempt to stop the criminal when Raye stopped him. If Raito was Kira, then he would have killed the criminal right on the spot. But... Lucretia looked at his profile. Raito was a very clever boy, maybe... he knew that he was being followed? Lucretia frowned. There was something fishy about it, something she couldn't put her finger on. There was just something secretive about this Yagami Raito. She could see it in his eyes. There was something…
Beep Beep Beep
Lucretia's head snapped up to look at the monitor. L quickly got off the couch the picked up the line. She could feel a sense of dread take over her.
"L," the voice of the head of the FBI began. "I just got word of the deaths of our agents in Japan. I tried contacting all twelve of them but I could not reach any one of them."
Lucretia gasped softly. Dead? All of them? In one go? Impossible!
"I think Kira have killed them all."
"Chief, calm down and listen to me carefully," L said. "Did any of the agents know the others' faces?"
"Not until yesterday…"
"Yesterday?" L asked.
"Yes, I received the request 'I want to verify all the friendlies in Japan', so I sent the file," the chief replied.
"That's it!' L exclaimed. "Kira got in touch with that agent and somehow got the information from that file! Who did you send it to?"
"That was… all of my agents in Japan."
"All of them…"
Lucretia leaned front in her seat, eyebrows knitted in concentration as she clutched the armrest of the couch tightly.
"All of a sudden they asked "I want to know who the friendlies are in Japan", I believe it was me who decided that they'd all have the file," the chief told him. "I sent the file to the first four myself and told them, "pass it along to the others"."
"All of them had the file…" L repeated. "If Kira can manipulate their actions before death… it's possible that he saw one of their copies, made that one send it to the others, and killed them."
Lucretia inhaled sharply and continued watching L and the monitor in apprehension. The agents were killed. The agents were killed.
"L, I'm sorry but… I'm calling off our Japanese investigation," the chief said. "Americans have paid the highest price to Kira ever since you concluded that Kira's hiding place was in the Kanto Area. The victims have been concentrated in Japan."
L bit his thumb as he listened carefully.
"Those being killed in Japan were criminals, but we've lost innocent agents. This is a big loss, it was my decision to put them in Japan. Now, my country will ask me to take responsibility for it, my face is publicly known and I hold my life dear. The FBI is washing its hand of the matter."
The FBI won't help anymore. Lucetia bit her lips as her mind reeled with the new information and desperately trying to figure it all out.
"Hmm… and now their headquarters are already callim. I'm going to tell him that we acted on your behalf, L. Goodbye," the chief said and with a click, the line was disconnected.
"Oh, God," Lucretia breathed. "What are we going to do now…"
L didn't answer.
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When Lucretia entered the room the next morning, Watari was not the one to answer the door. L looked up at her with those sleepless eyes as she walked in.
"I just received another message," he told her straightaway and handed her the print out.
It took a minute for Lucretia to figure it out and when she did, she looked up in confusion.
"Apples?" she exclaimed. "What the?"
"He's obviously mocking me," L told her. "L, do you know reapers only eat apples. There are no such things as reapers."
"Or is there?" Lucretia cut in. "I've been thinking about it for a while. Kira has been using supernatural methods to kill his victims, I'm almost certain of it. Reapers are supernatural beings, so…"
L shook his head. "We can't just confirm the existence of reapers and that Kira is using them, Lucretia."
"But the possibility still stands," Lucretia said firmly and walked to the table where she had set up her laptop the day before. "I'm going to try and do some research on them."
L sighed and shook his head again. She always was so stubborn… He frowned. He had been thinking so much about the Kira Case that he was neglecting his own little personal case. The case he had been working on for a few days now. The Hannah Case, he liked to call it. He had never dealt with amnesia before, it was interesting.
L walked over to the table and leaned forward to pick up the jelly donut on his plate. Lucretia looked up at him just in time to notice a necklace slide out from beneath his collar and dangled about his neck. The cross pendant was silver with a ruby diamond encrusted in the middle and small little intricate carvings designing its edges. The cross hung on a simple black string with two golden rings beside it. She cried out in surprise and jerked her body backwards in surprise. L froze and stared at her with wide eyes.
"That necklace…" she told him, still in shock. "I've seen it before."
L continued looking at her expectantly. He had always kept his necklace tucked into his shirt. He never liked people looking at it, not that he met people often anyway.
"I saw it in a dream…" she mumbled.
"Exactly the same one?" he asked.
She nodded. He felt adrenaline rush through him. At least he was close to solving one of the cases he was on.
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"Have you found her yet?" the familiar cold voice asked.
"The girl?" the man in the coat replied casually. He looked up at the tall building in front of him. Golden letter adorning its front doors read Brighton Hotel. "Oh, yeah…"
"Do they know you're there?"
"Not at all."
"Hn. Well, good, about time we found her," the voice said. "Keep an eye on her."
"Well, personally I don't think she'll be going anywhere either."
"Shut up, just make sure nothing happens."
"Like what?"
"Something."
With that the conversation came to a close and the man placed the phone back into the pocket of his thick coat. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his dark hair. Tucking the hat under his arm, he took out his pack of cigarettes and smoked one.
"I should get a new hobby," he muttered and leaned against a lamppost.
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A/N: Reviews much appreciated!
