Disclaimer: Otaku-Sage-of-Llamas does not claim to own Death Note and its characters. Rather that privilege belongs to Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata. Also, she does not claim to own any songs or video games mentioned in this fanfic.
Warnings: There is AUness, OCCness, clichés, violence, and yaoi. Also, beware of spoilers (for the anime/manga AND the Another Note novel) and the authoress' sad attempt at writing. In this chapter, there are also spoilers for BB's real name!
Genre: Drama/Romance
Pairings: Raito x L, implications of past BB x L (in Act II), and if you squint your eyes there is possible Mello x Matt
Rating: M
Contusa Persona
by Otaku-Sage-of-Llamas
Act 3
- Reditus Potens -
Since the last time that the detective was there, The Wammy's House had not changed a bit, except for the faces of the children there. Roger was shocked, to say the least, when L said over the phone that he would be returning, especially when the Kira case was unsolved. The only explanation he had given to Roger was that he needed a break and no more questions were asked.
By time he arrived in London and headed for Winchester, his eyes had returned to its dark color as the crimson glint became dormant once again. L wondered what happened to Raito as he found his own memory hazy.
The last thing he remembered was entering the kitchen where Raito was preparing breakfast. Or maybe it was just some odd illusion that his mind created. The only thing that he knew for sure that Watari was dead.
His arrival at The Wammy's House was only known to Roger as the detective wanted to surprise his possible successors: Near, Mello, and Matt.
Currently, Near held the leading position in the contest for L's successor. And the detective could not help but think how Near reminded him of himself. He possessed the same stoic onyx eyes. Also, he had a different, but unusual like him, posture. Instead of a fondness of sweets, Near was fond of toys.
Mello remained second in line and was quite the opposite to Near. Because of his emotions, Mello tended to act irrational at times unlike Near who always remained decisive and calculating. His appearance was more feminine than L or Near as his blond hair was left long and no one dared to approach Mello with scissors in fear of retaliation from the boy. Though like L, Mello possessed a fondness of sweets, particularly chocolate. The obsession was so great that the other children constantly questioned his gender.
Third in the chain was Matt. Though, he probably didn't care about it at all. Rather, he cared more for the video games that he played twenty four seven. And if someone dared to interfere, it wasn't a pretty sight. Matt's temper made Mello seem tame. The last person that interrupted Matt's precious game time ended up with a broken arm.
Roger led the detective to his room. It just so happened to be the same one that he stayed in when he previously lived at The Wammy's House. L unconsciously let out a yawn.
The detective had purposely arrived late at night so that it would not attract attention from the children as bed time was set at nine. He would properly greet them in the morning.
…Raito was bound against a tree by the detective's doppelganger with a deep shade of red ribbon. The demon known as Beyond Birthday chuckled as he took a knife and used it to cut open Raito's shirt and pants leaving a crimson trail down the younger man's front side.
He followed the trail downwards with his tongue and by time he got to the end, the demon was kneeling before his victim.
The detective could not do anything as his entire body was encased in ice. He struggled against his frozen coffin but could not break free.
The doppelganger turned his head away from Raito to smirk at him with blood stained lips. L shuddered, not from the coldness of his coffin, but from the imagery before him.
Then the demon rose up and bit Raito in the neck like a vampire. Raito's normally vibrant peach toned skin turned pale as a ghost as Beyond Birthday lapped like a kitten at the oozing blood…
…The detective was sitting in a café with a cup of coffee and a piece of cake. An American woman in a sapphire dress with dark brown hair stood on the stage karaoking to the song "Snow White Queen" by Evanescence.
Then he was joined by the doppelganger, who was acting like nothing was wrong.
"How is the case going?" he asked nonchalantly.
"I know it is you," L remarked.
"Oh really?" The appearance of Beyond Birthday changed into Raito with a smirk still ever so present on his face. The woman's male companion came forward and started to sing "Breath" by Breaking Benjamin.
"Wanna play a game?" The disguised demon played with the dice that had randomly appeared into his hand.
"The stakes will be very dangerous…"
This time when the detective arose from his sleep, there was no cold sweat like before. His dreams still haunted his mind but did not bother him as much.
Leaving his rooms, he saw Roger walking by, who bid a good morning and said that breakfast was waiting in the dining room. He was on his way to retrieve Mello and Matt, whom shared a room with each other, as they were late for breakfast and all the other children were already gathered at the dining table.
"How about I retrieve them?" L suggested.
"If you wish to…" Roger shrugged and headed back towards the direction of the dining room. Most of the children's rooms were located on the first and second floors but the employee's rooms were on the third floor. Mello and Matt stayed at the end of the second floor corridor while Near resided in a secluded section of the first floor that was close to the headmaster's office.
Arriving at Mello's and Matt's room, it was obvious that Matt at least lived in there as a poster for Kingdom Hearts was taped onto the door. Mello must not have any say in the selection of the poster as he would have likely chosen one of a chocolate bar.
The detective let out a silent amused laugh when he imagined the thought of his possible successors as adults. Indeed, that would be interesting.
L opened the door to see Mello poking at the other boy, who apparently was still sleeping, and then Mello lost his patience and screamed Matt's name. The boy awoke as if a jolt of lightning struck his body and fell over the bed landing on top of Mello.
The detective laughed out loud at the sight, which caused the two boys to turn their attention to their visitor.
"L!?" They shouted out in unison.
To be continued…
Authoress' Notes:
Wow, I am really on a roll with all these chapters coming out quickly! Anyways, my continued thanks go out to those readers that reviewed, it means a lot to me.
This chapter was L centric but next chapter will be focused on Raito.
As lyrics in a fic are a no-no on this site, I just mentioned the names of the songs as they are a bit important. But I am not telling you why! You just have to continue reading! XP
