Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note nor any of the characters contained therein.
Summary: The slightest variation in choices can make all the difference. L knew there was a 2nd Death Note. Finding even part of it could be a turning point . . . Slight AU; rated T to be safe. Spoilers through the end of the series.
#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#
Turn of the 8th Day
Chapter 3: Momentum
Deployment
Careful to keep the bounce out of his walk, L moved slowly down the hall – he did need to appear ill, after all. L ducked into the men's restroom and entered the third stall. Cautiously lifting the tank's lid, he found two eggs inside as expected from Watari's text. L was pleased, if not surprised, at how quickly Watari had worked, and imagined that his former quarters were likely being taken care of at that very moment, if they hadn't been already. L reached into the tank and removed the eggs, cracking and dumping their contents into the tank. The stench was powerful, bringing tears to his eyes and nearly making him vomit. L dropped the empty shells into the bowl and wiped his hands with toilet paper, dropping that in the bowl as well.
Starting to feel woozy from the fumes, he carefully replaced the tank's lid, allowing himself to grunt a bit as he did so to cover any sound of ceramic on ceramic, and to lend some realism in case anyone had followed and was listening from the hallway. L flushed the toilet, the rotten eggs mixing with the water as the bowl refilled, thus ensuring that the scent would remain for awhile. Exiting the stall to scrub his hands at the sinks, L was starting to regret some of the tactics he'd chosen to deflect suspicion regarding his absences, but he knew he couldn't switch them at this point.
Hands clean, L emerged into the hallway to see Soichiro heading directly toward him. "Ryuzaki, I – gah!" Soichiro reeled back, blocking his nose with his hand, the rotten egg stench emitting from the restroom rolling into the hall and over them both. "My god, you need to see a doctor!"
The smell was handily making L queasy, adding some credibility to his act. "I do have access to doctor recommendations, as well as some medical experience of my own." L gave a wan smile. "The body can be . . . uncooperative sometimes. Luckily, I do have some medicine that I can take back in my room. I had really been hoping that this would pass more quickly. So to speak."
Soichiro shook his head ruefully. "You really should take better care of yourself. It's not my place to say, but . . . your usual diet isn't very nutritious and is likely to be compromising your immune system. You must already know that, based on your medical knowledge, but they say doctors are the worst patients . . ."
"That is a fair point. I am sorry, but I must –" L gestured toward the stairwell door further down the hall.
"Of course, don't let me keep you. I'm on my way to talk to Namikawa." Soichiro turned back toward the HQ room where the secure elevator with access to the garage was as L walked toward the far stairs before stopping and turning back. "Your health is important, Ryuzaki. We can't lose you."
L paused at the stairwell door, surprised to be moved by the fatherly concern in Soichiro's voice, and looked back at him. "I will endeavor to recuperate as best I can, Mr. Yagami. Thank you."
Soichiro nodded, and they each crossed their respective thresholds.
#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#
Egress
The stench roiling through L's old quarters was breathtaking. Literally. L fairly sprinted across the room, passing the bathroom and heading right for the bedroom window. He did not want to undo all of Watari's work, but he did need to access the other room unseen, and, perhaps ironically, the only way he could do that at the moment was via the window. The motion sensor was functioning as intended, since it had triggered the digital recording as soon as he approached the outside door and was still playing the sounds of illness he had recorded yesterday for this purpose. Occasional groans interspersed with various splashing noises played according to an algorithm of realistic cause and response. The device was functioning effectively enough to be adding to L's queasiness, despite his having been an architect of its design.
Though he realized he could have made it to his other apartment surreptitiously by way of the stairs, considering the way Watari had angled the cameras in the stairwell, L also knew that he had to be seen on camera entering his old apartment in order to avoid raising too much suspicion. He hoped that he would not have to continually access the other room in this manner, as he was already weary of playing the daredevil.
L fingered the lock to the window furthest from the bed and opened it. The air smelled as sweet as strawberries compared to that in the room, and L climbed out onto the emergency ladder Wedy had set up for him. Pulling the window closed behind him, he ascended the ladder two stories up, climbing hand over hand, not looking down, the shadow of the building keeping the air around him cool.
The window he intended to enter came within reach, and he pushed it open and pulled himself inside with ease. Surveying the room as he crouched on the floor, he hoped his words in HQ had motivated Light to contact Misa. L could not be sure whether Misa would visit as a result, or when, but if she did, he knew Ryuk would be in tow. L needed to make certain that no one saw him speaking to the other shinigami – especially if they happened to be able to see Ryuk as well.
Sighing, L wondered how often he would need to find time apart from the Task Force in this manner as he straightened up somewhat and looked around the entire apartment. On the other hand, L realized that there were only so many things he could control, and after all, getting a little time to himself would just be icing on the cake.
#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#
Summoned
"Ugh – just once, I wish he would call me for fun instead of giving me all these instructions."
"Heh heh – he's always planning something." Ryuk glanced down at Misa, who was walking ahead of him. "Does this mean you're getting tired of Light?"
"What? No way! I love Light, and I always will! Stupid shinigami." Misa hastened her pace in a huff, forcing Ryuk to fly a little faster to keep up.
"Aren't you even gonna tell me what he said?"
"Well, I was going to, but now you'll just have to wait and see." Misa flipped her hair in a gold arc and kept stomping forward in silence as she passed several people on the sidewalk.
Ryuk decided that he would enjoy the cold shoulder treatment Misa was trying to give him. Golden or not, silence was certainly preferable to her whining.
From his position hovering above and behind Misa's head, Ryuk was able to observe the other humans flowing around them, a river of names pinned to flesh. He wondered how many of them were annoying. A woman yelling into her cellphone ran into a man with a briefcase rushing in the opposite direction, and they began yelling at each other as a couple passing them by snickered to themselves. How many? Too many, Ryuk thought.
He was lucky Light had been the one to pick up his Death Note – he would have gotten bored much too quickly with someone short-sighted, obnoxious, or stupid. Or more perhaps more to the point, they were lucky. Ryuk chuckled softly, ignoring Misa's "hmph" in response. He wondered if he'd be able to pull this off, or if he should even bother. If only Light hadn't made Ryuk attach himself to Misa, he might not be so bored right now.
Misa rounded a corner with Ryuk bobbing after her like a drastically misshapen balloon. One more block to go and they'd be there. Whatever ends up happening, this should at least be interesting, Ryuk thought. He found himself anticipating the rest of the day almost as much as he would a whole basketful of apples. Not even the rainclouds starting to form above him could spoil his mood.
#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#
To the Grindstone
"I think my eyes are bleeding."
Mogi sighed. "It hasn't been that long, Matsuda. We've got a lot more to go through." Mogi focused on the database he was creating on his computer. He thought he'd have been much further along by now if he'd been working alone, though he chided himself for having such an uncharitable thought.
"Tell you what, I'll go get us some more coffee. I need some anyway, and it'll probably help to stretch my legs. Be right back!" Matsuda hopped up and walked away without waiting for an answer.
A weight seemed to lift from Mogi's shoulders. He didn't dislike Matsuda – he simply preferred working alone. Intense focus on detailed tasks was one of Mogi's gifts. But he grudgingly realized that L was right, and he would need to adjust. If he'd been able to act as Misa's high-energy manager, he should be able to handle this.
"Hey Mogi! I couldn't remember if you liked cream and sugar, so I brought both just in case." Matsuda set both cups and the bowl of sugarcubes and creamers on the desk with a clatter, nearly spilling coffee on a stack of print-outs.
"I take it black, Matsuda." Mogi consciously unclenched the muscles he hadn't noticed reclenching. He found himself wishing that the Task Force employed a masseuse.
"Ha ha! You're right, I completely forgot." Matsuda sat down and plunked a couple of sugarcubes in his own coffee, mixing it with a spoon, the soft clinking carrying across the room where Light appeared to be deep in thought.
Mogi scanned the list on the screen, comparing an NPA report with one from a local hospital before entering information into his database. They were focusing on known deaths first, both suspicious and not, each of them looking at one hospital at a time, noting any discrepancies between police reports and hospital reports and compiling all of the data into Mogi's database chronologically, though they would also be able to sort by cause of death, location, and an assortment of personal details. Disappearances would be listed in a separate database and compiled similarly, unless L wanted them added to the list of the dead. Mogi hoped he wasn't missing anything. He was nearly finished compiling the data from his second hospital. Matsuda had barely started on his first.
Slurping his coffee, Matsuda leaned forward to peer intently into his own computer screen, neck extended and back absurdly hunched in a parody of attentiveness. There were times when Mogi wondered how Matsuda had gotten himself promoted to the same level he and Aizawa had been. He knew it wasn't cronyism or nepotism, as none of Matsuda's family was in the NPA or any other aspect of police work. It didn't seem to be the result of hard work. Mogi guessed that it must have been a combination of charisma, good luck, and being an excellent shot. He didn't know anyone who didn't like Matsuda – even Aizawa, gruff as he was, admitted this – and being in the right place at the right time two years ago had allowed Matsuda to stop a criminal with one shot, effectively ending a serial murder case that had been on the books for months. He hadn't killed the man, taking instead the more difficult leg shot to prevent the criminal from running away but leaving him alive to be questioned. Even Matsuda had called himself lucky, and their superiors had rewarded his service.
In his peripheral vision, Mogi saw Matsuda lean even closer to the screen, his eyes bunched into a comical squint. The elbow he had perched on the edge of the desk suddenly slipped, causing Matsuda to fall forward with a gasp of surprise. He managed to catch himself before falling to the floor or knocking anything over, but he still managed to dip his nose fully into his cup of coffee, and he came up sputtering.
Mogi handed him a napkin. "Matsuda . . . "
"Ugh, I know!" Matsuda interrupted, face flushed as he took the napkin from Mogi, nodding in gratitude. "I've been trying to concentrate . . ." Matsuda seemed to be trying to reign in his frustration as he mopped his face. "It's just . . . this all seems like so much busywork, almost like we're not even really working on the case anymore."
Mogi glared at Matsuda, not noticing that Light had become very still. "Are you trying to say that this work isn't important?"
"No no!" Some of the color drained from his face as Matsuda put his hands up as though he could wave off Mogi's rare expression of anger. "I know this information is important. I don't know, I guess I'm just frustrated because . . . well, we already caught Kira once, and now we have to do it all over again. It was hard enough the first time! I nearly died – hell, I had to pretend to die, and then I was bait . . . but now there's a new Kira, killing criminals just like before. What was the point? What did we really accomplish? It's like we're on a treadmill chasing Kira, never getting any closer."
"Yeah, we're all pretty frustrated." Mogi nodded.
"I'm sorry, Mogi. I know I'm not much help to you here. I always slow everything down." Matsuda stared at the floor.
"Hey, don't say that." Mogi's tone softened. "You just have different abilities, a different personality. We all bring something unique to the team, you know that." Mogi was not used to comforting anyone, least of all a co-worker, but he felt guilty for thinking less of Matsuda.
"Thanks, Mogi. I guess you're right. It's just that, well, every time I do something good, it's like some kind of accident."
"That's not true." Mogi wondered if it was true. "You just . . . make the most of your circumstances when there is an accident."
"Right – like getting a faceful of coffee?" Matsuda gave one last perfunctory swipe at his nose before throwing the napkin into the wastebasket under the desk.
"You didn't fall on the floor, did you? You didn't break your nose or knock all of our paperwork onto the floor, right?"
"Well yeah, that's true . . ."
"So maybe a near-fall was the adrenaline rush you needed to get yourself awake and focused again."
Matsuda didn't look like he necessarily agreed with Mogi's assessment, but he seemed to brighten somewhat and nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks! OK, let's see how far I can get this time." Matsuda cracked his neck and got back to work, sitting up straighter in his chair.
Mogi turned with relief back to his computer screen. Hopefully he'll last long enough for me to get to hospital number three, Mogi thought.
"I'm heading to the bathroom," Light said with his usual dry finality. "If Watari calls through, will one of you answer him?"
"Yes, of course." Mogi watched Light walk away. "You're not sick too, are you?"
"No, nothing like that. Just too much coffee, I guess."
Mogi watched Light head out of HQ into the hall, presumably to the restroom where L had gone some time earlier. Moments later, Mogi thought heard stifled choking and gagging from that direction and resolved to use a restroom on a different floor should the need arise.
#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#
On the Trail
"Unbelievable . . ." Light muttered to himself behind the hand he'd involuntarily clapped to the lower half of his face. With his other hand, he reached back for the restroom door, pushing it with an elbow to open it and escape into the hallway. None of the stalls had been occupied – no one was inside. So where the hell is L? Light wondered, fury building within him. He found himself wishing that Mogi and Matsuda were still having their pointless discussion, if only to cover the sound of his footsteps. Because he was going to have to find L. Whether L's illness was a trick or not, he was definitely up to something.
Light glanced down the hall toward main HQ. Rem was still there, slouched silently over the side table where the Death Note had been left. Her eye had not left Light since his argument with L regarding the cause of Misa's and his memory loss, but she didn't seem willing to talk to him. Light was no longer sure that he could rely on her to kill L for him to protect Misa, dying herself in the process as he had planned. Alternate plans flitted through his head, and he gritted his teeth to think that he might have to find a way for Misa to get L's name after all. Light would have much preferred to find another way to make his primary plan work, but he knew he had to leave his options open. He hadn't gone this far to lose now.
Shooting one last look at the shinigami, Light turned his back on Rem and moved toward the stairs. L must have come this way, he thought; I'll check our old room first. Light squared his shoulders and pushed open the door to the stairwell. I'm coming for you, L – you won't win this.
#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#~~~~~~~~~~#
Author's Note: Well, now that I've grossed you all out . . . O_o By the way, I realize that it's potentially disrespectful and sort of inconsistent to refer to Chief Yagami as Soichiro, since most others are addressed in text by their last names, but calling him Yagami is too confusing with Light around, and calling him Chief is too impersonal.
Also, I'm going to be playing with POV a bit. I kept to L's POV at first (dipping into Ryuk's at the end of chapter 1), but I wanted to try POVs from different characters and sort of explore them more. This fic will be 3rd person limited (well, their thoughts are in first person) for its duration, but there's no reason I can't have a bit of fun with that. I may keep entire sections to one POV, and I may have other sections start from one POV and end with another. Maybe I'll even try some back-and-forth too. Hopefully it will all remain clear.
About the layout of HQ . . . in both the manga and the anime, the main room is apparently completely enclosed, has only one elevator, and has two glass staircases that supposedly access the rest of the building (or Misa's apartment, in any event), which is, quite frankly, a ridiculous and horrible building design. So in my fic, the main HQ room connects to the hallway, there are other elevators on the other side, there are stairwells and bathrooms. I may sketch out a floorplan just so I can keep it consistent, lol.
