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 4

- Deprehendentur -

When Raito's mind finally returned to the realm of the living, he had the urge to kill the detective for what he did. Though, he soon realized that L had probably arrived at London. As he rose off the kitchen floor, the smell of burnt breakfast lingering in the air, he headed for the situation room still in pain in order to first find out what day it was before deciding what to do next.

After all, the detective had just abandoned the Kira case that remained unsolved. Well, it remained unsolved for L at least, even though the detective was sure that it was him. All he needed was evidence but Raito was not going to become careless now, even if L was gone, in case someone else decided to take the Kira case into their own hands.

Raito's only liability was Misa, who held an unhealthy obsession for him. However, since Rem turned into sand, he would be free to kill her off. Though, he would have to wait in order to avoid any suspicion.

The clock on the computer informed Raito that two days went by since he was knocked out cold. It was hard to believe that he was out for so long and yet he had no serious injuries to his head. Although, Raito felt a burning sensation in his neck so he headed for the bathroom to check it out.

There were no markings that would indicate that he was injured on his neck. Perhaps, his mind was trying to fool him into believing that something there.

"I should inform the remaining investigation members of what is going on," Raito muttered to himself. He returned to the situation room and pulled out his cell phone. The first person Raito called was his father to also ensure him that he was still alive since he was unable to call while unconscious.

"Yagami residence," a deep male voice picked up that Raito recognized.

"Father?"

"Oh, Raito, it is you. How are things at headquarters?" his father asked.

"A disaster," he was blunt. "Ryuzaki has left Japan and given up on the Kira case."

"What!?" Soichiro shouted, "That isn't like Ryuzaki."

"Ever since Watari died, it is like he is not the same person anymore," Raito said neglecting to give details to explain on how exactly the detective changed.

"When did he leave?"

"I presume he left while I was sleeping as when I woke up he was gone," Raito lied smoothly.

"Do you have any idea where he went?"

""I think he mentioned London once…"

"I wonder…" his father muttered.

"What is it?"

"Well, when the newspaper released about Watari's death. It turns out that his real name was Quilish Wammy and he was inventor that founded an orphanage in Winchester. I'm wondering if Ryuzaki went there…"

"You may be right…"

After shouting out the detective's alias, Mello and Matt rushed towards his direction and ran into his body with all their excitement causing L to fall over onto his back with the boys' weight crushing his body on the ground.

"Okay," L laughed, "I know how excited you are to see me but let's get some breakfast before you start pouring me with questions." The boys nodded their heads as they rose off the detective. Then they ran out of their room and into the direction of the dining room.

In five minutes, L caught up with Mello and Matt in the dining room and upon his entrance, he heard gasps echoing through the room and saw the jaws of children dropping while Roger attempted to calm the children down.

"What are we going to do?" Soichiro let out a sigh.

"I am going to find Ryuzaki wherever he is in Winchester and bring him back," Raito spoke in a serious tone.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am," he ended the conversation with that. Though his father did not know that it was all a façade about wanting to bring Ryuzaki back but Raito needed an excuse to go off and take care of business. Revenge would never be as sweet as this. A smirk formed onto Raito's face.

Twenty minutes after breakfast was finished at The Wammy's House, the detective headed for Near's room so that he could talk with the boy individually. His room was untidy as usual. Various toys of action figures to cards to dominos were spread out across the room.

"Why did you leave the Kira case?" Near asked as the detective closed the door behind him.

"How did you know?"

"You aren't the same anymore…what changed?" L looked down in disgrace.

"Why do you think that?"

"Your face…particularly your eyes…" Near started solemnly but was cut off as Roger burst though the door, panting heavily.

"L! We have an emergency!" he cried out.

"What happened?" the detective asked, sounding very worried.

"Linda had a heart attack!"

"What!?" the detective shouted and added to himself, "But it can't be Kira…Kira does not know any of the children here…" L was clearly panicking at the thought.

"It might be someone in the inside," Near added as L turned his head towards the boy.

"Where's her body?" the detective asked.

"The paramedics already took care of it," Roger uttered softly. Tears started to form around his eyelids as he was reminded of Watari's death.

"…And I found this note close to where her body was located," Roger handed the detective the paper that he pulled out his pocket.

The note read: "Salve, L. Quidne scis est verus in memoria tua?"

"It is in Latin," L looked up at Roger. The only person that the detective believed to know about The Wammy's House and proficient at Latin besides himself was Beyond Birthday. His hands shook in fear and small tremors ran down his spine.

The detective could only think that the spirit of Beyond Birthday was haunting him. He thought that after the Los Angeles murder case, it was done for good. The last time he remembered seeing his doppelganger in person was at that LA café where he approached the detective with a little wager.

However, L had no memory of what happened after the demon said, "the stakes will be very dangerous".

To be continued…

Omake:

Cibi Furtivi

Part I

"L! We have an emergency!" Roger cried out as he burst into Near's room unannounced.

"What happened?" the detective asked in a worried tone as he clutched onto his favorite Raito plushie as Near gave him an odd look.

"Someone stole all the food!" L dropped to his knees sobbing.

"Nooo!" he screamed, "I can't survive without my precious cakes!"

"Why don't we track down the culprit?" Near suggested.

"What a brilliant idea! To the kitchen!"

"And he is supposed to be a genius?" Near muttered under his breath.

At the kitchen, the group discovered a trail of cake crumbs, which L tested to clarify his theory, leading in the direction of the stairs. On the tops of the second floor stairs, the path led to Mello's and Matt's room. The detective kicked open the door with his awesome kung fu skills.

Inside, the food was sprawled across the carpeting. Matt was nowhere in sight but Mello was laid across his bed sleeping with chocolate bars covering his body.

"What the hell is going on!?" Mello woke up immediately. His eyes widened as he saw the furious detective standing before him.

"I swear I didn't do it! It had to be Kira!" The detective's onyx eyes narrowed…

Authoress' Notes:

My longest chapter yet! Probably because of the omake! Anyways, my continued thanks go out to those readers that reviewed, it means a lot to me.

Well, this chapter turned out not being Raito-centric. Oh well.

Translation:

Latin: Salve, L. Quidne scis est verus in memoria tua?

English: (Loose Translation) Greetings, L. Do you know what is real in those memories of yours?