A/N: Just so you guys are aware, the ages of the characters in this fic do not apply - it was a little too complicated to try and make it work D:
"Explain what, Takada? How he murdered you and countless other people? He's a monster!" Light could feel his hackles rising, fists clenched in brute anger as he spat his words out. If looks could kill, Beyond would be buried into the ground by now. But Takada remained nonplussed, still gripping his fists in her hand, refusing to allow Light onto his righteous rampage.
"Then listen to me. For once in your entire life Light, there's a lot you don't know." She almost pleaded, trying to catch his gaze in her own. She cared deeply for her friend, imploring him to see reason, to allow himself to be explained to without overreacting. Finally the air escaped Light's lungs as he sighed, yielding to her pleas.
"Tell me." He insisted, still bristling at Beyond, who was remaining unusually quiet for now. He thought it'd be better if he heard the story from Kiyomi anyway.
"I'll start from the beginning."
"Miss Takada? May I have a moment of your time?" Her maid rapped on the door lightly, interrupting Takada's routine of delicately applying makeup as she prepared to attend her morning classes. Brows quirking with irritation, she rose to open the door, allowing the petite woman inside. The first thing she noticed was that her maid's face was not chipper and bright like it always was. Rather, it had grown pale and mawkish, her skirt rumpled as she stuttered.
"I'm s-sorry to interrupt, but this is really important, I mean more important than anything else you have today, and I know you're busy so-"Takada raised a hand to silence her.
"Just tell me." She responded flatly, tone concrete as rose flushed the girl's cheeks, clearly embarrassed.
"I had a premonition this morning. I-I saw you die." Her voice had been reduced to a whisper as her eyes fixated on the floor. But the thin timbre of Takada's laughter brought her gaze back to the woman in front of her. Takada was shaking her head from side to side, placing her hands gently on her maid's shoulders.
"Premonitions can be wrong. Why did you bother me with this?" She felt like a stern mother scolding a child for showing them a dead rat.
"Because this wasn't like the others Miss Takada! It was like I was standing in your shoes; and the train you take home derailed and crashed! Please believe me!" The girl was trembling, biting down on her bottom lip in clear worry, eyes wide as she desperately tried to get her Mistress to listen to her.
"Okay, I'll humour you. I'll walk home after I've finished studying with Light." Relief flooded the maid's expression as she nodded incessantly, scurrying back to the door.
"Thank you Miss! Have a nice day!"
Takada drew her lips into a thin and demure smile, grabbing her textbooks and heading to the university campus.
And the very afternoon that she left the coffee shop, positively outraged by the behaviour of Ryuuga – which she was certain couldn't be his real name – she hesitated when she found herself on route to the station. What could she possible lose by not taking the next rain? Some time, maybe, but it couldn't do her any harm to walk instead. Besides, if her maid was correct then this decision might just save her life.
She flicked through the news on her phone as she wandered towards her house, half expecting to see the train crash appear on her feed, for messages to flood her screen and ask if she was safe, especially from her Father. The man didn't check up on her often, but he knew her routine minute for minute, aware she'd likely be on the derailed train.
Her phone buzzed to life.
Train crashed, you okay? Was all the text said from her Father, and she was met with a surge of mixed emotions. Thanks to her maid, she had managed to evade death, or at the very least serious injury. Part of her brain niggled at her that she should've warned the passengers in advance somehow, or tried to stop the train from running. But what could she have done as one person? And would anyone have paid heed to her words, considering she'd be a lone voice in a crowd of at least a hundred people eager to see their family, their loved ones? No, even if she had informed everyone who entered the station of imminent danger, she risked getting noticed, to being consigned as mad or insane. When it turned out that she was correct, the authorities would've been suspicious, considering her complicit in some plan to murder several citizens. Even though she could've rescued maybe one person from their fate, she couldn't have taken the significant risks, especially when she was staying under the radar for Light.
Combined with the fact she was being watched, it was a recipe for disaster.
So she took the time to stop in a local park, watching the dusk be slowly consumed by twilight as she called her father, informing him that she was safe and had decided to take an alternative route home. He'd sent for a taxi to pick her up, but she kindly refused, enjoying the crisp autumn evening.
She thought she had avoided death, but she'd been completely and utterly wrong.
And when her life had been drained from her body only minutes later, watching with watery eyes as what used to be her set ablaze, incinerating her from inside out, she finally cried. She could feel the veil of the netherworld, a soothing blanket calling to her, dragging her away into an eternal abyss. Yet something stronger chained her to her corpse, black char tainting the ground where she had once stood. Trying to move away, her hands met an invisible barrier around the radius of her body, feeling a cold palm curling around her shoulder. Her killer faced her with eager red eyes, a grin stretching from cheek to cheek. He spoke carefully as to not startle her.
"When one is fated to die, they can never escape."
"So Beyond has tied my soul to his own, allowing me to remain in this world to assist you. Although yes, I am dead, there's nothing I could've done to change that." Takada summarised, lips set into a grim line as acceptance washed over her features. "Being here means that I can at least be around to see you succeed, and I won't become trapped by the afterlife until Beyond releases me. I admit that this has been hard for me, but in my own way I am still living." Gently releasing Light's fists – which had gone slack during her explanation- she stepped back, nodding to Beyond to inch forward and speak to the acolyte.
"Do you understand now? I have spared your friend her eternity of nothingness, for as long as I'm able to, anyway." He outstretched his hands towards Light, a gentle smile crossing his features. But Light was paralysed, gaze flitting between the two in his utter shock.
"So you're telling me that he saved you?" Kiyomi nodded, causing the younger man to bluster. "But he murdered you, Takada! He tied you up and cut you!" The fire priestess sighed in exasperation, wishing that for once, Light would actually listen to what she was saying.
"I was going to die regardless, don't you see? Because of Beyond, I can still be present in this world, I can actually talk to you, help you, teach you…" she trailed off, tousling her hair idly with her hand as she allowed her friend to process the information she had given him. She hoped he'd understand sooner rather than later.
"But you're dead-"
"Light, listen to me." Beyond commanded, a dark threat underpinning his tone as the smile dropped from his features. "This is the best of a bad situation. She was always going to die, nobody can escape death when their time has come." Sighing, the younger boy relented, realising that it was futile to argue with the pair. Sure, they had a point that Takada could only be here because of Beyond, but in his eyes, she was still dead. He didn't know how he felt about the fact that Beyond had stopped Takada moving on to the afterlife, essentially trapping her to him for as long as the spirit elemental still lived. Surely in some manner, it was immoral.
Deciding not to dwell on it, his gaze travelled to the white haired boy who had been watching quietly, and the pigtailed girl who sneered at him.
"Is it the same for both of them?" He jabbed a finger in their direction, in which the air spirit nodded.
"Yes, you may call me Near. I have been at Beyond's side for two years." He explained blandly, twirling his hair around his finger in boredom. As Light's stare turned expectantly to the earth spirit, she raised her fist and flipped him the bird.
"I don't like any of you, so I'm not telling you shit." She'd moved to the extremities of the circle, making it obvious she didn't want to be there. It's not like they could hurt her for being disobedient anyway.
"That's just Anne, ignore her." Beyond spoke flippantly, reaching for Light's hand.
"As you may have noticed, this circle has all of the elements present apart from water. Would you like to stand in the east or in the middle? You can lead from either." Light nodded, finally processing the events he'd been told, grasping Beyond's fingers between his own. He couldn't deny the thrill his heart felt at the spike of power between the two, deciding to stand to Beyond's right and taking the place of the water element. Gratitude washed through Beyond's features.
"Light, lend me your affinity to water, we're going to congregate our power." Reaching for his sharp blade, the chalk took on its pink hue as Light concentrated, a wave of his energy flooding into Beyond.
"I have a plan for us Light. I can infuse you with the power of a spirit elemental without binding yourself to a spirit of Death. You won't have to murder anyone for it." Beyond explained, blood oozing and gurgling from his forearm as it continued to be consumed by the circle.
"What's the catch?" He was wary, eyeing Beyond with a degree of suspicion. It sounded way too good to be true…
"You'll see. Ryuk, I call you into the circle." Beyond droned, as a thin mist began to settle. The acolyte watched with keen interest as the mist rose, manifesting into the spirit of Death that he'd seen only days before. Its piercing red eyes turned to him, chuckling as it took in the inhabitants of the circle.
"Well well, nice to see you Light." Was all it said to greet the spirit caller, kneeling carefully before Beyond.
"Thank you for the sacrifices, the man was particularly tasty." The older man laughed alongside the spirit, clasping his hands behind his back.
"I'm glad our partnership is beneficial to the both of us. Would you please explain the eclipse ritual to Yagami?" Beyond's tone had taken on a tone of professionalism, a formal spiel that indicated no close relationship with the death spirit. Of course, Light knew otherwise.
Ryuk did not try to conceal his surprise as he turned to the other spirit caller, closing the distance between them and hovering only inches from the boy's face.
"An eclipse ritual can only be performed during a total solar eclipse. A circle must be created in the shadows of the sun, maintained by those with strong connections to the elements. When the eclipse ends, the leader will be consumed by the sun's blaze, being granted its use should they withstand the soul-destroying pressure. It is said only spirit callers have the slim chance of enduring the excruciating pain." Watching the blood drain from Light's face, Ryuk cackled.
"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, the conditions for the total solar eclipse rarely collide."
Light was flustered, turning to Beyond in outrage. "Why would you want me to do this? What makes you think I could ever be ready for that sort of thing?" His fists were clenching, the spirit of Death's image fluttering as his connection to the water faltered. The serenity and fluidity that resonated with the element could no longer find a place in Light's heart.
"Because you are more capable, far more gifted than myself." Beyond said with nothing but certainty. "And when you succeed, you won't be able to be neutralised by your enemies. Combined, we'd be the most powerful force on this earth." The boy's eyes widened, taking in the sudden influx of information that had flooded into him over the past day. If it worked, he would never be threatened by L again; he could live a life as a free man. For Light, there was no other answer. Determination filled his body, empowering the very sinews and fibres of his being. This is what he was destined to achieve, to become.
"I'll do it."
"Ryuzaki?" Soichiro piped up, dragging L away from his mental pit of depression. He'd hit a roadblock, ever since Light appeared to have vanished completely. They'd tried tracing the unmarked car to its destination, but the cameras had shorted out just as they caught glimpses of it. Beyond had been anticipating this, somehow, and he felt completely useless against the spirit elemental.
"What is it?" He mumbled, turning a lump of cake over and over in its plate, stabbing it with a spoon.
"If we're taking Kiyomi Takada's death as a victim of Kira, it is clearly anomalous." He announced, in which L refrained from rolling his eyes.
"We already knew that." He replied blandly, still staring down into his plate.
"But all of the murders up until this point had been people with either a weak elemental connection or no affinity at all. Surely the fact a fire priestess was killed is more than just coincidence?" He offered, wanting the Detective to think about this information in more detail. Soichiro couldn't allow L to fall into a depression, not now.
"Hm, maybe." Was all he hummed back, causing his mentor to gaze at him with a disapproving grimace. Gently placing a hand on Ryuzaki's shoulder, Watari murmured into the Detective's ear.
"Think about Kira's other victims, before he officially rose to fame." Ryuzaki's eyes brightened as the inference of Watari's words hit him. There had only been three killings that did not fit the pattern of choosing targets who were elementless: Anne, Near and Kiyomi. But what was the connection between them? The first two had been Whammy students, and he had always assumed that Beyond had killed them to spite him, and hinder his chances of finding a suitable successor. Anne had also been murdered years ago now, and none of the three had anything in common apart from being proficient with their affinities.
Unless…
A smile drew upon his lips as his brain processed the link at rapid speed. They were all proficient in their elements –that much was true – but the key was that their affinities were different. Anne had a close connection to earth, Near with air, and Takada with fire. The killings in between were to disguise and shroud this pattern without collecting more people by mistake. It all made sense now, and L finally understood where his ex-successor was likely to strike next. The only element left was water, with Beyond himself representing spirit. L still didn't know why he'd chosen his victims and how he seemed to sap them of their life essence, but he was one step closer to solving the Kira case.
"Soichiro? I would like permission to search for your son, and return him here unharmed. We're going to need his help."
Again, i apologise for the late update - had writer's block and this chapter was hard to write... thank you all for your support and lovely reviews, they make my day :)
~Max
