Up until now, everyone has been dealing with their personal dilemmas on their own. Now that they are stuck with each other, some things that have been festering since the beginning will have to break free...
Sorry if that was overly dramatic – this chapter really isn't that good. Sorry for the wait -____- Does a long chapter make up for it? And now for the infamous 'thankyous', because it really needs to be done. Kirabbit, Lita Takanashi and Bloom Momomiya – and, now for TheEvilMuffinToasterand Season's Child- I have said this many times, but here it is again. Thank you so much for your kind reviews! And sorry for the sudden genre change, but I guess it was to be expected. I can never write a romance without another overshadowing genre. So Paper Spiders is now officially a horror story. And, ironically enough, the change occurs at the first chapter that actually mentions romance.
Chapter 11: Mousetrap
"Do not turn around."
The boy gasped as a presence in his room made itself known. He felt the cold blade of a knife at his throat, and heard the deadly threat in the voice. He didn't move a muscle as fear coursed through his veins.
The intruder sounded pleased. "Good boy. Three before you have failed that particular test. Don't expect to see them in class."
The boy, known as Turner at Wammy's, felt sick at the implications that sentence held. He drew in a sharp breath as he felt a trickle of warm liquid fell down his throat. He couldn't be sure that the blood belonged to himself, or someone else.
"Now, I need you to do something for me. Because you know I exist, to refuse means death. As does failure. Do you accept these terms?" He asked like the boy actually had a choice.
Turner nodded stiffly, gripping his desk until his knuckles were white.
"Excellent."
An object was dropped on the desk in front of him. A little black book. There was a smudge of white writing, but Turner couldn't decipher it in the dark. A pale hand reached over and flicked the book open, then dropped a pen into the boy's hand.
"You are going to need to touch the book... Good. Now, do you see the monster?"
Turner almost screamed, but the hand was clapped over his mouth and the knife pressed against his skin alarmingly. The boy fell silent.
"Ask the nice monster if you can have his eyes."
Turner was beginning to think that this stranger was completely insane. But, of course, the knife to his throat was more than enough to make him comply. His voice was shaky and hesitant, barely coming out as a squeak. "C-Can... Can I h-have your eyes?"
"Do not be alarmed when your sight changes."
But of course Turner would be alarmed. The boy thought he was dying when his sight went red. Once again, his screaming was prevented when a hand was held firmly over his mouth.
"Shinigami, your work here is done."
Ryuk looked slightly disappointed. "Aww, you want to get rid of me? That's not very nice... But that won't stop me from watching the rest of the show."
"Good point. It will be amusing, after all," the intruder deadpanned. He removed the blade, freeing Turner at last. "Now I will grant you a sight of my own," he said. His voice was laced with venom.
A small hand mirror was placed on the desk beside the book. For a second it showed a reflection of the intruder, but all that could be discerned in the dark was that it was grinning childishly and had wide eyes that glowed a sickly bright yellow. There were no pupils to be seen. Then the reflection swirled and disappeared entirely, revealing the front yard of Wammy's. It was devoid of people at this point in time.
The intruder placed a sheet of paper in front of Turner. The boy tried to see what was written, but it was too dark and he was too afraid to turn on the light. So Turner just sat there, overwhelmed by what was happening.
"You can read, I assume, else you wouldn't be here. Turn on the lamp and begin writing in exactly four minutes. I will know if you do not comply, I assure you. When you are done, you are to write your own name. If you do not, I will find you." The intruder left the threat open, letting the instructions sink in.
Then he chuckled and his footsteps receded. The door swung shut, and the room was deathly silent.
Turner instantly flicked on the lamp that sat on his desk, illuminating the book; the paper; the mirror. The boy read through the instructions twice, feeling horrible. Worse than horrible. He was going to die, and he was going to take a lot of people with him.
'… make them run to the gate and die … let the others get the message … kill no one when it is over … every adult you can see …copy this into the book … Now it is time for you to choose your own death …'
Turner swallowed as the image in the mirror changed. A red-haired girl was being led out of the building, surrounded by policemen. They thought she was the murderer. But he knew better. He was sure that the intruder was the true Wammy's murderer, and the girl was being framed. And he knew that if he didn't kill himself when this was over, then he would die a lot slower.
The boy had no choice. It was a little comforting to know that he would be taking others to hell with him.
At least he won't be lonely.
-X-
Beyond Birthday was crouching in the middle of nowhere and nothing, surrounded by a solid, impenetrable grey.
Mu. Nothingness. Not really an afterlife, but more a place you go to wait for eternity after you die. He was crouched over in a ball, looking like the weight of the world was crushing him slowly. From the outside, he would have been pitied for looking so alone and defenceless.
But he wasn't. Not by far.
Through someone else's eyes, Beyond saw panicking children. He saw them scream; he saw them flee; he saw them die. And he laughed.
Tenaiah... His daughter, standing in the middle of a rain of bodies. Stuttering hearts and gasping breaths, and the immensely final silence. She was so confused it was almost funny.
But why he even had a daughter amazed him to this day. That woman was nothing to him, extraordinary as she had once been. She was just another faceless nobody in the crowd of the dead now. But before...
Before she had actually been someone. When she was alive. When she was sane. Before he happened.
Beyond Birthday also had a son. But... that boy had broken his beloved beyond any hope of repair. She had been a bright young woman, intelligent and bursting with potential. Beyond had met her soon after he left Wammy's. She had saved him from a life of hopelessness and regret after he had forsaken his only home – the only place that wanted him. But she had helped him.
He was only sixteen when it happened. And when he found out, he left. He was sure that she cried.
But Beyond had other things to think about. He had a plan, and nothing – not even the dawn of a new life, a life he had created – would stop him from finally piecing together the puzzle and fulfilling his dream, his obsession. The plan had always been his top priority. It had always been the first thing he saw.
And seeing that his beloved would die in a matter of months, before the baby could be born, was not something Beyond was willing to stick around to watch.
Eight years.
For eight years Beyond had been planning feverishly. Regressing into the darkest recesses of his mind and letting the obsession fester. The need. The need to not only prove that everything Wammy's Orphanage stands for is sick and wrong, but also the need for revenge.
Beyond was going to bring justice to A's killer.
L.
And not in the way that one might think. No, Beyond knew that murdering L Lawliet would not achieve much, for he would always have someone to succeed him. It was the title of L that Beyond was out to destroy. But B knew that there was one way to make L truly suffer – something that would bring shame to the person and the title. He would reopen the wounds on his soul, forcing L to realise again how many deaths he was responsible for in contrast to how many he merely solved. It would be a stain to mar the perfection of being the greatest detective to ever live.
It had taken eight years for Beyond Birthday to finally snap. And that woman was the catalyst.
He saw her again.
Beyond had believed her to be dead – no, he had been certain to the point of betting his life on it. Her life had definitely been only months away from ending when he left eight years ago.
So he approached her. That was the worst mistake he could have made.
She was a different person...
No, it was more than that. That woman was hardly living at all.
It would be no use describing her appearance, because it was relatively normal. But the way she spoke, the expression in her eyes, were all too readable. She was broken inside.
Beyond was almost ready to throw his plans away for her. He would have supported her, he would have loved her. And he did, for a short time. But she could never forgive him for leaving, and Beyond could hardly forgive himself. And, after all those years, seeing him again was only making life harder for the woman, because she had moved on.
He thought it was his turn to save her. Her life was long – longer than even a healthy person could expect. Supernaturally long. But it was not happy.
And soon after, Beyond found out that he was only destroying her. Her partner was not the kindest person on earth, but she was scared to leave. Beyond was going to help her out of the situation she was in. But things went awry, and she ended up with another child of his.
Then she was the one to disappear, and Beyond didn't handle the abandonment very well.
In the entirety of his life, Beyond Birthday was deprived of one thing that many thrive on. He had never received as much love as he had given, and eventually he had stopped trying. Emotionally closed off to the world at such a young age, the first time he met the woman was such a thrill, such a shock, that he didn't want to see it end.
But that time she didn't love him back, and, intelligent as he was, Beyond didn't know why.
He tried to figure out why she had rejected him, and what put her in the state she was in. But he never got the chance. His mind was snapping. Thoughts and feelings that had been suppressed were breaking free, a demon inside him consuming everything good in him.
Her name was Melody.
The Los Angeles Beyond Birthday Murder Cases followed the breakdown on swift wings.
Beyond never found out how she died, or why she gave up both of their children to the horrible place he had come from.
His son was also witnessing the killings in the yard.
Well, not really. Beyond was possessing his body and watching in his stead. He would have to transfer the memories of the event to his host, or things could get complicated. Amusing, yes, if he were to find out suddenly that everyone had died, but not productive.
When Beyond had woken in Mu, he had been subdued for the longest time. But recently the man had been able to open his eyes. He saw everything and everyone, the shinigami realm above and the human world below. These things that he was not supposed to see.
But no one could stop him.
It had something to do with his Eyes. When one has used a Death Note, they have the potential to become a shinigami. But Beyond was a very unique case.
He could not become a shinigami. But he did have the potential to be something else...
Not human, exactly... but he could be alive.
Beyond Birthday could live again.
And live he shall.
It all rode on the shoulders of his offspring, and how successful they are in completing the tasks he sets for them. Killing someone is a must. In the realms of death, one that has taken a life has immense power. The same, or a somewhat similar, rule applies in the world of the living. Only in the mind a murderer can Beyond's consciousness manifest. And only in the body of those he shares DNA with can he be reborn.
Therefore, the only way he can live again is to force his children to commit murder... then take their lives himself. It would take an immense amount of power, but it was possible. Beyond would make sure of that.
His son and his daughter were standing in the middle of a massacre, one of them completely unaware of his existence, and both of them completely free of suspicion.
Well, almost completely.
There was still dear Malice to deal with.
He had a plan forming. Beyond needed precision and timing, because if she were suddenly dead the blame for the murders would fall to those he cannot control easily; the strangers that have nothing to do with anything. With Malice being the 'murderer', he was able to continue manipulating her through Tenn...
The maniac laughed as the orphans in the yard knelt over the corpses of their friends and sobbed.
-X-
A sombre mood blanketed Wammy's like a heavy fog. It didn't take long for everyone to drift inside and take to their rooms for some solitude from this dark day. But hours later, when everyone steadily realised that nothing was going to change, they began to gather in more public rooms. The library was a popular destination for the quieter, more serious students that wished to fix this. The lunch room was open for the more confused of the bunch, where they had broken into the food stores and had nothing to do but eat. And the game room seemed to be for the kids that simply didn't care. They would follow whatever was going.
But they all had something in common.
They were waiting for something. None of them was able to voice what their subconscious was screaming at them, but they all knew that they were waiting.
-X-
"How much do you care about Malice?"
"Shut up."
"I asked you a question, Tenaiah, and I expect it to be answered."
Tenn just shook her head, crushing her ears with her fists. She needed to think.
She was in her old room, being one of the few that elected to stay alone, hanging out the second-storey window. Again. Only this time, she had a most pleasing scene in front of her and a beautifully patterned carpet behind. The blood from Steph's wounds had not only pooled and splattered nicely, but that wasn't all. This room had been closed off because the bloodstains were impossible to get rid of, defiantly glaring at whoever dared enter.
And in front of her? Dead children littered the grass, their living friends casting long shadows as the sun slowly rises higher in the sky. Beautiful blue, with wispy clouds overhead. Thicker ones block out the horizon icily, promising snow.
Normally the little girl would be joyous at the thought of snow, but right now her mind was on other, more important matters. Like where her Death Notes were. Ryuk and Light were nowhere to be seen. It put Tenn on edge, knowing she was defenceless against the supernatural power of the shinigami and the Notes.
The fact that she wasn't dead yet brought her little comfort. Light could be delaying. Waiting until the time is right. But... The time was right a few minutes ago. No one would have been the wiser if she had died along with the others. It would have been the perfect cover to be rid of his... his keeper.
Her father's voice intruded upon her thoughts once more, sending a cold shiver down her spine. "If you care at all, you will stop her from doing what she is about to do."
Ice crept into her veins almost painfully.
"She's figured it out, Tenn. Now she wants to know how."
The ice spread like wildfire. She knows I could kill with a heart attack...?
"She knows where the Notes are. Light will kill her if she gets too close," he cackled.
Tenn was out the door in an instant, but paused in the hall. "Where are they?" she hissed frantically. "Where are the Notes?"
There was more cackling in the back of her mind, and Tenn ran. Her feet carried her tho the lunch room.
People were murmuring to one another, a low hum of voices. Some were louder than others, but none were discernible.
One A few people hissed loudly, and the voices died. One person spoke loudly, but Tenn didn't listen. There were a few whispers. The atmosphere was tense.
Tenn turned around.
Malice was leaning on the doorframe, arms folded. Dry blood still stained her clothes, her hair was plastered to her face with the stuff. Her face was blank, all expression wiped from her features. Everything except her eyes.
Those wide, green orbs of hers were shining. She stared everyone down, and they all seemed to mentally back off. Complete silence.
It was like she was a different person. Like... all the life had been drained from her?
No. That wasn't it at all.
Her old life had been drained. She... It was like she had a new one poured into her. A new life...
What happened to her?
Where was the shying teenager? The mindful technology freak? Where was the old Malice?
The only sound in the room was the receding echo of the older girl's footsteps. Tenn hardly noticed that she had left, she was still frozen to the floor.
The murmurs begun again, and it was evident that everyone was trying to ignore Tenn. But there were stares on her back, boring holes into her mind.
The noise snapped her out of the trance she had been in, and with a jolt, her feet hit the floor.
Tenn raced after Malice. She knew where she was going; to the only place she could go after such an incident.
It was also the place the Death Notes were. Where her death waited.
In the back of her mind, Tenn told herself that it was just Beyond downloading information into her brain. But she shut out her voice of reason and continued to think that she was just awesomely instinctual.
Tenn heard the doors open in front of her. She skidded around the corner, only to see that Malice was already walking into Roger's office.
Light's blood red eyes shone as she walked straight through him.
He grinned a shark's grin at Tenn, then turned around to follow Malice into the room.
Tenn crashed into the doors as they were closing and threw them open. Malice didn't even turn around to look at her. The younger girl's breath caught in her throat as emotion swept over her. There was fear, for sure, and confusion. Relief, too. Anger. Wariness. But mostly shock.
Both Ryuk and Light were in the back of the room, Light grinning for a reason Tenn could not comprehend, and Ryuk twisted into his signature apple-withdrawal pose.
And the albino kid, the one that was at the investigation for her murder of Steph and who was most definitely working under L himself, was sitting in the middle of the room. Two books were open in front of him.
Two Death Notes.
He glanced up at the girls that had just entered the room. His eyes met briefly with Malice's, and he muttered a few words so quietly that Tenn had to strain to hear them. "Thankyou for participating, Malice. I appreciate your coming here."
Malice stepped back at this, obviously in shock at the words. Neither she or Tenn had any idea of what was going on.
Then Tenn's stony glare met his unnerving one, and his mouth twitched into a knowing, and somewhat creepy smile.
And the trap snaps shut.
-X-
Guess what? There's actually going to be dialogue in the next chapter! And I promise it won't take as long as this one did – I was really not in a 'writing' mood. Yes, that is my excuse. I didn't feel like it. Deal with it, because I am going to rule you all with an iron fist someday in the not-too-distant future...