XX - Pyramid

"You know, I've been wondering…" the King began, while playing with the glass in his hand, "What is your status exactly, Kitten?"

Caterina watched him in apparent superiority, though deep inside, something began to shake. Her father was there, watching… This man before her had been raised by her father, he had been shaped by him into the man he currently is. He represented a threat to the auburn-haired girl, while her father was the judge. In a sense, she thought, 'that's how gladiators must have felt in the arena', just about to be devoured in front of the emperor for his amusement, holding onto the handle of a sword for dear life and unable to move.

"Take your time, baby doll. Or is silence your only answer?" the King asked her in a mocking tone, warning the girl she had been silent for a moment too long.

"Oh, was I supposed to answer that?" she asked just as ironic in return.

"What did you think, mm? That I was asking it for my amusement?"

"Why not?" Caterina returned his question and managed to buy herself some time as the King chuckled.

"Well then, now you know. So?"

"I am mommy's little-me and daddy's little girl." Caterina smiled sweetly, her green eyes glaring at the King but afraid of turning towards her father. "Any other status I may carry does not concern you. Perhaps I am a lost princess of England! Perhaps my daddy is a Cardinal in Rome. Perhaps my mommy was the daughter of Hitler. You can't tell, and I can't either. It's irrelevant, anyway."

It seemed her little attempt of blowing dust in his face had at least managed to amuse him terribly, because the King had to put down his glass. He was laughing so hard, he was about to drop his precious drink.

"Irrelevant, you say?" the man managed to ask between laughs, "Is that what you say? That I can't tell?" After he was done laughing, the man stood and approached her, walking around the table.

At the same time, Caterina forced herself to stand as slowly and elegantly she could. Adrenaline and fear pumped through her veins. The man was at least one head taller than her and getting close enough for her to feel his breath on her forehead and the heat of his body emanating through the clothes.

"Exactly. I will only tell you one thing…" she stated in all seriousness. "One day soon, I will be on top of the world, and when that morning comes, I don't want a too long black list. And you know why?"

The King leaned back enough to see how the girl's expression changed. Although her voice remained calm and sweet, her green eyes began burning with a silent kind of rage.

"Why?" he asked after a few moments.

"Because I will be throwing a party. A big, sumptuous, luxurious party, inviting every cockroach I had come to meet and despise. You know… there was a Romanian ruler in the country of Moldova. Long before the country of Romania appeared as a state on the map, one of those small, unimportant states that few can pin-point on a map. Do you know where that is? In the East of Europe, just South from Ukraine."

The King froze. He was half Ukrainian, although he thought only the Dragon knew that about him. He had murdered anyone else who could have known his past and taken advantage of it. Or so he thought.

"That ruler promised his wife a cure for her fear. He had many enemies, you see…" Caterina went on, approaching the other with a smirk on her face. "Traitors, cockroaches, disgusting two-faced creatures. They insulted him, played him, tried to exile him… Do you know what he did? He threw a banquet. A big, sumptuous, luxurious banquet. At dessert, he ordered their execution. All of them. Beheaded!" Her hand cut through the air, mimicking a blade about to cut the King's throat. "And their heads thrown together into a pyramid of shame. Beheaded, like chicken. Have you ever seen such thing? A chicken running around the family's backyard without a head, blood gushing from its open throat."

As the Dragon was listening quietly, the King's color began to fade. He turned a yellowish tint of pale, like those suffering from liver diseases, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"When I will wake up on top of the world, I will send the invitations by sunset. And then, I'll throw a party, much like this ruler did. I'm afraid his last name escapes me, but his first was Alexander. Alexander~! What a great name, don't you think? Alexander, Alexander… I love it! I'll name my son Alexander. Of course, his wife was horrified, but I really like this idea. Brilliant, don't you think?"

"You're sick…!" the King eventually hissed, watching the teenager in utter horror.

"I already have a black list, and their heads will roll at the bottom of the pyramid. You see, I really like the Romanian Middle Ages. I think the world needs to remember the violence of those times. People were less shameless and reckless back then, when losing your head could be taken literally!"

"How the hell did you get here?! That angel face of yours is a lie, you're insane!" the man mumbled as he spun his index finger by his temple.

"You invited me, can't you remember?" Caterina asked in an all too innocent voice, her eyebrows rising in apology and surprise.

"Who the hell have you brought into my home!" the King turned towards the Dragon.

"I thought you liked her. She has Sia's angelic face, you said it yourself, but I think she is much more. It's in her blood, in her veins… I've known her before she was born."

The girl's heart trembled with joy as she heard her father speak of her with such pride. It was done – the lion was dead, the gladiator alive, and the emperor entertained. Slowly and quietly, Caterina moved behind the King and trailed her hand on the back of the couch.

"Boo~" she breathed in his ear.

"Once more and I'll blow your fucking brains out!" he growled, hand on the gun he always carried in his coat. Yet, the girl could see the sweat on his neck and forehead, right where his black hair met the skin.

"You wouldn't dare," the girl answered in a low voice, thinking her father hadn't heard. Six other guards were in the room, all ready to shoot the girl – only she had no real weapon but her words.

"Is that a dare, little brat?!"

But that same second, the Dragon sent a knife flying past his former protégé's head. Slowly, the King turned to see one of the dull knives they had used to eat still trembling in the wall behind.

"My, such accurate shot, wasted! But warnings are nice, they can be fun. Sometimes, they can make those fine hairs on your back and arms stand up – thrilling!" the girl chuckled, then slowly walked back to her father, taking a seat to his right.

"I let you enjoy your little game, but I am still not done," the Dragon spoke calmly, "and neither are you."

"Right. The bank accounts. The money should have been transferred by now." This time, the King was the one feeling like a gladiator – defeated, bleeding, begging the mercy of the public and hoping for a thumbs up.

"You know that's not how I work in such situations. Years back, in Italy, when I picked you up and took you under my roof, I explained these details to you."

Caterina sat back beside her father, watching both men talking. She was hunting for details – pieces of theory in their game that she would need when she was to follow on her father's steps.

"Bank accounts nowadays are much safer than they were back then. I don't think it should be a problem-" the King began to speak, but stopped when the Dragon laughed quietly.

"The alcohol must have scattered half of your brain."

Confused, the King watched the Dragon exposing the major flaw in his thinking.

"We are talking about the police, possibly working with the secret services. We know there will be at least two countries with the status of a global and continental power. I am talking about China, respectively Japan. Do you remember Punky?"

The King nodded. "The kid was into technology and hacking. Until…" He leaned his head sideways and shrugged, as if to say 'life happens', or something along that line.

"Until he crossed me. He had been working with the European Information Agency for two years, until I received proof he had been tracking my business associates, closing a circle around me." The man smirked. "This is very common – even more common than prostitution. Such agencies will fake the death of the best hackers in the world, corrupt them with money and numerous advantages and favors, then hire them for their own use. Some are as young as twelve, from my sources, though it wouldn't surprise me to find a few even younger than that."

Caterina was guessing where her father was taking this and decided to take the chance.

"It's such a great probability, it becomes an almost certainty. Bank accounts and cell phones can be tracked, and judging by the King's words from earlier, we had already caught the attention of some investigators – even if there are no clear evidences to support this."

At the same time, across the ocean, a different underground leader was talking with a subordinate – only this one was much more displeased.

"He didn't! I swear! I don't even know what he had to bring you –" the dealer was trying to defend himself. He had his hands up in front of him and his sunglasses were slowly sliding down his nose.

"You incompetent! A fly would be more fucking useful!" the boss yelled. He was tall, bald, and red with rage. Veins were pulsing under his skin, looking like they were about to burst open.

"But boss, it wasn't me! I didn't do anything this time! He just didn't show up. I stood there half an hour, nothing!"

The boss paced the room while the skinny blond man made a few uncertain and very fast steps back and into a corner.

"What about the other thing? Did you deliver what I told you?"

"Yes, Sir!" the blond answered with a wide grin. "All of it – the clients were very pleased!"

"And where the hell is my money?!" the boss yelled again, turning towards the skinny dealer.

"Right there!" Holding his hands back up in defense, he pointed towards a suitcase he had left on a coffee table in the middle of the room. Immediately, his boss went to open it and began counting the stacks of money.

"If I see a single dollar missing-!" he threatened his subordinate through gritted teeth.

"Not a cent, Sir! I didn't touch it!"

But unfortunately for him, the clients had not paid the entire sum. Another misfortune was the dealer's antecedents of taking some of the money for his own use – or rather, for the weed he smoked every day.

When he was done counting, the man stood up just as mad as before, if not more so. Confused, the dealer stood small and frozen in shock. For once, he did everything right – what could there be wrong?

"You dare lie to my face!" the boss growled like a caged animal. Before the other had a chance to dodge, the boss bent him over his fist, hearing a rib or two cracking loudly.

"Jack, you sneaky little flea! You're like a pest! I'll kill you right now if you don't give me my money! All of it!"

Coughing, the blond man going by the name of Jack tried to utter something, but before he could order his thoughts, another hit lent on his side. Soon, his entire body became the punching bag of his boss, until the lights on the walls became blurry and the ceiling and floor spun together a few times. He thought he would faint – he hoped that he'd faint. But another few hits lent on his stomach, until he tasted his own blood. Whatever happened after that, he didn't feel it – finally, it had all faded to black.

Back in Japan, it had been two full days without a reply and Light knew something must have happened. And who else should he share this with, if not his father? He was the Police Chief, after all, as well as the teenager's role model. But gladly, he wasn't the one to bring up this subject. Sayu did it instead.

"Has your girlfriend left you yet?"

"First, she is not my girlfriend. We are not together."

"Right…" the girl rolled her eyes.

"Second…" Light began, only to look towards his father. "I am starting to feel worried. She is on a cruise with her family, but the last time we talked was two days ago. Usually, she never let me wait for an answer anywhere near this long."

"So she did leave you." Sayu concluded.

"I doubt it. Perhaps she ran out of battery, or is in a place without signal."

Light tried to believe what his mother said – it could happen, right? – but the voice refused to even consider it. 'Something must have happened.' The boy shook his head. "It was too sudden for that. Besides, she had been suspecting their butler of working for someone else for a few months now."

"We can't open an investigation on the matter until there is anything confirmed. There were no reports of anything grave happening on the Yellow Sea," the father eventually said.

"What if they sunk?" Light asked his father. "Then nobody would survive to report the case."

"There should have been some S.O.S. messages received by the coast police of the nearest country." The Chief shook his head, though he began considering possible scenarios.

"Is there no way we can at least find the position of the yacht?" Light asked after a few moments of silence.

"It would be illegal to track them down like that… Unless you have some evidences to support the possibility that something actually happened. You said the girl suspected their butler."

"Woah! It's like in a movie!" Sayu exclaimed, looking from her father to her brother and back again, as if watching a tennis match.

"I can show you some text messages. A few hours before they left, Caterina sent me this."

Light took out his phone and went through the messages, then showed his father the strange texts.

'Got him'

'Got who?'

'V. I got him.'

'How?'

'He lies about the robbery. V. said he was in the hall and 3 men locked him in the bathroom, they 'busted' down the door. The surveillance camera shows the thieves using a key and there's no one in the hall.'

"What's that? I wanna see!" Sayu stood up from her seat and went to look over her father's shoulder. "Who is V.?"

"That's short for the butler's name, Vincent. It was her idea." Light clarified, while waiting for his phone to be returned.

"These are serious accusations, Light. I hope you realize this."

The teenager looked at his father and read trouble in how serious he had become. "I do, and I understand this may not be much, but I believe Caterina may have been right to suspect the butler of bad intentions."

"You should present this to the police. It may help in the robbery case. As for the cruise… I will try to open an investigation. How long had it been since you last heard from her?"

"Thirty-two hours now."

The man frowned, thinking. "Keep an eye open for any text or phone call you might receive. If your suspicions are true, we will start an investigation on the case."

"But dad, it's always the butler! In every movie, it's the butler who does it. He knows everyone and can enter anywhere he wants, it's perfect." Sayu commented.

The dark voice inside of Light's head began considering what the girl had just said. It was a cliché, overused in way too many films and books, but it may be true… After all, the butler and the maids had power, right? They were allowed in any part of the house, went everywhere with their masters, heard many important discussions not many others knew about… and were often left alone with one of the family members. That was the perfect set of opportunities for a murderer.

Besides, it continued, they were in the middle of nowhere. Who would come to their rescue? Even if a victim yelled, they had nowhere to run and no one to hear them in the middle of the sea. That would explain why nobody sent any S.O.S. messages – the dead can't call for help. 'We have to find the current location of that yacht,' the voice concluded, and even if Light didn't want to believe it, he had to admit the hypothesis seemed to be tying most of the loose ends together.

That evening, Light had done nothing but surf the Internet for information, watching the news on TV and checking his phone every half an hour. With every article he opened, he hoped to find something useful. With every news report, he grew more annoyed by the superficiality of it all – he didn't care about celebrities meeting in secret or football match results! Everybody knew there was rarely anything true or real in the world of sports and flashlights.

Eventually, he found a talk show where the aspiring model, Misa Amane, was talking about her last photo shoot with Anastasia. That caught Light's interest.

'Yes. Misa was on the beach, and girls began to scream and the photographers said there was a body in between some rocks and bushes.'

'But didn't you feel any repulsing scent, or anything like that?'

'No! It was a nice day, Misa remembers. Nobody thought there would be a body there.'

'What happened next?'

'Well, they called the police and Misa left with Anastasia. Misa was scared to stay there. The bodyguards said it wasn't safe.'

'I can imagine,' continued the host, 'It must have been a very frightening experience.'

Misa nodded. 'It was horrible.'

'Was that the last time you saw the designer? Did you talk afterwards?'

'The driver took Misa home and let Anastasia to meet with her husband. But Misa doesn't know anything else.'

Light sighed. This wasn't very useful and listening to Misa talking in third person and whining every other word was close to giving him a headache. He changed the channel again, looking for some last moment news about a yacht on the Yellow Sea. All that he found was that the yacht had gone missing from all radars about ten hours after he stopped receiving any reply from Caterina.

This was enough for the media to start questioning, but they had no idea who or what to ask. Definitely talking to Misa wasn't going to give them any real information… He sighed. There had to be something more. There is no perfect crime, absolutely none. They all make some mistakes. It was only a matter of time until he would be able to pinpoint these mistakes and piece this case together.

The next day was August the 13th. An interesting date, some might have said. In the crowded city of Tokyo, the Police Chief was signing the permission needed for a new investigation to begin, while two rooms away, a team was being formed.

"Are you sure this is a good decision, Chief?" possibly the most dedicated subordinate asked.

Soichiro Yagami sat at his desk with his hands holding each other in a contemplative image. "My son can see how a real investigation goes on, from the very beginning. He won't be in any dangerous mission, and I believe he may learn from this experience."

"Excuse me, Chief, but I don't believe this is the best decision. All information on the case is confidential and besides, he is emotionally involved, as far as I have been informed."

"True, but my son claims he is not attached to any of the possible victims," the man stated. "I have made a decision."

"Yes, sir."

Shuichi Aizawa left the room and went where the rest of the team would be meeting every day from then on, until the case would be solved. With a sigh, he looked over the people who he had to coordinate.

"Good morning. I have been charged with leading this investigation. In other words, any findings or theories you may have, you will report to me."

Five others looked at him, a few nodding, and a few just looking at each other.

"Is Yagami here?" Aizawa asked.

From behind him, the student walked in. He was wearing his school uniform and had an almost professional image, tall and well put-together. He was serious and calm, which made many of the policemen think he was a few years older.

"I am," Light said simply and clearly.

"Good." Turning towards the others, Aizawa nodded towards the student. "He will be observing the on-going investigation. He is here only for educational purposes, as the Chief said. This means you will not do anything important but observe and take notes," he addressed Light, "while the rest of us will work on solving this case."

"I won't be in your way, I assure you." Light said in response.

"Now," Aizawa said, approaching one of the two men working on a computer, "What do we know?"

"We have a family of three, plus a butler. They had left the country by sea, on a yacht property of Giuliano Amadeo. The radars show the yacht sailing without any apparent problem for the first day, then stopping right here…" he said, showing the map of the Yellow Sea. "For seventeen hours, the yacht had been relatively still. Then, the signal had been suddenly lost."

Light approached the screen and looked at the timing. "Can you track down the cell phone of one of the family members? I can give you the number."

"It will be more difficult if we can't have a live connection. But I can check to see where a certain call was made," another offered.

The Voice began to grow excited, watching as the hacker began going through evidences and tracking down the signal. All Light had to do was give him the precise time of the call. And it was no surprise to him when they found out it led to the same position of the yacht.

Next, the student tried to call Caterina so that the police could track down the current location of her phone. Unfortunately though, there was no signal to track down, because no device received Light's call.

"It must be either turned off, or destroyed. For how long had it been like this?" one of the investigators asked.

"About an hour and half before the yacht disappeared from the map," Light said, answering any question asked like the good student he was.

"Aizawa, sir! I have found some bank transactions from the last twenty-four hours! The money had been directed towards various banks in China. Giuliano Amadeo's bank accounts had been used thirty times since the incident."

For some reason, Light felt a strong rush of emotion turning his stomach and chilling his bones. That was him, the father, the source of that family's power. He was alive, there was no other explanation his mind would accept – either part of it. It also meant he was preparing for something, his darker side thought. So many transactions in such a short time meant he had a plan and an exact idea of how much it would cost. The Voice was growing anxious to see where the next fire or explosion would be, because it was obvious by then that Caterina's father was the one ordering these fires. It was his signature, after all… And Caterina knew. Perhaps not every detail, but she knew.

'Are you mad at me?'

'…If I was, you'd be in hell.'

Wouldn't he…? Light had to hold back from laughing at his sudden realization, hiding the impulse with a smile that turned out as a smirk.

"What's that?" Aizawa asked, bringing his focus back on the present moment.

"They're alive. They have to be. From how Caterina spoke of her father, he was extremely cautious, so there couldn't be anyone but himself who did these transactions. Secondly, he was very attached to his daughter, so that means she must be with him. That's such a relief for me!" he sighed, a smile never leaving his face. Yes, it was all starting to make sense… But he didn't need to tell the police everything. It would be more interesting to see what happens.

On one hand, the police was already tracking down all of the Dragon's names using the mistake his former protégé had committed – the bank transactions. Someone had sold them a list of many names used by the man to secure his impressive fortune. Light was looking at the list, counting down the names. They were a total of thirteen already verified names, and the number was growing with each hour. The Japanese police was working with states all over the globe, blocking the accounts as fast as possible – yet, the money they found in each were insignificant. So much, Light couldn't help but imagine the Dragon was leading the authorities into a trap.

'If that is true,' the Voice said in his thoughts, 'we should distance ourselves from the investigation and wait for a sign from Caterina… Because if her daddy is powerful enough to get out of this one, she will be our stepping stone to our goal of implementing the capital punishment all over the world. If we can get our hands on this web of connections, nothing will stop us.'

"Yet…" Light mumbled on his way home, "if we want to change the world, we will need the police on our side. We should play this card carefully…"

He stopped at a barrier and waited for the train to cross. Just half a meter away, a young man was snapping the purse of a mid-aged woman and speeding over the barrier, crossing the railway only a second before the train did.

"Catch him! A thief! He got my purse! Help!"

But none of that was going to solve the problem. 'The people from the other side may not even hear her screams, and everyone on this side must wait for the train to pass in order to run after him…' the Voice analyzed the situation.

"…If only he had been a second too late…" Light mumbled under his breath, well aware the sound of the crossing train covered it, 'Then it would have been justice,' both him and the Voice agreed mentally.

Author's Notes:

As usual, chapter proofread by Eat4Fun. This chapter was also filled with references. If you are interested in history, you can look up the gladiators of ancient Rome. I thought of this while picturing the scene, it wasn't intended in any way, but it's there now. I think you're more familiar with the Roman Empire than you are with the Romanian states, so I'll only explain a bit about the later.

The second reference is Alexandru Lăpuşneanul - it's alright if you can't read it. There's a story that he was a pretty cruel ruler, spilling a lot of blood. While that's not unusual for the Middle Ages, he is known for that pyramid of heads he ordered at a banquet. Next, people revolted and asked for the execution of Alexandu's right-handed man (who also tried to cross him once or twice before). In the end, Alexandru was poisoned by his wife, so that his son could take the throne. This happened during his second reign, when he returned from exile saying something I will translate as "If you don't want me, I do [want you]". What you should know if you do look this story up - Romania, like Germany and Italy, is a pretty recent state in its modern form. Small states that now make up the country's regions united in order to create Romania. Moldova is in the north-east of Romania if you look on a map, between the mountains and Ukraine (the historical region, because now half of it is the Republic of Moldova).

But enough with that, it was only a reference so you can take it as it is. As for the Dragon and Caterina, it's kind of a half-intentional ship, you know? I wanted them to be on the edge, but they crossed into the pathological - not a lot, but enough. Love is a very interesting feeling, often underestimated by those romance and romantic comedy films. It can go wrong in SO many ways... So I think I'm the one with issues to wrote this, haha. But considering the story, it's normal to kind of want to ship them. They will be the main focus for another two chapters though, because after that, Light will find the Death Note.