I'm back! At this point in the story, things are going to get tricky for me, since I need to think about the way L would react to different developments then are in the manga, which is really tricky! That and I can be that kind of person that thinks something makes sense and then it doesn't, so I hope I won't confuse anyone! Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

**I don't own Death Note. Never have, probably never will. Also, I make typos. And I am often too lazy to correct them, so if you hate reading stories with typos, you've been warned.

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21. Screams & Shinigami

The notebook looked so familiar to me and I knew it looked familiar to Light.

The first thing I felt was panic. Then I realised it. It's not mine. My eyes shot away from the notebook, to Light. It's yours, isn't it?

The question was how he got it. light was always on his guard, if it had been mine, it would've been easy to understand. He'd been in my room only yesterday. If he'd lifted up the matrass while I was sleeping on it, he would've found it. That wasn't an especially hard thing to do.

'What's that?' Matsuda asked.

'A notebook, you idiot,' Aizawa answered, crossing his arms.

Matsuda pressed his lips together, he actually look sort of hurt. 'Yes, I got that, but I don't understand what—'

Ryuzaki interrupted him.'Since the arrest of Misa Amane, we've been keeping an eye on Light Yagami's whereabouts. Could you please answer why you were burying this in the woods in the middle of the night?'

Light looked really confused now. But I wondered if he was using the confusing to hide his panic. 'What are you— I don't understand what this has to do with—'

'You went through the trouble of hiding this before coming here to be locked up as a part of your plan, isn't that correct?' Ryuzaki said, taking the transparent – was it glass – coffin out of the bigger coffin and started to open it. 'So you didn't want this to be found in any way. You wanted this gone no matter what. Which means that, if you are Kira, it's probably evidence. There are a lot of rules in the notebook, explaining how it's supposed to work. One rule made it clear to me why you wanted to be locked up. If the user of the Death Note fails to consecutively write names within 13 days of each other, then the user will die. Because it seemed like that was part of your plan, I also went ahead and assumed that that rule is fake.' Ryuzaki grabbed the white, big envelop that had been laying in front on him on the table since the beginning and took the papers out. They were pictures of paper. 'Something else that's inside the notebook, are the names of the victims. It wouldn't have been so suspicious, you could've just been keeping track of what was happening, but the way some things inside this notebook were written is off. Not as if it just happened, but as if you were going to make it happen. So, I assumed this notebook had something to do with the way Kira kill. So just in case I ordered that no one must touch the notebook.' He'd been looking at all of us until this exact moment, where he completely focused on Light. It almost seemed like they were the only two left in the room. 'Wouldn't you do the honours, Light-san?' Ryuzaki shoved the coffin with notebook over the table to Light.

I kept myself from looking at Yagami while his son slowly picked up the notebook a look on his face that I couldn't specify, but you could see it, he was thinking of something. He knew he couldn't run away now. He knew that. So… what was he going to do?

Yagami seemed lost as well. His face had a heartbroken expression and I could see that he still had a hard time believing any of this. After all, what did this prove? There was a notebook with names, this meant nothing. Maybe it meant something for the police, but for a father that puts his trust in his son and loves him so much, it meant absolutely nothing.

Then I realised that Light thought he had a back-up plan. Rem. Kira would soon be starting to kill people, he thought. It wasn't over yet, he thought. I wasn't exactly sure how wrong or right he was. I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I started to doubt my intellect and I started to doubt Rem's trust in me. If I failed, it would all be my fault. If I honestly told Rem I wasn't sure I could do it, he would've carried on with Light's plan and yes, Ryuzaki would be in more danger, but it wouldn't be my fault. I could've gone on not knowing anything.

Ryuzaki seemed disappointed that nothing happened when Light touched the notebook, but not surprised. 'Alright. Who wants to go next?'

Yagami immediately offered. 'I will.' He slowly took the notebook from his son's hands and only know I noticed that both Yagami's hands and Light's hands were shaking. Yagami held the notebook and I glanced over at the black shadow behind Light. He would be able to see it now, but he wasn't looking at Light. He was looking at Ryuzaki. 'It doesn't seem special,' he told us, but I saw that even he had started to completely doubt his son. Then he slowly turned and fell of his chair while screaming. I felt like I had seen that somewhere before. 'Waaaaaaah!'

Ryuzaki slightly frowned. 'What's wrong, Yagami?'

Yagami was staring at the black spot now, and I remembered that its name was Ryuk. Judging by the reaction, he was scarier-looking than Rem. 'M…Monster…'

'Is he having a panic attack?' Mogi muttered.

I felt like it was my time to go now. I ran over to Yagami, took the notebook away and started to try and comfort him. 'Are you all right, chief? You have to calm down. Just breathe, okay?' I knew that I had to pretend that I had been able to see him since th beginning, if I wanted my story to be more believable. But as I saw Yagami sitting here, I realised I could easily save Light as well. It would be easy, but I didn't want to. Not after all this.

Mogi had come over now, too and grabbed the notebook. 'What's this abou— Uwaaaaah!' he shouted then, standing there in a frozen position.

I knew Ryuzaki was looking at me and I knew that there would be a black Shinigami behind him if I looked at Light now, so I just kept myself focused on Yagami. 'What's wrong, you two?' asked Aizawa, not willing to come over to touch the notebook.

Yagami seemed to have put two and two together. 'I…It…a…appears that anyone who touches the notebook…can see it… th…this monster…'

I knew that Ryuzaki would've figured out what that monster was by now. And I knew what I that to do now. I frowned, hoping that Ryuzaki was looking at me and pretended I only now realised that they could see Ryuk now, too. Then I looked over at him and frowned deeper, tilted my head to the side a little. He was scarier than Rem. It wasn't because of the darker clothes, it was something in his eyes and his smile. Yes, I did not like that smile at all.

'Mogi-san, please bring the notebook to me.'

Slowly and staring nervously at the Shinigami, Mogi walked over to Ryuzaki and handed it to him and he just glanced over at Light, not surprised, but pleased to see the monster. 'Indeed… A reaper… it… really exists…'

It took about five minutes for everyone to touch the notebook and after that, get over the shock. Light was temporary cuffed to his chair. As soon as everyone had touched the notebook, it was back in Ryuzaki's hands, who immediately started to read the rules, although I assumed he already had seen copies of the pages, hell, probably already memorised all the rules.

'Shinigami,' Ryuzaki said suddenly, stopping all the forms of conversation that had been going on.

The dark dressed monster tilted his head. 'Hm?'

'There are more notebooks out there, aren't there?' he asked, looking at the Shinigami as if he was already used to seeing it.

Ryuk shrugged. 'Who knows?' but he'd said it with such amusement that the answer was clear to everyone.

'You weren't the one writing the names down, correct?' Ryuzaki then asked. 'It was Light Yagami who wrote the names down, correct?'

The Shinigami shrugged again, clearly set on being the least helpful creature on the planet. 'Who knows?'

'Light Yagami,' Ryuzaki said, giving up on a conversation with the Shinigami. Light gave him a blank stare. 'Are you the one who wrote the names down in this notebook? Is that how you killed all of those people? Does the notebook actually work?'

I wasn't sure what would happen. Maybe he would laugh. Maybe he would sigh. I didn't know. He shook his head. The idiot! 'I wish I could just… forfeit this.'

What? That made no sense.

'No!' I heard Rem shout from his hiding place, wherever that was.

Ryuk chuckled, loud. Way too loud. That was kind of scary. And then, Light just passed out.

We all just stared at Light. 'What just happened?' Matsuda asked.

'Passed out because of stress, maybe?' Mogi suggested.

'Or maybe he's faking it so that he doesn't have to answer our question,' Aizawa suggested.

Ryuzaki didn't seem to think that their theories were likably, though. 'What did you do, Shinigami?' he asked Ryuk.

Ryuk chuckled. 'My name is Ryuk, you are allowed to call me that. And I didn't do anything. What that boy does, isn't up to me.'

Apparently, this stopped the whole 'hiding from Light'-thing, because Rem came in. 'He gave up ownership of the death note,' he explained to me, his eyes glowing with anger. My eyes widen. Why the hell would he do that? What would that accomplish?

'What's wrong, Olivia?' Ryuzaki immediately asked, almost as if he'd been carefully watching me. I had really thought that with everything going on, he wouldn't be interested in me. Guess I was wrong.

So Light would have no memories now, only if he touched a death note. This changed things, but not much. I would put Light behind bars. But first, I needed to save Misa. And L. But maybe not with an unconscious Kira in the room. 'Don't you think he needs some medical attention?'

Ryuzaki seemed unwilling – like me – but nodded. 'Watari, please bring Light to one of our special rooms. Well secured, of course. And but the surveillance cameras up on screens 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21.'

Watari stood, bowed. 'Right away.'

Mogi and Matsuda both stood up to help him, but the old man was stronger than he looked. He easily picked up the chair with Light in it and before walking out of the room with a surprising amount of ease, he turned around to say: 'I supposed laying him on the bed would be better than keeping him stuck on a chair?'

Ryuzaki showed one of his rare smiles. 'Do what you find suitable.'

Watari gave him a smile back and nodded once before leaving the room carrying the young adult in his arms. Jesus, I should work out, perhaps I could become a badass grandma one day. Not that I would need to be one, but it would be cool.

It took everyone about two seconds to realise that Ryuk had vanished. Rem had told me that they need to stay close to the owners, but Light had given up his ownership, right? So, why had he gone? Who was the owner now? L? He was the one holding it, so that would be the most logical option, but…

'Am I the only who noticed that that Shinigami has disappeared?' Matsuda asked about two minutes after everyone else realised it.

I wanted to slap him. I wanted to slap myself. I wanted to go home. But I knew that that wasn't an option now. 'No, actually,' I answered, giving him a sarcastic glance. 'I'm pretty sure we all noticed'. Then I looked over at Ryuzaki. 'Ryuzaki, there's something I have to tell you about the Shinigami.'

Ryuzaki had expected it, I could tell. He slowly shut the notebook he'd been holding right up until that point and looked at me. Apparently I was interesting enough to put the death note away for. 'What is it?'

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes closed. 'I've been seeing them ever since the begin of the investigation,' I said.

'What?!' Matsuda shouted.

'Are you serious?' Yagami asked.

'Why did you never say anything?' Ukita wondered.

'Them?' L mused.

I opened my eyes, looked at him. 'Yes. There's another one. A white one. He's been hanging around Misa. I just thought… I just thought I was crazy, that my trauma was manifesting itself in a strange way. I never thought it was important.' I thanked the heavens that Ryuk wasn't here anymore, because I had no clue how he would've reacted to this and it could've ruined my plan completely. Though I was slightly terrified by the fact that he wasn't here. Just what was he doing? I wondered when the screen would turn on. I wondered if we would be able to see Ryuk in Light's room. Or cell, is what I should probably call it.

'So you never said anything because you thought we would assume that you were crazy, I understand,' Ryuzaki said slowly, but for some reason, he didn't sound as convincing as he normally did. 'What I don't understand is why you can see them.'

What I didn't understand was why Light had chosen to erase his memory. The evidence was still there, that wouldn't disappear. Was he afraid he would break and tell us the truth? Did he want

I sighed. 'Maybe it is because I almost died when I was younger.' That was the sentence. His cue. It was also something that was the truth. I did believe that I had been able to catch glimpses of the Shinigami because he almost killed me back then. Because if he couldn't had me, nobody could. I shivered, but was distracted almost right away.

With a soft sound fell the other death note on the middle of the table, perfectly dropped by Rem.

Instead of taking the note, Ryuzaki suddenly sprung forward, placing his hand on the table near the note. With his head down, he glanced up at me, from under his eyelashes. The sudden fire in his eyes electrified and terrified me at the same time. 'Is he here, Olivia?' he asked me.

I looked at him, blinked a few times. Pretended I wasn't entirely sure what he was asking me. I wasn't even completely sure why. Maybe because I didn't want to do this. Maybe because I didn't like the way he looked at me. Maybe a little bit of both.

'Is that other Shinigami in this room, Olivia?' he asked a bit more powerful now, as if it was an order instead of a question.

'Yes!' I answered, staring at Rem who seemed to be more calm and composed then I was, but not much. 'He is.'

Then, Ryuzakis fingers grabbed the notebook and looked at the place I was watching. 'Ah, you were right.' He smiled his childish smile. 'Do you think the fake rule will be in this one as well?' Then he suddenly frowned. 'But why would he drop this notebook?' he wondered as he handed the notebook to Ukita, who was sitting next to him.

'Because she could see me, it seemed pointless to hide.' Then he said his lines, but I have to admit they were a bit forced. 'But unlike Ryuk, I did control the owner's actions.'

Oh god, I really don't want to go on with this plan anymore.

You are saving L, I reminded myself, You are saving L. But that didn't help me at all. Because I knew that there were more than enough scenarios in which L wouldn't survive. And I wouldn't either. That's the price I'll have to pay for letting anyone kill L. I wanted to cancel the plan. But there was no turning back now. Rem already had his next line on his lips.

'I controlled Misa Amane so that she would act as the second Kira,' Rem said.

No turning back now.

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Sorry! This chapter is a bit shorter than the other ones! Actually, it's really short, I thought it would be longer, but I wanted to split this in two, since my chapters are usually around the same amount of words and stuff. I know some people find my chapters short, but I like it better like that. If they're too long, it would be hard for me to keep writing good chapters that make sense every week, so there you go.

Also, I wanted to write more this weekend, but I'm sick! Like, really sick. Yesterday, I couldn't speak at all and today, I sound like Mickey Mouse The worst part is that I'm not joking, people literally ask me to stop talking because my voice sounds to annoying now. I was happy I could write today, but yesterday, I was just too sick.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, I also found time the past few… months to watch the Death Note drama, but I only finished it today, so I didn't really have the time to think about what to think of it. I really hated the first episode, I'll tell you that, so I know that it did get better. Was it a faithful adaptation? No, not really, but I did finish it and I was enjoying myself most of the time. Some changes just didn't make that much sense to me. And that Near is played by a girl is just… so weird! I thought that he would be a girl, which would be a bit better, since Misa was the only female character in the main cast, and she is so stupid! But nope, Near is just a child played by a woman. So… weird! And his hair. I had problems with his hair. Oh, yes, I wanted to go to sleep. I'll stop now.

Thank you for reading this chapter! See you guys next week!

(also, I know I haven't replied to reviews in a long time, even though I like doing that so much! I will get back to doing that. I actually wanted to this week, but now I'm sick and it actually took longer than I thought to finish this, so I'm going to sleep now, because I don't want to sound like Mickey Mouse tomorrow at school).

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