This chapter took an immense amount of planning and whatnots…so much planning and whatnots that my brain is in a fizzle.
Anyway…a highly important OC has been introduced as of now! She will play a OMFG HUGE role in Through Glass, so pay close attention to her…
Don't worry, she won't get in the way of L and Amelia love times, I pwomise.
Amelia awoke, on the floor by the bed, to a tightly-bound swell of yen, stacked neatly into a column and tied with fraying brown rope.
It sat on the floor, a foot away from her sleep-swollen face, sending her an unexpected good morning, and she slowly rose up from her makeshift bed of two blankets (she had only had one when she fell asleep that previous night; Watari must have draped another one over her while she was out) and a single pillow. Cautiously, as if it would bite her, she picked up the wad of money and gaped at its value.
Watari…?
A burst of energy ruptured within her and she bounded up and out of the room, tripping over her own feet once or twice but paying it no mind. The respected elder stood in the kitchen, preparing something over the stove that smelled warm and like home. A smile and a nod came her way, but Amelia was too baffled to return the favor. "Ah, good morning, Ms. Amelia!" he greeted. "I see you've found my gift?"
Amelia turned her eyes onto the absurd amount of money currently resting in her palm, unsure as to whether or not it was real. "Gift is an understatement, Watari…" Her voice trailed off as she switched the wad to her other palm, testing its weight, stroking its papery surface with the skepticism that she had been born with. "H-how much is all of this?"
Watari flipped whatever he was cooking on the stove and smiled. "In English currency standards, which I'm sure you are much more familiar with, you have approximately…one thousand pounds, I believe."
Amelia felt a jolt rise in her throat at the sound of it: one thousand pounds. "A-and in Japanese terms, do you know?"
Watari shot her an amused glance at her shocked reaction. "Around 137,000 yen, as an estimate."
She did not know what to do with it, just sitting there in her hand. Her fingers curled around it carefully, as if holding glass. "But…but why? You didn't…really, you didn't have to at all, Watari. I mean, I've done just fine without any money, a-and I don't really know where I could put it or what to spend it on, probably because I've never had any, but…"
She expected to be cut off, but when she looked up at the white-haired man, she saw that he was simply listening to her, his eyes warm and domestic upon her behind his glasses. "It truly is no dilemma, Ms. Amelia. I figured that you may be in need of some money while you are on your leave, so I decided that now would be the best time to provide you with such." He flipped over what appeared to be an omelette and pressed it into the pan with his spatula, earning an gratifying sizzle. "And please, do not burden yourself with paying me back," he added with a chuckle.
"But it would only be the proper thing to do, seeing as I already ask enough out of you…"
"I beg to differ," Watari said. "It is hardly a quandary after caring for L for so many years."
The cold spell struck her heart once more, and her grip on the money tightened, her eyes casting downward to the floor. "Yes," she said in an attempt to fill the space that suddenly grew between her mouth and her mind. "Yes, h-hardly."
The omelette complete, Watari lay it onto a plate and set it on the counter. He approached her, his hands clasped together. "Ms. Amelia," he said gently, "I have been in contact with L this past week."
Amelia shot her head up to look back at him, too quickly to be imperceptible of her curiosity in which was suddenly ignited. "You have?"
Has he asked about me…? Is he worried…? Is he sorry…? None of the blistering questions left her lips, however, and she tried in vain to ease her pounding pulse through deep breaths. Staggered, choppy air was all she succeeded in receiving through the attempt.
"Light Yagami is still in confinement, but has experienced a rapid change in behavior," Watari stated slowly.
While she was disappointed at having her inner questions ignored, she immediately switched to alert. "What kind of change?" she asked, her fist trembling around the collection of money.
"It has only been recorded as of today." Watari's eyes twinkled and he gave her a single nod. "And I think it would be best if you were to see it for yourself."
The nervous surge returned to Amelia's throat and she swallowed hard. "I can't go back," she said quietly, "not now. L would know that you've told me this and…"
"I can't think of a better reason for him to tell me, Ms. Amelia." Watari picked up a steaming cup of tea that sat on the counter and held it out to her. "I believe he told me in confidence that it would get back to you."
Amelia shakily accepted the tea with her free hand, her mouth agape. A sure sign that he wants you back there…no, don't get your hopes up! You saw what happens when you do that…no, don't think about that either! This is new information! And…and you have money…and Light's behavior has changed…which means that-
Before she could stop herself, she reached out and hugged the poor man for the first time in years.
After a week of scrounging, she had a plan.
What…is this…?
"Ryuzaki…please, you have to believe me! I'm not Kira, I'm NOT!"
Believe him? Had L not been so thrown at Light's drastic amendment in conduct, he could have laughed.
He had never liked surprises.
"Come on, you have to let me out of here! We're wasting time!"
L leaned in and pressed the key to the intercom, his blood beginning to boil with confusion. "I'm unable to do that, Light-kun."
Light visibly stiffened. "What do you mean you're unable to? You could let me out of here any second, nothing's stopping you!"
"On the contrary, Light-kun, there is," he said sharply. "You said it yourself that you wished to be confined under the suspicions that you were Kira without being aware of it. I can't very well release you without proper evidence of your innocence, which we don't ha-"
"But we already learned that Kira could control his victims! Have you ever thought that I was being controlled, set up?! I have to get out of here!"
"In which case, you would be dead by now, Light-kun. And seeing as your confinement has been kept a secret from anyone outside the task force, I don't see how it would be possible for Kira to pick you out and use you to his advantage, so please drop that notion immediately."
Perhaps he was being cold, but the situation that surrounded L was constricting the air that could reach the semi-sensitive area of his brain, further fueling the frustration that had exponentially grown over the past week. He tugged at his bottom lip roughly and waited for a frantic response from Light.
"It's easy for you to say that when you're not suspected of being Kira! I…I don't know what made me think that I should be confined, but I think that someone must have set me up so that they would be covered! Please, Ryuzaki, don't just-"
"Light-kun, do remember that you were a suspect long before you came in with your request of being confined," L interrupted, his toes gripping around the edge of his chair. "This is not a recent event, and this sudden outburst is doing nothing for the suspicions upon you."
Light bowed his head and rested his forehead on his knees, whereas L watched him with narrowed eyes. "I just don't understand…dammit, why is this happening?!"
You know that much better than I do, Light Yagami…
The shopping district downtown from Amelia's hotel proved to be a test of her wits, patience, and logic, all in which were buzzing with a newfound energy.
She was no longer drowsy as she scurried through the craftily animated streets with flashes of adverts in painted Japanese, plastered on the glass of windows and slapped on fluttering banners that hung from the crowns of narrow buildings. Her mangy duffel bag against her side with her money secure in a makeshift wallet (a plastic bag, which was all she could find), she weaved in and out of finely dressed passers-by and couples like an anxious bee prepared to be swat at.
Her mind was racing. She was breathing, and although shallow, oxygen was still filling her lungs and keeping her mobile. And as long as she was breathing, she could take whatever was coming.
It would be better with him here…
She winced at the thought and gripped the strap of her bag tighter. Stop it.
The sign for the electronics store came into view just down the street from where she weaved in and out of chattering clans of folk, and Amelia made sure to keep her eyes straight ahead at that gleaming sign as a reminder of why she was here, scuttling like a street mite, flicking her windblown, unwashed fringe out of her eyes.
She needed a shower. She needed reassurance. But since neither could be gained at that exact moment, she merely bit her tongue and walked faster towards the store.
The damp city was blocked out behind her when she strode through the automatic doors, clutching her flimsy coat around herself tightly. As Amelia stared up at the racks of pricey electronics, dazzling pieces of technology that she would never dream of making use out of, her fish-in-the-fishbowl complex returned with enthusiasm.
Well, don't you look like a right old twit in here…god dammit, how am I supposed to know how much I should spend anyway? God, why didn't you ask Watari how much the average video camera costs before you decided to just get on up and trek out here…? Dumbass…no, twit…that's what you are, a right old tw-
A tap on her shoulder and she was torn from her thoughts. Amelia whirled around to face the tapper, and met the eyes of a short Japanese woman with wild, eager eyes. When she began spinning off phrases faster than Amelia could hear, she was left to ogle wide-eyed at her and mentally strangle herself once more for being inept in the complicated language she so struggled with.
Fuck.
She wearily muttered that she was not skilled in the language to the bright young helper, but earned a strange and off-putting stare before the woman began speaking again, clearly trying to talk her into purchasing something. Amelia gripped her duffel bag strap desperately and backed away, not catching onto the quickly connected words the woman spoke to her, and felt the humiliation of being an outsider sinking in once more.
Remember when you wanted to live here…?
"Hey, you speak English?"
A different voice, one that possessed an accent Amelia could decipher in a milisecond (Scottish, stronger than her own, distinct and thick), came from beside her. A turn of her head and a stranger was before her; a young woman, smiling lethargically and fiddling with a pendant on her necklace.
She was…pretty? Amelia was unsure of how to take in her appearance, in which was an enigma of its own genre. Dark choppy hair reached the woman's chin in a disheveled bob, her equally dark eyes half mast with thick, erratic bangs. Perhaps appearing even more out of place than Amelia was this woman, who did not look a day over twenty, at the most, and she pondered on whether or not she should feel grateful or not.
She decided that she was when she referred to the stranger's question and released a pent up breath. "Yes," she replied, "and by the sound of it, you do as well."
The woman smiled again, hooking her pale thumbs into the beltloops of her faded jeans. "Seems to be the case," she said with a small laugh. "Can't say I've come across any other Scot around here, though." She looked around the store idly, swiping a chunk of her fringe out of her eyes. It only managed to fall back down in her line of vision, however, shielding off her eyes again. A quick flash of deep russet irises and long eyelashes were all Amelia caught before the curtain closed over them.
"Don't feel bad about the Japanese," the woman said, lowering her voice, "yours is a hell of a lot better than mine." She pulled out a carton of cigarettes from her pocket and pulled a single one out, holding it gracefully between her fingers. "Smoke?"
It took a moment for Amelia to catch on, having been too occupied with studying the woman's mannerisms. After a silent second, she shook her head awkwardly and released a chuckle. "No, I'm, uh…I'm not really into that."
The woman nodded, returning the carton back into her pocket. "I probably shouldn't be, either," she said tiredly, "but, eh, what the hell. Can I light up in here? Does Japan have laws on that?"
How long has she been in Japan…?
Amelia cleared her throat, nervous for an unknown reason. She had not been reminded of her ineptitude in social situations for quite some time, and it had hit her with double the force after so long of being within the task force walls.
The task force…what would L be doing right now…?
"Suppose I won't risk it," the woman said with a shrug, dragging Amelia out of her mental distancing again. "Anyway, got a name? Most of us do." She twirled the unlit cigarette between her fingers, cocking her head at her slightly.
"Lise," she said quickly, before the reminder of not using her real name would fail her. Don't give a last name, even your alias…nice move, self.
The woman smiled, placed the fresh cigarette in the corner of her mouth and reached out her right hand to take Amelia's in a sudden handshake. Her lips curled upwards into a joker's grin as she flicked her fringe out of her eyes. Another russet flash. "That's nice, real nice. You're part of the majority now."
Amelia widened her eyes at the cryptic statement, taken back by the response from the dark-haired woman. "What?" she asked, furrowing her brow in confusion.
The woman merely laughed good-naturedly and retreived her lighter from her pocket, turning away from Amelia and making her way for the sliding doors. "Nice meeting you, too," she said as she made her smooth exit, waggling her fingers behind her haphazardly.
Amelia was only left to stare behind the corduroy jacket clad outsider as she lit her cigarette beyond the glass windows, looked up to the sky dreamily and strolled away into the active streets of Japan. Once the choppy-haired girl was swallowed into the city, out of sight, she made a timid 180 on her heel and returned to her cloudy-minded search for a video camera.
And to think that you were socially inept…
Most unexpectedly, L found that he was suddenly repulsed by coffee.
He could not recall having a stomach ache since the early stages of childhood, which was why a short bout of disturbance struck a chord within him when his stomach lurched at the sight of a steaming refill, courtesy of Matsuda.
He had not turned down a cup of coffee in years.
With a pale thumb against his lips, he succumbed to his thoughts. I trust that Watari told her of Light's behavior alteration…a piece of information that I doubt she will be able to resist…but what steps will she take to see it for herself? No doubt she will be interested…then again, she is far too stubborn to return on such grounds before making a solid advancement in the case…that only referring to if she would be willing to share it…
Light Yagami stirred in his sleep on the screen's image, letting out a muffled whimper before settling once more.
Could it be possible that she will not return if she makes an advancement…? Besides that, has she made any attempt to get closer to headquarters in order to learn more of Light's change…? Or has Amelia completely walked out on the case…?
He kept his mind off of the possibility that she had completely walked out on him in particular. It would not do to become emotional, seeing as he only vaguely accepted the notion of having the grounds to be such a thing.
Because she showed me how to.
The sugared, nauseating thought was enough for L to gag on air. No, this would certainly not do; sentimentality for a woman that had bolted up the door he thought to have nudged open just enough to see what lay behind it. It was minute, unexplored, disgustingly intriguing, but he had been invited to open it and that was all that mattered.
The sugar-scooped coffee remained untouched. Perhaps he was not as certain of things as he thought he was.
The camera that Amelia purchased was of the cheapest variety she could pin yen upon, and resided securely in her hands as she made her way back to the hotel. The memory of the brown-eyed stranger rang in her ears: obnoxious Scottish dialect far more advanced than Amelia's had ever been, slothful smile and grungy corduroy jacket. All of this without the token of a name.
Who the hell was that joke…? Making a fool out of herself, acting as if she were some twitty magician…
Amelia waited for the pedestrian traffic sign to give an agreeable blink before stalking off, wedged between a squabbling couple by the shoulders. She squeezed her way out, her head bowed, and made her way to a comfortable free space in the energetic crowd.
And she didn't even bother giving a name…telling me I'm part of some majority, what happy horse shit…what majority? People who have names…? What a backwards person…probably goes by a sound effect instead of a reasonable name…humanity is so bizarre when it wants to be, meaning when I don't want it to be…
The hotel was within her sight by now, and she rushed to its wide double doors and scurried inside. She ignored the prodding stares from the lobby folk, choosing to keep her mind occupied on the plan at stake boiling in her brain. A swipe of her key card later, she stumbled into the suite and closed the door quickly behind her.
"Ah, you've returned in one piece," Watari said as he emerged from the kitchen. "The streets of Japan have a dizzying quality about them, don't they?"
Amelia dropped her duffel bag onto the couch and collapsed onto it with a groan. "I still haven't grown accustomed to them," she said tiredly. She turned her eyes onto the eldery man. "I can feel my mental capacity shrinking, Watari."
The man smiled and retreived a bowl of what appeared to be vegetable soup and handed it to Amelia carefully, a spoon resting in its contents. "That would be quite unfortunate, but keep in mind that you haven't had a proper sleeping schedule in at least a month."
Amelia accepted the soup warily. "Due to serial killers with god complexes and droll detectives."
She barely caught onto her own statement until seconds later when a chilled stitch cramped in her chest. Droll detectives with grey eyes and cautious hands…
Her stomach gave a revolting spin. The soup in her hands suddenly resembled all the ghastly things in the world and she set it on the table before she would drop it and make a fool out of herself in front of the man she respected. "Like I said, mental capacity shrinkage," she muttered with a sheepish smile.
"I believe you are a touch above stressed, Ms. Amelia."
Stressed? The possibility of being overly stressed had been almost entirely definite since Amelia's childhood years. Admitting that she had too much on her plate now would be a hollow statement of her to say, so she pursed her lips and reached out for the soup. Hungry, sapped, yet still burning off the plan in her head, she closed her eyes for a moment before taking a welcoming mouthful.
"Did your outing go as planned?" The sound of teacups clinking came from the kitchen in which Watari had vanished into again.
Amelia swallowed quickly and groaned at the memory of the peculiar stranger. "I was successfully reminded of how incredulously outlandish the world can be."
"Oh?"
She took another mouthful of soup and swallowed slowly, savoring the taste of something besides coffee. "Strangers frighten me."
Watari laughed from the kitchen. "Then you have not changed too much, Ms. Amelia. What happened?"
Amelia stared into the bowl of soup, the image of the strange woman's laughing eyes returning to her head, her dotty disposition hatching in her brain. "Just your average ninny out to confuse people, of course. She spoke of ridiculous majorities and how having a name made you part of one and…oh, she was a fool, that's all."
"You did not give her your name, correct?"
Amelia smiled and twirled her spoon within her soup. "Course not. Lise was all I told her, but she fled the scene soon after. Simpleton…and she was from Scotland, as well. How dotty…but I didn't give any information out to her, she was as strange as I ever did meet..."
When she saw Watari stop in midstep of returning from the kitchen, she furrowed her brow in concern. "Watari?"
The man gave her a look that she could not decipher, a mashup between curiosity and distress. He approached the coffee table and placed the teacup he had been holding onto the rosewood surface. "What did she look like, Ms. Amelia? Do you recall her well enough?"
Amelia set her soup onto the table as well, alarmed at the man's questioning. "Short hair, dark and with a dreadful haircut, almond eyes, tall…why do you ask? Is something wr-"
"Did she give you a name, Ms. Amelia?" he interrupted with urgency, leaning in to her.
"N-no," Amelia said, shaking her head. "No, she didn't…Watari? "
The man had stood up quickly and started for the bedroom door, reaching into his pocket for his cellular phone. "Please, Ms. Amelia, I will explain later," he said with a quick nod. "Now, rest while you can."
He retreated behind the bedroom door, closing it on his way out of the living room. Amelia, rooted to the seat of the couch, felt a discomforting shiver rise up her spine and descend slowly at the singular thought: What's going on?
The clock struck four in the afternoon, marking only three more hours before she would venture back out the city. The dreary afternoon bled through the drapes of the wide windows, clouding over her mind with grey and weighing her down with its credence.
Realizing that there was nothing left to distract her with (her train of thought had a maddening way of floating back to his eyes, his touch, the inky black of his hair), she gave a burdening sigh and lay down on the couch in hopes of catching the hand of sleep.
"I sure do miss Lise," Matsuda sighed out, dropping his weight onto the couch of the surveillance room. "It seems so dead in here without her."
Aizawa rolled his eyes at the statement, his back to Matsuda as he stared bitterly out the window. It had not been the first time over the duration of the week that the young man had complained of the girl's absence, and although a fragment of himself agreed with him, the sound of sighs and negativity was grating at his patience roughly. "Don't you mean without her constant rebuttals to everything we had to say?" he grumbled. He crossed his arms and leaned against the window with one shoulder. He could not remember taking a leisurely walk through the streets below in at least a month…he pretended not to notice and distracted his mind with other thoughts.
Matsuda, of course, intervened.
"No, not really. I thought it was kind of entertaining, you know? The way she could think of something smart to say right off the bat. Boy, would I hate to get in a fight with her…"
Aizawa stole a glance in L's direction and saw that he was completely still in his chair, staring straight ahead with eyes devoid of sentiment. His lips, however, were tight, pursed, and it was all the confirmation Aizawa needed to know that he was listening.
I knew he should have stopped her…he wouldn't be sitting there alone if he hadn't just let her walk out like an idiot…dammit, this is turning into some high school drama shit, I just know it…and they think they're so smart about the world, don't they?
As Matsuda babbled on, Aizawa clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in agitation. God, this gets so old once you're out of high school…
Oh, fuck it, I'm out of here.
Just as Amelia had expected, sleep rejected her with a cackling wing when she had needed it the most. After throwing on her jacket for the second time and securing her camera into her pocket, she took flight down the stairs to the hotel lobby and out the glass double doors. She had no destination, nowhere to be until seven o'clock greeted her watch, so she meandered through the streets like before until she unexpectedly landed at the electronics store from earlier.
What the…?
She had had no intention of arriving at the same shop. In fact, she could not remember even having the idea of walking to it in her head before she looked up at the familiar sign and gaped, thrown at her own inquiry.
Suddenly, it was clear to her. You wanted to see if she would be here.
Watari's questioning had alarmed her to the point in which her subconscious guided her to their meeting place. The sheer nonsensicality of the event led her to pinch the bridge of her nose and squeeze her eyes shut, trying to count to ten before taking a few more steps away from the shop door. Making a right turn into the alleyway that would lead to the other side of the shopping district, she strode quickly until hearing an all-too familiar voice.
"Fancy seeing you again, friend!"
Amelia froze and looked up to find the woman, leaning against the brick wall, grinning at her.
The ire did not take a mere two seconds to take hold of her. "Who the hell are you?" she snapped. No doubt she would not be taken seriously by the enigma in the corduroy jacket, but the frustration mounting in her chest fueled the clench. She took a breath to steady herself. "All this mysterious stranger shit is supremely pissing me off, I'll have you know."
The choppy-haired woman exhaled, chuckling through the expeled smoke of her cigarette. "You know what? I like you. You're damn interesting, you really are."
When Amelia tugged at her earlobe angrily, the woman gave a flighty little whistle through her teeth. "Ten seconds after seeing me and you're already seething. Damn."
"Are you following me?"
The woman's brown eyes widened briefly before she let out a huff of a laugh. "I didn't know you were that full of yourself to think that."
"You don't know me," Amelia defended with a glare, "so you have nothing to support that."
"Just assuming that I'm following you…what a world." The stranger tilted her head up to gaze at
the sky, eyes squinted. "And you're right, I don't know you, so I would have no reason to loom around following you like a creep."
Amelia released an exasperated breath. "Then why won't you tell me who you are? Any innocent person would have no problem with that."
The woman lowered her head and looked back at her as if she were a world class fool. "You didn't ask, of course. I mean, yeh, you asked a few minutes ago, but…" She shrugged her narrow shoulders, flicking her cigarette's ashes into the air. "I'm referring to earlier today when you failed miserably at asking what my name is."
"Well, the normal reaction to someone who gives you their name after being asked is to return the favor," Amelia retorted through her teeth. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest and briefly scanned her surroundings for a quick escape if needed. "Not just…just get a name out of someone and preach about them being part of some rubbish ass 'majority.'"
The woman raised her hidden eyebrows and took a short drag from her smoke, the corners of her lips smiling around it. "You sure are sensitive about names, aren't you?"
"Coming from someone who completely wheels around having to give theirs."
Instead of a scoff, Amelia earned a snide curl of a grin. "I am quite the swell wheel-arounder."
"That's very backwards logic," Amelia said sharply. She took a step back, ready and willing to make a run for it. Why she had not done so already, she ignored. "Now, back to you following me."
The woman chuckled again. A cool gust of wind swept between them in which sent the woman's bangs to blow out of her almond eyes, but she raised hr hand to ruffle her hair so that it hung low over the deep brown irises again. "Following you," she laughed out. "Poor thing thinks I'm following her…"
"How do you explain this, then?" Amelia threw her hands up, gesturing to the alleyway around them. "Seeing you again within the same day in one of the most populated areas in the world while entirely evading an identity. And don't call me 'poor thing.'"
The grinning riddle of a human disposed of her shrunken cigarette, crushing it beneath her sneaker. "Let's go for a walk."
"Let's not."
She sighed, looking at Amelia with a droll boredom. "So you would prefer to stand in an alley with the person that you are convinced is stalking you?" Another dry huff of a laugh. "Christ, you act as if you want me to follow you."
Amelia put her back against the brick wall, not letting her eyes leave the stranger. "There is nothing I want less, I assure you."
The woman clapped her hands together once with finality, her eyes brightening to a comical degree. "Then off we go!"
As she began strolling away, Amelia could not have been less amused. "What are you-"
"Come along, not, it won't do to have someone following you!" She gave a large wave of her arm to encourage Amelia to catch up with her, but she remained rooted to the ground. The dark-haired woman remained walking, whistling chirpily into the air.
Amelia's eyes widened at the bizarre episode. "If you think I'm going to follow you-"
"Oh, so now you know what it's like?"
A low chuckle was heard as Amelia stood in the alley, mouth agape in outrage. While she was wordless, the shaggy stranger peeked back over her shoulder at her. "Hey, want to know a secret?"
"You're an absolute twit," Amelia stated, disregaring the question with a grimace.
The woman appeared genuinely confused by the shot made at her and shook her head. "No, I'm an absolute Russe Raleigh-Olten, that's what I am."
Huh, so she does have a name…probably a fake, what with her dottiness…anyway, don't trust anything she says, it wouldn't be the best move…
"Russe" took four more steps before curiosity gripped Amelia by the throat, forcing her to rush up to meet her side."Fine, but make it quick," she mumbled.
Russe was still staring up at the sky, a dreamy smile on her face. "Eh, there's no such thing as a quick walk in Japan, Lise."
Amelia shot her a look of disdain at the mocking manner her alias was spoken in. She doubted the woman was capable of uttering a single statement without sounding as if a grand ruse was behind it. Before she could respond, Russe beat her to it. "Oh, and by the way, that's not your real name."
Amelia felt her stomach drop to her toes and raise back up to rest in her throat. Don't show a reaction, she mentally chided. She huffed out a chuckle, looking directly at her soft profile. "You're arrogant as shit."
"Of course I am," Russe said, tossing her head back and laughing into the air. "Anyway, Lise. I don't like that. It's not you, you know? Doesn't fit you. Therefore, it's not your name, I've decided it. Nope, not at all, not your name." She shook her head quickly, her riotous hair flapping over her face wildly.
Amelia felt the welcoming tide of relief to cool over her nerves. Ok, so she doesn't know…she's just saying it because it doesn't "look" like me…eh, could be worse. "Well, sorry my names offends you." She went back to staring ahead of her, out into the city as they exited the alley and roamed the sidewalk.
"It's not your name that offends me, it's that awful jacket of yours." Russe reached out and pinched the shoulder of Amelia's jacket, making a sound that greatly resembled vomiting in her throat. "It's tacky and awful."
When Amelia shot her gaze onto her again, she saw that Russe was smiling innocently at her as if no insult was given. She clenched her fists and walked a degree quicker, only to see her catch up to her within two steps with her abnormally long legs. Amelia groaned. "And you're a louse of the lowest order."
Russe appeared not to have taken the words to heart, since she remained smiling as she tilted her head up to the sky. "That's fun," she said. "Anyway, what do you want to talk about, mate who goes by the shit name of Lise?"
Amelia scrunched up her nose in distaste and quickened her pace again. "Why you're here again," she ordered. "Don't you have anything better to do than hang out in alleys and wait for strangers with ugly jackets?"
"Actually, no," Russe said, shaking her head.
"Then find something. The world is…full of grand opportunities." Amelia slathered on the sarcasm with thematic swooping of her arms, making sure to make herself look as ridiculous as Russe had before.
Russe was merely staring at her now, a concerned look on her face. "The same applies to you, then."
"What? Don't tell me tha-"
"You came back to the store because you thought I would be there." Russe's face, in which seemed to be on the verge of beautiful and repulsive at the same time, was stone-serious, perhaps the coldest Amelia had seen from her thus far. "You were curious. You wanted to know who I was and thought you would find me in the same place as before. It's all very simple, really. You seem to be a pretty simple person. Simple, simple, simple, that's what you are in a nutshell, Lise. Am I right? Isn't that what you are?"
Amelia had stopped walking. Something in the pit of her stomach had begun to churn and rotate until she was floored, nauseous and confused. What is this…? Is she really following me…? And I'm…simple…?
"Lise?"
"What are you?" Amelia asked, her voice strained and hoarse.
Russe turned around and looked at her, the passers-by weaving around her smoothly. Amelia, on the other hand, was being shoved and tugged around, as if she were not visible to anyone but the dreamy-eyed girl just five feet away from her.
Amelia could not speak, only stare. Limbs heavy and languid, she made no attempt to flee even as Russe gave her a single nod and smile before turning and slinking away.
Simple, simple, simple.
"Ms. Amelia."
That's what you are, isn't it?
"Ms. Amelia."
What are you…?
"Ms. Amelia!"
The world was swept in a black fog before Amelia was pulled beneath it.
The news did nothing for L's mood.
"She passed out?" he uttered gravely into his cell phone. At the words, Matsuda snapped his attention over to him, yelping in shock and leaping out of his chair. While he chirped panicked demands for answers that L did not have, L took the opportunity to trudge away from him and pull the phone away from his ear. "Aizawa," he ordered, "please keep watch on Light-kun and Misa-san."
Before the officer could object, L ventured into the bathroom and shut the door tightly behind him. "What exactly happened, Watari?"
A sigh was heard from the other line. "Ms. Amelia had returned from an outing into town, clearly shaken, and would not respond to me when I addressed her numerous times. She-"
"How long has she been out, Watari?" L asked, crouching against the wall of the bathroom. A full week since seeing Amelia, and the first portion of news handed to him about her was that she had lost consciousness. To say the least, he was unnerved. "Has she come to yet?"
"She returned to consciousness about four minutes after falling, and I'm letting her sleep as of now."
L fingered his bottom lip roughly, squeezing his eyes shut and blocking out the lit room. "Did she hit her head on the way down?" His voice was a dark monotone, one that he found had grown more routine to him over the past week.
This is what happens when you care for her…
"No, I caught her before she hit the ground…what concerns me is why she passed out to begin with, Ryuzaki."
L pulled at his lip until it stung before releasing it, his eyes still closed tightly. "Of course I'm concerned about that as well, Watari," he said sharply. "I'm confident that she didn't pass out because she thought it would be amusing."
"I understand that, Ryuzaki, but I am wondering whether this seperation is helping her or harming her. She is progressively losing weight over a very short period of time, unable to sleep for more than two to three hours…passing out is a sure sign that things are going haywire, and I am not sure how much more of this I can tolerate before I-"
"Watari, please don't speak of not being able to tolerate seeing her in turmoil when I am unable to be there at all," L said with a dangerous edge. His eyes had snapped open now, staring up at the ceiling and continuing to tug on his lip harshly.
There was a hesitation on the other line before Watari spoke, low and cautious. "I truly hate to say this, Ryuzaki, but this would not have happened if-"
"If I had not let her leave."
Silence fell over the bathroom, ringing through the speaker of L's phone and aching in his ears. If I had not let her leave. If you had not let her leave. If Amelia had not left.
"Watari, assume that I am aware of these things before stating them, it would save much time and displeasure." He spoke slowly, lethargically, his eyes slipping closed again. He had never been this tired when Amelia had resided beneath the same roof as him…shaking off the thought, he struggled to keep his eyes wired. "Please inform me of when she wakes up, regardless of the time."
"Yes, L."
With a firm click, L closed his phone and shoved it into his pocket. His eyes wandered, with purpose, to where the girl had crumbled against the wall and denied his touch, whispering of her plan to walk out.
He was no longer cold. L cringed at the very idea of it, but it was directly in his face, boiling and wretchedly unavoidable.
He was in love.
He was burning, and there was nothing he could craft to do about it.
If Amelia had known that she would sleep until the next day, she would have swallowed her disturbance and dealt with it before waking up to blinding morning sun.
She sat up slowly, not paying the chaos that was her hair any attention, and saw that Watari sat in a plush chair by the bedside, absorbed in a book. "W…Watari? What happened…?" She greeted sitting upright with a pulsating sensation in the back of her head and immediately lay back down.
The white-haired man adjusted his reading glasses on the brim of his nose and closed his book. "Ah, I expected you to sleep as long as you did, Ms. Amelia. And it seems as though you passed out due to exhaustion, no surprise."
"Exhaustion?" Amelia asked weakly. But my plan…will I be able to go tonight…? I have to see…
Watari nodded and reached over to the nightstand to hand her a glass of water. "Yes, and I cannot say that I am all too surprised. It is best that you rest these next couple of days to-"
"Couple of days?" Amelia sat upright again and winced at the pain in her head, setting the newly received water onto the nightstand again. "But I can't do that, I have to go out to see-"
"Please, Ms. Amelia," Watari said softly. "I understand that this may interfere with what you had in mind, but your health is rapidly declining. I cannot allow you to overexert yourself to the point of another collapse. I fear I would not hear the end of it from L."
A cold rush deluged Amelia's alert state. "You spoke with him last night?"
Watari gave her a look of both sympathy and guilt, one that Amelia felt the need to glance away from. She picked up the glass of water and took a long sip as Watari spoke. "Yes, I promised to inform him if anything were to happen to you. I assumed that passing out was on that list."
Amelia gazed cynically out the window, sulking her shoulders and allowing her upper body to subside back onto the bed tiredly. "Yes, I suppose," she said, unsure of what else to say.
Watari sent her a knowing smile and stood up. "We will discuss this later, Ms. Amelia."
"Discuss what?"
Watari turned his head before exiting the bedroom, a thoughtful look on his face. "Oh, just…this," he said, gesturing to her with an awkward swoop of his hands. He gave her a genial bow and left her to lay in the bed, biting her bottom lip and fighting off the overwhelming urge to take a happy leap out the window.
I can't just stay here…I've got to-
Simple, simple, simple.
I need to see him…
Light…experienced a rapid change in behavior…
You're missing out…!
That's what you are, isn't it?
Simple…
Thoughts failed her before sleep injected its toxin into her neck, lapping away at all hopes of acting upon all she had left.
So…who the hell is Russe, right? Don't worry, all will be explained in time…
And I'm telling you, guys, I can't wait for L and Amelia to reunite. ::cheeky grin:: I gotz it all planned out, and I'm growing impatient for some love times just as much as you all are!
And you will find out what Amelia's plan with video camera was in the next chapter, I assure you!
Feedback equals love.