Disclaimer I don't own Death Note. You'd think 27 chapters in we'd get the drift.
Chapter Twenty-Seven This chapter refuses to have a name
November 7th, 3 o'clock PM is when we arrived at "home." Judging by the amount of kids outside waiting on us, this was going to be a big funeral and not an exclusive event. That's totally not what L wanted, but everyone knew L here, and everyone at least respected him. It made sense that everyone here would be in attendance. I'll have to make sure Roger tells everyone not to spill the beans on L's death. Roger was outside with some of the older kids to get ready for a makeshift funeral, minus the church because we had mixed religions here. That, and to be honest, I wasn't sure if L had a religion, it never came up. Matt's arm was around my waist as I laid my head on his shoulder. Sure this made it awkward to walk, but I needed the comfort.
Matt steered me toward my room as he pulled my suitcase at his side. The house was bright, almost cheery, a complete opposite to the mood of everyone in the house. It was also empty, majority of the residence was outside getting things ready. It was odd not seeing scattered toys in the foyer, or random crayons under someone's latest masterpiece. The younger generation of Wammy's kids huddled around Linda's legs, their eyes showing sadness as I simply nodded in acknowledgement.
"Ebony!" yelled one little boy as he broke free and ran over to hug me, tears streaming down his face. I knelt down to her level as she started crying. "Tell us Roger's wrong. L can't die, he's a superhero!" Putting the mask on I forced a sad smile on my face. These kids weren't going to be as easy to fool.
"L is a superhero, but even superheroes have to die sometime. He isn't completely gone, someone else is just going to take on his alter ego alright?" I assured as I ruffled his hair and stood up, gently pushing him toward Linda, my mask melting off into the staid expression I have held since L had died. Taking hold of Matt's hand again I mumbled my want to be secluded, this pretending-every-thing-was-going-to-be-fine act was harder than lying about my entire life's story and keeping up with it.
Mello caught us in the hall, stepping in our way as he looked at my apathetic expression. I saw Matt give him a warning glare, something Matt didn't do often, but should be taken seriously never the less. Unfortunately Mello being the thickheaded person he was lead to the blonde shaking the warning off and said one of the more inappropriate things he could have at that very moment. There was no telling how I'd react to his crap, but it was Mello. When L is involved, unless I was naming him L's successor, there was no way I could say the right thing.
"Did you catch Kira?" I shook my head slowly, keeping my eyes to the ground, my gaze distant. "Then why the hell are you back?" Mello paused before continuing, the tone of his voice dropping, "Ebony what happened?" I blinked and met my crystal eyes with his icy ones. The corners of my mouth were turned down as my hair fell into my left eye. I watched as the color drained out of his face, eyes widening as he started to figure it out. He started shaking his head, at first it was slight, but it got more and desperate with each shake.
"Mello, L is dead," I managed to say monotonously. This broke whatever will Mello had to keep his emotions bottled up. His shocked expression then melted into one of despair, how I should've been acting. He grabbed me by the collar of my plain black t-shirt and shook me, demanding to say that I was kidding, that I wasn't being funny. I bowed my head and just listened for a moment, letting his angered, and over-the-top behavior get on my nerves until I snapped. "Get a hold of yourself Mello! Think about all the time's I've played a joke on you." He turned around and hit the wall in a desperate rage. He then turned on me again and shoved me against the wall. He raised his fist, about to punch me leaving me with no escape.
I stared the blonde down, not blinking. Sure I had a few words I wanted to tell him, but the only thing I would get would be more room in my mouth due to a few teeth being knocked out. I knew if I stood my ground though, he'd back down. I always have a comment, and he was counting on that, he knew he would get in more trouble if he wasn't provoked, and this time I wasn't going to provoke him.
"Mel cut it out! Get off of her!" yelled Matt as he pulled the blonde off of me. Keeping my detached persona, I rolled my shoulders like nothing happened. "Think for a second! She actually saw L die; how the fuck do you think she feels!" I blinked and looked at the ground. Mello growled and stormed off to do god knows what. I turned my head slightly, telling him the bad news was going to be interesting.
Matt and I walked into my room and threw my suitcase onto my bed. I stared at the dark blue bag as Matt laid L's laptop on my bare desk. He hadn't started taking the thing apart yet, and there was no real rush, I could barely hold a conversation. The gamer turned toward me and put his hands on my shoulders before pulling me into a lose hug. I hugged him back and buried my face in his shoulder. I felt Matt gently pull me closer in a saddened embrace. I broke down, I cried. He let me stand there for a moment, I hated crying.
Crying didn't necessarily show weakness, sometimes crying means that you are strong enough to admit your own feelings. No, the weakness comes from the fact that crying shows ones enemy a touchy subject. That if the subject that the crying individual is sobbing over is brought up, it will strike a nerve and make it extremely hard for that individual to think. Getting out these emotions was necessary in order to condition myself to not break down when Light mentions it –because he will –and instead either be unaffected, or extremely pissed off. I was voting on the latter.
"It's alright –no that's a lie. Ebony, I really don't know what to say," Matt said his voice dripping in concern for me. His words were slowed slightly, his tone soft and comforting. It was almost as if he was afraid his words would break me that I was made out of the most delicate crystal ever. I felt him rubbing my back gently, resting his chin on the crown of my head. I clenched my fists around his shirt.
"It's not fair!" I said through the tears. "Kira deserves to die! L did nothing wrong! Why Matt, why did I survive. I can't catch Kira like this, he's just going to keep killing while I heal. Matt, I don't consider Li-Kira human, and I consider Mello a human being. That says something. Never have I hated anything with every fiber of my being like I do Li-Kira." I had to give him props, he was patient the entire time I vented. He put in comments like "I know" or "you'll have your chance to show Kira that you're a force to be reckoned with" every couple of sentences, and even though those are the things you say just to make someone feel better it worked.
Eventually my sobs subsided to hiccups, the bags under my eyes more prominent as the area around them was now red and swollen. My face felt sticky, and to be expected Matt's shirt was wrinkled and the shoulder was wet thanks to yours truly. At that point I didn't care, and through all of my sobs, I failed to notice we weren't even standing anymore. I was sitting sideways on Matt's lap as he cradled me in a hug.
"Ebony, are you listening?" I gave him a weak "uh-huh" in response. "You're the most impulsive person I know, but it works for you. You're one of the smartest people too, and considering where we are I'd say that's an achievement in itself. You're the nicest, the most sarcastic, the loose cannon, but you also don't give up. I've gotten to know you over the years and I know that this won't stop you. The only thing I see coming from this is the fact Kira will one day hope to go to sleep to a nightmare, because you will be worse than that." It was all true, that and Matt isn't much of a liar. I can't remember anytime this guy has lied to me.
"L might be dead," he continued with a heavy sigh, "but I know that you will find Kira. It's not you to simply give up because you've hit a bump in the road, though this is more like a mountain. Give it time and you'll be back in the game. With that being said, I promise I'll be by your side no matter what." He took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. My stomach sunk when he said this. That promise didn't sit right with me, this was my fight now. I shook my head gently.
"I don't want to put your in danger Matt," I responded my voice soft and high in pitch. Matt chuckled and said that he'd be fine. That he was more worried about me doing something that costs me my own life. I shook my head childishly and turned to look at the gamer in the eyes. "Kira is going to be targeting me, and if you associate with me you will die too should that happen. It will be my mistake should that happen and I don't want you to suffer because of me. With that being said I also can't stop you from tagging along can I?" Matt nodded. I smiled and looked at the suitcase, I might want to unpack that thing.
I also wanted to tell someone about the notebook, probably Matt. He knows that I know who Kira is, and yet he isn't prying. If he is going to tag along, he needs to know just how deep this runs. It wouldn't chase him away, but it would show him just how much work we had to do. At this point, it was a lot, we had our killer. All we needed was the proof.
Sighing heavily, I uncurled from Matt's arms and open the lid again and started unpacking, I needed to keep occupied. I know that I refused to do this last night, but being here solidified the fact L was dead. Crying over it for about half an hour really helped, there was no more false hope that he'll wake up. Matt walked over and moved my head toward him. He kissed me gently before going to work on the laptop. My cold, sad insides warmed up as I blushed. Matt chuckled lightly as I pulled out all of my shirts and went to hang them up in my old Victorian style dresser.
Turning toward the door and not hearing anything gave me an idea, to forget about being sneaky with the notebook, and to go ahead and tell him right now, I just had to make sure we were truly alone. I walked to the door and listened for a second, nothing. I swung open the door, again nothing. I walked back into my room and took my pants out of my suitcase and held the Death Note under my arm as I put my pants in the floor of my dresser.
"L Lawliet and Quillish Wammy," I whispered causing Matt's fingers to skip over the keys. He turned toward me wide eyed, blinking once as I dipped my head down in a single nod. "Yes, that was their real names." I tossed him the book under my arm and turned to what was left in my suitcase and dumped them on my bed. Spiral, other computer, two chargers, pencils galore, shoes, toiletries, and my laptop. Sure I had some other…things hidden in the suitcase, but I'll unpack those at my next convenience. Matt's eyes widened as he read the inside of the notebook.
"How did you get this?" Matt asked as he pulled his goggles around his neck. I blinked and looked at him and said it was technically stolen. "Of course it is, so you stole from the Japanese Police, seems like you, no offence." A part of me wanted to correct him; technically it wasn't in procession of the police. It was straight off of a shinigami corpse. Wait a second. I shrugged and took the notebook from his hands and flipped to the back, it was blank. I felt my eyes widen.
"They're not written here," I whispered to myself and turned to the red-head and answered his unsaid question. "There were two rules written on the back. They were," I looked up at the ceiling, feeling my eyes widen as I recalled the now proven fake rules. "'If the owner of the Death Note does not write a name for 13 days he/she will die,' and 'If the Death Note is burned to destroyed all who had touched it will die.'"
"Fake rules?" I nodded grimly as I hid the notebook between my mattresses, so obvious nobody would look there. I mumbled something about that this absolutely proves that "he" really was Kira. Sure I was positive about this fact the moment L died, but this was proof. I couldn't share it, not with Light pulling the strings at this point. He'd just frame me and while I prove that I am not Kira, which I have no way to prove this, he will find ways to lie his way out. Nevertheless, I allowed myself to smile slightly, a slight load lifted off of my shoulders. I chuckled slightly and bowed my head. I was right! "What?"
"I'm right…I almost can't believe it. L and I were right," I said still holding back any and all emotion from my voice. I repeated the last sentence, letting some of the relief, and excitement I was feeling into my voice as I kicked my suitcase under my bead. I put the rest of my stuff on a night stand, except my laptop that was placed at the top of my book tower. All pride melted as I sat on my bed and eventually laid back. L had to die in order to get this information, nothing in being given on this case without a cost.
The fetal position is how I normally sleep, but sleep was the last thing on my mind as I went ahead and curled into that position. I started at the wall, white blemish free. What was I going to do? I couldn't go back to Japan, not after stealing Kira's weapon. If that doesn't say "I'm Kira" I don't know what did. At this point anything I said to detour everyone from putting me in jail at that moment was going to be spoken to deaf ears. I sighed, rolling onto my back and put my feet flat on the bed, putting my arm over my eyes. I needed sleep, but I knew where it was going to lead.
I was going to see that moment again, slower in more detail. It was like editing camera footage, the action will be preserved and the background will be blurred. In the case of this memory, L's death was the action, as was Light's smile. In the end, I was going to wake up screaming and sweating. Even here miles away from the scene, in the middle of the day, I was watching L die, over, and over. Light's scared shocked expression as he saw that I wasn't following the detective's trip to death. I survived though, and I am still asking why?
"Hey Eb, I'm not going to be able to save anything on this. I've reformatted the hard drive, uploaded L's voice changer, and gave you the best computer security known to man," said Matt spinning in my chair and looked at me through his goggles. I jumped slightly, the gamer snapping me out of my inner lamenting. I turned my head toward him, keeping my arm across my forehead.
"Thanks Matt," I said and turned toward the door, Roger was going to want to get the funeral over with as soon as possible. I was actually waiting for him to knock on the door and ask me to give my spill on who L really was, I mean it's not like the entire world knew who he really was. "I'm going to shower, though I don't really see the point. Days end up melting into a weeks and I end up getting lost within time. Who knows when I'll actually shower again. For all I know it'll be years." I looked at the clothes I was wearing, they looked clean. I shrugged and pulled a "clean" pair of pants and the vampire t-shirt, yeah the "bite me" one.
"Do you want me to leave?" I shrugged and said I was just going to change in the bathroom anyways. "Yeah, but you know Roger. I'll go see how the, uh funeral is going. Don't drown." He stood up and kissed my forehead before walking out. Nice words of wisdom Matt, I really needed those. "Don't drown," there goes my plan. Smirking slightly, I turned toward the door for a moment before going into my bathroom and stepped into the shower.
"Ebony," L said causing me to look up from the file I was currently reading. It was another dead criminal, this one was a serial rapist, a pleasant thing to be reading at 2 in the morning let me tell you. He was standing behind me, holding something behind his back. For someone who was good at hiding things, he wasn't too good at hiding things. I hopped to my knees and draped my arms around the back of the chair smiling.
"Yes Ryuzaki?" I asked in a sing-song manner. "Wait! Don't tell me!" I held out my hand palm up and put my other hand on my forehead like I was a psychic trying to make a prediction. "Uhm…I know! Unicorns have taken over Japan and we must sacrifice the craziest brilliant mind here to please their gods? It's alright, you gotta do what you gotta do." I stood up and walked over to the taller detective, holding my hands up, in surrender. L just rolled his eyes at me.
"Ebony, do you know what day it is?" I smiled and shook my head, it was sometime in March that's all I knew. "Today is the 17th." I felt my jaw drop in shock, doesn't take a genius to know where this was going. I scanned his face and saw that his emotionless face was cracking, he felt awkward, out of place. I scrambled to my feet and voiced my disbelief.
"No freaking way!" I yelled as I stepped over a line –hey this was progress people –as I hugged the secluded detective. "Alright, I think I know the answer, but who's idea was it?" L handed me a wrapped present. I smiled at the paper, it had tiny teddy bears on it. It was so cute!
"Watari reminded me of the date, and I sent him to pick this up one day." So, I was actually wrong, or partially wrong. Watari planted the idea in his head. Sneaky old man, Watari is. I nodded and like every kid shook the box gently, hearing pencils hit each other. I ripped open the pencils and saw the mother lode of colored pencils. 150 different colors in one box, the rainbow has never been so pretty!
"OMIGOD!" I yelled, what it's not every day I see this many different shades of blue, green, and every other color known to man. It was like a unicorn threw up! "Thank-you L! This is amazing! I don't normally color my drawings, mainly because I lose the pencils. That's beside the point! Holy Cow! I won't lose these, I can promise you this." I was smiling ear to ear as Watari walked in with a sketch spiral with a picture in the front cover.
"Happy Birthday Ebony," L said with his thumb in his mouth as I studied the picture. Watari repeated the phrase as I walked over and hugged him, tucking the picture in his pocket. I jumped onto my chair and picked up a pencil, and I started drawing.
I closed my eyes and wiped away my tears as I looked at the picture in my sketchbook. It was L crouched in his chair, me copying his stance as we played chess one late night. Our faces were lit up by the screen of the laptop, me laughing L almost smiling. There were files scattered all over the room, a few laptops on the desk as well. Dirty dishes on in front of the both of us indicating how hard we were thinking. I don't know when Watari took this picture, but I made a copy, for L, gave it to him March 23rd at around 7 in the morning.
I jumped at a slight knock at my door. I put the sketchbook on my bed and walked to the door opening it to see Matt, Mello, Near, and Roger. It was time. I guess I couldn't have dodged this bullet forever. I nodded and walked out, closing my door, instantly taking Matt's hand. I bowed my head, my still wet bangs covered my eyes. I felt Matt rub the back of my hand gently as we made our way outside. I saw Near walking beside me, looking up and seeing a stray tear leak out of my eye. He gently grabbed my other hand. I looked at him curiously, the albino responding with a shrug and avoided my gaze.
I closed my eyes and turned my head away from the setting sun and the drastic change by walking outside. The entire orphanage turned and looked at me, their expressions melting into one of sadness, greif, sympathy. I met each and every one of their eyes, through my hair as I walked to the front, my expression blank. I paused as I saw two caskets laid open.
"We found this in L's pocket," said Mello sadly handing me a piece of paper, putting a gentle hand on my shoulder. I tore my eyes from the caskets and looked at the blonde, he was living up to his name for once. I took the page and gingerly unfolded it, slightly confused. I lifted my head slightly, it was the copy of the picture in my sketchbook, it had my "E" in the corner. The colors were slightly smudged, and there was one spot worn at the top of the page, about the size of his thumb. He looked at the picture a lot.
I walked over to L's casket and folded the page again, tucking it between the death pillow and the casket padding. I looked at his dead body for a second, my hands shaking, my stomach dropping to my feet, blood running cold. He kept it on his person, for how long? Does it matter at this point? Hmm, I suppose not, but I was still curious. I turned toward Watari, not caring if everyone was waiting for me to say something. This was emotional for me; I had come to see the guys as family. They had been ripped from my hands, just like the first one.
"Ebony?" asked Roger from behind me. I turned so I could look at him from the corner of my eye and slightly nod, knowing I was going to have to tell everyone who they were as people and not titles, I was the only one who knew. I stuck my hands in my pockets and turned to face the crowd. I bowed my head, not being able to look at all of these crushed spirits in the eye.
"I know what you guys are probably expecting. Me say that I knew their real names and then tell you. However, though the two of them knew about the revised name rule I only knew L's real name before they fell into their painful eternal rest. On top of that the unsaid rule has an unsaid clause about how a second party isn't allowed to tell a third party the name of the first party under any circumstances," I said my voice even monotone, I heard some shuffling, I only knew this because that's what I'd expect.
"I will tell you about L and Watari from my 11 months with the two of them. I suppose since I'm the only one who really has anything to say I'll start with first impressions. I –like many of you –thought that L was going to look rich, but instead I saw a skinny man wearing a long sleeve shirt and jeans that were too big for him, he was barefoot and his hair was really messy. Instead of going with the expected me, and say something crazy, I simply said 'Hello Ryuzaki' Ryuzaki being the alias layered on his alias." I partially lied, I know you can't really blame me so deal with it, ok?
"He was quiet like Near, passionate like Mello, and sometimes unpredictable like myself. He crouched in chairs, bit his thumbs and had a sweet tooth rivaled to Mello's. He didn't really trust anyone, kept almost everything bottled up inside. It was a tough shell to crack, I'll admit. We disagreed at moments, but he's not used to people standing up to him, it was clear. Kira will pay, that's a promise." I had my hands clenched as I slightly turned toward Watari's corpse.
"In the time I was in Japan, I learned how he worked. At first that wasn't my goal, but after he proved he wasn't like most of the people I've tried to work with and didn't get mad at me after I got hyper from coffee, I was intrigued. Sure, when I was stealing his cake and held it hostage, he was annoyed, but he distracted me and dealt with the 'problem' rather than isolate me until I was manageable. Then as we investigated, though he was slightly faster than me, and our ways of coming to the conclusions we did were different, I was still faster than the experienced cops. Still, he was number one the entire time, just like his reputation."
"Watari, though having just figured this out, is actually Quillish Wammy, draw your own conclusions. Wammy was like my dad, my first one wasn't around long enough for that title in my book. He was calm, collected and eager to help. He was good with advice and was extremely patient, more than me that's for sure. He was the only person L trusted completely. This much I am positive on. He's also really good with guns, shot a gun out of another man's hand while I was flying a helicopter." I bowed my head lower and shook it.
"He was a great man, both of them were. That's why I promise Kira, by my hand or not, will be brought down. Mello, Near, everyone knows it's between the three of us who is to be L's successor, and I want to say that I've had a full night's sleep when I tell you. I don't know how long that will take, and this also gives me time to plan how to prove a point, so until then you won't be seeing much of me, I have some matters I need to tend to. I'll be in my room if you need me."
I walked off not saying another word, pausing only because my name was called. I turned around and caught an apple that was thrown to me from Mello. I turned and looked at the fruit. L, did you know Gods of Death love apples? I was really starting to think I couldn't simply look at an apple without thinking this phrase. Either way, I wanted to find this shinigami, I had a few questions for him. I bit into the fruit and walked off.
I left my door open as I sat at my desk and opened a word document and started typing. This wasn't by memory, but it was premeditated while I was thinking about what significance this laptop had. This will be the second most powerful tool we had, if that. I kept eating the apple, Kira you better watch your back, not once but twice. I am unpredictable; you should know this by now.
Near, or Mello depending on which one of you is reading this,
This is everything everything, pertaining to the Kira case. L's thoughts, my thoughts and a list of every victim of Kira and what they have done to deserve to be added to the casualty list. I said that Kira was going to be stopped one way or another, and me not telling you everything was more, or less, a method I was using to prove to the two of you that together you really are L, but when one of you doesn't want to cooperate (Mello) it's pointless.
If you are reading this, and judging by the fact Matt probably is torn up emotionally at this moment, you can probably guess what happened to me. Yes, I'm dead, Kira got to me found my name, my real one. It seems I was put into checkmate, but since when does real life play by the rules of chess? Now the King, one of the Knights and a Queen captured. What moves will you play now?
~Ebony Lawliet.
"You're not going to die you know," said Matt behind me, causing me to jump out of my skin. "Sorry, should've knocked." I shook my head as Matt spun my chair around and looked me in the eye, his goggles resting on his crown. I opened my mouth to argue but he reiterated his point, this time his voice sterner.
I smiled at him as he picked up my laptop with one hand, his hand in my other and lead me to my bed. I looked at the comfy monstrosity. Shrugging I threw myself on top of it, hugging my knees as Matt put the laptop within arm's reach. I paused and looked up at him. He smiled as he sat next to me, both of our backs against the wall. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer as he pulled out his PSP and turned it on. I started typing what I was told to read from this very laptop.
"Thanks Matt," I said as I leaned onto his shoulder. I felt his cheek rest on the top of my head as he asked me what for. "For being you, I know you have my back and won't rush me to get myself back together. You're also persistent enough to stay with me even when the door is showing more emotion than me." Matt chuckled and lifted his head from mine, causing me to pause and look up at him. I lifted my eyebrows in confusion.
"Ebony, I do all of this because I love you." Warmth fluttered inside me, and I felt myself blush. I smiled as I cuddled closer to his chest and hugged him.
"I love you too."
Привет!
So, this is what happens when I don't want to write and have the weirdest urge to edit. The chapter name is self explanatory. So, yeah I have nothing else to say here…So…yeah I am going back to the wonderful world of the internet!
Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting.
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