It's chapters like these that make this story rated T. If you have a squeamish stomach, you may want to look away.

Thanks for being patient with me. A lot has been going on the past few days, so I haven't had any time to write. (I had finals, AND I got asked on a date. Do you know how rarely I'm asked out? Try once in a blue moon. Turns out, we hit it off. So yay!) Anyway, here's your long-awaited chapter. Read and review, because things are happening.

Yori Kaneko's P.O.V.

Whoever this person was, they were genuinely sick. The 'note' they sent in response to my jam jars was not written on paper. It was written on human skin. They'd stretched it over a wooden frame like a canvas. Fortunately, we did get one clue: this person spoke English.

It said, "Follow the footsteps," written in elegant calligraphy. He'd used blood as if it was nothing more than paint.

"Footsteps?" Ellie questioned, feeding a spoonful of baby food into Nate's mouth, "What could that mean?"

"Something tells me we'll find out, and I'm note entirely sure we want to," Weston said weakly. He'd gone pale. Ever since our wild card – who police have dubbed 'The Fragmenting Killer' – showed up, Ellie's favorite drag queen has been jumpy. He's been so out of it, that he hasn't even harassed me in over a week. He looks worse with every passing day. The only time he smiles anymore is when he's playing with Nate, but the moment the infant is taken away, his face falls again.

"Weston, sweetie, you don't have to be here if you don't want to. Why don't you go get some air?" Ellie gave him a pitying look.

He shook his head, "No, I'm fine."

"Honey, you're nauseous. Quick, before you puke all over the place."

Weston opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind. He deflated, nodding, "Okay." With that, he walked out. The familiar spring in his step was completely gone. As much as it pains me to admit it, I felt bad for the guy.

Nate – precious little Nate – was blissfully unaware of the true magnitude of the situation. For all he knew, his mommy was feeding him while talking to the other members of his 'family' about completely normal things. He happily looked around with curious eyes, his raven hair sticking out at odd angles. I liked kids well enough, but there was something about Nate Lawliet that made you love him. It may or may not be a side effect of being a demigod of life.

I adjusted my glasses back into their proper place, "So, we got our response. What's our next course of action?"

"Forensics are still analyzing the packages," L said, "I'll send a search party out to find anything suspicious. When we do, we'll go from there."

As if on cue, his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it up to his ear. It always weirded me out how he held things. Calling him eccentric would not be a stretch. "Hello," he said, "This is L. – I see. – Please send me pictures of all of them. – I understand, send them anyway. – No, wait for my instruction. – Yes, goodbye." He hung up, and placed his hands back on his knees. "It appears our wild card was making a joke. 'follow the footsteps' was nothing more than a deranged pun. In actuality, they meant the severed feet they had laid out in a trail near a park."

Ellie scrunched her nose, "How many are there?" She fed Nate another mouthful.

How many? That's the first question she has? I think L is rubbing off on her.

"The total number has not yet been counted," L answered, "But it is expected to be relatively high. And with the increased number of missing person's cases, citizens are beginning to panic. Many are praying for Kira to find and punish whoever is doing this."

"It could be more than one person," I suggested, "Maybe this is some new gang."

L played with his lip, "No, I have a feeling this is the work of a single person. It's funny… Their style seems familiar to me, in a way."

Ellie looked up at him, "Do you think this could be someone else from your world?"

"I don't see how," Mr. Yagami chimed in, "This is not the type of person that either Kira, or any god of life would have brought here. What if… No, it couldn't be."

"What is it," L asked nonchalantly.

Mr. Yagami crossed his eyebrows, "Well, is it possible that there's a rogue shinigami?"

"Yes," L responded, "In fact I was thinking the same thing. Kaneko," he looked at me, "I have a task for you."

I inwardly groaned. I did not want to get stuck with any assignment given from L. It could be anything from daunting, to downright dangerous. Still, I put on a brave face, "What is it?"

L must have noticed my hesitation because he said, "Relax, you will not be required to leave the tower. I simply wish for you to watch the monitors, searching for any odd behavior amongst the shinigami."

"Me? Why me, that sounds like the kind of thing you prefer to do yourself," I argued, confused.

He looked at me with his somewhat-creepy black eyes, "Normally, yes. But you have proven to be quite worthy. Should anything happen to me, I believe you to be capable enough to head this operation. You have proven that plenty of times."

"L," Ellie chimed in, "If you die, I will not hesitate to drag you back here just so I can kill you myself." She fed Nate the last spoonful of 'bananas' and wiped his extremely messy face.

"Well that's an idiotic thing to do on your part," I joked, "Because if you did, you'd just end up dying too."

A small voice decided to chime in, "Daddy!"

Everyone stopped to stare at the child sitting innocently in his high-chair. Did he just-

"Daddy," he said again, clapping his hands.

Ellie grinned brightly, making me go temporarily weak at the knees. How could one person be so stunning? "That's right," she said to her son, "Daddy! Daddy is over there, see?" She pointed to L, who was watching the kid with interest. The woman I secretly loved glowed a little brighter.

I suppressed another stab of jealousy. It was hard for me not to think that I should've been the one Nate called 'daddy.' In another life, maybe I could've been. Unfortunately, I got to Ellie a little too late… It wasn't fair that Nate looked just like L.

I didn't hate L. In fact, I thought of him as a friend, in his own odd way. However, I couldn't hold back the longing in my heart of hearts. I was being stupid. I should get over it and move on. Why couldn't I? Was I doomed to live the rest of my life wondering what could have been if only I had met Ellie before L had? That would be a shitty existence. What was I, a school girl?

L stood up, picking Nate out of his high-chair and holding him up at eye-level, "You are fairly young to be talking. Perhaps you were fortunate enough to get my intellect. You obviously have your mother's disposition." He put Nate on his shoulders, letting the kid play with his wild hair, "How lucky you would be to have the best of both ends of the spectrum."

I hated the way Ellie looked at L when he was playing with Nate. She always – literally – shined brighter and watched him as if she wanted to strip him down right then and there. It made me want to run away and never come back. But, as they've said time and again, they needed me. Apparently, I was somehow useful. It didn't make much sense though, for a doctor to be employed as an investigator, especially when any illness or injury could be cured with a snap of Ellie's fingers.

It was almost as if L was keeping me around to be another one of his successors. Oddly enough, the situation felt familiar. How could it, though? I've only ever lived for myself, working hard to become the doctor I am. I would hate having to live my life for the sole purpose of replacing someone else.

"I think we should follow the… erm… feet." Mr. Yagami said, interrupting my thoughts, "We may find out something important."

L agreed, "Yes, I do believe you're right. I feel Ellie should be the one to do it."

Ellie did not look happy about that, "Are you seriously going to tell me with a straight face that I have to follow a trail of disembodied feet from various murder victims, just to get into contact with the one who did it?"

"Yes," He replied casually, ruffling Nate's hair.

I raised my eyebrow, "You two have an odd relationship."

"I do not believe there are very many conventional things about either Ellie or I. Thus, our union would inevitably be considered strange," L said.

"Fine, I'll go," Ellie sighed, "But be warned, my attitude is going to be beyond salty because of this." She pouted.

"Well that's nothing new," I teased, "You're worse than soy sauce a good amount of the time."

"Look who's talking."

"At least I can enjoy it. You just pout."

"Oh, shut up Yori."

"You love me, admit it."

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean I have to like you."

And off she went. L made sure that she took a full jam jar with her. We used peach, just to see what he'd do. All the jars our wild card had used were strawberry. We put a tracker on it for good measure.

The only thing the rest of us could do in the meantime was wait.