Mizu: Alright peoples... I think I've finally come down from my chocolate high...
Ameko: Fking finally...
Mizu: We kinda need to ask you guys something... How many of you have seen Noragami?
Ameko: Don't ask why we're asking... Just answer plz... c:
Mizu: REVIEWS!
Darcy18: I know! It's so damn cute! Yeah! Because until the end nobody knew his real name... c:
Pikamewgirl: xD I AM DOING IT RIGHT! Yeah I didn't really celebrate thanksgiving this year... hehe
tehg2000: At the very end of the anime where Mikami tries to DELETE Near and the SPK he writes down Near's name. You can see there where it says 'Nate River' lso in Death Note 13: How to read it shows his real name in his character description
FireFox25: I KNOW! LOOK AT THIS CHILD! LOOK at his blushes, look at his little eyes just HOLY FK NEAR IS ADORABLE!
candyisyummy83: hehe me too... YAAAAAAAAAASSSSSS! PJO Is a close second to HP for me xD (UGG NO WAY! SERIOUSLY 4 IS ONE OF THE BEST IN THE SERIES! D:) In Harry Potter my favorite character is... Harry Potter... xD Don't judge me! And in PJO my favorite character is a tie between Annabeth and Percy. Yeah yeah I love the main characters. I still love them! Oh yeah, I also love Artemis. She's my favorite greek goddess c:. And In Death Note indeed it is L... But after L all the Wammy Boys are one big tie. I LOVE THEM ALL! :D
Haruna Shikaio: Well here you go! :D AND IT'S HERE! And I try to update as much as possible c:
Ameko: Get yer tissue boxes
Mizu: Get yer Near plushie
Ameko/Mizu: AND PLEASE REMEMBER TO REVIEW!
Mizu: Speaking of which...
Ameko/Mizu: WE JUST PASSED 200 REVIEWS! YAAAAYYYY! THANK YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH!
Mizu: To celebrate I'm gonna have another chocolate bar! *chomp*
Ameko: NOOOOOO! *hides behind bunker*
Mizu: *silent* ...
Ameko: Uhhh *peeks out of base*
Mizu: ... AND HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA! *Theme song*
Fun fact: John Cena likes anime! xD He's into a show called Fist of the North Star. Lol.
I awoke with a start. My eyes groggily trying to adjust to the blurred colors of dark. I had awoken from a recurring nightmare about witnessing L's death and I couldn't stop it. Feeling slightly paranoid I reached out my fingers to where I would expect L to be lying. Instead of finding his comforting presense with that familiar white T and baggy Jeans I felt cold empty sheets.
Trying to focus more on my surroundings I came to notice that L was nowhere to be seen. Still dressed in a baggy pair of a black shirt and pants I made my way out the door to the living room. Sitting on the couch was L. Staring at his laptop.
With the silent skills of an assassin I made my way to his side undetected. Only when I tapped his shoulder did he turn around to gaze at me with those obsidian eyes of his.
"Hey. What are you doing this late?" I asked quietly.
He sighed and nodded to the screen. On it was a file we downloaded from the Wammy's house database only L and Watari had access to. On the screen was a picture of Near. But instead of how I've come to know him, in this picture he looked so much younger. After side scrolling and skimming the page It said that he was only twelve when the picture was taken.
"Searching through your successor's files huh?" I confirmed as I sat next to him on the white, comfortable couch.
"I was thinking..." L muttered.
I scoffed in response. "Are you going to tell me what you were thinking about or am I going to have to ask you?"
The ravenette sighed and looked at me unemotionally. "I was remembering when I first met Near..."
"You don't want to talk about it do you?" I inquired and L flinched.
"Bingo huh?" L nodded. "I will tell you this. The first time I met Near he started to cry" This shocked me beyond belief.
Near? Cry? As in show emotions? I honestly didn't know that was possible. The only time I remember him showing emotions was when he lightly smiled in victory.
"I won't ask for details because I know how you feel about it. But I know you Lawliet. I know you miss him..." Looking downward so that way L's messy black hair covered his eyes L muttered a "yes" in confirmation.
I awkwardly wrapped my arms around him tightly, giving him a peck on the cheek that lasted for about ten seconds. "L... What if I said we could bend the story... just a little bit..."
"...And go see Near again?..."
I was sitting alone in my apparent bedroom. It wasn't much but I suppose the SPK thought it was necessary for me to sleep. How silly...
The room contained nothing more then a queen-sized bed with grey covers and sheets, and buckets of loose toys that scattered the floor. About an hour ago I had decided to try and sleep as I couldn't do anything more for the investigation at the time. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't go to sleep...
...I was still thinking about that girl...
Akio Himura. The enigma that had crashed into my investigation at one of the worst times, just after most of the team was murdered not five days ago.
My questions of that girl had enrolled into taking over my entire mind. Who was she really? Why did she come to me? Why did she leave so soon? Why did I have an increased heart rate when she leaned closer to me? And above all...
How did she know my name?
The only person to know my name was Mr. Wammy and... L...
Just mentioning that name brought me into a horrifying, returning flash back.
Oh God no... Please not now... I muttered to myself as I was reminded to what I can prove to be... the worst day of my life.
"What was that!? Roger? What did you just say!?" The blonde successor clad in black demanded from the elderly man who sat with a grim look as he made a praying motion with his hands.
I myself was putting together a puzzle L had sent to me as a birthday present two months ago and had been saving for a while. It was a large, 200 piece puzzle with a large black, Gothic L in the corner.
"I'm afraid L is dead" Roger's words sent the largest rush of pain through me that I hadn't felt for years.
No... No that's not true... L can't be dead... L CAN'T BE DEAD!
I tried as best I could to keep my unemotional mask secure on my features but feared that something might have gotten through. L can't be dead. He promised me! He promised me that he would come back! H-He promised!
As hard I tried I could not suppress the memory from resurfacing into my mind as freshly as if it happened just yesterday.
A small little boy, no more than the age of twelve sat alone in a library trying to put together a laughably easy 75 piece puzzle with different designs of a snow covered hilltop. The boy himself looked like he had just reawaken from sleeping in ten feet of snow. This boy was me.
Just as the final piece fell into place there was a voice standing above me.
"Impressive. I heard you just started this puzzle fifteen minutes ago..." I looked up to see where the voice had come from. Standing above me was a tall, pale man with spiky black hair that covered his eyes. He wore a large baggy white T-shirt and even baggier blue jeans. A haunting remembrance came to my head as my eyes widened in fear.
"B-Beyond?" I stuttered.
The tall man shook his head. "No. Backup is currently in an insane asylum in Los Angeles. Trust me, you are safe" It was only now did the man shift so I could see his eyes. Instead of the haunting blood-red eyes that flicked to above your head these were shockingly black with a grey outline...
...just like mine...
"Who are you?" I asked. Not caring about if it was rude or not.
He scratched the back of his neck with pale fingers before answering. "I am L"
These words caused my eyes to widen for the second time today. "You're L?" I gawked in surprise.
The man... No... L nodded in confirmation and leaned down to my height. It was only not I noticed that one hand was behind his back, hiding something from view.
"You are Nate River correct?" I nodded instantly. This was the man I was supposed to be the successor of after all.
"I was wondering why you choose not to play with the other children? Even Mello and Matt converse with each other from what I've heard" I lowered my snowy head a bit in shame. Had I done something wrong?
"I just don't like the others. I much rather prefer to be by myself" L's unemotional eyes flickered downward to the finished puzzle.
Looking up a bit more I stared back his matching onyx orbs. "D-Did I do something wrong?" I asked.
"No. Nothing at all. In fact I am stunned how much of myself I see in you, that's all" My normally cold heart flooded with unnatural warmth.
It was here that the hand he had behind his back was brought to light. I was expecting some sort of form, or test. But instead... Was a little toy robot. The robot itself was not too big or small and was painted with orange, red, and black colors.
"I had noticed you prefer to be alone so I brought you this. I deduced you might enjoy it" My hand, for the first time in my life, was shaking as I reached for the toy. Nobody had ever given me something like this before. Before I came to Wammy's I was living in a run down area with an alcoholic single father until he died in a car crash. I didn't even care about him so I felt nothing.
But here. Right now. I felt pure warmth and joy. Absolute happiness. Clutching the toy to my chest with squeezed shut eyes I cradled the tiny robot as if it were my life line. Tears welled in my eyes as I carefully set the robot down after cuddling with it and now I threw my small pale arms around the loose white T-shirt in front of me and snuggled into the warmth of L's skin. There were no words to describe how I felt. So all I could choke out was...
"T-Thank you L..." As more tears spilled out onto my cheeks and dampening on the clean, white T-Shirt.
As the flashback faded away I could only remember that I needed to stomach my absolute horror. Picking the finished puzzle up over my head I let it fall to the floor. As each piece hit the floor it sounded like every piece was a tear I could not afford to shed. As much as I didn't want to, for the first time in a while I felt sorrow and one more emotion...
Anger...
I was angry at L. How could he do this? How could he abandon me? I was alone and scared now. L was the only one who ever cared about me. He was like an older brother. Even as I admired Mello at least five times a day I could tell plainly that he resented me. And now that L is gone I'm all alone again.
Through invisible outrage I managed to blankly say just one line.
"If you can't solve the game, If you can't solve the puzzle... Then you're just a looser..."
But even as Mello ran back to his room and packed his bags and left. I even heard that Matt convinced Mello to take him along with the excuse of their lost friend Tekina and how devastated they were when she left.
However I was not a part of anything else that day. My anger had subsided and had left only pure sorrow in it's wake. I was dead-set on keeping together the most important things I had. That was this puzzle, the toy robot that L gave me all those years ago, and his legacy.
Once I gathered each and every puzzle piece I had locked myself in the single room I owned and set myself down onto the single bed. With nobody here to see me or hear me I let my mask fall for the first time in four years as tears once again stained my face. My hands shakily covered my face as tears bled through the cracks. My whole body was shaking in grief as words echoed around my room. But the most promininent ones made me sob loudly most of all. A part of me had been destroyed that day. My only friend. The great detective. Was dead.
L is dead... L is dead... L is dead...
After hours of this vocal torment that felt as if it would never end I just felt like that half of my heart that snapped off was now reforged with steel. Unemotional protection seeped onto my face... My pain-filled cries were finally silenced.
But the tears kept falling down my cheeks... And the loss and sorrow still remained.
-End of Chapter 36-
Mizu: Please remember to review! It means alot to us!
Ameko: Also if you're one of those guys who hate Near... then sucks for you because I love him c: Now fk off and let me go cry