CHAPTER 54:
"Pandora's Box"
All the good memories he and Light shared over the years came back to him in a flash. It was like he had touched some sort of "Life Note", as they flooded his thoughts—much like the theory of his life passing before his eyes.
His life had been shattered when his grandfather had died. And his best friend had murdered him. He needed to know why.
Is it simply for Kira's grand agenda of complete order over the world?
His grandfather died of a massive heart attack after being falsely accused of embezzlement. Only after he died, had the real thief confessed. Kira killed him, too! But it had been too late for his grandfather.
The person who murdered him stood meters away. It was time to get justice and in order to get it he needed to know the complete truth!
Am I absolutely sure I want to do this? No! But Pandora's Box must be opened one more time!
"Geist!" Demetre said loudly, raising his voice to get the attention of the Shinigami. Geist stood behind Light. It's now time to bring everything to a head. "Hold him!"
The Shinigami grabbed Light's arms and held him in place. Light struggled against an invisible force.
Demetre took the Death Note and ripped out a page giving the book to Dana to hold. He then went to Light, who continued to squirm against something otherworldly that held him at bay. Standing in front of his friend, he crumpled up the page of the Death Note in his hand until it was a tight ball. He squeezed it tighter than anything he had ever held, his nails digging into the paper, and his skin, blood possibly filtering onto it.
"Demetre, what's going on? What's holding me here?" Light looked frightened. "Help me!"
Demetre had no sympathy and stared coolly at Light. He could see a fright in Light's eyes, a fear of the unknown, and at this moment, Kira—the first, the one that started it all—was at the mercy of someone else!
"Believe me, Light, what I do is against my better judgment, and frankly, I don't know what will happen," he said. "That being said, I need you as you as were, not as you are now. I need you to remember everything!"
"What do you mean?" Light asked panic-stricken, struggling something he could not see. "What you mean as I was?"
With Light unable to resist him, Demetre then clutched Light's hair. He held it tight, even pulled it, hurting his friend. Light winced. With his other hand, he stuffed the crumpled page of the Death Note into Light's mouth, shutting Light's mouth firmly. He knew the instant the page of the Death Note touched Light that his memories would flood back to him much like his own life flashing before his eyes.
Geist took a grip off Light's left arm and reached around, slapping his hand across Light's mouth to keep the page of the Death Note inside for the Death Note take effect. The last thing Demetre wanted was for Light to spit out the page and lose his memories again. He didn't want to do this again. Surprise was the best way to victory. It seemed to be working.
Demetre stepped back. "Let him go, Geist," he ordered.
The Shinigami released Light and Light dropped to his knees. Light's back arched back abnormally and his head raised to the sky. His eyes fluttered and his mouth was opened, but the page of the Death Note was still inside.
Light let out a muffled scream. Then Light collapsed forward and folded into himself. He clutched his head as if it was going to explode, as if the pain was too much for him to bare.
Demetre didn't know what Light was remembering of his time with the Death Note, the future Geist showed him was only a fraction of the important events of Kira—other personal events Light experienced with the notebook had been passed over. But he knew Light was in agony.
As you should be, he thought.
"Time of your judgement, Light," Demetre said prolifically. "Repent your sins or burn in Hell!"
Then he happened…
It began as a muffled chuckle, and then the laughter became more grandiose.
Light Yagami reached into his mouth with his left hand and took out the crumpled page of the Death Note. He held it. Slowly raising his head, his hands to his face, he parted them like he was unmasking in a Japanese Kabuki play.
He looked at Demetre, and Demetre thought he saw the face of the demon as Light smiled at him with a mischievous, bombastic grin.
"Presumptuous and stupid," Light said deftly, as Light got to his feet, gripping the page of the Death Note tightly.
Light then gazed up at the wicked sky and seemed to take a deep breath. He let it out slowly, his eyes closing momentarily. It almost appeared like he was breathing in new life. He then looked back at Demetre and smiled again.
"Tsk, tsk, my dear friend Demetre," Light said. "For it is not time for Kira to awaken just yet." Light shut his eyes again and put his free hand to his face, his fingers spread open across his face like bars of a jail cell. He lowered his hand down his face, symbolically, like being set free.
He opened his eyes again and they seemed to glower red by some unnatural affluence.
"You have brought me back to soon, there's still so much work to do behind the scenes," Light said, holding up his hand with the page of the Death Note in a closed fist now. Light looked at his hand in godly fashion. "L still thinks I'm Kira. He must be eliminated before I can impose my Grand Agenda upon the world with the Death Note. Any one who opposes me, will die!"
Light turned and saw Geist behind him. He seemed amused by the Shinigami's appearance. Anyone else would be terrified. But Light had seen Shinigami before and was unafraid. Although, Geist did appear more daunting then most with his sunken eyes and skeletal features. And yet, he dressed like a Rock'n'Roll groupie with outlandish hair and preternatural attire which almost make him comical.
Light turned back, thumbed at Geist. "How amusing," he said, "and at least he looks more formidable than Ryuk, or even that pansy Rem."
"Raise that thumb to me again, human, and I'll bite it off," Geist threatened savagely, getting close enough to breath on Light.
Light lowered his hand.
"You bastard! Is this the real you?"
Demetre clenched his fists at his side. It took all his strength not to lunge at his friend.
He had learned something valuable during his time at the Savant Mansion. Some people were more susceptible to the Death Note's influence and reacted to things with more sensitivity. Some said, that's how the League of Darkness started; they got more in touch with their true feelings. So, had the Death Note enhanced Light Yagami's true feelings towards the world?
He took a momentary glance at the sky and saw the oncoming raging storm. Something "evil" was coming, he could feel it. Light/Kira was only the precursor.
He looked at the face of the person the world unknowingly came to know as Kira and the face of his childhood friend. At one point, he shared Light's sentiment that they were brothers-in-arms, but now all he wanted to do was to strange him.
Reminded of the story The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and how the author described through narrative about the complexities and the duplicity of human condition, Light was Hyde. Every person had another side to themselves and Demetre was now looking at the altar ego of Light Yagami influenced by the Death Note. And much like Hyde in the story, he knew Kira was unrepentant—claiming everything he did was for a great good of Humankind.
Kira would, if he could, sacrifice half the world for his own goals.
Light smiled. "Is this the real me? Honestly, Demetre—we all masks," he said opaquely, "and none of us are who we perceive to be. We all hide behind a well crafted persona perfected over years of practice. Is this the real me, you ask? Hmm," —Light appeared to muse inwardly— "My mask has been removed," he then said. "Care to take off yours and show me the real you?"
Light baited him, wiggling a finger to strike.
Demetre took a step forward, but Dana held him back. She looked scared.
Light smiled at her. "Ah, Dana," he then spoke, eyeing her lustfully. "You're looking quite well after all these years. When last I saw you, you weren't so healthy and robust. You're very pleasing to the eyes."
Demetre clenched his teeth in anger, and at that moment knew this was not his friend but some demonic entity possessing Light. Light would never talk so forwardly. He had only been told about it by others in the Savant Society, how some people became drunk with the Death Note and its god-like power. Here, now, he saw it first hand. There was no saving Light now, not as he is now. He was too far gone.
Dana was right, I should not have given Light back his memories.
He was reminded of the Biblical saying: The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn't exist. And with his friend hiding in plain sight amongst the detectives that wished to catch him, Light was that trickster hiding in plain sight.
Demetre felt a darkness inside his friend that frightened him. The hate that had manifested in his heart when it came to his grandfather's death at the hand of Kira failed in comparison to the demonic essence in his friend's eyes now.
"I have always enjoyed good things and I was blessed to have good people to rely on it," Light said, "but you've both shown that I can't put my trust in anyone but myself now. That everyone eventually will betray me!"
Lightning crackled across the sky illuminating the area.
Light looked at Dana. "When we were together, we had some good times…and I wanted to show you how much I loved you, but I was too afraid of pushing you away. And now, you have pushed me away!" Light looked at Demetre with glowering hatred-filled eyes, then pointed to him. "With him! And he took my place in your heart!"
"Light…" Dana started.
"Enough!" Light stopped her. "Did you ever care about me at all?"
"Yes, I did," she said.
"Don't lie to me! And don't think I didn't notice the quick glances between you two when we were younger in middle school. You hid your affection poorly. You wounded me when you left, Dana; I was heartbroken. And now you stab me in the heart again!"
"Light…"
"Now I see you're with him! My best friend—or shall I say my ex-best friend?"
"Don't you dare!" Demetre interjected. "You have no right to feel betrayed!"
"Shut up!" Light said. "If I had something to write with, I'd gladly write down your name on this page of the Death Note! You were stupid to give me the instrument of your destruction, Demetre. It was like putting a loaded gun to your own head and pulling the trigger."
A loaded gun, yes, but filled with blanks, Demetre thought.
To be continued...