Chapter Fifteen:
"Punishment and Submission"

In a semi-conscious state, Light looked up at a shadowy individual standing in his jail cell. He was nothing but a shadow, illuminated by an unknown light. But his eyes were crimson and dark, similar to the entity whom he saw when he first arrived.

"Pathetic! Absolutely pathetic! Look at what you have become, the state that you are in—a shell of your former self. You had so much potential. You are undeserving to be Kira. If only weren't so fastidious, it wouldn't have come to this. First you were manipulated by L, then Misa and Rem forced you to do their bidding, then Epiphany, the Astral Plane god, who blackmailed you into a blood oath contract, and forced you to accept his presence on the Kira Task Force, and now the Evangelist. And look at you now. You're chained like some dog. What god are you?"

The voice was familiar, Light could not immediately place it.

"You're too selfish in your ways and your arrogance always gets the better of you. You have been weak ever since you were a child. Even before you found the Death Note, you allowed your own father to manipulate you, to try to make you forget wrongs done to you. Tried to make you forget what Jasper Yuta did to you. You overcame that hurtle, but evil is universal, and you can never eliminate it completely. Humankind is inherently evil and they will always be. You need to change your way of thinking."

"People are good," he said to the dark individual. "There is no reason to blame everyone for a few bad apples."

"You adhere to a child's fantasy! Try to control the world around you instead of eliminating those 'bad apples'. Rule over the masses. Alter behaviour to your will. Merely frightening people will open the door to rebellion. If you control your enemies movements, you control the playing field. The only way to ultimate authoritarianism, but showing you are altruistic, is to separate elements of society, and feed off it. Convince the masses that your way is the right one."

"How? I'm losing my grip on things. At first, it was just me and Ryuk. I wrote names in the Death Note and crime plummeted. Kira was doing so much good in the world. But now, there are too many elements trying to circumvent everything I've done!"

"Then you must expand your horizons, reach out, and do what you do best—manipulate people. Seize the board. Think of what you are doing as a game of chess. You did it once before with L, you thought three steps head. You were winning, then Misa and Rem entered the fray and screwed up everything. You work better alone. You opened yourself up to much uncertainty. A person can only control what they do, not what others conspire. 'Keep your enemies close, but keep your friends closer.'"

"I understand what you're saying, but as it stands, my power has been hindered. And the Death Note is out of reach."

"What about the piece of the Death Note in your watch? You battled Terrance Claw, the leader of the Dragon Sect, under similar circumstances, and you won. Try the same strategy, but don't rely on Morph, the supernatural Imp, this time. You must take your own stand against the Evangelist. He thinks you are small in the grand scheme of his plans. You need to prove him wrong!"

Light nodded. "You're right! It is time to take back what it rightfully mine! I am Kira!"

"Good! Now…WAKE UP!"

Light startled awake, as if he had been physically shoved. But when he looked around, no one else was in the jail cell with him, not even Riki who had succumbed to the knock out gas with him.

He found himself now dressed in the god-awful Japanese cobalt blue peasant attire, his shredded clothes removed.

He still wore the ear clip and the control collar, but his watch was gone. He needed to get it back. It was a gift from his father after he graduated high school and it had sentimental value, but he had also modified it to house a small piece of the Death Note with a small pin. So, if he need to write someone's name down in a pinch, he could do so in secret.

The voice that spoke to him in his semi-conscious dream, he knew was himself. He was trying to converse his inner most thoughts and desires. It wasn't unheard of for the subconscious mind to push through that which the unconscious mind could not tap consciously. The voice was his, he knew, the dark individual he suspected was him as well, in another form, telling him to stand on his own too feet and to stop being manipulated by the Evangelist. And it—he—was right.

He now felt he had a new form of clarity, a path forward, a goal to strive to. He may have been a prisoner, but there was always way out of every trap. He thought of it like a puzzle and every puzzle had a solution.

The door to his cell opened and Gravitti stood on the other end, but without Orthrus. He gestured for Light to get up. "Come Yagami, you have been granted an audience by the Evangelist," he said. "I am as surprised as you."

"Finally," Light grinned. He stood on his feet, but then stood firm. He crossed his arms across his chest in a show of defiance. "First, who dared audaciously undressed me putting me in these bagger clothes?"

"The boy," Gravitti simply stated. "We pumped gas into the cell and put you both to sleep. We removed him, and then kept you asleep longer. The boy returned, and then you were undressed and re-dressed. We know of your history with Hiro Yamamoto, or Riki, as you best know him, when he was under the tutelage of Asumi Satou, or Tigressa, the Yakuza sex den Mistress. So, he dressing you, should not bother you. He has done so before."

Light's anger softened. Yes, Riki had done exactly that just before he began to torture him when he was Tigressa's, Asumi Satou's, Prime Assistance in the Yukaza sex den. But after the events that followed, Light developed a certain respect for the boy after everything he went through, all those years in doing what he needed to do to keep himself alive under the most terrible circumstances. He lowered his arms at his sides, his anger diminished. He could not be angry at Riki for being ordered to do this.

A sudden smile on Gravitti's face unnerved Light.

"Is Riki okay?" He indicated the control collar. "He's a strong kid, but there is only so much one can take. Kidnapped twice, first by the Yukaza, and now by the Evangelist." I hope he doesn't break?

Gravitti cocked his head amused. "You seem genuinely concerned for the boy's welfare. He and you are close in age, but because of his short stature, he appears a lot younger. Do you consider him much like a younger brother? Why do you exhibit a kinship with him after everything he has done to you? He ravaged you to the breaking point."

Light frowned. "Riki is a good kid. He was forced into the sex trade. I don't blame him for what he had to do to survive."

"The same can be said about the criminals you kill with the Death Note then," Gravitti said darkly. "There is a reason, a drive, behind everything. The boy had a drive to survive in the den, so he did what he had to do. What drove you to kill criminals with the Death Note? Cleansing evil cannot be the sole purpose. The Evangelist doesn't know everything about you, your past, for instance. Perhaps this is why you were granted an audience? I don't know. The Evangelist is a curious person, he likes to know the reasons behind a person's actions. You intrigue the Evangelist, but you need to be reigned in with your constant, gratuitous killings. You make too many errors in judgement. A true god is refined in his killings, Kira—you—are sloppy. You do not discriminate between those that hunt you and those that you hunt. You act like the whole world is against you while it is you that are in the wrong."

"Enough! I admit, I have made mistakes in the past. But what I've done has been a learning curve from the start. I can't change the past, I can only learn from it. You have no right to lecture me on what I do with the Death Note!"

"Perhaps, but for now on, you won't have that choice. You will obey the Evangelist!"

Gravitti snapped his fingers, and suddenly Light grit his teeth and clutched his throat as the control collar delivered a painful electrical shock. He collapsed to his knees trying to insert his fingers between the collar and his neck. It reminded him of his dream when he was put into an electric chair by L and executed for crimes against humanity in using the Death Note.

"I can't…breath!" He felt like he was about to have a heart attack from strain.

Just then, the collar stopped. Light sucked in oxygen and cupped his throat. His back and chest muscles burned like they were on fire from the strain. He swore under his breath.

"Your defiance is futile, Yagami," Gravitti stated. "The Evangelist believes in order through awareness. Kira uses fear under the guise of order and punishes those who do not adhere to his way of thinking like a dictator. There is a difference. You have just experienced a mild shock from the control collar, a form of discipline, controlled by an Artificial Intelligence program. It monitors your heart rate, emotions, and speech patterns, and delivers punishment accordingly judging the offensive. But I can also administer punishment on a whim. If you continue to act out, a higher degree of discipline will need to be administrated. Those classified to a certain 'class' under the hospice of the Evangelist who reside here on his private island all wear one."

Light inhaled deeply, looked up. "Bastard!" His voice hoarse.

Gravitti chuckled. "Kira the Saviour," he said. "You are considered a hero right now for preventing more destruction and saving lives in stopping the man in the monster truck. That was intended and it was set up for the Astral God to interfere. It helped us locate him. We knew he was in the Human World, but the Evangelist didn't have an exact location. So, he waged a guess he was with you. And was proven right. The incident will also halt the Kira Task Force in its tracks. Who wants to fund a group who is out to hunt and punish a saviour of the people? But that should please you. The police will not help you and your allies are few and far between, even the ICPO is reviewing the task force's funding after Dragoon's sudden disappearance. Rumours are afloat that he was about to issue a bad review about the task force and he was killed for it. With his body missing, and his girlfriend and an unknown assassin left at the crime scene, questions are numerous. That pegs the guilt squarely on you. You were first at the scene and with you suddenly gone, it makes you a suspect in the entire affair."

Light sneered. "This is was all a set-up? You were watching the whole thing?"

Gravity reached into his right pants pocket and pulled out a small black pearl. "Minute in size right now, but it can expand to the size of a mini-bowling ball. With it, events unfolding anywhere in live time, also past, present, and future, can be see or foretold, and even manipulated. All Shinigami carry one. It's called a Hole. Larger versions are everywhere in the Shinigami Realm, but these help Shinigami in the Human World stay in touch with one another or see events unfold, if they so wish."

"Yes, I am aware of such a device. Ryuk has one. So, you set up everything with the belief that I would think the incident in question was to get my attention, instead it was to test Epiphany's abilities and chart his location?"

"As I have already told you. And the Evangelist has already spoken to him. Epiphany knows we have you."

"So, I was bait all along."

Light didn't bother to ask how the Evangelist communicated with Epiphany. Throughout this whole affair, he has been nothing but a second-string to an orchestra playing. He hated that. Kira was supposed the conductor to the world's music.

"Come, up! The Evangelist will see you now. He'll explain more to you."

Light grumbled under his breath, then got to his feet again from his knees.

He quickly calmed himself. He had to play everything to the chest right now, pull back his emotions, and think logically. Observe and analyze. He could do that. It was his best attribute. And it was the only way he was going to defeat this new enemy.

He would submit for now. For now.

To be continued...