CHAPTER 8:
"Weaponizing The Death Note"
With the device in hand, Light Yagami decided to waste no time in using it. He pressed the top button—
And things worked out well beyond his wildest dreams, after a moment of nothingness. But with only one small snag…
When he awoke, he got the shock of his life, and found himself under a white sheet, and on a metal slab in a morgue. His wounds were healed, save some scarring, and every bullet removed.
He awoke with Ryuk in the morgue standing beside him. The Shinigami revealed that the moment Light pressed the button to the device, it had taken someone else's life, elsewhere, in exchange for Light's rebirth. Light wanted to ask whom, but then opted not to know. Whoever it was, he didn't care.
I am alive again!
He was, quite fantastically, alive, and yet, the device didn't take him to where he wished: back to the warehouse where he was confronting Near. He wanted to alter events and change the outcome. He had planned it all out, and if need be, he would shoot everyone in the warehouse dead, and claim he was the lone survivor to a Yukaza ambush. It would be revenge for what Matsuda claimed what happened to him.
But after thinking it over, this was a better outcome. He could start over, since everyone thought he was dead.
"They'll wonder where my body went," he remembered voicing his concern to Ryuk.
Ryuk told him that things had already been arranged, with help from others, and according to Light's will, his body was to be immediately dissected, his organs removed, and sent for research purposes. And his brain donated to medical science. Not to be burned whole, as previously revealed to him, and insisted by Matsuda. But the body would not be Light's, but someone of equal height and build.
Light had felt slightly disorientated when he sat up from the slab and it had taken him a few minutes to assert himself back to the land of the living. He took several deep breaths, felt his heart pumping blood, thought of a few complex mathematical equations to get his neurones firing fully, and rubbed his limbs to get his circulatory system stimulated to generate sensations.
As this was new, he had nothing to compare to. There were no papers on humans who had experienced "Resurrection" symptoms, unless those that bore religious undertones. Scientifically, they couldn't be believed.
He had officially been dead for—he couldn't be sure—and according to a set of charts left on a table in the medical lab he found himself in, his death was attributed to gunfire, when the Kira Task Force found themselves in a heated battle between some Yukaza at the warehouse on the peer, during an investigation. Near and the others were not mentioned.
He learned, in hacking into the NPA database, that Matsuda filed a report claiming the Yukaza wanted revenge for Light's involvement in the murder of Terrance Claw of the Dragon Sect, a branch of the criminal sect.
"I underestimated you, Matsuda," he thought, when he read the report, since Matsuda would have been told about the incident—then being a member of the new Kira Task Force with Light masquerading as L. Light kidnapped by the sect. "Quite clever, indeed…"
"You need to put some clothes on Light," Ryuk had said. "You walking around naked is just creepy."
"You're one to talk. There's nothing worse than seeing a scary, red-eye clown face in the dark; it smacks of a horror story," Light said sardonically. But then he found some light blue medical garb and dressed.
After he finished what he needed, he secretly left the medical facility, sneaking out a side entrance, following a cleaner, who was taking the same path—his head and face covered with a mask. He couldn't allow the cameras to capture him leaving. Near, of the Special Provision for Kira, or the SPK, who knew about the Death Note, would then attempt to hunt him down. He had to make everyone believe that he—Light Yagami/Kira—was dead.
But then that left him with a dilemma—Where do I go now?
He debated his options and they were limited. He didn't want anything more to do with Misa Amane—if she was still alive? She was completely devoted to Kira. Knowing her personality type, she may have committed suicide. Yet, if she had died, she would be in Quindecim, because she used a Death Note.
Therefore, he concluded, Misa was still alive.
With all his other allies dead, he had but one option. And it didn't take much effort to find who he was looking for. A person he could trust implicitly and a true friend from a long time back.
Now, from what felt like a dream, Light found himself laying in a comfortable, soft bed, in the second bedroom of a luxury condo in the Konto Region, and it belonged to his friend; he arriving here, a little less than twelve hours ago. He was allowed to shower and was given new clothes, and then slept. He was exhausted.
His friend knew everything about Light's situation. He had kept a relatively low profile during the majority of the Kira Incident, as far as he could recall, except with the Bryant Harvey issue, and he knew everything there was to know about the Death Note, and Light's use of it.
Light opened his eyes slowly. He looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh.
"That was heavy, Light," came the voice of his friend.
Light sat up, and looked at his friend carrying two cups of tea to his bedside. He gave one to Light, and then brought over a chair to sit down. His friend crossed one leg over the other and then took a sip of his tea cup.
Light sipped his tea and relished in the taste. "Still a little tired, things have been a little heralding." His friend laughed at his choice of words. Light had explained everything to him, leaving nothing out. Not surprisingly, his friend believed him. "Thanks for this. I had no where else to go."
"We go back a long way, Light. Your story is a fantastic one, but since I know what happened with both L and Near, I can believe every word of it. I'm glad you're back, my lord Kira." A chuckle proceeded.
Light laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. Who'd ever believe a story like mine, except someone else who knows about the Death Note? I'm still trying to wrap my head around things…"
"When you were killed, your mother went crazy. She had just lost your father, and your sister was still in a wheelchair in shock, after that ordeal with Mello. It's only them now."
Light shut in his eyes in regret. He loved his family, but he had to forget about them now. For his own sake. He opened them again, and saw his friend take another sip of his tea cup. He looked calm, unworried.
"But, from what I was able to learn, your ex-task force buddies, took up a collection to help her out," his friend further said. "And I have been in contact with your mother, as well. After the events of what I went through, I'm lucky to be alive, myself—with the Savant Society, the League of Darkness, and…"
He stopped short.
Light knew about the Savant Society and the League of Darkness, being partially involved, in between his own battles with L and Near. They were both religious cults, involving Shinigami, in association with their human handlers under the guise of an organization that believed humans and Shinigami could peacefully co-exist. It was nothing but a masquerade, and a lie, by charlatans and tricksters.
In the end, both were annihilated collectively, with help from a mutual friend who was also involved, and it was through her sacrifice, that they become friends again, once bitter enemies battling each other with Death Notes.
It was her last wish for them to make up.
And before she died, she made them promise to one another to end the animosity between them, and to find a common ground. When she passed, it was Light who apologized first. It was through his actions as Kira, that his friend's grandfather was killed by a heart attack when falsely accused of being an embezzler.
Light remembered when he had made the kill. It was during a trick he tried to pull on L, when his room was wired with surveillance equipment. He managed to murder a purse snatcher and an embezzler, secretly writing names in a potato chip bag, while studying, and also watching television—a mini television was hidden in the potato chip bag that he had prepared ahead of time. It was an attempt to prove he wasn't Kira. When he wrote down the name, he had no idea it belonged to his friend's grandfather. Light thought he was being clever. He was wrong.
Later, it would be revealed that his friend's grandfather was hiding a dark secret. He was dying of terminal cancer, and it would be very painful. Despite the act, his friend, actually thanked Light for giving his father a favourable way to die; to die quickly, instead one of suffering and pain.
"So, what now? Do you have a plan? Misa Amane is no longer any concern for you, but she still has an unwavering love for you. She's held up in some religious convert at the moment for wayward Christians. From what I hear, she prays to God every day hoping for your return, thinking, I have been told, you have just 'gone away', and will be back soon. She's delusional."
"That's the understatement of the century, she's nuts, and I'm glad she's out of the picture now," Light said. Misa relinquished her Death Note long before my final encountered with Near. "As for my plans, nothing comes to mind. And I think I'll wait at least a year before I do anything of consequence, to allow things to settle down with Near and the SPK. I have no idea how long I was in Quindecim."
"So, Heaven and Hell are myths, eh?" His friend reached into his shirt and pulled out a crucifix on a chain. He kissed it, he was a devoted Christian. "I don't believe that. I think you got caught up in something bizarre. If Shinigami exist, and Quindecim, then the stories in the Bible must be true, too. I believe this wholeheartedly. I will not toss away my whole belief system over something like this. And you're no Jesus Christ, Light, that's for sure. The only person who was ever resurrected, truly, was Christ. You used something else."
Light refused to get into a theological debate with his friend. He could believe what he wanted. He took a few more sips of his tea. Judging by the daylight, he figured it was mid-evening. He glanced around the room, with its well-furnished decor, and then asked, "So, where are the Shinigami?"
"Not sure," his friend said. "They left as soon as you laid down to rest. That was more than twelve hours ago. However, I did give my Shinigami some instructions, and I hope it can be done. We're going to need help if we are to continue the fight against Near and the SPK, to cleanse this world of the wicked that infests it. After the events that I went through, I realize you were right all along about how much evil there is in this world."
Light gave his friend a curious look. "Do you really feel that way, Demmy?"
Just then, Ryuk and Geist manifested through the bedroom exterior wall.
Ryuk's appearance was familiar and non-intimating to Light. However, not being used to Geist, his appearance was more ghastly that Ryuk's, giving pause to his presence.
Geist gave off the impression that he was a rock musician with an axe to grind, which he carried with him in the form of a bone sledge hammer strapped to his back. He wore a headband with explosive brown hair flowing off the top of his head, donning chaotic clothing that matched his eclectic look.
One thing Light noticed, however, was a buckle to the belt Geist wore in the shape of a figure eight. Light once had a similar belt in his collection before he decided to move out of his parents' house. He discarded a lot of things, when he did. One of which was a belt like that, giving most of the items to charity.
Geist was his friend's Shinigami.
Light learned of Geist in between battles with L and Near.
Demetre Draycott—or Demmy, Light called him—became the owner of a Death Note that he found it in an alley one day on his way back from downtown Konto, he was nineteen at the time. He picked it up not knowing what it was, and then wrote the name of his attacker in it: a man who attempted to assault and rob him.
In between other events, Light then helped Demetre in his quest to destroy the Savant Society and the League of Darkness when they threatened the world in an attempt to use Shinigami to rule over all of mankind.
"Welcome back," Demetre said, sipping the last of his tea. "So, were you successful in your quest?"
Geist threw something at Demetre, flicked it through the air at a high rate of speed, and Demetre fumbled to catch it, with both hands. He dropped his tea cup to the floor and it shattered. Some of the remainder tea, droplets mainly, spattered on his beige trousers.
Demetre swore, even evoking his Redeemer's name in vein. "Geist! Why did you do that?"
Both Shinigami had a chuckle. They were like little school kids laughing at a prank.
"Ryuk! Not funny!" Light scolded him.
"You're not my mother," the Shinigami retorted.
"No, but he is your handler," Demetre said. He reached into the top drawer of a bedside table and took out Light's Death Note. Light took it. It had a plain black cover with lined pages inside.
Ryuk's eyes widened more than they normally did. "Oh right, I gave that to you in the other place. My bad! But what Geist did was funny. Aren't Shinigami allowed to laugh?"
Light didn't apologize.
Light looked back to what his friend held. Demetre lifted the item up to get a closer look, at eye level, pinching it between thumb and forefinger. It was a gold ring, with script around the outer facade. It was in Latin, one of the oldest languages still known to be spoken fluently, most notably in ancient times, and during the Roman reign.
Loosely translated, and Demetre chuckled when he read it, it read: "In God's of Death We Trust." He asked for an explanation.
Geist grumbled under his supposed breath. "Are you getting forgettable? You asked me to weaponize a few pages of the Death Note. So, I did so, with help, of course…"
Geist then explained how it worked. Unlike Ryuk, Geist was quite intelligent.
When he was finished, Demetre looked at it with sublime shock.
"All you have to do is point it at your victim and think about what you want to happen," Geist continued. "I was told to think of it like using high frequency vibration, similar to shattering glass. The Death Note still exists, but you no longer have to carry it with you to kill. But, with that ring, you must still know a person's name and face to kill. All you have to do is use the power of your mind now. And before you say it, and I know you are wondering it—that you think this is too fantastic to believe. But then look at me...I am your Shinigami-a god of death."
Psionic powers (a.k.a. psychic powers) are the ability of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena. They are present to various degrees in various species, even humans. The presence of psionic powers within a species is rare and is dictated by their structural makeup. Unless they are amped up by using supernatural abilities.
"This is remarkable!" Demetre said. "Thank you! I told you to be inventive, but I never expected this."
"Weaponize the Death Note?" Light voiced curiously. "But the Death Note is already weaponized, per se."
"But Near knows about it. I knew we needed something new, an evolution of the Death Note. So, I asked if it could be done, and well…here it is. Geist, who did you go to for this to be designed and crafted?"
"You can ask him yourself."
Geist gestured, and then, a white cat jumped onto the bed.
Light was about to get out of bed, wishing to see Demetre's ring closer—when he stopped short, as the feline whisked its tail back and forth, and seemed to smile happily directly at Light.
Light suddenly sneezed, as if the dander of the cat was allergenic. The cat hissed at him, then moved away, as if the mere action was an attack. But then it sat back down on the farthest corner of the bed, and returned to its happy, go-lucky state.
Light looked at both Shinigami in turn, then asked, "And why is there a white cat on the edge of the bed?"
"I'm your friendly neighbourhood Death Cat," the animal spoke in a human voice, and quite humorously.
Light sat statuesque, unblinking, and stared at the cat. The cat just spoke. If he was hallucinating, then Demetre's face reflected with the same delusion. They looked at each other, then both looked back at the cat.
The talking cat then moved in closer, and crouched near Light's legs, and suddenly, its appearance morphed with a brilliant light into a human boy, wearing all white, with angelic-blonde hair, and clothes similar to that of a child's ancient Roman attire, with sandals. With one addition to his antiquated wardrobe: He wore a black satchel-like pouch on his right hip with a white notebook inserted within that conformed to the book's small configuration precisely.
The supernatural being waved his hand to Light, still crouching. Both were familiar with one another.
The clandestine boy smiled. "Hello, Light. Pleasure to see you again. I did say we would meet again. Did you use the pieces of the Life Note I left for you?"
To be continued...