I'm back! And tired. First few weeks back to school are always tough for me, but I'll find a way to get through it. I have been painting, actually. Which is great for me, but not so great for writing, since a painting can easily take up weeks. But! Here I am! Back and alive and not dead (for once). So let's go!

DISCLAIMER: yup, I checked. Definitely do not own Death Note or any of its original characters or plotlines. But my OC's are mine, so yay, I guess. Also, I am a typo manic, so I would not recommend my stories if you are against those.

XxX

2. Six

I woke up without Ryuzaki in the room. Not surprising. I was surprised, however, to find no Shinigami in my room. Not Ico and not Arma.

I frowned and sat up, scanning the room in the process. No one. Huh. People were leaving me alone for a change. Weird.

And not relaxing at all.

I jumped out of bed and towards the window, opening the curtains before opening the window itself. 'Ico!' I hissed, hoping she was listening close enough to hear me.

'Did you have a good rest?'

I spun around, already knowing that Ico was not the one I was going to find. Instead, it was Arma, towering over me like something so much more elegant than any Shinigami I had seen before. She looked like a different species, a different class. Not as much terrifying as creepy. And way less demon-like.

'Arma,' I said and I found myself sounding relieved. I had been worried about Arma. More because I would feel guilty if she died because I wanted to sleep than because I was worried for her as a person, but worried nonetheless.

She stared at me in silence with a smile that was probably meant to be polite, but I already realised that pleasant expressions looked kind of odd on Shinigami faces. She was probably waiting for me to say something, but I wasn't sure what. So I ended up saying: 'So. Um. You lost your Death Note.'

Her smile became wider, creepier. 'I am currently not in possession of my Death Note, yes. But I did not lose it. It was stolen.'

Great. Well, at least there seemed to be thievery in the Shinigami Realm, too, so that was something I did not need to know but now knew. 'And you said that you did not have much time left to find it?' I asked, really conscious of the fact that Ico wasn't here. I needed her with cases like this, she was the one who knew what the Shinigami King wanted me to do.

Arma nodded. 'You see, I have not written down a name for a long time. I prefer not to. But, if I don't obtain my Note soon, I will die.'

'Okay,' I said, hearing the clock ringing in her voice. Time was running out. If I was going to help, I needed to help fast. 'And how much time are we talking about, speaking in human time?'

Arma lifted her head, thinking. Calculating. The formula she was now doing in her head could we the key to all the lifespans I could see. But I did not know the formula, so the numbers I sometimes saw were meaningless. Because humans did not live in Shinigami time.

'About three months,' Arma said, making that sound like a really short time.

And yes, it was, but I had been expecting something along the lines of 'a week' or 'three minutes'. The longer the lifespans, the shorter a period of time seemed, of course, but I knew well enough now that faith loved to toy with me.

I tried not to insult the Shinigami by looking relieved. Instead I frowned and thought about what to do next. 'Were you in the Shinigami Realm when it was stolen?'

Instead of replying to the question, she asked: 'Does this mean you will agree to help me?'

I stared back at her, the incredible height, the black – buglike – eyes and the butterfly wings as skin over her shoulders. She truly was a beautiful creature if you forgot about the creepy parts. 'I—' I wasn't sure what answer to give. 'I don't want to make any promises, but I will try to help you. Well, first I need to consult my Shinigami, not sure where she is at the moment—' Then something hit me. 'Wait. Do you need to find your Notebook? Or just one that can replace the old one? If I gave you a Death Note without an owner, could you use it to extend your lifespan?'

We did not have the Death Notes, that was true, but finding Near and A was probably a whole lot easier than finding some random Shinigami we didn't know. Especially if Ico was going to continue to be so unavailable.

But Arma shook her head. 'I can only extend my lifespan with the Death Note that was assigned to me.'

'Shit,' I cursed, realising the trouble she was in. 'Well, okay. I need to speak to Ico first. And I really do not know if I can help you, Arma, this sounds like something that is way over my head and I do not think that I can—'

'Help her.'

I looked up, only to see Ryuzaki standing in the doorframe. Like he had been there the whole time. Like he never left. Arma did not seem surprised by his presence. As if she already knew he was here.

I looked at him, confused. 'How long have you been standing there?'

Ryuzaki put his hands in his pockets and walked into the room letting the door fall shut on its own. 'A while,' was his response. Then: 'Help her, Allison. A Death Note out there in the world is much more a danger for us humans than for Shinigami.'

'But how can I help without Ico? I have to resources to speak of and she has been gone for a while now,' I shot back, sounding way more desperate than I'd wanted to.

Ryuzaki walked passed Arma and stopped right in front of me, giving me a smile that did not reach his eyes, nor did it look believable. 'Since when do you not have any resources?' he said, the smile in his voice that did not show on his face. 'You have me.'

XxX

'So, you were on earth searching for someone to lengthen your lifespan when someone suddenly took your Note from you and disappeared?'

Arma nodded.

I was sitting in my chair – a red one with great wheels – and spinning around in it as I thought. Ryuzaki was sitting a few feet away on his own chair, facing his laptop and pretending to work on one of L's cases. I knew he was listening to every single word I said, trying to find Arma's answers in the words I said. Arma not having a note made it impossible for Ryuzaki to see or hear her, but he was good at filling in the gaps with the context he was given.

'And you did not see what the Shinigami looked like?' I asked, spinning around once more before using my foot to stay still so I could look at her as she answered.

She shook her head. 'Only that it was wearing a red clock.'

I mean, that wasn't nothing. I had never seen such a vibrant colour on a Shinigami. What a hipster it must be.

I wrote down 'Shinigami, red clock' in my notebook and sighed. My notebook was filled with actual murder cases. And now, things like 'Shinigami' and 'Death Note' were written in it, too. It seemed like it just would not let me go.

'Did anyone know you were leaving the Shinigami Realm when you did? A friend who might've accidently told someone where you were?' I asked and I spotted Ryuzaki nodding in approval at the other side of the room. At which I rolled my eyes because I had told him to do his work so that he had some time to rest. Men.

Arma looked at me with a look I couldn't quite place, probably because of her odd eyes. Well, eye, I should say, but that sounded just too weird in my head. When Arma suddenly looked down I could place the look on her face.

Sadness.

I frowned, stopped spinning. 'What is it?' I asked, immediately regretting the question as soon as I'd asked it, worried it was too personal. I hung around Ryuzaki so much these days that I was slowly forgetting the fact that there was such a thing as 'personal boundaries'.

'I am afraid that I do not have any friends or acquaintances,' Arma responded after a silence that wasn't necessarily long, but felt long because of the weight it held.

I sat back down, unsure how to react. That sounded an awful lot like… me.

Well, no, I had acquaintances, so not really. But friends? I wasn't sure I had those. Sanami was my family, but I doubted that counted. Matt was someone I considered a friend, but then again, how well did we really know each other? The emails we'd sent before we met had all been a lie (on his part, anyway) and he was so different now that I was unsure as to where we stood. And Near, I thought I'd had some kind of connection with him, but he'd betrayed us and left with no problem, so I could count that relationship as dead. And me and Ryuzaki had never really been friends. We were somewhere between boss and employee and… well, more than that. But he was so much better at playing the boss that I was stuck in my employee part most of the time, no matter how much I hated it.

Though I shouldn't hold it against him. This time, his cold attitude had been my fault.

'Allison Severs?' Arma asked, sounding slightly worried.

I shook my head, shaking all the thoughts away and smiled to hide my sudden sadness. 'Yes, I am sorry, I dozed off for a second there. But, well, did anyone else know you were leaving? Any witnesses? Even if you do not know them, a description can already be helpful.' So I can give that description to Ico. Then, if she doesn't know, she can give it to the King.

Arma looked deep in thought, then held up one of her incredibly long fingers. 'Only one Shinigami was sitting by the gate I used to travel here.'

'And did that Shinigami have a red cloak?' I asked, already knowing that that would be way too easy.

And I was right, Arma shook her head. 'No, no, he did not. He was small and kind of fat and had a tail…' She seemed deep in thought for a second. 'And that's all I can remember.'

All I could see was some sort of fat salamander with a froglike face for some reason, so I decided to not think about any Shinigami she would describe to me. Deducting reasoning and deducting reasoning only.

'Do you know the name of that Shinigami? Or perhaps someone who you sometime saw with that Shinigami?' This question probably only made sense if there weren't that many Shinigami in the world. I did not want to know how many there were. I was still having nightmares from that one time I had been to the Shinigami Realm, I did not want to know anything more about it.

'No, I— I do not socialize with others of my kind. I prefer not to.'

Something about that statement made total sense to me. The dreaminess and class that Arma was presenting did not seem like a great fit with the Shinigami I had met so far. Still, I asked: 'How so?'

Arma brought one arm around her waist and rested the elbow of the other one on it, making a classy wave with that hand. 'I do not agree with their values.'

Before I could respond to such an answer, an answer I wasn't quite expecting, Ico appeared in the room, in a weird spot. Normally, she would always appear in front of me, as obnoxious as she could. Now, she was in the corner of the room, staring right in front of her as if she had just seen something that would hunt her forever.

'Ico!' I shouted, jumping off of my seat. 'Where have you been? I have been looking for you! I just met—'

'Six,' she said, interrupting me as if she hadn't heard a single word I said.

'Six what?' I asked angrily, my patience with her long gone. 'Why are you looking like that, what's going on?'

'Six,' she repeated, finally looking at me. No hint of her usual playfulness and spirited. 'Six Death Notes have been dropped into the human realm.'

XxX

'Olivia!'

Mishima was running towards me with his notebook and pen, breathing as if he'd been running for a while. Jesus, couldn't he just wait for the next meeting to ask me more questions?

'What is it?' I asked, trying very hard not to sound rude, but not really succeeding. You had people like Matsuda, who weren't very clever, but trying very hard with a big heart. Mishima was trying very hard… but for reasons I didn't quite get. That and the fact that Ryuzaki wasn't fond of him made me think twice about his every move, his every word. Ryuzaki was rarely wrong. Though he seemed to dislike Matsuda most of the time, too…

'I wanted to ask some questions regarding your Shinigami,' he said, already writing down something as if I had already given him great information.

'What about her?' I asked, still hiding Arma from the Task Force, as Ryuzaki had asked me to do. 'They are trying to find the six Death Notes,' he'd explained, 'not help some odd creature they do not know nor care about.'

'Could she kill you? I mean, if she wanted to. Not that she does!' he added hastily. 'Just because, you know, in the reports it says that the Shinigami assigned to the human is usually the one to write down his or her name in the Death Note. Is that the case with your Shinigami too? Or do the rules not apply to your condition?'

I frowned. The Death Note Ico had given me way back was already back in her possession, so was I still a Death Note owner? Did the rules apply to me? 'I am not sure,' I answered honestly, more for myself than for Mishima. 'But I certainly hope not.'

XxX

'You have got to be kidding me!' I shouted, pacing through the kitchen as Ryuzaki sat on the counter, downing some chocolate chip cookies.

I had given Arma some grapes and she was casually eating them, but Ico was standing fruitless in the doorframe as I yelled at her. 'Do you not have spies or police in your freaking realm? How can six Death Notes land on earth? Wait, no, don't tell me, I don't want to know how.' I pressed my hands against my closed eyes, trying to lessen my anger. 'Tell me why. Why would six Shinigami decide at the same time that dropping their Death Notes was an okay thing to do?!'

Ico did not get a chance to respond, instead, Ryuzaki jumped of the counter and spoke. 'I would not be surprised if the tales of Kira reached the Shinigami Realm. If their characteristics as I've mapped them are indeed correct, there would be some supporters who think that the way Ryuk decided to relieve his boredom was a good idea.'

I stared angrily at Ico for confirmation.

She nodded sadly. 'There's a group of them now. Rebels, Ryuk supporters. They call themselves "Kira".' She pulled a disgusted face. 'They've been trying to steal Death Notes to drop them all at once for a while now.'

Ryuzaki gave me the face that told me he wanted me to translate. So I repeated what Ico said to him, although not in the same words and not quite as sad and shy. Ico was never sad or shy. And I doubted my yelling was the cause of it.

'Yes, but, why six?' Ryuzaki said once I was done translating. 'Was there a benefit to such a number, or was it just a coincidence that was what they picked up?'

Ico sighed, breathed in, calmly, trying to find herself again. I tried to do the same, but my anger remained. I had agreed on helping the Shinigami King with problems like these, but I never expected six Death Notes at once! That was just insane! 'There were two Death Notes in the human realm. One of which, the one that belonged to Misa is believed to be destroyed because of Rem's death, but because it was not Rem's notebook to begin with, the Death Note remains. They had planned on seven Death Notes on this earth. But now there are eight.'

'So they don't know about Misa's Death Note, but why is seven important?' I asked, giving Ryuzaki the information he needed while also asking a much needed question.

Ico glanced over at Arma, almost as if she was trying to find help, but Arma kept casually eating grapes, did not really care about anything human-related. Why would she? She was a regular Shinigami, not one that actually cared. Well, she was always better than Ryuk, that was for sure. 'The human realm works differently than ours,' Ico responded. 'The power that the Shinigami Realm holds over the human realm can be transferred between worlds, yes, but the power that comes with death does not have much space in your realm. So more than seven notes cannot hold. There is not enough power in your realm for that. So every note that falls after the seventh one holds no power. It's power gets drained and even if one of the Death Notes is destroyed or taken back to the human realm, that Death Note will never regain its power. Once it's drained, it's drained.'

I knew the underlying message she was giving both me and Arma. If the last Death Note to be dropped was hers, she was dead.

I translated back to a confused Ryuzaki, who slipped into his complete L-stance as he started to think. 'Amongst those six Death Notes dropped, every single one has the potential to become a Kira successor. Judging by the ends the Shinigami want to meet, more than one will pop up. Not only in Japan. All around the world.' He suddenly turned and paced out of the kitchen, walking straight through Ico.

'Watari,' I heard him call from outside the kitchen. 'Arrange the Japanese headquarters and some plane tickets. We are going back to Japan.'

I frowned and walked towards the doorframe. 'Ryuzaki?'

He was already pacing back into the kitchen, pushing me aside so that he could go in. Arma made a sound that sounded disdainful. 'How rude,' she said, but her high dreamy voice made it sound like she was only joking.

I ignored both Shinigami in the room, only focused on the detective who was pacing through the small space we shared. 'Ryuzaki, are you going back to Japan? Why? You just said they could be all over the world?'

'I want to be sure they know where to find me,' he replied hastily, suddenly standing still and grabbing his phone. I watched in silence as he dialled a number and called, holding his phone in the odd way he always held things. Ico had found it odd, but Arma did not seem so worried or impressed. She probably had not spend much time with humans. Or with anyone at all. From the little information she'd given me, she sounded quite lonely.

'Yes, good afternoon,' Ryuzaki said in Japanese into the phone, 'I know it's late, but may I speak with Chief Soichiro Yagami, please?'

XxX

'Mishima!' Chief Yagami shouted sternly, coming to the rescue as he walked in a fast pace towards us. 'What are you doing? I told you not the bother L and his team outside meeting hours!'

'I'm sorry, sir,' he said. 'I just think it's beneficial if they would share all the information they have and—'

'Are you questioning my and the Task Force's methods, Mishima?' Chief Yagami asked, even more sternly than when he shouted. Losing his son had made him even more steel than he'd always been. But like way back, he was still always protecting me. Even if he still had problems with Ryuzaki and his methods. Which was probably why he left L out of the narrative for now.

Mishima closed his notebook and turned his attention completely away from me. 'Sir, I just think we are giving them too much freedom. We are not one hundred percent sure that they are innocent to begin with.'

He did know I was standing right here, right?

'Neither are we one hundred percent sure about your innocence, Mishima. No one's innocence can be proven. We just have to work with the tools we've been given. Endless suspicion will get you nowhere,' Chief Yagami said, suddenly sounding more like a father than a police chief. The Death Notes had had such an impact on his life and on him as a person. Mishima would never be able to understand the hardships Yagami had to go through.

Nor did he try, really, he was kind of insensitive.

And he did not know when to quit. 'But sir—'

'Shut it and go back inside, Mishima,' Chief Yagami said, his patience run out. And no one could ignore an order when he said it like that. Not only stern, but threatening, like he'd start firing people if challenged. Something Chief Yagami would never do, unless the circumstances asked for it.

'Thank you,' I said as soon as Mishima was outside of hearing distance.

Chief Yagami's face fell, revealed the lonely old man he had become. Yes, he still had Sayu and his wife, but he was still a father who had lost a child. No one recovered from that easily. 'You're welcome.'

I gave him a reassuring smile and he gave me a sad smile back and put a hand on my shoulder. 'Everything okay with you?' he then asked, a father back in his protective part.

My reassuring smile became a sour one as I gently took his hand off my shoulder. 'Oh, you know. Death Notes, Shinigami, lifespans, names, the usual,' I replied as Ico finally came drifting into the building.

'He's back,' she said simply, her face drained and tired. I would never have guessed that Shinigami could actually get tired.

I nodded and focussed back on my old police chief and mentor. 'Everything okay with you?' I shot back.

He took a step back, sighed. 'No. But I will be a whole lot better if all those Death Notes are locked away somewhere.'

My sour smile turned bitter as I too took a step back, towards the door that would lead me away from the chief and the Task Force. 'Won't we all?'

XxX

End of chapter three! I am already started to feel a bit more comfortable in this new setting. Hope the time jumps weren't too confusing, I was thinking about putting "time jump" or something of the sort above those parts, but decided against it in the end.

Thank you for reading! I am not sure when I will update again, but we'll see! And no review replies this time, simply because I haven't gotten any yet. Anyway, thank you for reading and until next time. Bye!

XxX