And then I was gone for LITERALLY A MONTH WHAT THE HELL! Well, explanation time. First of, I had to go to a film festival for school, which meant movies from 9am 'til 11pm, so that was a blast. And then my dad got fired, so we have been having a situation and I moved, because complicated things, anyway, I still am not done moving all my stuff and it has been hectic and now I have an assignment for school where I have to film a documentary and I literally do not know how to do that, so that's all fun and good and stuff. Anyway, here is a very late chapter, I am sorry.

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

8. Distorted Imagery

When I reached the booth, everyone was already there, cramming around the computer to see the screen. Of course detective Arai was the one at the computer, though Mishima looked at the screen with hungry eyes. I think it came automatic for the others, to make way for me so that I could see the screen. I wondered how many days with detective Arai it took for that to change.

'It's him!' detective Arai said smugly.

'Trace him!' Mishima said to Nanase

'On it!' she replied dutifully, already fluttering away to another computer.

The chat service appeared on screen, with the Neo Kira starting the conversation: This is Kira.

Detective Arai immediately started typing, his hand movements seemed alarmingly gleeful. You must like me! he typed.

I knew everyone was frowning without even looking. I frowned, too, but for other reasons. This did not really seem like a L-tactic. But… It seemed like something Near would say. So, he probably had already discussed this with Near and L and knew exactly what he had to do and say…

The reply came. Don't be arrogant. Kira is God, you can't win.

Detective Arai: It's just the Shinigami's power.

'Drag it out as long as you can!' Nanase shouted from the other computer.

Detective Arai nodded and started typing again. When Nanase did not get an actual reply, I looked over at her and nodded before looking at the screen to see what Detective Arai had said. Why don't we switch to voice?

I took in a sharp breath as no reply came. Silence. I think detective Arai might've stopped breathing.

And then, finally, a response came. OK.

'Gotcha!' detective Arai exclaimed as other Task Force members started handing him a headset with microphone as Mishima took over de keyboard to turn the audio on.

'On speaker,' he said as the beeping started, telling us it was connecting.

The beeping stopped. Detective Arai seemed almost bored when he said: 'Can you hear me?'

Did he not realise the information he was giving away, the danger he was in? How in the hell did they convince him to put himself in danger like this?

'Yes,' a warped voice said.

I immediately began analysing, it was something that came naturally to me. It was a strange middle ground, this voice. Which probably meant that it was either a male with a higher voice or a female with a lower voice.

'What the…' Detective Arai said, sounding disappointed.

'Is it him?' Matsuda asked, as if anyone could tell by that one word.

'It's filtered,' Kuromoto said, sounding disappointed as well.

'Or synthesized,' Mishima said at the same time I said, 'manually distorted.'

'Can you analyse anything?' Uragami asked me.

Before I could respond, Nanase stood from her chair and shouted: 'I located him! Metro Tokyo! It's not even five minutes away!'

'We got him!' Kuromoto cheered.

'Surround the area!' Mishima added.

As soon as the Task Force began making plans and getting into gear, running towards the exit with full force, I met Detective Arai's eyes. We barely knew each other, were not friends, nor colleagues, really. But as we looked at each other, I could tell that he thought the same thing I was thinking.

It's a trap.

'It's a trap,' Arma said, so suddenly appearing behind me that I jumped. 'I found him.'

'Him?' I said, not sure who she was aiming at. I felt detective Arai observing me as I spoke, but I cared too much about the lives of these people to bother with explaining, or going to a place more private.

'Ryuk,' she responded. 'I was looking around Misa's apartment, because you said you'd be staying there for a while.'

I had not even realised she'd been there. Following me, apparently. How could I not have noticed?

'So I was there and there was this guy in a white coat and… there was Ryuk, just… hovering behind him, smiling.' She shivered as if the idea of anyone enjoying this situation frightened her. 'I did not want Ryuk seeing me, so I kept my distance, but… This is definitely a trap. The man in the white coat was plotting while grinning.'

'What do you want?' detective Arai asked Neo Kira, probably to avoid suspicion. But his focused remained on me. I wondered if he knew anything about me, about my deal with the Shinigami King. About Arma. Had Ryuzaki told him anything?

'You know what I want. I want the Death Notes,' Neo Kira responded.

'And what if I don't give it to you?' he asked and then he smiled.

He knew. He knew it was a trap. And he was doing nothing to stop it.

I grabbed my phone, and tried calling Chief Yagami, who of course did not pick up his phone, so I immediately resorted to plan D, since I knew he was too stubborn to not answer his phone. 'Mishima,' I said as soon as he picked up.

He, of course, sounded annoyed. 'Wha—Upson! We are in the middle of an ambush right no—'

'Don't go in. It's a trap.'

'What are you talking abo—'

I had no time for this. At all. 'I know you don't trust me, I know, but right now, I need you to trust me anyway. Trust me that I know something you don't. Trust me that I know for sure that this is a trap.'

Neo Kira answered detective Arai's question. 'Then Tokyo will be piled with corpses. Innocent people will die in the streets.'

On the other side of the line, Mishima was silent for a while. Then: 'And what if I don't trust you? What if we are better than you think? What if we manage to catch Neo Kira right now?'

'You'll bring everyone in danger, Mishima! Please—'

'What does your boyfriend have to say about this?'

Boyfriend. Had he… He'd managed to figure it out. How? What had given it away? I thought Mishima had been completely ignorant. 'Does it matter? It's a trap, Mishima!'

'Yeah, right,' he said before hanging up.

And detective Arai was still grinning at me. 'Give me the headset,' I ordered.

He pulled his eyebrows up.

'I need to talk to Nanase, so Matsuda, to anyone! Please!' I begged, almost climbing on his lap to take them from him.

'But you would do that even if I complied wouldn't you?' Arai asked Neo Kira, holding me off with seemingly no effort at all. 'You can't have it,' he replied to both me and Neo Kira.

And then, suddenly, I was rushed backwards in time. To the moment that Matt, no not Matt, Beyond Birthday disguised as Matt, had given me a knowing smile as he said: 'I consider Near worse. L doesn't know how to handle people. Near does, but he likes to behave like he does not.'

'Well, is that bad? If he doesn't like people, isn't that better?' I had responded.

'Yes, it would be, but that's not the point. Near cheats.'

Near cheats. This was not L's doing. This is was L's plan. It was Near's.

And for some reason, that really, really frightened me.

I stopped fighting. Detective Arai frowned as he observed me standing up, readjusting my clothes.

And then I turned and started running.

XxX

It was a good thing that the other employees of the Japanse Task Force knew little about me, only that even the Chief listened to me. So when I ordered one of them to bring me to a condo in Minato Ward, they actually listened to me. I wasn't even sure what I was going to do, but I knew I would be saver there than any of the other Task Force members, mask or no mask.

When we reached the condo, most of the officers were already inside, except the few who were left behind securing the exits. These, too, were officers who did not really know me, so they let me in without much objection.

'Elevator or stairs,' I muttered as I halted in the hallway. 'Which floor?' I asked Arma then, raising my voice just a tiny bit. I had already pressed the button for the elevator just in case.

'Sixteenth, but I think stairs would be quicker,' she replied.

I gave her a tired glance.

'If you run,' she added.

Well, there was proof that I needed to work out more. But I did as she said, running up the stairs like a maniac. By the time I reached the fourth floor, I was already exhausted, but I really could not stop now. Matsuda, I reminded myself, Matsuda and Chief Yagami, they are both in danger.

I reached the twelfth floor. I couldn't feel my legs anymore, but kept running anyway. By the time we did reach the sixteenth floor I was so far gone that I hadn't even noticed until Arma said: 'We're here.'

'Which way?' I asked, my breathing so irregular that I was surprised when she understood me and answered: 'Left.'

But before I could turn left in the hallway, someone grabbed me from behind, putting a hand over my mouth and pulled me backwards, back into the staircase, where the figure pressed me against the banisters.

'Ryu—' I said, but my voice was muffled by his hand and my own irregular breathing.

'What do you think you are doing?!' he asked me, looking more angry than I'd seen him in years. He took his hand off my mouth to enable me to speak.

'It's a trap,' I said, still trying to catch my breath.

'I was aware,' he said, still sounding angry. 'Which is why I came here.' He took a step away from me, apparently confident that I would not try to escape. 'It had been our idea, Near's and mine, to use Beyond Birthday. It would hold Neo Kira off as he tried to think of a plan B. I did not know… I had not realised Near would encode the site like that and give orders like that. I never would have instructed anyone to come here.'

Remembering Beyond Birthday's words, I said: 'But Near did not care if he brought so many officers in danger if there was even a small chance of catching Neo Kira.'

'Correct,' Ryuzaki said, not sounding as defeated as I would have expected. 'They do not know my face, so they won't listen to me. And I heard your phone conversation with Mishima, so I already figured that was hopeless.'

'I knew you were still wiring my phone,' I said with a sigh. 'So, what did you do, then? How are we going to save them?'

'I'm not,' Ryuzaki responded.

'I'm sorry, what?' I asked, completely baffled.

'Whatever Neo Kira is planning, it's already too late to stop it. I only came here to save you, since I knew there was a chance you'd be coming.'

'That's… ridiculous. Death Notes cannot even kill me!'

'True as that may be, a gun or knife still can. And who says Neo Kira will not fight dirty?'

'You are honestly telling me that you are going to let those officers die without doing anything at all? What the actual fuck, Ryuzaki!'

Ryuzaki cringed, but did not reply.

'People are going to die today, Ryuzaki. Because of this!'

'Yes,' he admitted, avoiding eye contact. 'But not you.'

I ignored him completely. 'And all because you just decided to work together with Near without consulting me, or Watari or anyone! You honestly believe that as long as you do everything yourself, there will be no mistakes, but guess what, Ryuzaki? You are human, too! We are all just bound to make mistakes! Now, go back to your little sweets cave and let me at least Now, go back to your little sweets cave and let me at least try to help the team who was done nothing to deserve abandonment.'

I stepped forward, to the door. Ryuzaki did not stop me. As I started running again, I knew he would not come after me.

'I'm sorry,' Arma said, who had been quiet up until now.

I did not feel like answering.

XxX

Stop.

Stop everything in this moment. The origami on the tables, the darkness in the rooms. The sad looks on everyone's faces as I entered.

Worse. The look of defeat on Mishima's face, the look that told me I had been right and he partly blamed himself for this. Because I had told him, and he did not listen. Nanase grabbed my hand as I passed her, her look almost pleading. As if to say look away. As if to say run. But I did not. And her hand slid away from mine as I walked closer and closer to the open door.

I should have ran. I should have stopped. But I kept walking. And walking. Until I saw the two corpses on the small bathroom floor.

And then I started screaming.

XxX

They had given me a shock blanket. As if that would help. As if I was in shock. The forensics' team as well as the other Task Force officers were quiet, silent, especially around me. They thought my silence, my numbness, came from shock. It was not shock. It was horror. Horror and guilt.

I had stayed by L's side through nearly everything. And the very second that I don't, everything went to hell. Was I blame? Could I have seen what Near had been scheming if I had been there?

Arma told me she was going to look for Ryuk and Neo Kira before exciting and disappearing, clearly not used to this kind of loss and sadness. Ico was nowhere to be found, but I knew she'd rather not be present for anything like this, either. She was more of a happy type. A Ryuk type.

'I'm sorry,' Mishima said on the way back. He had insisted on driving me alone and only we knew why. He did not want to tell the Task Force that I had known and tried to warn him. He did not want to be one of the bad guys. 'I should just have listened to you and I am sorry that I believed following Detective Arai's orders would be a better idea. But… How could I have known? Chief Yagami…' he stopped, the name stuck in his throat.

Mishima was not the bad guy. At this point, no one was. Detective Arai pretended not to know and I had been "in shock" so they did not dare to ask me any questions, or think that I was to blame in any sort of way. But I totally was. This was all my fault.

'It's not your fault,' I told Mishima.

'I'm at least partly guilty,' he countered.

'You're not. Neo Kira had written their names in his note long before you guys even entered that room,' I explained, closing my eyes. I knew L had been right, of course. I'd probably even known it when he explained himself to me, but I dared not admit that there had been nothing I could do to save them.

Them.

They had been the obvious casualties. The names anyone would be able to find. Father of the first Kira and the one who forgot to change his name. Right now, I refused to think their names. I would dream about their faces for the rest of my life, feeling that guilt on my shoulders for as long as I lived. And going back to Misa's apartment right now felt dirty. Almost as dirty as going back to L. I would never be able to look Near in his eyes again, I would never be able to forgive him for this. Beyond had known. He had seen what me and Ryuzaki had not seen. Near had the potential to be great, but he had also the potential to become fatal. I should have seen that. I should have stopped it.

'If anyone's guilty, I am. I was stupid and stubborn and I killed them,' I said as tears started leaking out from my eyes, drippling down the blanket.

Mishima did not speak, did not say anything. And in that strange, loaded, sad silence, we reached something that might have resembled a friendship.

XxX

Well, that was sad. I actually ate an entire package of marshmallows while writing this, I think I was trying to eat the sadness away.

I was actually surprised to find that this chapter is rather short for my doing, I thought it would be pretty long already, but that does not appear to be the case. But I promise I will try to update again next week to make up for all the lost time, so hopefully, there will be a new chapter then!

XxX

Review Replies

lunamoon531: PE on a Monday morning? I would literally sue my school if that ever happened to me. And thank you for saying I portrayed her like a human being! I try very hard, but I myself am not very good at being human all the time, so it can be difficult for me. And never worry that reviews are too long, I like reading them, so no worries. Thank you for reading and sorry about the wait!

sibunasiren10: Aww, thank you, and sorry for the long wait… I am indeed a college student and life has not allowed me any breaks. Bad English… Oh well, let's move on. THANK YOU for reviewing, I love being encouraged, I sometimes do need it, since I am so busy and I sometimes lose sight of what I am doing and for what reason. But it's wonderful to know that you're enjoying it! I will try to update more often, I promise, but thank you for your patience and sweet review!

AuroraStargazers: Hahaha, honestly, it's the drama I live for, too. Sometimes I get so lost in Allison's head that I forget that she has strength, too, she can make her own decisions every once in a while without me pulling the strings. Hope the plot line did not get too dark for you, I was surprised at myself that I even dared to write it… And oh, don't I get being busy! Daily checklists used to be like 1) go to school and that would be it! Now the checklists just get longer and longer and it's like time is slipping from your grasp. I hope you don't stress too much and sleep more, too! I think a lot of people on the internet should sleep more ;) Anyway, thank you and good luck with everything!

XxX