A/N: New chapter here already.

July 14th, 2044

Los Angeles, California

It's been over a month since their escape from the Underworld and the Yagamis still had not returned to Japan. It was upon Knight's insistence that they stay here in America and kill the Shinigami Eye Twins before returning home. To stay up to date with everything going on, Rain and ArchAngel did their schoolwork online and as expected, still managed to stay at the top of their class in all assignments.

They checked into a hotel and rented out two rooms, one for the boys and the other for the girls but they would often keep both doors open just in case.

It was about eight o'clock in the morning when Knight woke up and looked out the hotel window. He didn't like staying in this small hotel room, way too small or him to operate as Kira. Speaking of which, he had to get back to his duties and fast if he wants to make sure this world stayed crime-free.

He took out his computer, opened up a list of criminals before taking out his notebook, and began writing their names down.

He called room service and demanded that breakfast be brought up to their room. Knight was a high-ranking officer in the police force back home in Japan and he saved up a lot of money he still had money inherited from Near's fortune and his aunt's fortune from the Kira Bubble. All he had to do was transfer some of his Japanese money over to America and convert said money to USD and boom, he was covered.

He was still getting his payment from the police force because technically, he was still on duty, and at Tezuka, Murata, and Saiko's insistence, they keep sending money to him. He is putting in a lot of extra overtime hours, even in a different country.

"Cronus and Oedipus," he said to himself, uncaring if anyone else in the room would hear him. "They had the Shinigami eyes yet they have no Shinigami attached to them and they have no Death Note. I doubt they had to trade half of their lifespan to get those eyes. They must've been born with the eyes but what conditions are needed in order for someone to be born with Shinigami eyes?"

He stroked his chin.

"Beyond Birthday was born with Shinigami eyes and became a serial killer who killed people on the day they were due to die. The Midnight Sla-" He choked upon saying the killer's moniker. "Same thing." He made a fist and ground his teeth. "Oedipus and Cronus, twins, born with Shinigami eyes and they use them to gamble on people fighting to the death."

The hotel room had two beds in each room and Knight slept in one bed with ArchAngel sleeping in the other bed. They began to stir in their sleep as they rose from their slumber.

"Hey, Daddy," Archer called out before climbing out of bed. "Whatcha thinking about?"

"The Shinigami Eye Twins. We've been looking for them ever since we left the Underworld place and we haven't found them anywhere."

"They were wearing masks," Angel pointed out. "We don't know what they look like."

Knight remembered something written in the rulebook. "And it's impossible to tell if a human has Shinigami eyes, no matter the medical or scientific means and since only the Shinigami who traded the eyes with them can tell the difference, Gilth and Masi are useless and Cronus and Oedipus were born with their eyes. We're in the dark in this one." He looked over to the coffee machine.

"Archer, could you make me a cup of coffee."

The young boy saluted his father like a soldier. "Sir, yes sir!" He jogged over to the coffee machine and began brewing his father some coffee.

"Archer, Angel, was there anything significant about Cronus and Oedipus?"

"Nope," Angel answered. "They had masks on."

"What were they like, personality-wise? Tell me. The more you tell me, the better I'll be able to build a psychological profile around them."

Angel stroked his chin as he went deep in thought. "I can't remember much but Archer was insulting them."

Archer laughed proudly. "Yeah, I did. I called them bitch, cunt, asshole, the whole nine yards. And then one of them slapped me across the cheek."

Knight's eyes widened and he made a fist. "I won't just kill them; I'll have them tear their own guts out and shove them down their throat."

Archer smiled at the thought. "Yeah. Nobody hits Archie-boy and gets away with it."

Knight tilted his head. "Does that include your mother and me?"

Archer held his hands up. "No, you and Mom, I love you guys."

"So there is a heart in you after all, Archer."

Archer and Angel turned to the new voice in the room.

Standing in the doorway leading to the adjoining hotel room was Rain. She had had her hands tucked into her pajama pockets and leaned against the door jamb. "And here I was thinking, thinking you only broke people's hearts but I was wrong; you don't break people's hearts, you attack people's hearts." She addressed her father and said, "I heard you guys chit-chatting and I wanted to eavesdrop."

Knight looked at his daughter. "Rain, tell me everything you remember about Cronus and Oedipus."

"I can replay the conversation to you." She pointed to her temple. "My brain is like a Hannibal Lecter memory palace; I remember what they said to a T."

Knight stood up. "This is good. Go wake up Mom and Kuroki, we should all be present."

"Yes, we should be present for the wonderful play of Cronus and Oedipus. A million tickets sold, seen only by few, bombed by critics, received a 9% on Rotten Tomatoes and 45 audience score."

Knight managed to laugh, as did Archer and Angel before Rain went to wake up their mother and Aunty Kuroki.

Iris and Kuroki walked into the room and they waited patiently for Rain to set up. She dragged her two brothers to her and made them stand in front of her.

"When I stand in front of Archer, I am Oedipus and when I stand in front of Angel, I am Cronus."

Knight took out his phone to record. "Go on."

'Cronus: "What do we have here? Nice to meet you, Reign Yagami. Same to you, Ark and Jewel Yagami."

Oedipus: "I was expecting someone slightly older, but, I guess lifespans can't be choosers."

Cronus: "I have a superpower... and I'm psychic. Insulting, dear Ark boy, very insulting."

Oedipus: "Our mother would smack us in the mouth if we said that kind of shit in front of her."

Cronus: "Go easy on them, they're twins and they somewhat remind me of us."

Oedipus: "Shut up. Why the sudden change in attitude? Weren't you gung ho about killing them because you couldn't see into their last days?"

Cronus: "I did, but... Now that I'm seeing them in person, I can't stop thinking of the fact that they're children. Except her, she creeps me out. But those two...they're just like us... except identical and not fraternal."

Oedipus: "I thought you wanted to kill them. You said you wanted payback for Penelope."

Cronus: "I know but... damn it, they're just kids, Oedipus."

Oedipus: "Doesn't change the fact what we're seeing whenever we look at them. When I look at these children, I can see their names, but I can't see their date of death. Yet, when I look at myself in the mirror, I can see how long until I die. Until we both die. We made money doing what we do with our superpower but this is the first time we're at a disadvantage."

Cronus: "I don't want to kill them, I don't want to kill children, especially if they have no predestined lifespan."

Oedipus: "But brother, have you forgotten your mission? Your one and only goal in life is to find out if there was something you could've done to save Penelope. You tried killing people before the end of their lifespan and tried saving people when they reached the end of their lifespan but it was all in vain, for they still died on the day they were due to die. But these three children, they don't have a lifespan. If you're seeking freedom from fate then they are the key. For the first time in a long time since we got our super-eyes, you can finally save someone yourself; you finally have the freedom to kill or save someone for the first time in your life. Don't forget your mission. I'm not reminding you because I believe in your cause, it's because Mama would hate it if you didn't finish what you promised to find out, not to mention it would be an insult to Penelope if you didn't try and follow through with your will."

Cronus: "You're right; I should follow through with my mission but... what are we going to do?"

Oedipus: "I don't know because this is unprecedented but what I do know for certain is I can't make bets on any of these children. If we decide to have them fight to the death in the cage match, we can't bet money on them because we don't know what could happen."

Cronus: "Mama is dead, why are you still trying to make money to provide for her?"

Oedipus: "This isn't about Mama anymore. Mama would understand. Takes these three kids to the cells while my brother and I have a chit-chat about what to do with them."'

Rain looked ahead. "And scene. Cronus and Oedipus don't know how to properly whisper."

"Holy shit," Kuroki clapped. "It's been over a month and you memorized their conversation to a T? I swear, you could play all the parts in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

"And Archer can play the evil queen and Angel can be the magic mirror on the wall."

Knight looked over at his wife. "What do you make of it, honey?"

"Cronus and Oedipus had issues growing up, especially since they had Shinigami eyes. Based on their conversation, Oedipus was close to his mother and saw her as a figure of hope or something and he still looks up to her, even when she was dead. Oedipus is using the Shinigami's eyes to his advantage. Cronus on the other hand is practically the polar opposite. Based on the conversation, Cronus lost someone he was trying to save with his Shinigami eyes, someone named Penelope. I'll have to replay this conversation a few more times on my phone to make sure I didn't miss anything but Oedipus is all about fate and using it to his advantage while Cronus is all about free will and breaking away from fate."

Knight sighed. "That means, when he saw that our children had no lifespan floating above their heads, he was having second thoughts because for the first time in a long time apparently, he was finally going to kill someone of his own free will but they happened to be children." Knight smiled. "But there's something he didn't realize." He looked at Iris and Kuroki with a hysterical smile on his face.

"Just because you can't see a person's lifespan doesn't mean they don't have one. Those with the Shinigami eyes only need to know the names and lifespans of their victims, not of their own kind. They're under the false assumption that Rain and ArchAngel don't have a predestined lifespan when in fact, they're wrong." An idea comes to him.

"When I say it like that, I actually thought of one way to break them: we have Rain and ArchAngel meet this Oedipus and Cronus once more but only after having them forfeit ownership of their Death Note. Once they realize they have a lifespan like anybody else, they'll be in despair and leave them alone."

"We could do that," Rain said. She held up a finger. "Except for a teeny tiny detail." She points to her eyes. "I traded half of the years remaining my lifespan to get my Shinigami eyes; I won't get a refund if I give up ownership."

"I wasn't going to let you," Iris said.

"Yeah," Knight agreed. "The idea sounded tempting but no, no point in getting rid of half of the years remaining in your lifespan for nothing."

Kuroki spoke up, "Why the Greek myths surrounding these guys?"

Knight pointed to Kuroki. "Good question. That guy we interrogated, who called himself Dionysus, said that everyone there has a Greek name based on a past crime they committed. He said that he had a drunk driving arrest or something while he pointed out that Ares was a war criminal."

He turns to his computer and pulls up Dionysus's real name. He found a result in less than two searches. "Yep. That's Dionysus, the same man." He pointed to a newspaper article about a man being arrested for drunk driving. He skimmed through it before flipping to another article and skimming through it. "According to these articles, Dionysus was arrested multiple times for killing people while intoxicated. Four people total."

"Interesting," Iris said. "And what about Ares? His real name was Jason Franco."

"Jason Franco," Knight repeated the name a few times as he pulled up a few search tabs and skimmed through a few articles. "Yep, Dionysus's description was spot-on; not only is Ares a war criminal, but he also single-handedly sparked two civil wars in Canada. They weren't big wars like with Russia and Ukraine so it wasn't a widely reported event. Not only that but he is a deserter of the Canadian army."

Knight stroked his chin as Archer finally delivered him his coffee. Knight put creamer and sugar inside before he asked a question that's been on his mind for a while.

"Did you guys happen to see anything noteworthy of their lifespans?"

Kuroki answered first, "Yes, based on their lifespans, they all would've lived a significant time had we not killed them with the Death Note."

"Everybody in the room had at least a decade or two left in them," Iris added.

"So Cronus and Oedipus recruit these people, knowing full well how long they're going to live, huh?" Knight took a sip of his coffee. "We eliminated all of them except four."

"Five," Archer reminded. "That giant guy that was chasing after me was gone when we got back to the rope trap."

Knight nodded. "Yep. One of the guys on the walkie-talkie called him Cerberus. The hellhound who guards the Underworld. Based on what we gathered, Cronus, Oedipus, Charon, Hermes, and Cerberus are the only ones alive." He smiled before setting his coffee cup down. "We're going to find them and we're going to kill them off, one by one if we have to."

Archer smiled. "I'm liking this already."

Rain sighed nonchalantly. "Typical Yagami family vacation. Five-star hotels, stateful of criminals to kill with the Death Note."

"How are we going to find where the Shinigami Eye Twins are?" Angel asked.

Knight thought about this question hard. He rested his elbows on his knees before grabbing his foam paper cup of coffee and taking a sip.

His hair and eyes turn a dark red color.

Cronus and Oedipus may be in hiding but we have the advantage of knowing about them but they don't know about us. We could use this to our advantage. Maybe we can manipulate a local news station to get them to call out their names. But there's no guarantee this will work because unlike other opponents I've tried this trick on, they don't have Death Notes and will have to communicate back in other ways.

Taking another sip of his coffee, he thought back to all the strategies used on his previous enemies. He thought back to the conversation Rain reenacted and used that as a basis for his plans.

Cronus wants to break away from fate and kill someone of his own free will while Oedipus wants money and to use the Shinigami eyes to benefit himself. They know Rain and ArchAngel's real names but aside from that, know nothing else about them. As for the massacre, I'm willing to bet they think they killed each other and not an act of Kira making them kill each other. They've gone into hiding and we have to draw them out but drawing them out will…

An idea crosses his mind. He smiles and took a big gulp of coffee. "Yeah, that idea sounds perfect."

Archer tilted his head. "Daddy's got a plan."

Rain added, "Yep, you know he's got a plan when he's smiling crazily."

Knight rotated in his chairs to Iris and Kuroki. "Cronus and Oedipus are gung ho about Rain and ArchAngel because they can't see their lifespans and are under the assumption they have the free will to do with as they please. It is the absence of lifespans that caused them to act in the first place."

Iris narrowed her eyes. "What's your plan, Knight?"

"One of us, preferably someone that doesn't have Shinigami eyes, give up ownership of our Death Note before handing it over to a news anchor, making them the owner of the notebook. We will get the world's attention by having Kira send a message to the broadcast station, telling everyone to watch. Everybody will be looking and listening to whatever story we fabricate but Cronus and Oedipus will be staring at the news anchor. Once they realize there is someone else out there with an absent lifespan, they'll go after him. They'll most likely send their guard dog Cerberus after him, kidnap him, and then take him back to their new hideout. All we gotta do is follow them to their hole, break in, and then kill them all."

"Holy shit," Archer cheered excitedly, "now that's a plan."

"Smart," Angel praised. "But… are we going to put an innocent person in danger?"

"It's gotta be someone, kiddo." He looked at his wife and friend. "What do you guys think?"

"They slapped Archer so I'm willing to kill them by any means so you can count me in," Iris answered with determination.

Kuroki held her head up and said, "I go where you go, my god and goddess."

Rain held her hands up in mock surrender. "Same."

Angel took his time to answer. "As long as it's not an innocent person we set up then yeah."

Archer was jumping up and down, saying, "I can't wait to get another shot at the dog man. He's going down; not upside-down but down-down."

With Cronus and Oedipus

The Mall

Starbucks was a good place to get coffee, that's what everybody in this part of the town thought. Los Angeles was a popular place in California, literally the first thing most people think of when someone says California. When Cronus and Oedipus got here, they thought that Sacramento would be a big deal but it's always Los Angeles this or Los Angeles that.

It didn't matter; they weren't native to California and they were here in a Starbucks cafe only for the coffee. The twins sat in a corner booth where no one would be able to hear them and they sipped their coffees carefully with their masks off.

Cronus ordered a black coffee with whip cream while Oedipus pleasured himself with an frappe with whip cream and sprinkles.

Charon, Hermes, and Cerberus sat in another booth and drank whatever coffee order they got.

"It's been a month, brother," Oedipus said. "You got to stop dwelling on the Yagami children. We need to head to our second location. Either Olympus or the Labyrinth, I don't care; I want my income back."

"The children escaped," Cronus said simply, "and our kind slaughtered each other."

"Wow, didn't know you were sentimental enough to call criminals in our employment our kind."

"Oedipus, I've told you time and again and I'll say it once more: it was Kira who attacked."

Oedipus rolled his eyes. "What makes you say that?"

"Think about it; only those who had their masks off resorted to killing each other. Aeacus didn't have his mask on, he died. Everyone who shot each other had their mask off and died. Not only that but they were standing in front of the camera's field of vision, meaning anybody who got to Aeacus could see what was going on."

"Anything else you base this on?"

"Hmm, what else?" He tapped his chin. "Oh right, the itsy-bitsy fact that Kira has been confirmed to be able to kill people by simply looking at their faces? Kira may have been a big shot in Japan and-" He stopped after realizing something. "Reign, Ark, and Jewel are Japanese."

Oedipus shrugged. "So?"

"I think they have something to do with Kira."

"Again, you're pulling this assumption out of your ass. What more tells you that Kira is the one that attacked us?"

"One more time: everybody who was not wearing their mask was shooting each other dead. Ares and his crew were all wearing masks but when they took an elevator ride up, they all died with their masks off. I went back and checked after we escaped out the backway and I could find no bullet holes or anything to indicate that what killed them was an outside intervention. I checked their pulses; none of them had beating hearts."

"And?"

"They just dropped dead, no explanation at all, and Kira's calling card is heart attacks and he's been reported to be able to control people to an extent. Maybe Kira was there in the Underworld and he was manipulating our men to kill each other. Then when we sent Ares up to the elevator, Kira ambushed them and after removing their masks, he killed them with heart attacks."

He made a fist but calmed himself down after taking a sip of his coffee. "When you think about it, this all started after Rook brought in those three little monsters from Japan. As I've said, Kira is Japanese because L confirmed to the world that Kira is a native of Japan with that Lind L. Tailor trick."

Oedipus put his drink down. "So what you're saying is, these three kids are connected to Kira?"

"They're Japanese, they have no lifespans when viewed with our super-eyes, they escaped during the riot, and they were above ground when Ares and his crew died."

Oedipus put his cup down before looking at his brother. "And don't forget that other detail you told me: none of the guys who killed themselves in the Underworld were scheduled to die that day. Everybody had at least one or two more decades to live, which is why we recruited them in the first place."

Cronus's eyes widened; he completely forgot about that. "Does that mean you're starting to believe my theory?"

"It does have some weight to it and it made me remember something. When I was surfing the web for some people to kill, some of their names and lifespans vanished before my eyes. When I converted the numbers to human time, they all died prematurely. I've seen Kira kill people with heart attacks on days people were not predestined to die."

"Wow," Cronus said in awe. "When you put it like that…"

"Kira has the power to kill people prematurely."

Cronus smiled. "So, there is a way to break fate?" He looked up at his brother, all the despair previously within him suddenly vanishing. "Are you telling me that Kira has the ability to kill people whenever he wants? No fate or destiny hindering him?"

Oedipus nodded. "Yep."

"Oh my god. Do you know what this means?"

Oedipus narrowed his eyes. "I can see where you're going with this, brother; you want Kira's power, right?"

"I do, oh yes, I do." He clenched his fists as he felt his heart start beating in his chest. "I have to know if there was something I could've done to save Penelope. If I can kill people when I want, then I can save the life of people predestined to die, right?"

"It depends on the circumstances leading to their predestined death but yeah, I'm sure you can save someone."

Cronus smiled once more and let his head drop. He looked back at his brother with a soft smile on his face. "Oedipus…"

Oedipus put a hand on his brother's. "I want to restart my empire, you want to break fate. I think we both benefit from going after Kira."

"Yes," he hissed. "We do and with our super-eyes, we will use them to our advantage. We're going to find the Yagami children once more and we'll steal Kira's power."

Oedipus licked his lips eagerly. "This is going to be so much fun, brother."