Death Note
AU! From the middle of Chapter 53 and up Did Not Happen (Like That)
Spoilers up to Chapter 40
Part 5 of Road Not Taken
Aber and Weddie were still in Japan; when their presence had been required once more, L (or rather, Watari) had no difficulties in contacting them. In just two hours, they stood behind L at his desk, where he once more crouched on his chair, over-sugared tea cooling in a cup near to hand.
"Another job for us, L? That was quick." Aber rolled his shoulders under his jacket, likely to settle it more comfortably. He'd been located in a lady's house, and while he'd been told he could take his time with her, he'd returned to the headquarters with some haste - or so it seemed, as his shirt was on inside out. The tag glinted on a security monitor to L's left.
"We don't have much time," L said, eyes fixed on his computer screen. "It's in two more days."
"What's in two days, boss?" Weddie had been at a sumo event. L had never quite understood the sport, himself - not that he'd tried. From the sounds, she had removed her hat and was fluffing her hair.
"The execution."
Silence from behind him, then Aber spoke. "Kira?"
L nodded, placing his hands on his knees, and swiveled his chair to face the two criminals. "Yes. Or rather, Raito." He reached behind himself for his tea. "It's a waste."
Aber glanced over at Weddie, then back to L, fabric rustling as he shifted from foot to foot. "...Whatever you say. I'm not going to ask questions. What do you need me to do?"
L stood and walked over to the printer, gathering up a pile of papers, his movements slow and careful. "Study these. This is the data of the night guard they have on Raito's cell; there are clips of his voice and movement on the disc in the CD drive of the last computer in the row. It is fortunate that he resembles his foreign parent more than his Japanese one; you two will look sufficiently alike that minor makeup will be enough to fool most Japanese." He looked over his shoulder at Aber. "I know acting is not your calling, but it is required for your cons; I know you can do this. Tomorrow evening, you will replace the guard as he leaves his home to travel to work. While on duty, you will place a knockout drug in Yagami Raito's water, then, using the security system data Weddie will collect tonight to avoid being seen, bring him to the designated place. After that... we will see."
"Then I guess I know what I'm doing," Weddie said cheerfully. "I'll get started."
"Thank you." L slouched over to Aber and handed him the papers. "Both of you. Weddie, I will have another task for you after you have finished scouting the prison block where Yagami-kun is held - we will talk about it later."
"What will you be doing?" Aber took the papers and began to read through them.
L's hands disappeared into his pockets. "Planning." He shuffled back to his computer and folded himself into the chair.
On waking, Raito reflected that he should have realized that the water was drugged. The flavour had been off, but he had simply chalked it up to nerves. After all, being scheduled to die in the morning for crimes you didn't remember committing was enough to put any sane human off their feed. Raito wasn't sure he was sane, but he was apparently close enough for the insanity plea his highly unenthusiastic lawyer had put in to be void.
Wherever he was, it was dark. He was restrained - handcuffs, how familiar - and sitting in a chair. It was too dark to make out the walls, but he could guess that he was likely in the middle of the room. It would make sense. There was no noise in the background; no hum of cars from a nearby road, no sounds of life from rooms around.
It was so quiet, in fact, that he heard clearly when footsteps approached, and a door slid open. Strong footsteps strode into the room behind Raito, a beam of light from outside the door shining around him, silhouetting him on the floor. His shadow was soon drowned out by that of the person who had entered, approaching him from behind without a word.
There was some thing familiar about the shape of the shadow, and Raito frowned.
"Raito-kun," the person - a man, from the voice - behind him said mildly. "You look well. I am sorry for having you drugged, but it was easier to get you here disguised as luggage than it would have been letting you walk out."
Raito remained silent, head hanging down as though asleep still. The voice nagged at his mind - he knew it, he knew he did. He kept his breathing still and even, hoping the other would speak again.
"Ah. Well, Raito-kun, there's something I want to ask you. Do you want to die tomorrow?" The voice was right behind him now, and he still couldn't place it. It seemed like it should be as familiar to him as his own, but the sound of the steps was unfamiliar, the shadow on the floor...
The shadow on the floor! In it, his visitor's hair looked as though it had been slept on and never brushed. But the shoulders were straight, no trace of slouching, and the shadow seemed to belong to someone taller than he remembered, unless that were a trick of the light. Raito's eyes narrowed. Ryuuzaki had never stood straight. Was someone trying to trick him? Who?
No, impossible. L's appearance was a closely kept secret. He, his father, Aizawa-san, Matsuda-san, Mogi-san, Aber, Weddie, and Watari - they were the only ones who knew, and according to L, all could be trusted, even the two - no, three - criminals. Misa didn't know that "Ryuuzaki" was truly L, despite all her time in the investigation headquarters.
This had to be L. "Why?"
Silence. Then, "You have a choice, Raito-kun. You can die tomorrow for Kira's sins - or you can live for them, and for Raito-kun's future. I leave it up to you. If you want to live..." Long, pale fingers reached around into Raito's line of view, holding a tiny object. "If you choose to live, take this in your mouth. Tomorrow, bite down and swallow it as you are given the first injection. If you choose to die - take it anyways. You might change your mind."
"Why, L?"
"Raito-kun can do far more than die," L answered, and his fingers pressed the capsule into Raito's mouth.
The outside of the capsule tasted bitter, but the fingers holding it were salty and sweet. It was only after they withdrew that it registered on Raito - the taste of the capsule was identical to the flavour of the water he had drunk earlier, simply more concentrated. Raito used his tongue to tuck the capsule between his molars and the upper side of his mouth for safekeeping, and waited for the darkness to take him again.
When he reawoke, he was back in his cell, with morning light creeping palely in through the tiny window high on his wall.
Morning.
No more time to decide.
"Raito-kun, you did not really think we could simply make you vanish entirely, did you?" With careful makeup lightening the enormous black bags under L's eyes, his wide stare was somehow even more disconcerting. The uniform he wore did nothing to help, though the way his hair stuck out from all around his hat detracted from the image.
"But... it's someone else's corpse! That's disrespectful!" Raito hissed under his breath to L, sliding his own uniform hat on.
"He was a vagrant, Raito," L said, voice reasonable. "A John Doe in a city morgue. It is the same if he is cremated in your place as if he is cremated as a nameless statistic. Now come, the time for the janitors to be here is past, and the patrol will come through soon."
"I can't believe this," Raito muttered, picked up his mop, and followed L.
On his way out the door of the prison morgue, he bumped into a suit-clad older man, hair beginning to streak with silver. Mumbling an apology, Raito moved to go around the man when he realized the fellow was staring at him.
Then it registered, slowly perhaps because of the silver hair that had not been there just a few weeks before; the man was Yagami Souichirou, come to claim his son's ashes.
Two steps ahead of Raito, L reached back and grabbed the younger Yagami's arm, pulling him loose from the shock.
Somehow, they made it to the car where Watari waited without the stirring of an uproar beginning behind them. Safely behind tinted windows, L removed his cap and began to scrub away the makeup on his face.
"He saw..."
"He saw a janitor with hair the color of his son's," L said firmly. "There is a 75 chance that he will dismiss what he saw, when ashes are presented to him as yours."
"And if he doesn't?" Raito asked.
"Then there is a 12 chance he will report your escape immediately, an 11 chance he will wait to see if the Kira murders begin again before reporting it, and a 2 chance that he will keep quiet entirely." L twisted in his seat to look at Raito. "The murders will not begin again..."
"Definitely not," Raito said quickly.
"...And so there is effectively a 13 chance that if he does not accept that the ashes he is given are yours, your father will never say a word. That leaves only a 12 chance of your escape becoming known."
"Like there was a 1 chance of me being Kira, 'Ryuuka'?" Raito asked, voice amused.
"Exactly," L confirmed.
