Chapter 30:
"From L With Love"
Rue/Beyond Birthday was pissed at himself for getting roped into Alexandre Morat's sadistic game. He wanted to kill Light Yagami so badly for his role in L's death that he was blinded to a more serious threat.
Even before he kidnapped Yagami and Amane as an introduction to himself and brought them to that warehouse, he knew Alexandre was out to get him. He was issued a threat that he knew could only come from his former mate at Wammy House, whom he knew was still alive. But Rue foolishly ignored it.
Presently, there was a piece of the puzzle he was missing here. Alexandre had plenty of opportunities to end the game, but he kept pushing the envelope—playing to a thematic consistency of entertainment.
What was it that Ryuk had said? The guy isn't who you think he is. Hawkes, Raven's twin sister, had been working with him, but Alexandre needed money to finance to construct his escape rooms. And now he knew the Evangelist was Alex's banker, who was a very dangerous man to play with.
Not only that but Rue suspected the Evangelist had a Death Note and a Shinigami.
Beyond Birthday had the "Shinigami Eyes", but could a god of death hide from those eyes?
He looked at Ryuk, Yagami's tall, lanky, gothic looking Shinigami with a jewelry fetish, and wondered if Ryuk could see another Shinigami that he wasn't revealing?
"Shinigami," Rue said, "tell me the truth, does Alexandre have a Death Note?"
Light Yagami's brow rose as if he had never considered it. He turned a sharp eye to Ryuk. "Well, answer."
Ryuk mused with a finger to his chin. "Not that I'm aware," he said, sounding truthful. "We Shinigami can detect if other gods of death are lurking about. Even if another was about, watching us, I'd know. But you have the Shinigami Eyes, Beyond Birthday, so if a second Shinigami was here, you'd see him, right?"
Rue eyed the god suspiciously, but he wondered if something was indeed blocking his Shinigami Eyes. Yagami's name and lifespan floated above his head. This proved Yagami was not the owner of a Death Note, yet he had touched one, seeing Ryuk. And despite Misa Amane owning it, Light was in charge.
"You said there was something different about him," BB said to Ryuk. "What did you mean by that?"
Ryuk appeared look beyond BB. He paused. "Nah, I was just blabbering."
Rue detected deception, the moment pause was indicative if this. But he saw nothing, not even a Shinigami if Ryuk was lying. But was there something outside his realm of 'second sight'?
He once had a partner who dwelled in the field of the supernatural and used techniques in attempt to duplicate an out of body experience*. With his Shinigami Eyes, he helped his ally collect his victims before the incident with L in Los Angeles.
(*See story: "Locked-In")
But this situation seemed very different. He couldn't explain the feeling, however.
Light said, "Ryuk, why are you lying to us? That's it! No more games! This is a matter of life and death."
Rue looked around, eying the entire seemingly, empty room. He confirmed nothing, no other Shinigami.
Ryuk stood next to a wall, and Rue looked the Shinigami over for any other signs of further deceptive body language. But detecting it from a humans was next to impossible. But he knew the god of death was hiding something, he just didn't know what.
"Now, now…" came Alexandre's voice from a speaker. "Stop hounding the poor Shinigami."
Just then, a door slid open at the far end of the room, and Alexandre stood as a silhouette in the threshold, basked by a bright light. He had his hands in his pockets and was slightly hunched over.
"This is the last room," he said. "And unlike the others, I thought I'd settle for something a little more down to the earth. Get it?" Alexandre gave a slight buoyant chuckle. "It's the final element."
Rue didn't hesitate and ran at Alexandre, but he smashed right into a seemingly invisible wall and bounced off. He staggered back and felt his forehead, then planted his hands on what was a transparent separator divider, feeling the absolutely flawless surface. It reached from wall to wall, like a barrier.
He pounced his fists on it. The wall kept BB from getting to his enemy. "You bastard! Fight me! Stop cowering in the shadows!"
As if only a courtesy, Alexandre stepped out into the light.
Rue gasped.
"Oh my god," Light voiced, approaching, he came to stand next to Beyond Birthday.
Alexandre wore a long sleeve, loose, white shirt with blue jeans, and no shoes—stocking feet—and his hair was dyed black, and was frazzled about. For all intended purposes, he looked exactly like L.
Light Yagami frowned angrily. "How dare you!"
"How dare I what?" Alexandre said with a smirk. "I am L's successor, after all. I'm just now fitting into the role I was born to play. I'm L now. Nevertheless, all who knew L must die. It will be a rebirth, of sorts. The Kira Task Force's deaths will be blamed on Kira. You did plan on killing them? Am I correct, Light Yagami? Sacrifices must be made. Allow me to finish the job. Just call it From L With Love." He chuckled."
Light banged on the transparent wall and swore profusely. "You don't have fucking the right!"
"You are no longer in control, I am!" Alexandre retorted. "Your efforts are much too slow, Yagami. I will begin to make Kira's World a reality. I'll kill Misa Amane and take the Death Note, then I'll use it for my own wills and desires." He shrugged. "Not that I actually need one."
Rue's brow rose with this revelation. Did Alex just confirm he had a Death Note?
"You'll ruin everything I've built!" Light shouted disdainfully.
"On the contrary, I'll make the world even better. L is known as the greatest detective alive, but he remained stagnate with only working on the Kira Case until his death. I'll finish it for him and reveal the identity of Kira before the entire world. But it won't be you I'll unveil, Light Yagami. Oh, no…"
Light said, "What does he mean?" to BB.
"He means me," Rue said through clenched teeth. "He'll kill you, kill the Kira Task Force, blame it all on Kira, and then claim I've been Kira all along in some twisted fabricated plot. And people will believe him, will believe L. Killing two birds with one stone, get his revenge on me, and assume his role as L."
Alexandre shrugged. "Some would say that's diabolical, I'd say it's pure genius," he said, with a laugh. "And since, Rue, you already have a reputation for brutality and psychopathic behaviour, the profile would fit. The entire world will see you for you really are—a lying, murderous serial murderer."
"And I'll be nothing but an afterthought," Light added with a sneer. He swore again.
Alexandre looked at Light. "Oh, fret not, Light Yagami," he said, "your contributions will not be forgotten. You'll be exposed as Kira's partner. I mean, Kira's ability will need to be explained—corporally, of course—and Kira's accessibility to collect the names of all those criminals and law enforcement personnel you killed, revealed. A police officer in cahoots with Kira's? Truly scandalous! And it'll also damage the reputation of the police force. Another bonus! It'll also bring into question the Kira Task Force's involvement, and everyone on the team will be denounced, and perhaps even arrested for allying themselves with Kira. What a delicious thought!" Alexandra laughed. He continued, "The Death Note must be kept a secret, I'm sure you both understand that premise," he concluded.
"You bastard!" Light said. "You'll ruin everyone's lives! They're all innocent people."
"You speak of innocent people? How many 'innocent' people of you killed as Kira? Countless," Alexandre stated. "So, it's much too late to play the high and moral ground."
Alexander laughed again. "You see, I've thought of everything. All the loopholes shut tight."
BB hammered against the transparent glass, kicking it. "You're a dead man, Alexandre!"
"Call me L, everyone else soon will," Alexandre said, with a laugh. "It's time to bring your best foot forward. The previous three rooms were mere child's play. This is the beginning of the now!"
"We refuse to play in your pathetic deadly games, Alex!" Rue spat.
"Oh…but you don't have no choice, my dear, Rue," Alexandre said. "There are two doors in this final stage, one behind me, and the other behind you. It's an exit to a stairwell out of his building. We're one floor adjacent to the roof, where there is an awaiting helicopter—the same I used to escape from he hospital. In order to escape this room, you'll have to decipher clues to unlock other puzzles that will eventually give you numbers you'll need collect to give you the four digit passcode to unlock the door."
Light and Rue both looked at the door behind them and say an electronic pin pad on the wall.
"What clues?" Rue asked, turning back. "There's nothing here."
"That's because you're not looking hard enough. The very first clue is only yours to find, Rue, with your 'Shinigami Eyes', so Yagami will have to depend on you to kick start the little swaray. But it will only be revealed to you after you 'Blindly See' through the fog of your indecision."
"Only revealed after I 'Blindly See' through the fog of my indecision?" Rue repeated puzzled.
"It could have something to do with your Shinigami Eyes, BB?" Light suggested. "That, somehow, you lack clarity. That, you're not seeing something beyond your second sight."
"Thank's for stating the obvious," Rue said condescendingly. But what? Was Rue's next question.
But there was nothing inside this room that presented any clues for his 'Eyes' to see. He felt indecisive and he hated not being in control. It was like a fog had clouded his mindset, and Alexandre knew this. Alex was smart, but he didn't have the ability to read minds now, did he?
With the existence of the Death Note, anything was possible.
He grunted under his breath with frustration, trying to figure out what Alex meant. All of sudden, he moved slightly aside, and looked behind Ryuk—something was glowing on the wall. The Shinigami had been standing in front of it. He pushed the god of death out of the way, and stood before it.
On the wall, was the mathematical symbol for PI accompanied by the power of 12. It was glowing with some special red ether.
Light approached. "What is it? What do you see?"
Light's eyes darted about, he couldn't see it. N
No doubt, Rue figured, it was only meant for him to "Blindly See" with his "Eyes".
"You can't see it?" he asked Light, despite knowing the answer.
Light shook his head. "What do you see?" Light looked at Ryuk. "Can you see something?"
Ryuk nodded. "It wasn't here when we first came in," the god of death said, looking at it. "He manifested it, somehow." Ryuk pointed at Alexandre. "I don't know how."
That confirmed it for Rue, Alexandre was in cahoots with another entity. It was if the clue had been timed to appear when Alexandra wanted it, so not to give away anything away until the perfect moment.
"I'm the only one in the dark here," Light said annoyed.
Rue turned to Light. "You won't be able to see it unless you have the Shinigami Eyes," he said. "However, I'm not sure what it means. I may need your help here."
Ryuk chuckled under his breath. "Ready to make that deal for the Eyes, Light? You could've had them from the beginning, but you said no. They could come in handy."
Light gave Ryuk and irksome stare. "I said no, Ryuk. I'm not going to give up half my lifespan. Describe it to me, and I'll help in whatever way that I can," he told Beyond Birthday.
"It's the mathematical symbol for PI to the power of 12," Beyond Birthday explained.
Light nodded, obviously thinking. "Okay, that's easy enough to figure out. But why twelve?"
Rue mused momentarily. Something about the Number 12 gave him pause. And then, he had it. H frowned. "Because it's the number of people Raven killed to get Kira's attention." He eyed Alex. "Alex has been watching me, and metaphorically speaking, he's always wanted a piece of my 'pie'."
Alexandre seemed to laugh to himself. "A little joke, I know. But I couldn't help myself."
"But it's not a joke, is it? I know you, even better than yourself, Alex."
"You will refer to me as L," the other said matter-of-flatly.
But Rue refused. He turned back to Light. "This is a clue to a riddle, the first of many I bet," he said. "It had allusion when it came to my actions with you, but it has a double entendre because it also refers back to when Alex and I were in Wammy House, to a 'Simple Simon' nursery rhyme we were taught."
Ryuk humphed under his breath, and asked, "What nursery rhyme?"
Light shook his head. "I haven't heard of it either," he said.
Rue signed, thinking. "Being Japanese, you may not be familiar with it, it's a cultural thing," he said. "I won't recite it all, only the first two verses are needed. The verses are from an Elizabethan chapbook in a ballad called 'Simple Simon's Misfortunes and his Wife Margery's Cruelty' written approximately in 1685." He cleared his throat. Then quoted:
"Simple Simon met a pieman,
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
Let me taste your ware.
Says the pieman to Simple Simon,
Show me first your penny;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
Indeed I have not any."
"He's wants us to make restitution for passage to continue on," Beyond Birthday said.
"Like in Greek mythology, whereas the deceased was to pay the ferryman a coin to be carried into the Underworld across the River Styx?" Light wondered. "He's wants money?"
"Simpleton," Alex scoffed. "Is this guy really a genius?"
Rue waved Light off, ignoring Alex's remark. "How deep does your knowledge go into Greek mythology?"
"The basics," Light admitted. "It's not my field of expertise."
Rue nodded. "Like I said before, what I don't know—I learn. But money isn't what Alex wants. And this clue is to make us think outside the box. It's actually very simple, like Simple Simon."
Rue bit at a finger nail, then spit on the floor.
Light's mouth opened. "That's disgusting! Why did you do that?"
The PI symbol blinked, and all of sudden, two large panels opened up in the wall—splitting the PI symbol in half. It opened up into another room, dimly lit.
"Parfait, my dear, Rue!" Alex kissed two fingers with his lips in a French praise. "Oh, Rue…You truly are a genius among men. A simple-minded dullard like Light Yagami would never be able to figure it out."
Rue grunted irked.
Light looked at Rue, and said, "I don't understand." Light truly looked lost.
"A Charon's Obol (in ancient Greece) is one of several currencies that can be earned within the underworld, coins are normally placed over the eyes of the dead for the ferryman," Beyond Birthday explained. "You were right about payment, in that respect. These coins can then be used to purchase various items—in the Underworld." Rue paused. "Unlike other currencies, the deceased will lose all of his Obols when he dies. That leaves the deceased with one, according to legend." Rue took a breath. "An obol is one-sixth the value of a drachma, another ancient Greek currency. The first silver obols were minted in Aegina, most likely sometime after 600 BCE. Previously, the unit of currency was iron cooking-spits. One obol became the equivalent of one spit."
Light seemed to grasp the meaning. "So, because we don't have any tangible money, you offered one 'spit'. I admit, I would never have put that connection together."
Rue nodded. "Now you're catching on. Alex likes to play mind games, remember?"
"Oh," Ryuk said. "Colour me impressed. Well, Light, it looks like you have some competition here. This guy could even be smarter than you." The god of death chuckled.
Beyond Birthday produced the thin smile.
To be continued...
