AN: Writing this straight after the last one so not much information to share :)
Although here's a sad fact for you all. Light killed Raye just 4 days before his birthday. Dick move Light, you couldn't have waited an extra five?
Chapter 13: The Ghost becomes Flesh
It was early the next morning, when Mr Yagami called a meeting with the task force.
"We now know, that Kira doesn't just target criminals." Admitted Mr Yagami.
"He'll kill anyone who opposes him. It's quite possible that we may all be killed by Kira." he paused.
"Please think of your own lives, your families and all the others you'd be leaving behind. If anyone wants to leave this investigation, now is the time. You won't be demoted if you choose not to stay. You have my word." He promised.
"But if you are not absolutely sure, then we don't need have to be willing to fight against him, even if that means making the ultimate sacrifice."
"That is all." He said, dismissing his men.
…
"Oh, yeah. That's him, all right." Said the bus driver.
"There's no doubt about it. I remember him because he told us to get down. But I don't really remember any of the other passengers." He admitted.
"I see." Considered Naomi Misora.
"Well, thanks for talking with me, anyway. I appreciate it."
…
"Where the hell, did we put it Ide?!" Yelled Aizawa, as he looked through the piles of 'irrelevant' kira evidence.
They were just lucky, they weren't allowed to throw any of it away.
"I don't know! But if we don't find a copy of it soon, there's no way the chief will believe us!" He replied, as he also scrambled through the evidence.
"We're running out of time." Said Mogi, looking at the clock.
"Keep looking, we've only got so long."
"Found em!" Said Ide, grabbing onto about twenty of the original letters.
"Nice work." Said Aizawa, shuffling back the papers.
"That paper could give us all the answers."
…
Rose woke up feeling sick, and dizzy. She couldn't place it, but something was making her feel terrible.
And when she turned on the TV, she had her answer.
It had already gotten out, that the FBI agents had been killed in Japan.
She'd failed.
Rosey had promised herself, that she wouldn't get too bothered by it, but her eyes were still a little puffy, and her heart a little heavy.
"I really wish I could do better." she murmured out loud.
Why wasn't she good enough?Why couldn't she do anything useful?
Sometimes she wished, she DID have Light's intelligence, or L's connections, because she needed to be brilliant, if she wanted to save these people, and she just wasn't.
Rosemary NEEDED L, she couldn't save anyone on her own.
At times it felt like she was worthless.
She sniffed, and smiled slightly.
"Well at least they'll probably meet up with me soon." She reasoned, at least there was a small brightside.
Though right now, she wished her prediction hadn't come true, at all.
…
"Five men, huh. Well six, including myself." Said Soichiro, counting the remaining men.
"Still I'm grateful to see there are as many as five of you willing to risk your lives to face evil."
"That fact you've chosen to stay means you have a strong sense of justice." Said L
"I trust all of you."
"Ha, h-hold on a second." Said Aizawa.
"L just said that he's decided to trust us now, but honestly what reason do we have to trust him?"
"Look, L. All of us have agreed to put our lives at risk to bring Kira to justice. So I hope you understand what this means. We were really sticking' our necks out here." Said Ide, firmly.
"But you never have to show your face, do you?" Continued Aizawa.
"You just give the orders. I don't see how you can expect us to work alongside you under those conditions."
"L." Interrupted Mr Yagami.
"If all of us are going to work together on this investigation, and if you truly meant what you said about trusting the six of us, could you come here so we can all meet in person."
"The thought had already crossed my mind." Admitted L, as he took a sip of coffee off screen.
"I mean, after all I did say that I trusted all of you."
…
Rose had gotten dressed, though she struggled at first. She just felt so weak, and woozy. Was all the stress, and worry finally getting to her?
She eventually managed to make her way downstairs, and began eating breakfast in the hotel caféteria.
If there's one thing Rosemary had learned since being here, it was that no one noticed a missing pain au chocolat, or two.
But, now what did she do?
She wasn't going to meet the taskforce til tomorrow at least, and that was only IF they did make the connection, between her letters early on.
It was probably for the best, that it wasn't til tomorrow though, she just felt so, so unwell today.
…
The task force had arrived in separate groups, and were finally all present in the hotel, L had specified.
They all walked across the twelve floor, until they were right outside of L's room.
Mr Yagami, cautiously knocked on the door.
"Please come in." Said L. "The door's unlocked."
As everyone entered the room, they were shocked at the man in front of them.
His eyes were ringed with black, his skin was unusually pale, and his back was slightly crooked.
"I am L." He said simply, as he scratched his leg with the back of his foot.
The policemen remained frozen.
…
"Please. I need to speak directly with someone for the special investigation task force. It's urgent." Pleaded Naomi.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't help you." Said the receptionist.
"As I've told you already, there's no one at task force headquarters right now."
'There's no one at headquarters?' Wondered Light, as he checked his phone.
'Dad's cell is turned off. What's going on?'
"Can't you contact them somehow?" She begged again.
"I have information relating to the Kira investigation."
'The Kira investigation?' Considered Light.
"Look, I'll call headquarters one more time for you. One moment." Said the receptionist, as he dialed the phone.
"Excuse me." said Light, as he addressed Naomi.
"I think, I might be able to help you with that."
…
"Hang on what evidence do you have that he's working alone? Didn't you say we should consider an accomplice?" Yelled Aizawa.
The task force well into it's meeting by now.
"Hold on, Aizawa. Let's listen to his entire theory before asking questions." Insisted Soichiro, raising his hand to Aizawa.
"We know he needs a name and a face to kill, and to some extent he can control a victim's time of death and their actions before dying." Said L, seemingly ignoring them.
"And as for an 'accomplice' I think it's much more likely at this point that whatever hindered Kira early on, wasn't someone who wanted to assist him."
"Please keep that in mind, and listen carefully to what I have to say next." He said as he took out a marker pen.
…
'Wait a minute.' Realised Rose, whose head was beginning to clear.
If Raye was dead, then that meant.
"Naomi's in danger." said Rosemary.
Rose had almost forgotten, she'd been so focussed on trying to get them to live, she hadn't considered the rest of the tale; and she was just so ill this morning she'd, well she had to move! She had to help her.
She quickly turned to the clock on the wall.
Shit! It was already 3pm! Who knew how much time she had left?
Rosie, quickly shoved her jacket back on, before running out the door, and heading towards the other side of the city, towards the police station.
After barely two minutes though, she found herself panting, as her supernatural speed seemed to be failing her.
"Why - am - s-so tired- urgh?" Panted Rose, after only a couple of miles.
This hadn't been an issue for her previously.
Had she really exhausted herself searching for L? Why did she feel so sick? What was wrong? Had she worried herself too much?
Or perhaps, maybe…
Was she becoming mortal?
'I don't have time for this.' Thought Rosemary, impatiently.
She looked around, quickly.
What was the quickest way to the other side of the city?
'Of course! the tube!' She realized, noticing the nearest underground.
'I just hope I get to her first.' Thought Rosie, as she sprinted towards the entrance. A hand on her forehead to calm, her returning headache.
…
"So, does anyone have any questions?" Asked L, after finishing his theory.
Aizawa, Mogi, and Ide looked at one another.
"Not so much a question." Said Aizawa.
"But we believe someone out there, may have important information on kira"
The other member's eyes widened.
"Aizawa, what do you mean?" Asked Soichiro, in confusion.
"About a week before the FBI agents were killed we received a warning." Said Mogi.
"At first we took it as a joke, albeit an elaborate one, but…"
"Someone left us with about 40 letters; all containing the same message, and details." Elaborated Ide.
"And all of them stated that FBI agents, investigating the police, would die on the 27th"
"What?!" Yelled Soichiro "Why didn't you mention it earlier?"
"We didn't want to come forward without the letter." Explained Aizawa.
"We just filed it away with the others, it took hours to find again."
L looked at them in contemplation.
"Do you have a copy of this letter with you?" Asked L.
"Oh yeah." Said Mogi, opening up his case, and removing the twenty copies they'd recovered.
"Tons."
L held them up to his face, two at a time.
"Interesting." Said L.
"What's interesting?" Asked Mr Yagami.
"These are handwritten, yet there's no sign of fingerprints." Stated L, as he looked them over.
"Not even in the Ink smudges." he observed.
"Doesn't that mean they don't want to get caught?" Asked Matsuda, confused.
L continued to look at the papers.
"If that was their concern they would have typed them, or emailed the police." He said.
"We'll have to analyse these for DNA." He concluded, putting them back in the case.
"Who handed these into the Police force? Does anyone know?" Asked L.
"That's the thing." Said Aizawa.
"They arrived in a bag that was left by reception, without anyone seeing the owner. We think the bag was stolen, since it contained a woman's ID, Wallet, and Keys, but when she came to pick it up, she swore that she had no clue how it got there, and her friend's vouched for her having been out of town, the day we got it." He continued.
L bit his thumb in contemplation.
"I want you to check the security cameras, for that day." Said L.
"In the meantime, we'll need a volunteer to meet this man at 12pm tomorrow; given that the messages are all in English, I think it's safe to assume they don't have a great understanding of Japanese." Said L.
"Hang on L-I mean Ryuzaki, isn't that a bit assuming? I mean couldn't they have chosen English to stop others reading it? Heh" Asked Matsuda.
L glanced at him.
"Hmm no, I don't believe in this instance it'd be wise to assume that." said L.
"Pay attention to the notes. They were written quickly, and in a small amount of time; if they could write Kanji, as their primary they probably would have used that instead, so the police could read it straight away." He explained.
"Besides given that these letters contain a prediction, and not anything pertaining to Kira himself, there's no real reason for the author to hide the contents from the public." Said L, as he began looking over the notes again.
'Oh.' Realised L, as he looked over the pages.
'Whoever wrote this used the British way of spelling.'
That wasn't an unusual way of spelling mind you, but more countries than not, used the American, which increased the Likelihood this man was european, or from a former colony.
It helped narrow it down, which was incredibly useful.
"Back to the question at hand, who should meet up with this person." He asked the group.
"I'll go" said Mogi. "My English, should be good enough to get through a conversation
L nodded.
"We'll be sure to monitor the conversation. Now if that's settled, there's something I'd like to give you all."
…
"Ah so, if you don't mind my asking, why do you keep checking your watch?" asked Naomi, in puzzlement.
"Oh, well, I guess it's because...because I'm Kira." said Light, with a smirk.
Naomi froze.
"Oh?" Asked Light, sarcastically.
"What's the matter?"
"There's something I have to do." She mumbled
"Hm? My father's cell phone might be available now."
"Do you want to see if you can talk to him?" Asked Light with a smile, as he held out his own phone.
"No thank you. I have nothing to say to him." Murmured Naomi.
"Then, goodbye." Replied Light, still smirking.
"Naomi Misora."
…
'Urgh finally.' Thought Rose as she reached the station.
She quickly jumped over the ticket barrier, into the streets, then began rushing towards the Police station.
'Speed's still not back.' She noted, in between pants.
But at least the Police Station, was nearby.
Rosemary paused to catch her breath, before looking around the local park.
'No sign of Misora.' She realised.
"I'll check the station first." Decided Rosie, as she walked towards the building.
If she wasn't here by now, then there was a good chance Light had found her.
'Christ.' Thought Rose. 'I really can't get to anyone, on time can I?'
Rosemary checked the Police station; but all the taskforce members seemed absent, and Naomi was nowhere to be found.
'I'll check the park.' She decided, not giving up hope yet.
But the more she looked, the guiltier she felt.
How could she have forgotten Misora?
"I guess I was hoping that Raye would live." considered Rosemary. "I didn't want to think about the aftermath."
Rosie thought she'd prepared herself, for this kind of disappointment, but...maybe not.
Just as she was thinking this over, she noticed a woman, wearing black walk past a DBJ Bank.
'Could it be?' She hoped.
Rosemary gained a rush of adrenaline, and raced towards her, instinctively grabbing onto her jacket, to stop her moving forward.
She jolted back slightly, before just moving forward, as though possessed.
'Oh no.' Thought Rose.
Using both hands, she increased her efforts to stop her from moving forward; almost choking her with her collar.
"STOP!" Yelled Naomi suddenly.
Rosie stopped.
Naomi, reached her hand back, and pried Rosemary's frozen hands, from her clothes.
"Please." She murmured, through the sound of held back tears. "Just leave me alone."
Rose's arm fell limply to her side.
"Thank you." Mumbled Naomi, as she walked off, leaving Rose alone with her whirlwind of emotions.
Rosemary was still for a while.
Just staring off as Naomi, walked away to her demise.
"It's not my fault." Said Rose, trying to regain her composure.
"It's stupid to think otherwise, i'm just an ordinary person, it's not my job to save these people." She continued, sniffling.
Why was this so fucking hard to swallow?
Rose had dealt with friends who went through harsh junk themselves; Where they had family break apart, or relationships go awry, or friends do...well.
It was so much easier to tell other people it wasn't their fault.
But Rose didn't have time for this crap.
She couldn't just find a therapist to talk to, she had to get over this quickly.
"I still need to talk to the police tomorrow." She remembered.
Rose took a deep breath, and wiped the edges of her eyes.
Why did she feel so dizzy?
…
"That was too close for comfort" said Light as Ryuk floated alongside him.
"I can't afford to be that careless ever again".
Ryuk nodded slightly, not really paying attention to Light right now.
That had been a pretty entertaining exchange he had to admit.
But he wondered if Light hadn't shot himself in the foot with that one again?
He missed Rosie, she was cool.
"Ryuk are you even listening?" Asked Light, slightly ignored at being ignored, even if it was by the Shinigami.
"Huh? Sure, blah, blah, can't screw up, right?" Asked Ryuk.
Light rolled his eyes.
"Sometimes I wonder why I bother talking to you." Said Light, before he started ignoring Ryuk back.
They both kept walking past the train station, until Light suddenly froze.
Ryuk turned his head.
"What's with you Light? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Indeed Light did look pasty, and his strong sense of control, was fighting against an instinctual chill, that was ravaging his body, as he gazed upon Rosa in a crowd of train commuters.
How was this possible?
"Ro-R-Rosa." Stuttered Light, as he started to calm down his breathing. He was imagining it surely, there was no way that he could be seeing her. She was always invisible, and he couldn't see her without her help.
But it looked so distinctly like her.
Pale face, brown hair, and a vision in blue. It felt like there was no one in the world, that could match her distinct image.
Ryuk turned his head to indeed see the young woman slip into the underground.
Was it really her?
She looked a little more fleshy than he remembered? Then again it'd been a month or so, he could be remembering wrong.
"Huh, imagine that." He commented casually. "Didn't think we'd see her again hey? He He HA."
Ryuk did wonder how she managed to pull that one off, she must be something special alright.
Light was taking this less casually.
'This is bad. If she's back then she could know that I tried to get rid of her. Hell, even if she doesn't the amount of criminals I've killed, could convince her to go to the police. With the knowledge she has, she could convict me in 45 minutes!' Realised Light.
He thought he was done with Rosa, but she'd just become a bigger threat than he knew how to deal with!
But wait? Why hadn't she confronted him? She'd been frustrated with him over the killings before, why not gloat about it? Maybe make one last attempt at blackmail?
'She was counting on me not knowing about her.' He realised.
If Light didn't know that Rosa was around, he'd continue to do things that would fit in with the timeline of events she knew.
But if he changed his mind.
Light smirked.
'It seems that, you have a weakness afterall.'
She couldn't touch the Deathnote, and if she didn't know how he was hiding it.
Then he could still win.
…
It was late in the evening, and L was continuing to look over the recent evidence.
He'd already deduced that Raye Penber, was the first FBI agent to be killed. The fact that the anonymous letter agreed with him, only helped increase the chance his deduction was correct.
Regardless, he'd be analysing the security footage tomorrow, with the rest of the task force, along with the footage of the police station on the day of the anonymous tip off.
However…
It was the Anonymous tip that had him uncertain.
The letters had already been analysed for DNA.
They came back with nothing.
'For something this rushed, and sloppily produced that shouldn't be possible.' Reasoned L.
You couldn't fake panicked writing like this, and maintain a perfectly undetectable note.
The two were incompatible.
And yet here was not one, but twenty notes that did just that.
It was mainly this element that had L considering a professional's involvement.
'But nothing else works with that theory.' Thought L, annoyed at the contradiction of the evidence before him.
The tone of the letter, although formal, gave no indication that this was a professional who would know how to hide from police detection.
No, everything from the style of the letter, to the lack of security at the given meeting location, gave the impression that this was a person, who did not want to hide themselves from the task force.
Yet they had left no physical trace of themselves on this work.
'There is a 30% chance they have information they don't want the police to know about.' He surmised.
Such a bizarre attempt to hide ONLY the DNA of the person, indicated a fear of DNA profiling, which would suggest they were on the register.
But still…
That didn't feel right either.
For L, criminal profiling had become almost second nature, so being unable to pin down why this letter had been handed in like this was beyond frustrating.
It was childish, but it felt like he'd been handed a puzzle with pieces from three different sets, so that no matter, how hard he tried to make them fit, even if the pieces had the right shape, he couldn't make the image clear.
L didn't understand.
He hated not understanding.
…
Rose felt a wave of nausea, as soon as she went into the underground. She didn't know what it was, but she could almost swear, people were looking at her, but they couldn't, could they?
She ended up slinking to a wall, and slumping down on the floor.
What actually was happening? What had she done differently?
Rosemary jumped, when a young man put his hand on her shoulder, and asked her how she was.
He could see her?
He shouldn't be able to see her.
Rosemary started panicking.
What was happening to her? What did she do?
She felt like she couldn't be here, for another single second. She pulled herself up, and started moving towards the barrier, as several people tried to hold her back.
She tried to slam her way through it, but couldn't. It felt solid, and hurt, but she kept going until, someone finally managed to pull her away.
Rosemary's ears were ringing, her head was pounding, everyone was yelling.
'I have to get away.' She thought, running over the banner, and rushing past people, as a guard ran after her.
Just as the fingers of his hand, brushed against her back, she lost her balance in the crowd, and was accidentally pushed over the yellow line, onto the train tracks.
Her hands were on fire.
She thought she'd scraped them, but as she turned them over, they were physically burned.
She was confused and hurt, as she heard people yelling, and trying to drag her back up.
But the sound of their help was overwhelmed, by the sound of the approaching train, that was beaming right at her with its blinding lights.
Rose was confused, she was panicked, and she heard nothing but ringing bells.
So she screamed.
…
L was taking every precaution, for the meeting at the café tomorrow.
The building was tapped, and wired so that they would have video, and audio coverage of the entire conversation.
After what had happened with the FBI, he couldn't afford to lose anyone else.
There was a low chance that this person was dangerous mind you, but he had to take the necessary precautions none the less. It wouldn't do, if he wasn't thorough.
He'd already built up his own profile, for the tipper.
They were almost definitely foreign, and most likely from the UK. They had respect for the law given the formal tone of their letters, but were not themselves someone who should be taken seriously. Their poor handwriting suggested an occupation, or background where those skills wouldn't be important, however the lack of DNA suggested they were intelligent regardless.
'More importantly.' Concluded L.
There was over a 10% chance they were linked to Kira directly somehow.
Of course they could have some kind of power like him, but L was inclined to believe that was far less likely.
Kira clearly used a lot of planning, for the FBI murders compared to his usual style of killing. Given that the notes in question, appeared days in advance, the evidence suggested that Kira could plan murders ahead of time.
But evidently someone had found out.
Whoever this person was, had caught wind of Kira's plans long before they were enacted, suggesting someone had been close enough to him to see the killing power, or come across incriminating evidence.
"Could it be." Wondered L.
The mysterious person, he'd dismissed early on, as 'gone'.
The person who could block Kira.
Could these two be linked?
…
It was cold, and misty when Rosemary opened her eyes.
The train station was silent. The train, the people, and the guards were gone.
She was back 'there'.
Rose slowly stood up, being careful not to touch her hands, and walked along the tracks.
How did she get here?
She hadn't thought about being dead, had she?
'I guess for a second there, I did think I was going to die though.' Thought Rosemary, with a chuckle.
It was stupid, she knew she couldn't, but when you're faced with a train, that's almost instinctual.
She looked around.
She didn't see the others though.
Where were they?
Rose didn't know, but she was glad to not feel an uncomfortable crick in her neck, for the moment.
"Maybe." Rationalised Rosemary. "When I thought I was going to die, I pulled myself to this world because, this is where I associate with death now."
"But I'm not really dead." She concluded. "And I know that, so I'm in an in-between right now, maybe?"
She didn't really know for sure, but that theory seemed to make the most sense to her.
She wasn't in the dead world, but she wasn't in the normal one either.
She was somewhere else.
Rosemary carefully tried to pull herself back up, but winced as she accidently pressed down on her palms.
As she looked at them she wondered.
What had happened?
She couldn't go through objects, people had seen her, and was that blood?
Sure enough, her hands were blistered, and bleeding.
She was flesh.
But How?
She'd thought she'd just been sick because of all her stupid insecurities and worries, but this was different.
It had only started that morning.
Something had happened but what?
'Okay think.' Thought Rosie.
What had been different?
Her hotel had been western, that was one thing. She'd run around a lot more than usual the days before, that was two.
And the rails.
The rails had burned her.
Now rails burning, isn't surprising on it's own, they have a current, and a voltage, and could zap you if you touched them when they were live.
But her hands hadn't felt an electric burn. They'd felt flames.
'Rails.' Considered Rosemary. 'What about Rails could hurt me?'
They were metal, they were charged, um lots of people went on them, so presence?
None of these seemed right.
What hurts ghosts?
She didn't know.
Okay think, science! She knew that rails were made of steel right? But steel couldn't hurt her, she'd been around tons of it.
So what else?
But these didn't look like steel tracks. They were older tracks. for an older station.
What material did they use before?
"Iron." Realised Rose, with wide eyes. "They're made of Iron."
Her bedframe in the hotel! It had been an old fashioned, IRON bed frame!
She wasn't an expert on the supernatural, but even Rose knew that Iron was supposed to ward off tons of stuff.
Including Ghosts.
She'd spent an entire night next to ghost repellant! No wonder she'd felt so ill.
But why did it make her solid too? I mean she wasn't really was she? But people had seen her.
Could she become alive again?
Rosemary frowned.
No, she couldn't. She'd felt sick, and weak, who knows what would have happened if she'd spent longer in that bed.
Whatever iron did, it didn't resurrect. But it did give her presence, it reacted with her in some way, so she could be seen.
So she could be gotten rid of.
'I can never let anyone find out.' Thought Rosemary with a determined look on her face.
Light had probably written off iron as pure fantasy, it seemed impossible that he hadn't seen her near any, in all their time together.
"I guess it has to be pure." She concluded, thinking of all the times she'd been near steel buildings.
But if light was willing to kill FBI agents, and he found out about this.
Rose was dead.
She frowned. Rosemary wasn't going to let that happen. But if she wanted to help L, she'd have to get back her bag from the hotel room.
But.
She looked down. Her hands were still raw.
Grimacing, she prepared herself.
She'd have to go for it.
She ran up, and jumped. Her hands were immediately on fire, but she grit her teeth, and tried to push her legs up as quick, as possible.
When she was finally up, there were bloody handprints on the floor.
She sat still for a minute, and tried not to move her hands.
'Will they even heal?' She wondered.
Rosemary didn't think she could even get injured, let alone get better.
'If I don't, I'll have to look into it.' She decided.
Research wasn't something she'd considered for herself, but if she was surrounded by smart geniuses that wanted to kill her, she'd have to prepare herself.
Besides, with this new information that Light had probably tossed aside, who knew what could be useful for her?
Rosemary smiled slightly for a second.
At least with this it was hard, for her to think of herself as being dead.
No she was very much alive.
With that thought in mind, she seamlessly slipped back into the real world, as people were huddled over the edge confused at the lack of body at all.
'So I can escape people if I go there.' Noted Rose. If she ever got caught in a bad situation, that'd be useful as a getaway.
'I wonder.' Thought Rosemary. 'If I move to another place, in that world. Can I appear in the same location in the real one?'
She'd always wanted teleportation, so that'd be pretty cool, if she could.
But she wasn't in a hurry to test that out.
It'd be hours before the tracks moved again, but Rosie was content with that. Her hands still ached, and she was just happy no one could see her.
It was almost like normal again.
Almost.