L's Nightmares
After a while, Light finally noticed that the skinny detective had fallen asleep against him. He had lost track of how much time was passing in this room as opposed to during the challenges, and figured that it was probably best for L. Crying usually made people sleepy, after all. Shifting the slender raven-head carefully, he was able to get him into bed and under the blankets without waking him.
He stood there for a long moment, staring down at the one person he had ever fallen in love with. His prize, to put it as poetically as Noir had. But it was clear that L meant something to him, or he wouldn't be putting himself through this hellish Trial for a detective who wanted to give him the death penalty. Light sighed. He didn't know how much more of this there was, but he could only hope that it would be over soon. For L's sake as well as his own.
He turned to face the door once again, hesitating this time. Every challenge he completed brought him a step closer to restoring all of L's memory. But L would hate him once he remembered that Light had been Kira. Maybe not this challenge, but the one after that, or even the one beyond that one, would bring back that damning piece of memory that would seal Light's doom.
"Heh… I'm damned no matter what I do." he murmured to himself. "Either I take him back now, and let him be angry when he speaks to the task force and learns that I didn't tell him, or I finish restoring his memory, and risk having him hate me for what I did to him." I love him, no matter how unhealthy it is for me. It's my fault he's like this. I owe him…
He opened the door, stepping through and finding himself in a long, plain white hallway. Suddenly bare feet made him recoil a bit on the cold tile floor, and as he took in his outfit and self, he realized that he again wore L's guise. He didn't recognize the place he had been dropped into, but if it was like the last round he had played against L's demons, he would find out soon. He began to make his way along the white hallway, keeping an eye open for anything odd.
He emerged into a large area, and finally realized where he was. He was in a prison. There were cells all around him, three stories high, most filled with criminals who jeered as they noticed him. Light felt rage rush into him, filling him with angry red. This was why he had used the Death Note; become Kira. Scum like this didn't deserve to live, being taken care of in jail. They deserved death for the crimes they committed!
Light stiffened, catching himself before that thought could develop any farther. No. He was free of the Death Note. He was giving it up. Giving it up for L. Holding his head high and keeping the image of the innocent, sleeping detective in his mind, he walked through the center area quickly and entered another hallway. This one ended at a large, solid door with a plaque on it reading, "Warden". Light hurried over and tried the door, finding it unlocked. He peered inside hesitantly, and found it empty.
There was a thunderstorm raging outside the small windows. As Light hesitated in the doorway, a particularly large bolt of lightning struck somewhere nearby. Thunder crashed, startling the former murderer, and the power went out.
The emergency lights kicked in a few minutes later, but it was too late. From the whooping and cheering he could hear from the direction of the area behind him, the cell doors had unlocked when the power blipped out. Criminals were fleeing the building eagerly.
Light turned at the sound of footsteps coming his way, but two men merely ran by the warden's door without stopping. It was the third, who stopped in the doorway a moment before coming in, that Light recognized.
"L-san." the man said, nodding to him. He smiled when Light blinked at him dumbly. "You do not recognize me, Yagami Light?"
"Tailor." Light said faintly. "Lind L. Tailor." Another familiar face from times past. Tailor was part of his nightmares just as much as L's.
"Yes, the criminal whose only crime was to have too many Ls in his name." Lind laughed. He looked just like he had on TV, in those moments before he collapsed. Ink-blank hair fell to his shoulders, and dark eyes focused intently on Light. It was startling, with the hindsight he now possessed, how much Lind actually did resemble L; an L who got more sleep and took better care of his hair.
"What's so funny?" Lind asked.
Light abruptly realized he was grinning like an idiot, and promptly looked more serious. "Nothing. What is the challenge this time?"
Lind sighed. "This prison is not a real place. All of the other locations have been pulled from real life; this prison was constructed from nightmares, to house the worst criminals that L has ever captured. The lesser criminals have fled, but the worst, those who have sworn blood and worse upon the head of the detective to capture them, remain."
Light looked down at his own appearance. "I… don't like where this is going."
Lind nodded. "Unfortunately, your goal is to find the door that will lead you out of here without getting mauled by those criminals." He frowned. "There's a clue if you can get to the security guard's office. Inside is a list of who was in which cell. You'll have to figure out which one you need."
"Thank you." Light hesitated a moment, then asked, "L said that you were a criminal on Death Row. What… what did you do?"
"I was a murderer." Lind said matter-of-factly, unperturbed. "I considered it a challenge, especially when they sent the great L after me. Fifteen people, I killed, so it was a case worthy of his attention. He outwitted me, or I wouldn't be here, but I had great respect for him. So when he asked me to go on TV, potentially risking my life, I couldn't help but agree after hearing the challenge he was going to offer you. If he could flirt with death on live television, I could too. And in the end, he did get a clue, right?"
"Yeah…" Talking to him, Lind didn't seem like a bad person. If he hadn't openly admitted to being a murderer, Light might have actually liked him.
Lind shooed him in the direction of the main area of the prison. "The security guard's office is on the opposite side of this floor. I'll try to get it unlocked before you get there, and I'll do what I can to hold the others off." Light nodded in understanding, taking off at a run.
xXx
It didn't take long for him to return to the main room, where all the cells were standing open, the criminals inside gone. Light slowed his run to a walk, warily looking around. If Lind was telling him the truth, then some of the worst scum of the earth was waiting for him, prepared to maim, kill, or worse. And he looked like the person they hated most in the entire world.
He stuck to the edges of the room, creeping stealthily, hoping no one would hear him. But he was out of luck, as footsteps rounded the corner. He looked to see who was there, and a well-dressed man with European-looking features stepped into his view.
The dark-haired man nodded courteously. "L."
"Who…?" Light began, then remembered that he was supposed to know who these criminals were.
The man frowned. "You've forgotten me, L? That's a shame." His voice grew sharp. "Antoine Renault, the leader of the Swiss jewel-smuggling ring. That's who I am."
"The case before After died…" Light whispered. He took a step back, saying, "I didn't forget. I know so many criminals, it took me a moment."
Renault frowned, but then a spiky smile slowly emerged on his face. "Perhaps it will jar your memory when I call the others and allow them their way with you. It will be far more entertaining to watch them hurt you." The smile grew wider. "Some of them have simply terrible things they would like to do…"
He turned to call for whoever was waiting in the wings, and Light lunged forward, punching him in the face as hard as he could. Renault stumbled back, and Light leaned and swept his foot up in a powerful kick that he didn't realize he knew how to do. Apparently there were benefits to sharing L's guise. The jewel smuggler slammed into the wall and slumped, unconscious. His head had hit the concrete with enough force to knock him out.
Light took off running, heading in the vague direction of the security guard's office. He had to figure out which of these doors was the right one, before he ran into someone more dangerous than Renault.
When he found the office marked "Security", he tried the doorknob immediately. True to his word, Lind had gotten the door unlocked, and Light hurried in, finding the record book on the desk. He flipped through the pages, seeing name after name and cell number after cell number written in plain black ink. How was he supposed to know which one was the right one? Would he see someone he recognized…?
He flipped frantically through the book, listening for any sound of movement outside that could clue him in if someone was sneaking up on him. There were still others, according to Renault, and he didn't want to be trapped in this little room of they decided to show up. One final page turned, and there was a number written in gold instead of black, shiny gold like one of those ridiculous gel pens his sister liked to use. Without being told, he knew that gold was L's color, and he read the name and number slowly to himself to memorize it, because if he forgot he would be doomed. There would be no returning here a second time.
"Daikoku." It didn't sound like a name, not a person's name, at least. Light followed the line over, reading the number that matched the name. "128. Cell 128." If he had counted correctly, that would be on the third floor. He couldn't risk an elevator, so he would have to find some stairs. He closed the record book, returning to the door and peering out cautiously. Everything looked clear, and he crept into the hall, glancing at a sign near the ceiling that indicated stairs were down a nearby hallway. Perfect.
xXx
The stairs were completely normal stairs, and it didn't take long to climb the two flights to the third floor. He opened the door at the top, glancing around before walking out. If he had a mirror, he'd be using it to look around corners. It was unnerving that he hadn't seen anyone since punching out Renault. He began to follow the numbers up the hall, but froze when he realized that there was a wall of people blocking his way.
He turned to run, but there were people behind him, too. They had been lurking up ahead and in the corners of cells on either side, waiting for him to show up. And now, they stood between him and his goal, cutting off all forms of escape.
The crowd parted to reveal Renault, nursing a bruised cheekbone, and two younger men. One was barely more than a teenager, probably Light's own age, while the other seemed to be in his twenties.
"L." the older of the two grinned. When Light only looked at him blankly, he sighed dramatically. "Perhaps you need a refresher of who we are. I am the Black Dealer, Drevan Ricter, infamous bio-terrorist."
Light recognized the name. Drevan Ricter had been convicted for attempting to unleash a virus five times as deadly as the Black Plague. He was one of those nihilistic people who wanted to wipe out a majority of the human race. He had been playing God, just like Light had been.
The youngest was talking now. "I'm Genesis. Gabriel Genesis. They named me the Pied Piper!"
Light remembered him too, a hypnotist who worked with music to lull his victims into committing suicide. He involuntarily took a step back, staring down those two and the other people surrounding him, all of which were likely murderers and rapists of the worst kind.
Now he felt worried.
"In a way, you're lucky." Drevan said, smiling poisonously. "After all, Beyond Birthday is dead, and he would have tortured you much longer than we will."
Light's eyes widened, and he scanned the group, looking for an escape route. After careful thought, he darted forward between Drevan and Genesis, aiming a kick at the nearest thug behind them. He had to get through. He had to get to Cell 128.
An impossibly high-pitched noise streaked through the space, assaulting Light's ears horribly. His muscles locked, and he fell to the ground mid-kick, unable to move. He realized that every one of the criminals had clapped hands over their ears, and he was the only one attacked by the sound.
Genesis knelt beside him, smiling innocently. "At certain levels of sound, higher than human hearing, the sound disrupts brain function enough to cause temporary paralysis. Convenient, ne?" Drevan was chuckling wickedly in the background. Genesis patted Light on the head. "Don't worry, Detective. It will only hurt a lot!"
That was when Light realized…
He was completely screwed.
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Ohmigod I finally got this done. Life has been killing me these past few weeks! No time on the computer, school work... Not good excuses, I know, but at least the chapter is finished. More familiar faces! Kekekeke... Poor Light. I'm getting deja-vu here! ^.^
A virtual cookie and plushie of Genesis if you can tell me the significance of the name and number of the cell! I have such fun with these little details.
Hope you enjoy! NaNoWriMo started yesterday, so the next chapter might take me a while. I will hit 50,000 this year!
Hugs!
Li