A/N this took longer then expected…(I blame it all on my wonderful beta) well here you go! Thank you for the reviews! Keep them coming!
Comment from my Beta: "follow the yellow brick road, tralalala!"
Yellow
The sand
Every limb felt heavy. Raito started regaining awareness. It felt like he was under a pile of rocks. He moved his hand, clenching his fist, only to feel a rough texture against his fingers, digging under his nails. That didn't feel like hard concrete floor… confused, Raito slowly opened his eyes, only to close them against the harsh white light beating down on him.
With a groan, the boy rolled over onto his back before sitting up very slowly, and rubbing his head. He tried opening his eyes again only to be greeted with a surprising sight.
Sand. White sand, with a tint of yellow, covered everything. Nothing but mountains and slopes of white powder. You couldn't even distinguish the sky from the ground. For above the sand there was nothing. It was like thick mist was covering every thing. You could go on forever or fall of a cliff with out knowing.
Raito lifted a fist full of sand. It was very light and the grains where small, sparkling when light hit them. He let them slip through his finger only leaving a few grains in his hand. He rolled them between his fingers, but flinched when one of them cut his finger. The boy frowned at the paper-thin cut that bleed a little. Where did the head quarters go? Feeling slightly light headed (and rather annoyed at the fact that he didn't wake up in the same place he had fallen unconscious) he tried to remember what happened. Only to be hit by the memory of Matsuda. He growled. This wouldn't have happened if Ryuzaki hadn't been so stubborn! He could have been killed, both of them could! Momentarily forgetting the strange environment, he turned around to start a fight with said man. Only to discover he was not there. Not even the chain was around his wrist. All irritation melted away very quickly to give way to worry and a slight panic.
That's when he finally notetsed that he could hear talking. Well, more like shouting.
"-That must have been the stupidest and most life threatening thing you ever done! You could have killed us all! Matsuda that was-" that was Aizawa's voice. Raito blinked before getting up and dusting himself off. Turning to follow Aizawa's screams. Determined to find out what happened, where he was and where was the detective he was suppose to be chained to.
He claimed the sand dune, looking down below. Aizawa and Matsuda were both up, the Afro haired man was red in the face with the force of his screams, gesturing madly with his hands. Matsuda had his head hung and his knuckles pushing up into his eyes, the poor man seemed in enough distress with out the other cop's yelling. Mogi was slowly getting up and his father was lying on his side on the ground.
Raito slid down the sand dune to meet them. Aizawa stopped yelling at the sight of the boy.
"Raito!" the hot headed man exclaimed. Mogi paused in helping Soichiro up. Soichiro head snapped around to Raito and he quickly scrambled to his feet (as well as he could at his age), accepting Mogi's help. The team all rushed over to the boy bombarding him with questions on this health.
"You're not hurt, are you son?" his father.
"Can you feel everything?" Aizawa.
"How many fingers am I holding up?" Mogi.
"I'M SOOOOO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME RAITO!" Matsuda.
"Son, are you feeling all right?"
"I WAS ONLY TIRING TO HELP-"
His arm was pinched "did you feel that?"
"-BUT I S-SLIPED AND, OH I'M SOOO SORRY!"
"Son! Answer me!"
"MOTHER ALWAYS TOLD ME I WAS TO CLUMSY TO BE COP! BUT DID I LISTEN! NOOOO!"
Having enough of all the panicking and questioning on his health, Raito tried to get their attention. "Guy, GUYS, GUYS!" the Task Force all snapped there mouths shut. Raito sighed. "I'm all right, ok? See" he lifted his arms to emphasize his point. The team seemed to sage slightly, relieved "Do any of you know where we are? Or where Ryuzaki is? " He presented his bare wrist. Looking hopeful.
The Task Force seemed surprised, apparently only now noticing the lack of wild haired detective. They then looked around, apparently also only now noticing the change in scenery.
"Where are we?" Matsuda asked spinning in place to have a better look.
"I was wondering that my self. Does any one remember how we got here?" Mogi said, lifting his large hand to rub the back of his head. There was a murmur of 'no'.
"Maybe we died?" Matsuda piped up. All men turned to glare at him.
"Don't even joke Matsuda, don't even joke." Aizawa hissed
"Well, it is a possibility." Mogi said quietly.
As the team started arguing over their own existence (and possible death) Raito's mind was realigning. He looked at all the possibilities of why they where there. Thinking especially about the absence of the detective. Another test? One more try to see if they where ware serious in there conviction in catching Kira? If so, why did the detective leave him unguarded? He was the main suspect after all. Where were the cameras? No. For some reason he had a feeling this had nothing to do with the man's paranoia. Still, if it wasn't L, then who? And where was the damn man!
If there was one thing that angered him more then the baggy clothe man, it was not knowing what was happening. He also couldn't seem to get the little ball of fear to stop forming in his stomach over the fact that the man wasn't there attached to his wrist. Was it because he didn't know where the man was and what he was scheming? Or maybe it was genuine concern over the strange man's wellbeing, he wasn't sure. He hoped it was the first one.
The chestnut hair boy's train of thought was interrupted by a small noise. At first Raito chucked it up to being the other men bickering and content to ignore it, going back to his previous line of thought. But it started getting louder and louder. Somewhat like a mosquito in ones ear.
Irritated, he twisted his neck around looking for that petulant sound.
"Do any of you hear that?" the boy asked, eyes still scanning the landscape.
The Task Force halted all of their discussion at the unexpected question. They all stopped and listened. Indeed, there was a faint sound. That was getting louder. It sounded… it sounded…. like whooping?
At that moment there was a burst of sand out from the sand dune behind the Task Force and a figure soared above their heads.
" Whoohoo! Look out down below!" the team and Raito managed to dive out of the way just in time not to be crushed as whoever it was crashed down into the sand.
That is, of course, every one except for poor Matsuda, who didn't manage to make it out of the way in time.
Whoever it was fell to the ground. The (now visible) sand-board dug into the sand, sending its driver off for trip.
Said person, unfortunately, collided with Matsuda.
The two bodies slammed together and rolled across the sand like a wheel of a car after an accident. They then hit a sand hill and lay in a heap. Sand and dust flying everywhere.
The team carefully got up and slowly came closer to the cloud of dust, trying to see the damage done.
The stranger's body twitched before he sprung to his feet pumping his fists in the air. "Oh yeah! Now that was a ride!" the man whooped before cracking his back. "No broken boned this time." The man then turaed to the prone form of Matsuda. "hay, are you ok there buddy?" the man asked kindly, in a very familiar voice, offering his hand to the cop. Raito's eye widened, no, it couldn't be… not with that attitude…
"Sorry about that. There's usually no one around these parts."
The young man groaned before accepting the offered hand. " No, it all right no harm-" Matsuda cut him self off after getting up and facing the man. His eyes widened.
"Ryuzaki?!" The younger cop gasped.
"What" Aizawa interrupted.
The man turned around revealing himself. He was a carbon copy of L. from the mop of black hair on his head to his bare feet. The only difference was the thick black bracelets on ether wrists and a very battered and roughed up sunshine yellow 3/4 shirt. Then there were his eyes. The man's eyes were not the same dark colored as L's, the man had very noticeable yellow eyes, the same color of his shirt.
That, and the fact that the man had the biggest, most brightest, smile on his face. Something no one could ever begin to imagine being on the original L's face.
Raito found it rather disturbing to see such a thing on Ryuzaki's face. Not that it looked bad… but L's biggest smile was a twitch of the lip or an up quirk of the corners of his mouth. It looked… very out of place on the normally stone cold man.
This Ryuzaki look-a-like let out a laugh. " Not quite, but yes!" the weird man then walked over to his (broken) board. Ignoring the eyes burning holes in his bright t-shirt. Picking up a piece of the board, in a two finger grip, Raito had to lift an eyebrow at the site of its print on it.
Sweets, from wrapped candies, to cakes, to lollipops and ice cream. The whole bottom of the 'surf board' was imprinted with sweets. That could be something the sweet-lover would buy... Still, the way the man carried him self was completely different.
"What do you mean by 'not quite'?" Soichiro inquired, suspicion and confusion written all over his face.
The yellow eyed man turned the pieces of his board in his hand, before shrugging his shoulders and throwing them out. Seemly not caring for them at all. He then turned his attention to the group of man who were eying him waring.
"Let me answer your question with one of my own. Do you," he pointed at Soichiro. "Know where you are?" the yellow-eyed man pressed his thumb to his bottom lip. Making him look even more like L.
"No, in fact, we don't. We were discussing it before you crashed in and almost crushed us all!" Aizawa growled out.
The man took his thumb from his mouth and jumped back with an even bigger smile (if possible) then before. "Well then Aizawa, gentleman, welcome to the mind of the three greatest detectives in the world!" the man spread out his arms gesturing around him.
"Wait! Did you say mind? What do you mean by mind!" Matsuda squeaked. Have joined the other at some point, but the energetic man ignored him.
"And I, dear sirs, am one of L's personalities. Happiness. However you may call me Joy if you so wish." 'Happiness' announced.
…Silence.
Wind blew by.
"I must be in a coma. That the only logical explanation! That or the electricity roasted all my brain cells and I am now in a hospital bed having delusions!" Aizawa cried, throwing his hands in the air and then ranting under his breath on how he finally cracked under the pressure of the Kira case.
Raito silently agreed with the man, only wondering if it wasn't he who had finally cracked. Especially with L's constant accusations, he wouldn't be surprised. Maybe that electric curreat really did mess with his head…
"Ah, but it's not my dear police man! All you see is nothing but reality! Who are you to criticize this reality? You are working on a case; in which criminals are killed by name and face. In a universe with Shinigami! I should ask you why you question the strange and the supernatural, when you yourself are faced daily with things that are only suppose to live in fiction on a day to day basis." Happiness exclaimed.
Raito frowned. This man (personality) did have a point. He knew he was accepting this rather easily, but as he looked at what seemed to be almost an artificial scenery he found it easer to accept. For some reason everything here looked so cold and mechanical. The white-blinding-light illuminating no sky, but no wall either, there was just nothing above the sand. Then there was the sand; it hardly looked like sand, and the cut on his finger… He couldn't help but ask.
" If what you say is true, why is this place so bare? This hardly looks like the mind of a genius." The policeman gave him an unbelieving look, as if to say 'are you really going with this?' He almost fell backwards when 'Happiness' appeared right in front of his face.
"Ha-ha Raito-kun! There are many a reason for that! For one, this is not sand but glass we stand on! Every grain, every speck represents a thought, an idea, an ideal from the past." Happiness said with an awe-inspiring voice. He crouched down and scooped some 'sand' in his hands, then let it slip between his fingers. Much like Raito did before. At this the team looked around in wonder. Every grain was an idea?
"Moreover, not everything is what it seems." At this, Happiness gave Raito a look. Making the boy glare at the insinuation. "Even me. This whole places is but a metaphor, a representation of the mind. An interpretation. A way to make the most powerful weapon any creature could ever possess understandable. There is more beneath the surface then what you think you see." Happiness voice got quieter and quieter while the team got closer and closer. Even Raito was captivated.
The yellow eyed man then began brushing the sand with the side of one hand. As he brushed, it started revealing solid flat ground. Beneath the sand was a thick glass surfers, which clearly exposed its insides. Gears, pipes and wires, like looking at a watch at steady work. Constantly moving. There were these red wires, that looked like thin long tubes, with red liquid going though it. The red wires were straight, only bending in angler occasionally criss-crossing over each other.
The men were fascinated at the sight. Happiness smiled at the awed looked on their faces.
"That, you could say, are the internal workings of this universe. What it runs on." Happiness smirked, covering up the patch of reviled glass getting up. "Moreover, gentlemen, we are at the outskirts of town. You haven't seen the city yet." That said, Happiness, started claiming the sand dune. The task force and Raito with no other choice follow. Processing what they just heard in there heads.
"It is all quite fascinating, but how do we get out of Ryuzaki's head and back to the non-representative world?" Soichiro inquired. Really, he wished for nothing more then to be back in a world he could understand. He felt like they were invading the privacy of a very privet and secretive man. That is, if this wasn't some morpheme induces fantasia.
Raito didn't see this situation as his father did. Figuring out the most mysteries (and strangest) man on the face of the planet sounded very appealing to him. The detective was a book with blank pages to the boy. No matter how hard he stared or how many angels he looked from, the results came out the same. Nothing. You just couldn't read blank pages. However, now he had the chance to read the invisible in he would. It was just so incredibly tempting… seeing the man's inner most deeps thoughts come to life. He could learn so much. He didn't even begin to image the things the 3 best detectives saw in his lifetime… finding all his weakness. Raito stopped dead in his traces at the late thought. Where did that come from? The thought might have uneven him but he just pushed it to the back of his head. He concentrated on the possibilities of exploring such a brilliant mind.
Unfortunately being stuck in said brilliant mind didn't sound all that appealing.
At the older Yagami's question on the escape, Happiness stopped, making the Task Force to stop with him. He turned around. "Humm, that's a good question." The yellow eyed man said, biting his thumbnail in deep thought.
Happiness then looked at them, the team leaned forward, awaiting his answer. "I have no idea." The man then gave a small in barest smile. The team stumble back slightly, as if hit by a physical blow.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVE NO IDEA? AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE A GOD DAMN GENIUS!" Aizawa yelled.
Happiness lost his smile, his eyes narrowed. "I would appreciate if you contained your temper Aizawa-san. As I have mentioned before I am but one side of L, and that is not logical side. I would also appreciate it if restrained your outbursts to when I finished with my sentence." Happiness said monotonously, with a cold edge. Actually acting like L instead of only looking like him.
The poor cop stumbled, taken completely off grade by the change in attitude by the so carefree personality. "I-I am sorry, it's just that, hmm…" Happens lifted his hand before a smile broke his faced.
"Ahh, its all right, I'm just messing with you! I know your just disorientated by being thrown into a completely new environment so suddenly. And all you want to do is go back to your own reality where things make sense to you. I'm pretty sure this scenario looks quite ridicules but I am sorry to inform you it is absolutely true." With that said, the yellow eyed man turned on his heal and started up the dune again, living 5 dumb fooled men behind.
When reaching the peck of the dune he turned back to looking down at the stunned faces of the policemen and genius with a grin.
"Well, come on then. Are you going to sit there gawking at me all day, or are you coming? I may have no clue at to how to get out of this but that doesn't mean I don't know some one who does!" Happiness called out, grin still in places, hands on his hips.
Raito was in a dazes. Every thing about the man was uneasy. The smile he always wore looked completely out of place on the very familiar face of the expressionless detective. Every thing the man did throw the team and Raito off grade, because of how completely out of character he was. Even if this was L's 'happy' side, the boy still couldn't get use to the smiles and laughter. He felt angry at the idea of losing control that easily. Still, like L himself said, he blamed every thing on the complete change in realities to a places even a genius couldn't comprehend. The human minds were complex in themselves, a genius mind would be even worse. However L's mind…. he shivered at the prospect.
Raito awoke of his daze just in time to fallow the team up the dune. Still trying to imagining the things they would encounter in their little adventure. Maybe he would find something useful or uncover a bite of the mystery that was the detective L. at the prospect of finding out what made the sweet loving man tick, the idea of being in such a place didn't look that bad… almost didn't look that bad.
"Ryuzaki, if you don't mined me asking who exactly are we going to look for and where are we going to find them?" Soichiro grunted out as he struggled to climb the mouton of sand.
"Why don't you see for your selves!" the messy haired man said, when the group got up to the top. Arms going up in an arch then point down at something in the distance.
Raito looked up from helping his father up the unstable sand and almost gasped.
Miles away there was a city. A glass city. Every building was made entirely out of glass. The white light that bathed them made the slick surface glistened a rainbow of color. The buildings were enormous sky scrapers, littering the whole city.
The men didn't know what to say at the breath taking sight.
"That, gentlemen, is glass city. And we are going to find the only people in this reality that could help us. Logic and Reasoning."