WOW, this thing is gigantic! More than 5000 words! Be afraid! Be very afraid!!! Ohhhh… yah –Dies- my poor fingers… my poor brain. Sorry for the wait, my beta left me and I had to do this all by myself… not fun. Plus if I'm alive by the end of the week I'll be happy, SO. MANY. TESTS! Why education system!? WHY!
Some of you may have noticed the LxRaito sign…. Yah, the paring will be there and it will start to become more apparent, but! The story will not circle around that, sorry. However, since it will become more apparent soon, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!
After many a review telling me this chapter needed a beta and a serious spelling makeover it happened! You should all thank my beta! This chapter must have been hell. All better now! YAY!
Chapter 3 now edited!
Orange
Glass city
If there was one thing the team could agree on about Matsuda, it was that the man's cheerful attitude and friendly personality made it easy for people to open up to. The man knew how to make small talk. He always got scared victims, clammed-up eyewitnesses, and paranoid men to trust him, just by being himself. Maybe that's why he managed to stay on the Force for so long…
So it came as no surprise that during their long walk in the desert, out of the six men, his voice was the only one to break the silence.
"Uh, so… why were you out here anyway? There's not exactly much to do out here." His question was directed at the hunched over man, with the permanent smile on his face.
Happiness shrugged. "There really isn't much to do around here. That is, when the body is unconscious of course. It can get very boring." He looked at Matsuda out of the corner of his eye. "Sand surfing is the most entertainment I can get at times like these."
"Oh…" Matsuda didn't seem satisfied with that answer. He looked around to find something else to talk about. Unfortunately, he was only met with sand. So he looked at the man in the bright yellow shirt. Once again noticed the black straps he wore around his wrists. They were big, at lest four fingers' width and the band was actually rectangular pads sewn together. They didn't look all that comfortable.
"Hey, why do you wear those? Those bracelets don't look very comfortable." Matsuda pointed out. At the comment, the personality looked down his arm, then lifted it up and twisted it in front of his nose. He then turned to Matsuda.
"No, you're right, they don't look too comfortable, do they?" He started to pull at the bracelet, unclasping the five little hooks not visible before. "That's because it isn't a bracelet. These are weights. They were designed to be heavy and not comfortable."
Happiness lifted the weight from his wrist, signaling Matsuda to open his hands to receive it. The man did so obediently, cupping both hands together waiting for it to be dropped inside. However, when the weights did fall into his open hands, the young cop almost toppled over. Hands pulled downwards, strained.
"What is in this!? I can hardly keep myself up!" Matsuda grunted through gritted teeth. Aizawa, who up until then had been hanging back, watching with the rest of the team, took a step forward.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous Matsuda. Here, let me have it." Aizawa extended his arm going for the bracelet /weight and snatched it out of the young man's hand. Unfortunately the Afro-haired man miscalculated, and ended up tipping over, hands trapped under the stupidly heavy weight of the band.
"Dear God! What is this?!" The man gritted out, managing to slide his fingers from under the black band. He rubbed them, nursing them close to his chest. Happiness bent down and simply picked up the little devilish thing; no heaving or struggling. He then strapped it back on his wrist turning his head back up only to be meet with blank stares.
"What? I've been using these things for years, of course I can pick them up." Happiness said nonchalantly.
"Why do you even wear them?" Mogi asked.
Before the personality could even open his mouth Raito cut him off.
"It is because you are restrained, aren't you?" All the men turned to the boy. "It's to symbolize how little you actually are able to participate in Ryuzaki's daily life, isn't it?" Raito stared at the personality, waiting.
Happiness gave a small smile, head turned slightly. "My my, now I can see why they call you a genius." There was a tone of sarcasm in his voice. He then lifted his pant leg to show the same bands around his ankles. "Yes, unfortunately, even the best detective in the world has to sacrifice something. In this case it had to be us." The personality let the fabric drop back down into place. "Emotions don't have a place in our line of work. I got off lightly. You will notice very quickly who is just restrained and who I locked down." The yellow-eyed man's smile was small and could hardly be called happy at all.
The team shifted uncomfortably at the sudden damp mood. Raito continued to stare Happiness down.
"Hmm. Is it only me or are all of you feeling this funky mood? This is depressing me. Let's go, standing here isn't getting any of you where you want to go." With these simple words the tension in the air was disintegrated and Happiness started strolling off to the city. The Team followed at a much slower pace. This time Matsuda kept his mouth shut.
No one knew how long the trip was, well the team didn't. There really wasn't a sense of time in this universe and the sand seemed endless. Raito's mind was wondering about everything that had happened since he had woken up. He wondered what else they would find out from the detective. It was just now hitting the boy how much of a vulnerable position this actually put the man in. For the first time he had a feeling that he might find something out he did not want to find out. The idea of not wanting to know what made the detective tick, to him, was simply preposterous. But he couldn't help but think that by the end of this, he might discover he had bit off more than he could chew. There were just some things no one should know. Period.
His eyes wandered once more over to Happiness. He had noticed, after the man took off his weight, that the personality was actually incredibly thin--thinner than the original. Raito could almost see the bone through his skin. The man was actually very malnourished; he wondered if that was part of the fact that he didn't take great part in L's life, so he just withered away to the point of looking skeletal. Happiness turned his head at that point, noticing Raito looking at him and smiled his smile that split his face in half. The smiles still bothered Raito a lot. He rolled his shoulder deciding it was enough time thinking about that subject.
He turned his attention to the glass city, that was quickly approached. It really was a beautiful and breath-taking sight. It was something that could never exist in the real world or be reproduced in any way. As they got closer they could see that the buildings were just like the glass floor underneath the sand. The inside of the walls were filled with cogs, wires, nuts and bolts. Square openings were in the wall of machinery to simulate windows. The colors reflecting off the surface made them look liquid-like. Raito was starting to have to crane his neck backwards to try and see the top.
However, it didn't mater that it was an astonishing view to look at, it was still cold and lifeless. All was artificial, with no plant life in sight. It really did reflect the detective.
The long walk finally paid off as they arrived at the border of town, where the sand stopped to make way for the glass floor and white marble roads. Happiness turned around, lifting his arms over his head in a Ta-Da stand. The Task Force all had their heads thrown back looking up at the impressive glass skyscrapers.
"Well, here we are gentlemen! Now before we set foot in the city you'd better listen and listen well." Happiness' tone dropped, leaving no space for ignorance. He had all of their undivided attention.
"What we are now about to enter is a very dangerous place if you are not familiar with its structure, so keep on guard at all times and always listen to what I say. This a complete maze and you will get hopelessly lost if you separate from the group. If that happens, we may take up to hours, to days, just to find you so I recommend that you don't do it. Now, if that were to happen scream, swallow your pride and scream, so we will be able to find you." At this, the yellow-eyed man gave a pointed look to all the present men individually.
He continued, "our destination is the Main Hall where we will find Logic and Reason, because God knows they don't go anywhere else…" The last part was said under his breath but all present heard him. "To get there we will have to first go through People's Plaza, it and the Hall are the only stable ground in the city."
"What do you mean by 'only stable ground'?" Matsuda squeaked, not liking the sound of that at all.
"That will be self-explanatory. Right now this is very important. Only go into the buildings if you are with me. And I can't reinforce this enough, stay, togetherrrrr." Happiness elongated together for emphasis. His face managed to stay straight for a minute before his mouth split open and he revealed all his teeth. "Good? Good. Now, let's have an adventure!" With that said the energetic man spun around again and skipped to the city, leaving the Team to catch up to him, and Raito wondering if a personality could be bipolar.
The moment the chestnut haired boy set foot in the city, the change in temperature was amazing. It didn't mater that the white sun's rays were beating down on the city, it was like stepping into snow on a sunny day. Raito rubbed his arms. He walked after the Team. As he walked by, he couldn't help but trail his fingers over the glass of one of the buildings. Beneath his fingers the glass hummed, vibrating from the constant work of the machinery within it.
The personality was right. The buildings were set up in such a way that the whole city was full of twists, turns and many dead ends. It was a miracle that the man knew where he was going, that is, if he knew where he was going…
The Team walked awhile, Happiness humming some song to break some of the silence. "Now, can you tell us why this place is so dangerous? Other then the chance of getting hypothermia…" Aizawa grumbled; he never was a man of cold weather, or being left in the dark.
"Well, first think where we are and then ask that question. But really, the real reason that this place is so dang-" the man's sentence was cut in half by the sound of a siren, it sounded like a fire truck. The sound surprised everyone, causing them to jump three feet in the air before covering their ears.
"What the hell is that!? What's happening?" Raito had to scream over the noise.
"That, is not a good sign!" Happiness yelled back.
"Yeah! I kinda figured that out on my own!"
Then it was gone. As suddenly as it started it disappeared. The Team uncovered their ears slowly; looking around, trying to find where the siren had came from.
Happiness was turning in every direction, eying every building. He then started pushing them to the center of the street.
"I demand that you tell us what is happening right now!" Soichiro was losing his patience very quickly.
"No time! Just brace yourselves!" As the words came out of Happiness' mouth; the ground started shaking once again.
A cracking noise was heard all around the city, and for a heart-stopping moment; Raito thought the glass under them was going to crack, swallowing them into an abyss. However, that wasn't the case. The cracking sound came from a building nearby. Enormous fissures were coursing up the building, giant pieces of glass were breaking off and falling to the ground, causing an earthquake to happen. The sounds were just like that of trees falling to the ground. The mechanical insides were crumbling down, a particularly large gear fell managing to shake the ground to the extent of knocking most of the men off their feet. The only ones still able to stand were Raito and Mogi.
When the building was completely gone, the sounds left were the rugged breathing from the six men.
"What the hell just happened?!" Aizawa breathed out, trying (and failing) to get back to his feet.
"Well, remember that the sand out there is actually grains of glass right? That is how all of it got there. These buildings are the main ideas, ideals, thoughts and beliefs. So as the ideas change, so do the buildings. But when one idea is replaced or overthrown…" Happiness trailed off turning his head upwards, the rest followed suit.
Above their heads was a trail of dust flying over towards the space where the destroyed building was. Well, at first it looked like dust but in fact it was the sand from the outer area of town. Vibrations were felt and the men turned in time to see the gears arrange themselves into a new formation. The sand fell around them and changed into smooth glass. This was something Raito was sure he would never be able to see recreated in real life.
"A new one is reconstructed with old beliefs. However, we are not safe yet." The yellow-eyed man looked around. "There is sure to be a second bell. So be prepared, if it rings we will have to take cover immediately."
Raito was afraid to ask. "Why? What happens then…?"
Happiness pushed his lips out then clicked his tongue. "Well you know how when you formulate a new idea you reorganize your thoughts around it so it makes sense?" Happiness said, looking a bit hesitant.
Oh, this didn't sound good. It didn't sound good at all…
"And how would that happen here?" Matsuda gulped.
Once more before anything else could be said the conversation was interrupted by another siren. This time it was a beeping sound, just as loud as the last one. The team all covered their ears again looking at the cheerful man for guidance.
"INTO THAT BUILDING NOW!" Happiness hollered, running to a nearby building. The Team followed, hot on his heels. The ground started shaking once again, but this time the marble road was actually cracking under their feet, making it incredibly difficult to keep balance.
The man slammed his body against the glass door making it burst open and shatter upon impact with the wall. The rest managed to stumble after him, Matsuda tripping and falling to the floor.
"Quick! Grab something stable!" Happiness yelled over the rumbling and crashing.
The Team didn't waste time questioning and grabbed on to anything they could. Raito managed to hold onto an exposed pipe. And at that moment the building give a violent lunge, knocking most of the men onto their knees. Raito shook in place, he turned to the window, only to see the other buildings go by. They were moving past… moving?!
"The building! The buildings are moving! Why are they moving? Why are we moving?!" Raito couldn't help shouting. This was just too much! He expected to find some things out of the ordinary, but this was insane!
"We can't be moving! We're in a building!" Aizawa cried out, voice booming over all other noise. He was viciously clutching a hook on the wall above him.
"Why do trees grow upwards? This is just how it is here! After an idea is broken it reconstructs. It is reorganizing the thoughts! Thus, the buildings are arranging themselves accordingly!" Happiness yelled brokenly as he was tossed around still holding on another pipe. Matsuda, unfortunately, had no such luck as to find something to hold to, and was rolling on the floor because of it.
"Could someone grab hold of Matsuda? I don't want him rolling out the door." Raito said, as the man slid too close to the open door for comfort.
The building screeched to the left violently, throwing everyone off-balance. Thankfully after hitting the floor Mogi managed to circle his arm around Matsuda's waist, preventing him from rolling outside.
Even though the buildings didn't go all that fast, they shook and jumped so much it was almost impossible to stay standing.
Not sure how long the raid was going to take, Raito wasn't too pleased. He was sure he was getting bruised from all the knocking around. It was starting to anger him considerably. His hands were getting sore and he was about to voice his inner-frustration when the building stopped so abruptly and without warning that it sent all those inside flying. They all landed in a pile in the middle. Fortunately for Raito, he landed on someone else instead of the hard glass ground.
"Raito-kun, as much as I enjoy your company and body heat, I would ask you to please remove your elbow from my abdomen and your rear from its close proximity to my face." The yellow-eyed personality wheezed out from under Raito.
Raito eyes widened, he noticed that, indeed, he had landed on the cheerful man and sprung up with a blush after noticing the awkward position. However, in his rush of getting up he forgot they had all fallen in a mass of bodies and fell onto his face after tripping on Aizawa's arm.
With a few grunts, yelps, and 'hey watch it that's my (insert random body part here)' they all managed to untangle themselves from one another and to get back out to the marble road.
Happiness stopped once more, after reaching the outside, and so did Raito and the Team. The marble rode was in ruins. Chunks of rocks lay everywhere, but suddenly all of the debris started to liquefy and be absorbed into all cracks before solidifying once more. The men just stared on, then shrugged it off. After the moving buildings, it only made sense, plus they were too tired to care.
So they started to walk once more towards the Hall. The only difference was that now the Team was rubbing their sore spots as they walked.
It seemed like an eternity that they traveled the paths of the maze that was L's mind. Happiness was humming a tune when he spun around with a great smile on his face. But the smile disappeared where he faced the men.
"Where's Mogi?"
The Team froze in their tracks. All turned but found that no burly man was to be found.
"He was right behind us." Aizawa said, worry coloring his tone
The yellow-eyed man face-palmed, then threw his hands in the air. "I told you! DO NOT SEPARATE from the group! But do you listen? Nooo, of course not! Why listen to me? What do I know? I, only the guy that has lived here all his life!" The man cried out as he stalked up and down the street. He let out a long sigh. "Well, no reason to cry now, but this will delay us... you better stick close together. If you don't, I'll make you hold hands." At that threat the Team huddled closer, Raito only rolled his eyes. "Just don't separate. We have to go looking for him. Start shouting."
Raito couldn't believe this; he wondered just how Mogi got lost. He expected that if there was someone to get lost, it would have been Matsuda. But then again the man was like a mute, he hardly spoke a word out loud, it wasn't surprising that if he wandered off no one would notice…
So now after every thing they had been through just in (what he suspected was) a few hours, they had to go looking for a companion, who managed get lost at the worst possible moment in the worst possible place.
Raito had to hold back a groan. If there was another alarm like the last he was sure they would never find Mogi again... for a long time at least.
"Raito-kun, I don't hear you yelling." Happiness almost sang out. Raito rubbed at one of the many sore spot on his arm, this little adventure in L's mind was beginning to become more trouble than it was worth.
The group of men dragged themselves around the maze that was the detective's inner-thoughts. Their bellowing could be heard for miles in the deserted city. They carried on like this until they began to get hoarse, starting to lose hope.
That was when they came across what had to be the largest building of the whole city. Its base was the size of a neighborhood, and its height made it tower over the other buildings surrounding it, it shadowed the whole area.
But all of that was ignored, because they found something underneath it that was so much more important.
Mogi.
The Team charged forwarded like a grope of mad rhinos, ready to scold the poor man, leaving behind Raito with happiness. Raito rubbed his temples as Happiness gave a heart-filled laughter.
Raito glared at the yellow-eyed man. Said man just turned to him with his bright smile. What was he so happy about?—bad pun.
"Don't look at me like that. I just wish people would be that happy whenever they meet me." Happiness winked at him before skipping over to the Team. All the while he had his head turned and yelled back, "I know you'll love to be the center of attention too!"
Raito shook his head and walk after him. He didn't know how much more of this 'high-spirited' L he could take, he never imagined he would miss aloof, blank-faced, L this much, but he did.
"--How did this happen? You're like, the most careful person on the Team!" Matsuda was asking loudly.
"One minute I was following you, the next I lost sight of you. I have no idea how it happened." Mogi said, shoving his fingers through his hair.
"But why didn't you look for us? Or try to signal us?" Soichiro questioned, looking more tired than ever since they had gotten there.
"Well, as I wandered around I heard should stay put and that I would be found soon. It came from over there. " Mogi pointed up to the gigantic building in front of them. The group all turned and craned their necks to look upwards, only to see a small orange speck at the side of the building.
Happiness started jumping up and down. " I would recognize that color anywhere! Hey! Hey! Child-ness! Hey, come down here!" He cupped his hands around his mouth as he yelled, trying to get "Child-ness'" attention.
"Who's that? Why is he up there?" Aizawa questioned, squinting to get a better look.
The speck apparently heard the energetic man, as he started to descend from the spot on the side of the building to the ground.
"That, dear Aizawa, is one of the other personalities I have mentioned before. He is the one of us that practically runs this place. Well, after Logic and Reason of course." Happiness was still looking up and was now waving.
"But isn't that Child-ness? How can he have so much power? " Soichiro grunted.
"You're the ones always call L childish, and that's absolutely true. However, one thing people fail to understand about L, is that his job isn't just cold, hard facts. Much of the cases he solved were because of his childish point of view. Policemen around the world will look at their cases in so many different ways and think the problem to death. At the same time, they fail to see small, obvious details that just might be their break-through. You'll be impressed at how easy things can be if you just see it in the way they're suppose to be; simple. Of course, being a genius does help." Happiness gave a goofy grin.
He continued. "Not to mention the stubbornness and competitiveness. Nothing can stop him from reaching his goal; he'll reach it or die trying." Here, Happiness' eyes locked with Raito's, before he continued, "What he was doing up there was repairing the crack in the building. You saw what those things do right? Well, this building is basically the whole Kira case! It has all the facts and resolutions to go on in it. Child-ness was probably keeping it all from falling to bits." he gave a cheerful laugh.
The men blinked, turning to the man who was supposed to be L's inner child. He had finally reached the ground to reveal himself to be not a man but literally a child. The boy, like Happiness, was exactly like L in smaller scale and with minor differences. Firstly he was the pocket version, secondly his hair was much shorter, curling on the ends but just as wild. He was wearing an oversized short-sleeved T-shirt. The shirt was so big its sleeves went down to the boy's elbows and its hem went halfway down his thighs. It was a strong orange color; with a Gothic black L in the middle. His oversized jeans covered his feet and he was wearing orange goggles with a soldier in his left hand.
"Joy!" The little boy squealed (in a rather high-pitched and boyish voice) running over to Happiness. Not able to reach higher than the man's legs, he hugged him around the knees. The boy then peered around the man's leg to the other men behind him. His eyes landed specifically on Raito.
The moment his eyes landed on Raito, a bright smile weeded its way to his face, rivaled only by Happiness'. He then dropped the soldier, together with the goggles, revealing his eyes. Like L, he had large bug-like eyes, but instead of making him look like an insect (like it normally did with L) it made the boy look like a puppy or a kitten or some other sort of cute cuddly animal. His eyes were orange as well, but unlike Happiness' they weren't the same shade as his shirt, they looked more like orange-colored honey. And the bags under his eyes were so small they only looked like thick eyeliner.
In short the boy was downright adorable.
Raito grimaced. L shouldn't be cute. Nothing about L was supposed to be cute. But as the boy ran to him like a puppy when its owner comes home, the only words that came to the main suspect's mind was…
'CUTE! AWWW!'
Mini-L attached himself to Raito's leg, looking up at him with wide curious eyes.
"Lift me." That was all the child said, in a squeaky voice, a far call from the deep tone of his older self. Raito froze, unsure how to go about the situation. He never was too fond of children (except his sister) they were loud, whiney, and always in need of constant attention. But seeing L like this was just over the top. However, as the small human started puling on his pant leg, he had no other choice but to bend over and pick him up.
The boy wrapped his tiny arms around the chestnut-haired boy's neck, making him tense up. He looked at his father for help, only to see him with the look every parent gets when they want grandchildren (the look of "get married, screw the broad and give me some grandchildren to spoil")… oh boy.
"What are all of them doing here?" Child-ness cricked his head to the side, making him look like a curious puppy.
'Oh nothing, just taking a relaxing afternoon stroll' Raito thought sarcastically, adjusting the child in his arms to a more comfortable position. He was very thin and bony; his knees were digging in to Raito's ribs uncomfortably.
"Oh, we had an electrical accident and woke up here. We have no idea how we got here or how to get out." Matsuda said in what could only be classified as "baby talk" voice. Like when the adult talks as if they were retarded to children and animals, because obviously they won't understand you if you speak normally.
Child-ness made a thoughtful face, biting his thumb, making it look like he was sucking on it. Raito swore he heard the whole Team coo.
Child-ness took his thumb out of his mouth "Well, brain waves are primarily electricity passing from neuron to neuron. So when the electric current went through the chain of bodies it must have connected the brain waves which must have resulted in this surreal experience." All mouths dropped. Raito had half a mind to let go of the kid in shock. "It is only a theory though," Child-ness added as an afterthought.
Why didn't he come up with that theory? Oh yeah, the whole panicking, meeting 'Joy', all the moving buildings and being in the brain of your rival… he was surprised he was thinking straight now.
"Haha! Told you! If you simplify the problem the answer will come!" Happiness praised, clapping his hands.
Aizawa was the first to regain his composure. "Okay… now we have an idea of how we got here, but do you know how we get out?" Aizawa asked hopefully. Maybe they could skip this whole circus and just get out?
"No." The boy said. Aizawa almost fell over, but contained his anger; he didn't need a repeat from last time…
Child-ness squirmed out of Raito's grasp and hopped to the floor. "We should go see Logic and Reason! They know a lot of stuff! They will know how to get out!" Child-ness cheered. "Come on, Raito! I'll race you there!"
"I'm not racing you anywhere." The teen said coldly. Why was the child only singling him out?
Child-ness pouted. "That's because Raito knows he can't win…"
The teen bristled, and took the bait. " Nooo. I just don't wish to get lost… and my legs are two times the size of yours; you'll be left in the dust." Raito huffed.
The boy gave a sly look. "But Raito is too heavy, he won't be able to pose as a actual threat. He'll never keep up with me, and he knows it. That's why he doesn't want to run against me."
Raito clenched his fists. How dare he! "Are you insinuating I am overweight?!"
"No, of course not! I am just saying that because of his size, he will have… a hard time beating me in a challenge of speed. And he knows it." Mini-L said in an idle voice. The argument was won.
Raito wondered if it was immoral to try and strangle a metaphorical child. His Kira percentage would go through the roof… "Oh I'll show-" but he didn't get a chance to finish as he was cut off by a shout of glee.
"You have to catch me first!" With a final shout, Child-ness took off running. Raito glared, before running after the little orange devil, down the road and around the corner.
The Task Force was left behind with a laughing personality, and wondering just what happened.
"Shouldn't we be worried Raito will get lost?" Mogi asked after a few minuets.
"Nah, as long as he follows the little orange pain in the side he'll be just fine. Come on now, we don't want to be left behind." After saying that, the yellow-eyed man then trotted off after the disappearing pair.
The Task Force hurried after him, not wanting to be left behind. Things had just gotten even more complicated.