…HI…DON'T KILL ME! (if I still have readers that is…) I bring you a new Chapter! YAY! I think you might want an explanation of why it took me soooo long but instead of writing my life story I'll be short and sweet. Graduation. I graduated school so… haven't been home much. No home = no computer = no chapter. So it is all over now the IBs and all.
But what you really want to hear is. I'll have more time to write now. But don't expect much. Really. But! I do have a fan art! Link on profile.
Oh. And I have no idea about medicine, so if I get something wrong forgive me.
One more thing. GO BRASIL! Going for that 6th star baby! Hell yah!
With all that said, forgive me and on with the chapter! Read & Review
Brown
"Fear is but a four letter word"… then it must be one scary word.
Was this getting repetitive, or was it just him? Raito thought to himself as he ran down the now rather familiar marble road (considering they all looked about the same, it wasn't all that surprising.) This was getting ridiculous.
"Uhhh, is there a reason why Paranoia - just ran - ran off like that?" Matsuda asked while running, breathing labored as he tried to keep up with the much faster personalities.
The entire group had their eyes glued to the retreating purple figure. "Well, you see, Fear and Paranoia are much like Logic and Reason. Almost inseparable," Happiness answered absent-mindedly.
"In a 'might as well be joined at the hip' kind of inseparable…" Courage added.
Paranoia made a sharp turn, causing most of the group to run into each other. They all scrambled apart as fast as they could, doing their best not to lose sight of the slippery personality.
Happiness continued once they were untangled. "But the relationship is much different from that of Logic and Reason. The twins are basically two lines in the same paragraph, with only the bare minimum of differences to distinguish them from being the same person..."
"Paranoia and Fear on the other hand have more of a brotherly relationship," Child-ness finished.
"Indeed. Paranoia is beyond super-protective of Fear. It comes to the point where he becomes violent. You can call it a self-defense mechanism if you will. Self preventing anything from happening to oneself so as to never feel that chilling terror and despair."
'"Fear is one of the strongest emotions you can feel," Love said so quietly Raito wondered if he was the only one who had heard him. "He can overpower any emotion if the feeling is strong enough. All else pales in comparison. Love. Hope. Rationality. Logic. Happiness. Nothing will survive the great power that is full-blown, soul-gripping, horror," Love finished.
Raito swallowed thickly and turned another corner with the group. It was true. Fear had the power to do so much to a person. Anyone. Phobias were a clear example of this. Hell, the world changes because of that one emotion. Dictatorship was an example. People hardly will fight for themselves if they fear for their life. Control could easily be run purely on fear. Kira was doing it right now.
"That is why I find it rather strange that Paranoia was wandering around alone."
Suddenly the group halted, causing most of them (mainly Matsuda) to bump into each other (again). Raito managed to unsqueeze himself from between the sandwich of bodies and look over at why they had stopped.
Only a few meters away he saw Paranoia rush over to what could only be described as a person-shaped ball. He was sitting in L's normal crouch except he actually was sitting on the floor instead of hovering over it, as L would normally do. He looked like he was trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible; head tucked between his knees and arms wrapped tightly around his legs. His back was firmly pressed to the glass wall behind him. All you could see was his jeans, mud-brown shirt, and hair poking out.
When Paranoia reached him he collapsed in front of the new personality. On his knees, the wild eyed man touched lightly the arm of the other, trying to get his attention. It seemed to work. Saggy black hair lifted and when Fear caught sight of who it was, launched himself forward, embracing the purple-eyed man and possibly squeezing him to death.
And for some inexplicable reason, Raito felt jealousy.
A lot of it.
It was strange really. Not the fact he was jealous (he has been jealous before. Though it was every other blue moon, really.) But more for the fact there really wasn't an actual motive for him to be jealous. Maybe because L had never huggedhim that way. Yeah, but L never hugged anyone that way. (Or hugged in general)He once again questioned his mental health. It was like L was hugging himself. He wondered briefly if that what it looked like when real live twins hugged. His eyes wondered over to Logic and Reason. He then shook his head. The day the two of them hug will be the day Aizawa would put a on a tutu and samba down the street.
…
…
…
…Dear lord he needed more sleep. Baaaad mental image! Baaaaad! Maybe an aspirin, a very long holiday, and as well…
Paranoia and Fear separated. Fear climbed to his feet while Paranoia resumed his normal stance of when they met him. Both of them were talking softly to one another, seemingly unaware of the group watching them.
Matsuda was the first to step forward. The rest followed reluctantly. The pair noticed their presence and looked up. This permitted Raito to have a better look at Fear. The phrase 'deer caught in the headlights' never seemed more fitting. This personality had large brown deer eyes. The kind that always seemed to shimmer with unshed tears. He was hunched like L but to almost a 90-degree angle. Raito's own back hurt at the sight of it. It was as if the man was trying to curl into a ball while standing up. His shirt, like all the others, matched his eyes. But it was smudged with multiple shades of brown, as if rolled around in mud that dried off at different rates.
The moment Fear laid eyes on them he seemed to shrink away, afraid of the group. However, the moment his eyes landed on Raito he actually scampered behind Paranoia, and peaked up over his purple shirt at them.
The team lifted an eyebrow at that, looking over at Raito who just shrugged in response.
Out of nowhere Courage jumped up and broke the… well, weirdness in the air." Well! I guess introductions are in order? Dear investigators and love interest, I present you Fear! Ta-da!" he made a sweaping motion with his hand at the personality who did not seem too happy at being placed in the spotlight. And by the glares Courage was receiving, neither did Paranoia.
Fear ducked down more behind Paranoia's back, so now only his eyes were visible. Courage frowned. "Come on now. Don't be shy! Say hi! I promise they don't bite!… well, actually I do have my doubts about Aizawa…" Courage grinned wildly. Aizawa only sneered at the energetic personality.
Fear looked over at Courage and back a few times before slowly un-knotting his hand from Paranoia's shirt and waving it cautiously as if he expected one of them to reach out and chomp his hand off at any given moment.
Matsuda, being the friendliest one in the whole group, sensed the hesitance in Fear and decided it was a good idea to try and make the other comfortable.
Much like it's a good idea to poke a sleeping lion to see if it will play with you.
"Hi there. It's okay, we won't hurt you. Why don't you come out here and-" Matsuda started to say as he slowly made his way towards Fear. Which turned out to be one of his less successful ideas. Because when he reached out to Fear, the personality let out a squeak/ whimper, fell back and covered his head. Instantly Paranoia had the young cop on his front, both hands pinned to his back by a thin white hand, and a bony knee digging painfully into the small of his back.
"…Ow."
"That was not too smart now, was it?" Logic said (or Reason.)
"No," the other agreed.
"It was not an exaggeration when we informed you that Paranoia is overprotective. To avoid bodily harm I suggest you stay away from Fear to the best of your ability," finished Reason (or Logic.)
"Paranoia, unhand that man this instant. We have places to go. He is harmless," the twins mentioned off-handedly.
"Yes, and we can't very well go anywhere with poor Matsuda pinned to the ground like that," Happiness commented, rubbing the back of his neck.
Paranoia hissed, baring his teeth like a dog with rabies. "He was going to touch Fear, he was going to hurt him. I should break his wrists." Matsuda squeaked when the man over him started applying more pressure to his restrained arms.
Happiness stepped in. "Whoa, whoa, whoa there buddy! Let's not go breaking people's arms here! You are aware this is Matsuda right?" Squeak, crack. "OKAY! You don't care, I get it!" The yellow-eyed man put his hands on the other's shoulders and slowly tried to pray him off. " Okay, now let go of Matsuda. Come on." Growl. "Come on. He was only trying to be helpful." Tug, tug. "Uh, guys? A little help here?"
Child-ness hopped over and started yanking on the purple-eyed personality's fingers. However, almost five minutes into it there was no change. Well, except Paranoia's snapping of his jaws at Child-ness and Fear peeking from between his fingers a safe distance away. It soon became clear that the two personalities would be needing a lot more help if the group ever wanted to get going.
So Courage did the most logical thing.
He flopped over all three.
Matsuda was able to roll away from the now-fighting foursome on the floor, hastily getting to his feet and hiding behind Mogi's large frame. Raito sighed as shouts come from the pile on the floor.
He looked over at Fear, frowning slightly. This was someone he wasn't quite expecting to meet. L never seemed to feel fear. Not with the way he acted. But then again, he never expressed any other emotion before. Fear was so humanizing. This whole experience had shown him that L functioned just the way everybody else did. He just hid and covered it better.
Much, much better.
Like Raito himself, but the teen did it with social grace, all too much charm, an unbelievably sharp tongue, an even sharper mind and good looks. L, L did it another way.
With self-imposed isolation, cold exteriors and dull uncaring words that spoke of depth and understanding. Always staring. In complete control. Someone apart from society. Not above or below humanity, but a simple bystander who was able to see it all from a distance. He knew all. No one could hide under well-oiled charisma or fake, empty sweet talk. Always staring with eyes reflecting everything back to the looker. Letting nothing come through. A still surface with emotions fighting for dominance underneath.
Always staring.
At some point Fear had looked over at the teen. Their eyes had met and the personality scattered back at the capable look the young boy had on his face. A starving hyena. The teen seemed in a trance. He started coming forward, the personality going back at the same rate. Fear soon hit a wall, cornered under that hungry gaze.
Yes. Fear was different from all the others. He was a human driving force. The underlying wheels of what made society turn. What made humanity human.
He was a weakness. A flaw. An opening.
He could crack L open.
His face, L's face, was that of pure terror. Like he could read the teen's mind, Raito could just about…
A hand fell roughly on his shoulder. "Son, are you all right?"
Just like that it was gone, like a monster withdrawing from the light.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"You were acting a little… off," his father said gently, fatherly concern written all over his face and tone.
"HA! 'A little off' he says. It was downright creepy if you ask me," Anger snorted gruffly, then muttered lowly, "Then they still insist the kid is innocent. Got 'crazy maniac' painted all over him in bright neon but nooooo, what do I know? Maybe when the kid finally loses it and slits our damn throats they might consider the fact that he's a mass murdering nut job. 'Oh look! L is dead.' 'Who was it?' 'I think it was Raito.' 'Now why would you say that?' 'Well, he is still holding the weapon of the murder, and he is currently on all fours licking the blood around the body while chanting "Yes, the blood from my enemy will make me stronger. Well make me immortal! I shall be a god now. Yes, the world will be mine! All of you shall bow down to me! Yes," and laughing manically…' 'Hmmm, well that is a good point you make there. But you know what? Raito is such a good boy. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, shall we?' I'm surrounded by incompetent, blind, soft hearted-" muter muter muter. Anger's voice got lower and lower as he started walking around muttering to himself.
Raito blinked before looking around. The whole group was looking at him with strange expressions on their faces. Soichiro had 'overprotective father' stamped on his forehead. Aizawa and Mogi had a look of deep suspicion (if not creeped out). Matsuda, Happiness and Child-ness had thoughtful expressions on their faces as if they were trying to figure him out. Anger was still pacing about muttering angrily to himself and Courage had a very blank look on his face (which was rather disturbing). Sadness had a tragic look, eyes filled with slight longing, like a mouth to the fire - wishing to get closer but not wanting to get burned.
Love, on the other hand, couldn't look at him in the face. His eyes roamed everywhere, never once landing anywhere near Raito, and his lip was being so constantly chewed on the teen was afraid the skin would split.
Paranoia on the other hand was looking murderous. The only thing holding him back were the three hands attached to the helm of his shirt. Logic and Reason had a rather dull look on their identical faces (no surprise there) except their eyes were glittering with accusation. Fear, now rolled into the ball they had first seen him in, had his eyes fully locked on Raito. He was trembling slightly, all in all, the real personification of fear.
Raito scrubbed his eyes viciously, then ran both hands through his hair, tugging on the strands slightly.
"Son?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine… just-"
"Tired?" Anger snorted. "Let the boy turn on his puppy dog eyes of 'I'm so innocent' and they all melt like ice in summer…" he continued to grumble but the others ignored him. Including Raito.
"- I guess I'm just stressed. You know, with… everything. Life. It must be getting to me…"
Anger looked like he was about to say something but Courage slapped his hand over his mouth.
"Hummm, you know, this is kinda uncomfortable. How about we let it drop? Everybody knows the boy is crazy. He was only taking a trip down to the nutty town, but he is back now so everything will be ooooookay. Right? Raito-kun?" Though his tone was filled with lighthearted humor, Courage's face was still completely blank (which was a very L-like skill).
Raito shifted from one foot to the other. Before he even conjured the words to reply, Courage's face split into a big eye-stinging smile. Raito (as well as the rest of the group) took a step back. "Wonderful!" he turned to Paranoia who was still being held down by Child-ness and Happiness. He patted him on the shoulder. "Why don't you get deer-eyes over here and we can all set off!" Courage put his hands behind his head and started whistling a cheer filled tune, walking away.
"I don't think I have ever agreed in coming with you," Paranoia growled as he picked Fear up, glaring over at the retiring dark green back.
Courage swirled around now with his hands behind his back. He crocked his head to the side. "You didn't?" He kicked out his leg, then hummed, tapping his chin with his finger as if he was deep in thought., eyes turned upwards. "Oh well." He shrugged. "You're coming along anyway! It's not like you two have anywhere else to be so…" Courage waved them up.
Courage then swirled around again and started whistling again. He then pointed to the side. "I think we should all go this way! YAY!" Then he skipped off.
The group started to follow, Raito lagging behind (but still far enough away from Paranoia and Fear so not to get his head bitten off. Again).
"Is it me, or is it every time something suspicious, weird, or slightly disturbing happens, one of the emotions blows it off or tries distracting us?" Raito heard Matsuda whisper to Mogi.
Mogi nodded. "For feelings, they don't like to talk or sort themselves out much, do they?" he replied.
But Raito was only listening with half an ear. His attention turned to his own display of emotion a little while ago. It was… worrying.
Okay, so maybe he was downplaying it a bit. Freaky might have fit better but Raito didn't appreciate the vocabulary all that much. In the end it didn't matter, really. What did matter was this revelation of an inner-predator. Raito knew he was manipulative. He knew he had somewhat of a superiority complex (and why shouldn't he? He was awesome! Smart, handsome, perfect in every way. Overachieving in everything he tried…)
And it didn't guilt him to use a little visibility to his advantage. But never before had he felt such an overpowering… want, a thirst - almost blood lust - to dig into someone's weaknesses, so much that it overcame him and broke through the surface.
Raito trussed his hands in his hair again, messed up his perfectly organized locks. It is said that ignorance is bliss and knowledge is power. Well at the moment he was the furthest away from felling bliss, and completely powerless. Discovering himself shouldn't be this frightening.
But, like any good human, Raito decided denial was the way to go. Why face a problem when you can ignore it until it blows up horribly in your face? And, being the convincing young man he was, he reasoned his way out of thinking there was anything wrong with him. Because there wasn't.
He was stressed.
He was tired.
He was restless.
He was hungry.
He was out of his comfort zone.
He was in a different reality.
He was fine.
Perfectly fine.
Perfectly.
Fine.
… Perfectly fine.
"Raito, if you bite your lip any harder you will rip it off."
The teen looked down at the honey-orange eyes of Child-ness and released his now-stinging lip from its painful hold under his rather sharp teeth.
The boy crocked his head to one side then the other. Raito expected him to comment or ask him what was wrong but he just gave him a cute smile and skipped off to hold Love's hand.
Was that boy really a part of the detective? Hard to believe that anything (cute and cuddly) like Child-ness could be part of such a detached and seemingly cold person like L.
But then again, no one knows how holding up a social mask could amazingly deceive better then Raito himself. So maybe he should stop asking and start accepting.
Without him noticing the group reached the edge of the glass city and stopped.
Matsuda looked around. "So… should we turn back? We kinda ran out of city here."
Courage stepped over to where marble floor met 'sand'. Shading his eyes from the harsh white light shining over the land, he then swung around. "Hey, I have an idea! Let's go underground! We still haven't gone there. It's a good place to look and I think I see one of the entrances over there."
"No," Logic and Reason said at the same time. Paranoia tensed.
Courage seemed to slump at the rejection to his 'great' idea. "Why not?" he whined loudly.
"Are you insane man! Do you even know why it is you're so jesting? Or did you forget what is down there?" Paranoia had detached himself from the crushing grip of Fear and was currently shaking Courage, shouting and apparently trying to rattle common sense into the personality.
"I…don't …see…what… the …problem…is." Courage's response came out brokenly since his head was being rattled like a maraca. He pulled Paranoia's hands away from his shirt and stilled his bobbing head. "I really don't see the problem. We are looking for everyone so it only makes since we go downstairs as well."
"You idiot! That is Memory Lane! Who the hell do you think we'll find down there!"
"…The last one who is missing?"
"He does have a point you know. Jealousy does tend to spend a lot of time down there," Sadness replied airily, eyes looking lazily up at the sky.
"Don't any of you even think of the consequences of what you are implying? No! Nonononono!" Paranoia started ranting and throwing a hissy fit.
"Memory Lane? Isn't that a western song?" Matsuda asked, but like always, was ignored.
""Memories?" Soichiro asked.
"Yep. Like the name implies it's a long winding corridor that spider webs itself everywhere underground," Happiness commented.
"Whatever gets us out of here fast," Aizawa grunted with his arms crossed.
"Look, if you guys are afraid of what they will be learning, we can always tip-toe around that. No need to get so hysterical." Courage hummed, putting his hand behind his head again, the perfect picture of relaxed.
"HYSTERICAL! I'LL SHOW YOU HYSTERICAL!" Paranoia shouted, lunging at the other like a runaway bull.
Courage squeaked, relaxed front crumbling in the face of physical pain. He hopped over Child-ness and ran, Paranoia chasing him in circles around the group.
"Why do I sometimes feel like we are stuck in badly sponsored cartoon instead of a rather inconceivable reality?" Mogi asked, as he dully watched the spectacle going on.
"Because life as a policeman has only gone downhill since Kira appeared, nothing can be considered normal when Ryuzaki is involved, and God is a sadistic jerk who likes to watch people like us, especially me, suffer," Aizawa replied, scrubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.
Mogi turned to him with a surprised look on his face. "Not the answer I was looking for but I accept it. However, I wasn't aware you were Catholic, Shuichi."
"Yes, but I'm starting to think about going Atheist. Because all my praying sure as hell isn't getting me anywhere."
Mogi only smiled at him.
Aizawa scowled. "What are you smiling at!"
"Nothing, nothing at all."
"As much as this pointless distraction has been so helpful, can we move? I'm starting to feel violent, and you will not like me when I'm violent. People get hurt," Anger growled. He then extended his arm out which Courage ran right into, knocking him back, which in turn knocked Paranoia back. They both fell over.
Unfortunately, that didn't startle Paranoia enough to stop him. He just wrapped his legs around the other's waist and his arms around the other's neck. Courage then began to make dramatic choking noises and flailing his legs in the air. He began clawing at purple-covered arms.
Anger's eye began to twitch. He growled out loud and started kicking the pair struggling on the floor.
"…So much for not kicking a man when he's down…" Matsuda murmured.
"Strangely enough I find myself immune to all of this."
"I guess seeing them fight with each other has lost its first shock and now only has become a routine…"
Raito sighed. "Well, I'm not sure about the rest of you but I feel like we should take the first steps towards our next destination. Hopefully they will follow. I do not feel quite up to sitting out and waiting for things to resolve themselves and more than likely being caught up in another distraction."
"I agree. I've had enough of these foolish games. I say we just go."
There was a murmured discussion before the task force and Raito started walking out to where Courage had pointed. The other personalities (that weren't involved in killing each other) surged and followed, Logic and Reason whispering frantically at each other, planning how to go about the next step in their route.
That is, all except Fear.
That soon was noticed by Happiness who looked back. Then Child-ness, who did the same. Soon everyone was looking backwards.
"I'm not going out there," Fear said in a small voice that seemed to crack at the end. He had his hands clapped close to his chest, back covered.
"What? Why not?" Matsuda asked
Fear just shook his head in answer, taking a step backwards.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Aizawa huffed. He then stomped over to the shivering personality and grabbed his wrist forcefully, apparently learning nothing from Matsuda's attempt beforehand... or just not caring.
"Aizawa, I don't think this is the wisest of ideas…" Matsuda mumbled, while he kept shooting uneasy glances at the still-fighting threesome on the ground. Paranoia was still trying to strangle Courage but was becoming a more difficult task since he was multitasking; biting Anger's shin at the same time. The red-eyed personality was shouting obscenities, shaking his leg in a hopeless effort to get the other off.
"Aizawa-san, you should really take into consideration your actions at the moment. They might be a little harsh and-" Love tried intervening but the officer ignored him.
"Come on! There is nothing to be afraid of. It's just a little sand… and glass… the point is, there is nothing out there that will hurt you!" He began tugging on Fear's arm. It was to no avail though; the personality just shrank more into itself, ducking his head.
Aizawa growled and applied more force. The other personalities began to try and give their opinions as well. However, Raito had to agree with Aizawa. Fear was being irrational.
…
…
Hmmm, point taken.
Okay, so trying to see logic in Fear's actions wasn't a good idea. But Raito just didn't understand why the personality refused to venture out into the desert look-alike.
There was nothing there! It was just sand, sand and more sand! A big load of nothing away from the city. Nothing to the right. Nothing to the left. Nothing up or down! Nothing all around!
Nothing to be afraid of! Just a big, wide-open space! A wide space with nothing in it! A wide space… empty… space…
…
…Oh.
…Ohhhhhhhh!
Well that explained a lot now, didn't it?
"Aizawa! Aizawa stop! I think he has Agoraphobia!"
"Agor- what? Raito, what are you talking about!" Before Raito had a chance to answer a loud sniff was heard. All attention was drawn to the shaking form of Fear. The personality had stopped struggling when Aizawa has stopped trying to pull at him, and was now just standing there with his head down and hand up to his mouth.
When he noticed the sudden quiet, he looked up. The task force and Raito were stupefied to see fat tears in his deer-eyes.
The personality wiped at his cheek with the back of his sleeve. "Please, please don't make me go out there…" Fear pleaded, then sniffed again.
Aizawa just stared at him, completely stunned. Then he simply let the man's wrist go. His own hand fell limply at his side.
"Agoraphobia, right. I'm guessing that… that is fear of open spaces, right Raito?" Aizawa asked in a defeated tone.
"…Yeah."
"Oh."
Well, Raito thought to himself, another piece to explain L's bizarre behavior is revealed… Agoraphobia. Who would have guessed? However, if you gave it some thought, it actually made since didn't it? No man could spend that much time cooped up in an apartment/ hideout/ HQ without a very good reason. And irrational fear did fall under that category.
But that was not all. Agoraphobia patients could also show signs of other phobias such as Social Phobia, which, as the name implied, was the dodging of social situations mostly by fear of embarrassment. (Though in L's case the trigger might be something else…) and Separation Anxiety Disorder, which involved the patient's avoidance of leaving home or relatives. Which really did fit Ryuzaki in oh so many ways… mostly people who have Agoraphobia try to avoid situations where they have little control. And that also screamed L in many ways.
Now Raito was beating himself up for never having noticed such a thing. It seemed so obvious now.
Raito was brought out of his mental nagging when Aizawa was suddenly tackled to the floor. The man looked up to the face of a very pissed off Paranoia.
"I had enough of you people!" Paranoia hissed like an abused snake. Having freed himself from the other two, he stomped over, embraced the sniveling Fear, and shushed him before facing the group again. "You people disgust me." And with that last comment they disappeared.
Literally. One minute they were there, the next, both Paranoia and Fear disappeared.
"Wow! Did any of you see that? Tell me you saw that too!"
"Yes Matsuda, calm down." Soichiro patted the younger officer on the shoulder but all the while was staring at the spot the personalities used to be.
Matsuda didn't seem to hear what was said to him since he was inching closer with his hand stretched out as far as it would go and swinging it around as if expecting it to hit something unseen.
"Okay, what just happened here?" Raito asked
"They shimmered."
The task force and Raito looked over to Logic and Reason. Happiness noticed that the twins weren't going to explain any further, and sighed. "It is simple really. 'Shimmering' is the fast way to get around here. It's the way emotions reveal themselves quickly. Not unlike mood swings."
"…Mood swing?" Mogi asked.
Happiness nodded. "Yeah, well have you ever felt happy one second and completely depressed the other? That is what shimmering is at its most basic."
"Yeah! I have done it several times today!" Courage said with gusto. Then to demonstrate he 'shimmered'.
"Hello love." Raito froze at the sickeningly sweet purr in his ear. Arms tightly fastened around his torso suddenly. He instinctively elbowed the owner of the voice in the stomach.
"Oh, so feisty, I like that!" Courage coughed out, a large grin on his face. Raito rolled his eyes.
"Wait! So you are telling us you people can simply teleport anywhere you want at any time and you didn't tell us this why! You made us scale a freaking 100 floor building by stairs!" Aizawa cried in utter outrage.
All personalities looked at each other then back, shrugging as a group. "Didn't seem important," Happiness said simply. "Plus, emotions can only transport other emotions. So it really wouldn't have helped anyway."
Aizawa hung his head sadly, going to sulk in a corner. "Well, 'shimmering' or not, what we have to focus on now is the fact that we lost two personalities which can be anywhere, and if I recall correctly, we can't get out without them," Soichiro said impatiently, crossing his arms.
"Errrr…so…anyone got any suggestions?" Matsuda asked impishly, looking around hopefully. No one answered.
Soichiro rubbed his eyes with his thick fingers. "All right, I can see this is not going anywhere. So this is what we're going to do. I will separate all of us into three groups. We will split up and look. We will all have an officer and a personality in every group so it is balanced, and no one should get lost. Now, we will all meet at the Kira building since it is visible from all points of the city and outside. That way there is no chance of any of us getting lost for long. Now the group will be as follows."
"Group one: Aizawa, Mogi, Anger and Sadness. Group two: myself, Love, Courage, Logic and Reason. Group three: Raito, Matsuda, Happiness and Child-ness. Group one will cover north; Group two West; and Group three south. We will all go east when we finish or find the missing personalities. Unfortunately we have no means of communication and this will only make the scouting longer so be done as quickly as possible. If we do not find them during this first try we will re-group and move to the next."
"…And if we don't find them? After all that?"
"…We shall cross that bridge if we get there. At the moment we're operating on the idea that we will find them for sure. All right, separate into the designated groups and we will start."
Soichiro's true leadership skills shown through at a moment of need.
They all did as told without complaint (though there was an awful lot of muttering going on, especially from Anger). Mogi slowly approached Soichiro, putting his hand on the man's shoulder.
"Not to impose… but are you sure mixing two hotheads in the same group is a good idea?"
Both men looked over their shoulders to see Anger and Aizawa in a glaring contest. Soichiro sighed. "Probably not, but quite frankly we have few options and I wanted every team to have one of the force for safe keeping. That why I'm trusting you to keep them all level-headed."
Mogi raised an eyebrow. "Me?"
"You are the most patient person I know Kanzo; if anyone can do it, it is you. And to tell you the truth, I'm at the end of my rope here. I'm not sure how much more of this asylum I can endure. At lest with creepy twin one and creepy twin two the bouncing ball of green energy will be more under control. As long as there is one person who can think straight in every group we'll be fine."
He moved off and Mogi went to his designated group. "Okay, let's move out." The groups separated.
Raito couldn't believe it. Was his father trying to kill him? He was going to drown in positive energy. This what it would probably be like to be crushed by an avalanche of teddy bears, flowers, candy and rainbows. Matsuda, Happiness and Child-ness? He had to be glad his father was merciful enough no to throw in Courage as well - because then it would be a real party.
There was a poke at his side and the teen looked down only to find honey -orange eyes staring back at him. Of course. The boy wanted to be carried. Why walk on his own two feet when he could get someone else to do the work? Hmm, maybe Child-ness had more in common with L than he was giving him credit for… Raito shook his head but bent down and picked the boy up anyway.
He just prayed they would find the two missing idiots soon. If not to get out then just so that Raito could get his hands around their necks for making his life harder and more miserable than it already was…