Chapter 1: Kira
The world was a rotten place — a festering pit of lies, atrocities, and greed.
Who even wanted to live in a world like this? How could people turn a blind eye to the world as it was and justify it by saying that it was just the way things were? How could these same people carry on knowing the guilty could walk away unpunished, that there were people languishing in prison cells for crimes they didn't commit, that others lived in fear twenty-four hours a day — always wondering whether this day was their last, wondering if their lives could be cut short at a moment's notice either by the hands of Fate or through some disgusting human being's depraved desires?
It was wrong… All wrong.
So what were the chances that Fate itself let him see the conspicuous notebook fall from the sky? What were the chances that Fate had actually compelled him to take the notebook when he could have left it behind and dismissed it as nothing more than an elaborate prank set up by teenagers like himself, steeped in boredom? And after reading the carefully worded 'rules', was it Fate that allowed insatiable curiosity to possess him to try and see if the notebook really worked?
And now that he knew that it did… Now that he knew that this Death Note was his to own, what was stopping him from making the changes he'd hungered to see?
It was so easy — so unbelievably simple. Just a name and a face. Just pieces of paper, drops of ink, and a pen.
That was all it took.
A few lines on the pristine pages was all that was required to take the life of people who upset law and order — who disrupted the very fabric of society.
He could do it. He knew he could. He was perfectly capable of achieving what no man ever could — to cleanse the world of its sins and its rotten flesh.
If no one else was going to do it, why not him?
Despite what the death god said — a result of mere chance or not, the Death Note was his.
The Death Note was the key to this perfect and ideal world he had been so enraptured with. It was going to be his instrument of destruction, creation, and justice.
The Death Note was Power.
Raw, unbridled power waiting to mete out righteous judgment and retribution, raring to devour whom he commanded it to devour.
To hold this much power over life and death, to be a judge and an executioner working in the shadows in the service of justice. Was one person really allowed to have it all?
But of course it was…
If Fate ordained it so, then perhaps this was what his true purpose was after all. This was why he was blessed with unmatched brilliance and charisma — it was to fulfill the highest of callings.
The world needed to know of his existence when the time was right.
And simply because the world needed it… Needed him—
"I will become the god of this new world."
=OoOoO=
Lelouch had to admit that after nine decades of regular Geass hunting, their list of prospects had grown considerably smaller. The first few years of their hunt for this roguish power had been hectic and on more than one occasion, he and his immortal partner had to rely on the strength of the UFN's military — even when the people he used to know and love and cherish had slowly retired from service because of time's unstoppable flow, his need for the Black Knights on certain occasions had never faltered. Against the light of the blue screen, a sad smile pulled at the corner of his lips.
How poetic… A group he'd originally brought together for the sake of rebellion and revolution against a tyrannical empire — the same group that had ousted him for his secrets — was the same global organization that still served him and his purposes (no matter how sparing). Sometimes when he closed his eyes, fragments of that first life still materialized in the front of his mind (a life terrorized by Britannia's military technology, blood, invigorating shouts of the masked man's name, the Black Rebellion, the battle of Tokyo, the war in the Pacific, his ascension to the Imperial throne) — a lucid dream.
He was old now — considered senile even, had he been normal. But he never could be normal, could he?
Absorbed in his thoughts, Lelouch all but jumped when the door to their hotel suite opened and a familiar voice drifted in just as it did.
"I'm home, Lelouch"
He saw C.C. approach from his peripheral vision and he turned to acknowledge her presence with a smirk playing on his lips. And there was his partner in eternal youth.
"You're home quite late."
"One cannot rush a good pizza hunt." C.C. waved him off — ignoring his blatant eye-rolling at her response as she stepped closer to peer at Lelouch's screen. "But I'm sure my day can't be as interesting as yours."
Lelouch refused to give her a reaction even as her smooth voice purred into his ear.
"Any interesting leads, Detective Lamperouge?"
"The hunt for Geass or my day job?" He couldn't resist teasing — not when he felt she was being particularly childish tonight.
"Both."
Lelouch smirked. How convenient that the two had intersected after all his efforts of keeping them separate.
Fingers flying across the keys to pull up the last few tabs he'd minimized previously, he slowly asked. "You know how I've been keeping a close eye on the news reports lately?"
"Don't you always?" C.C. cocked an eyebrow. He was always glued to the TV screen or his phone after seven o' clock in the evening. So much so that he had formed a habit. It wasn't strange for someone like Lelouch, but C.C. did find it interesting that he would bring it up again.
Lelouch ignored the quip. "Criminals have been dropping like flies over the past seven days. All of them are reportedly dying from heart attacks."
"Odd. But I wouldn't be surprised if the organization in charge of world health would start releasing information about a virus that kills people through heart attacks." She released a heavy sigh and flopped onto their bed, staring up at the whirring ceiling fan above their heads. She'd already seen and experienced too much, after all.
He shook his head and chose to ignore C.C.'s ridiculous assumptions and temporary passivity over the news. But no matter… For the past few decades, she had put him in-charge of the information-gathering, since the day they were sure he could safely walk around a crowded area without being recognized and consequently outed as the deceased 99th Emperor of Britannia risen from the dead. He couldn't fault her for being slighting disinterested.
Between the two of them, C.C. often took responsibility for their logistics and their ever-changing identities. Over time, they'd even acquired enough cash (courtesy of their side hustles and his forays into a casino to count cards and gamble on chess) and technology to forge one of their own — eliminating the need for a middle man and for his Geass.
"We could very well be looking at someone who is abusing their Geass." He contemplated, fingers tapping on the edge of the desk.
C.C. frowned. "But if that's the case, why only criminals? I would assume the Geass user is in prison himself."
"The killings aren't isolated to a prison, C.C. If the news outlets can be believed, the deaths are spread throughout Japan. Still, other people on the internet have pointed out heart-attack related deaths of publicly known international criminals."
"A far-reaching homicidal Geass perhaps?" She mused.
"Could be."
Lelouch, noticing the time, promptly reached for the remote control and flipped on the television, switching channels to a local news broadcast, letting the program drone on in the background as he drowned himself in his own thoughts. He had been tracking this steadily growing development for the past week until it had grown too odd to be ignored. A reported hostage-taker dying of a heart attack in the midst of committing his crimes during a live broadcast in Shinjuku was one thing, but several criminals all dying from the same affliction was another. It had to be Geass. He knew of no other power that could be so encompassing in their world.
But if it was Geass, what exactly would it do? What was the range of its power? What were the conditions? Was the Geass limited to killing people by means of heart attacks? Did this perpetrator require physical contact or, at the very least, eye contact? Or maybe they didn't need contact at all? How was the person doing it?
His gaze wandered back to the tabs he had pulled open on his internet browser. The series of heart attacks had birthed conspiracy theories and legends on various internet forums.
One name jumped out among the masses.
Kira.
Kira was supposedly behind it all, and Lelouch had begun his own speculations under that assumption.
If this Kira — as the internet now dubbed this phantom killer — was a Geass wielder who could end lives with mere thoughts, then he and C.C. had to act. And act quickly to find them, neutralize them, and if need be, eliminate them.
At this rate, Lelouch seriously doubted this person would stop at criminals alone. Kira had quite the following on the internet now and these consecutive acts had the attention of the media, the general public, and possibly even the police department. Perhaps even what was left of the Black Knights were looking into this. He doubted that it was a big issue right now, but if it kept accelerating then it would be.
Geass was power. And after seeing his fair share of human nature by now (of how countries and cities rose and fell at the word of men and women who held the metaphorical scepter), power was a drug more addictive than any other. Wasn't the nuclear war twenty years ago proof of that?
After all, Lelouch vi Britannia of all people knew what it was like to have the people of the world in the palm of his hand.
It was just as C.C. told him long ago. People knew history. Very few learned from it.
If he'd had less honorable intentions, Lelouch had always known how easy it was to forfeit Zero Requiem and take the reins of the world instead — ruling as its dictator and Emperor until the world fit his ideals and until it prostrated itself before his feet. But he'd had Suzaku then… He'd had the sacrifices and lives of the people he loved to think of. He knew of humanity's longing for happiness and peace and the future. It was why he rejected his own father's ideals and Schneizel's, was it not? It was why he'd refused Shamna her wish.
"So, how do you propose we track them down?" C.C.'s voice cut through his musings. "No, a better question is… Should we?"
Brows furrowing further, Lelouch reached over the desk to twirl a pen between his fingers. "C.C., stop asking questions you know the answer to."
That characteristically coy smile played along her lips again. "A child would tell you this person is killing bad people. Say, when we do find them and if they're using their powers for good, what then?"
"I would reserve judgment until we do. Are they truly working in the interest of cleansing the world of people who have committed crimes? Or do they have a grander design in mind?"
"Why am I not surprised that you think like this?" C.C. huffed, sounding very much amused. Because when Lelouch landed on a train of thought, it was quite impossible to hoist him out of it. And the more he rambled, the more she was beginning to see how much Lelouch thought that Kira's motives mirrored Lelouch vi Britannia's from the history books.
"Do their actions stem from pure intentions? What do you think?"
Humor him, why not? "Perhaps it does. And along the way, maybe they desire to take some form of credit."
The grin that unfurled across Lelouch's lips was far too telling — almost manic, in the knowledge that he and C.C. have been thinking along the same vein after all. Despite C.C.'s flippant façade, she was always rather cooperative, wasn't she?
"Precisely. Kira wants the world to know that they exist. Who is to say they didn't point out these string of heart-attack deaths on the internet themself? Who is to say that they didn't give themself the name 'Kira'? Most of the things they're doing sounds exactly like what I would have done as Zero to get Britannia's attention."
"No, you were far more dramatic." She drawled dismissively.
She could still recall how Lelouch himself as Zero seized the opportunity during a hoteljacking once upon a time to give his Knights for Justice a proper debut in the eyes of the world.
"But I suppose another argument to make is that they're testing the limits of their power. Either they're confident about what they're doing, or they're stupid enough to presume they won't get caught. Perhaps even both."
C.C. sat up all of a sudden and stared at him with eyes of molten gold. "If they're testing it only now, it suggests that their Geass is new. But you and I both know that is impossible because the Geass Order has long been eradicated and Farlaf has been extinguished during the nuclear war."
"Hm… A dormant Geass perhaps? You've told me of such instances before."
She shook her head and snagged a pillow to squeeze between her arms. "As far as I am aware, a Geass only goes dormant through the actions of another Geass user whose power trumps the other. Just like what Charles did to yours a long time ago. Or it's dormant with the aid of the Code-bearer. The latter is highly unlikely since I am the only person in the world with a Code… A complete one, anyway."
"If that's the case, then there's still a person alive whose Geass messes with others'."
"Which stumps us even further. Every person alive from the day those fragments scattered across the world is now either dead or incredibly senile. "
"C.C., you're the last person to make presumptions on old people's mental capabilities."
It was a terrible joke. Still, C.C. found herself suppressing a smile.
"I'm being logical."
"I never took logic to be your strong suit."
"Says the man who has relied on me for far more than logic for the past 90 years — not including your time as leader of the Black Knights."
"Touché… But I—"
C.C. held up a hand and stopped his tirade. Kneeling on the mattress, she swiftly gestured to the live broadcast of the news still playing on his computer. A news reporter downtown was in the midst of reporting on the very case he and C.C. had been ruminating on for the past few minutes, swiftly interrupted by a notice about the scheduled program being interrupted in favor of a special broadcast.
Lelouch watched curiously as a news anchor appeared onscreen.
"We'd like to apologize for the interruption. As of now, we're bringing you a live worldwide broadcast from the International Criminal Police Organization. We now take you, live, to the ICPO."
Intrigued with this latest development, Lelouch completely turned his back on the laptop that held most of his attention for the majority of this day. Whatever insight these internet users could give him on Kira certainly paled in comparison to a live broadcast from the international police force tasked with solving the most mind-boggling of criminal cases. Even Lelouch himself as Marion Lamperouge — renowned private detective, couldn't hope to attend any of their secret meetings — unless he used his Geass to force an entry of course. But that would just be asking for inconvenient trouble.
"I head up an international police task force which includes all member nations. I am Lind L. Tailor, otherwise known as 'L'."
Lind L. Tailor, also known as 'L', a man leading an investigation in the ICPO delivered a rather compelling address. Lelouch had to commend the man for his stiff professionalism and appearance of authority.
"If he's leading this case, working with him could be beneficial." C.C. suggested under her breath, riveted with the broadcast just as Lelouch clung to every word to see what sort of information could be revealed through veiled words and implications.
It seemed he was right in ascertaining that the police suspected these series of heart-attacks affecting criminals were caused by a person.
For if it was indeed a rogue Geass user, then the police could track down the perpetrator all they wanted, but at the end of the day, the hidden special forces of the Black Knights would have to come into play. That was, assuming the organization was still as knowledgeable as before. Ever since the incident at Zilkhistan many decades ago, Zero and Lieutenant General Cornelia li Britannia had organized an elite team of Geass hunters in secrecy. C.C. had acted as the bridge between this special force and Lelouch — communicating with one another to share information and making Geass hunts efficient.
But after the nuclear war… The Black Knights' grip on world peace and foreign affairs faltered. It was not the same as before. Granted, it had never been the same even in years before the cataclysmic war. Ever since Zero passed away and after most of the founding members alongside Cornelia eventually retired.
She and Lelouch had had to rely on themselves and the tech they'd acquired after many long years of gathering cash in various currencies.
They had lost touch with the Black Knights. Lelouch hardly relied on them in recent years, especially since the number of Geass users were close to zero now. Would the UFN's military still recognize C.C.'s authority? One could only guess.
At the moment, it was safe to assume that 'no', they wouldn't.
"Kira, I will hunt you down. I will find you. Kira, I've got a pretty good idea what your motivation might be and I can guess what you hope to achieve. However, what you're doing right now is evil."
As the words left Lind L. Tailor's lips, C.C. chanced a glance at her partner, noting the stiffness along his jaw and the way his knuckles gripped the side of the desk chair. Silence followed L's words and C.C had to turn back to the television to see if they cut off the broadcast. But no, it was still there.
Lind L. Tailor was still there… with an arrogant smirk upon his lips and an air of haughtiness about him.
Until he wasn't… The man's body suddenly stiffened, eyes rolling to the back of his head as strong convulsions wracked his body. C.C. blinked, unfazed, but surprised all the same at the sight of the man lying limp, head slumped on the desk.
Lind L. Tailor—
"He's dead…" C.C. heard Lelouch mumble. He sounded quite disappointed, actually. "All things considered, it was a risky ploy from the start. I'm sure the police had their suspicions about this Kira, but perhaps now they're convinced that the rumors flying around the internet aren't just some hoax. Kira is real."
"Would you have done it differently?" C.C. asked, eyes still glued to the screen as two men appeared onscreen and carried off Lind L. Tailor's dead body.
"Working with their assumption, I would have used a decoy, someone who is slated for death row would be ideal. At the very least, the man's death could mean something — presuming our guess about this rogue Geass is true." His eyes narrowed a little.
'That this person can kill from a distance' went unsaid.
"This 'L'... Lind L. Tailor is gone. I'm sure they'll replace the head investigator soon and maybe this time around, they won't be stupid enough to provoke our quarry into using his Geass. We're going to have to infiltrate the task force in charge of handling this investigation, and—"
The broadcast was cut off, replaced instead with a single letter onscreen.
L.
Well, this is interesting… Subconsciously, Lelouch leaned forward.
"I had to test this just in case, but I... I never thought it would actually happen. Kira, it seems you can kill people without having to be there in person. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't just witnessed it. Listen to me, Kira. If you did indeed kill Lind L. Tailor, the man who you just saw die on television, I should tell you that he was an inmate whose execution was scheduled for today. That was not me. The police arrested him in absolute secrecy, so you wouldn't have heard about him on TV or through the internet. It appears that not even you have access to information about these types of criminals. But I assure you... L is real. I do exist. Now, try to kill me!"
Both Lelouch and C.C. watched as this L… The real L taunted and jeered and goaded Kira into killing him. To do it now. If the current speaker did die, then Lelouch had his suspicions all but confirmed — had Kira's motives all but completely figured out, solidifying the former Emperor's resolve to cut off this homicidal murderer's source of power.
"What's the matter? Can't you do it? Well, Kira... It seems that you can't kill me after all. So there are some people you can't kill. You've given me a useful hint. Let me return the favor. I'll tell you something that I think you'll find interesting. Although this is announced as a worldwide broadcast, the truth is, we are only broadcasting in the Kanto region of Japan. I had planned to broadcast this message around the world until we found you, but it looks like that won't be necessary. I now know where you are."
If that wasn't just brilliant.
Kira might have refused to kill the challenger out of shock, but it also presented the idea that there could be a loophole in his powers — a loophole Lelouch was more than willing to discover and exploit. Not only had this L discovered a useful hint, he narrowed down Kira's location in one fell swoop. A brilliant display of a strategic trap for the enemy, indeed.
Even Lelouch couldn't hide how impressed he was and C.C. noticed. Very few came close to matching the way her partner processed things and viewed it, but it seems there was one now. Where has L been hiding all these years? Or maybe he had always been around and their paths just hadn't crossed until now?
L went on to explain how he traced Kira's killings back to a hostage incident in Shinjuku, how this man was a petty criminal compared to the high-profile kills Kira had been making for the past week, and how this man's crime was only ever broadcasted in Japan.
"You are in Japan. And your first victim was little more than an experiment which means that you haven't been killing for very long."
If they excluded the possibility of Geass being involved, it was a reasonable conclusion…
"It won't be too long now before I am able to sentence you to death. Naturally, I am very interested in how you are able to commit these murders without being present. But I don't mind waiting a little bit longer. You can answer all of my questions when I catch you. Let's meet again soon, Kira."
When and not if.
The determined look on Lelouch's face was all C.C. needed to see to know that their plans were already set. L did most of the groundwork for them both, narrowing down Kira's location and the possible conditions of how he killed his victims.
"Your mind is set on how to deal with them?" C.C. asked anyway.
Lelouch pursed his lips and turned back to his laptop as the news anchors transitioned to commentary about the latest developments in what is now dubbed as the 'Kira confrontation.'
"Kira couldn't have known that Lind L. Tailor was a criminal. Which means they didn't hesitate to kill a supposedly innocent man. They're willing to throw innocent lives away if these individuals obstruct their brand of justice. They're vindictive and iron-fisted." A self-deprecating chuckle left Lelouch's lips. "It's disturbing to know that Kira and I have similarities."
Or maybe 'had' was a better word to use. Over 90 years and he still never failed to look back on his past actions and reflect on them from time to time. Scars that made him who he was.
"You were fighting in a war, Lelouch. It doesn't excuse it, but even you understood the burden and the gravity of sacrificing several lives to save millions of others." C.C. outstretched her hand towards him, an invitation to stop for the night and rest up. If they were going to join the fray in this Kira investigation, they needed all the rest they could get.
"We don't know if Kira thinks like that."
"You're right. We will begin our search for Kira as soon as possible, will we not?"
Lelouch smirked at the question, although he did accept C.C.'s offer and climbed into bed beside her — still dressed in lounge pants and a long-sleeved shirt. He shook his head in answer to her query.
Thanks to L's little TV stunt, there would obviously be a better way to go about this. Instead of purely resorting to Geass to rob key people of their free will temporarily, so he and C.C. could find an in, L's resources and his connections with the ICPO would make it so much easier.
"We will."
"And what of L?"
"L does not want to be found. If he takes great lengths to shield his identity, I doubt we'll find him that easily. Maybe he's not even in Japan at the moment."
"But at the same time, he very well could be."
"We'll look into Kira's killings by ourselves and leak the information to the police whenever necessary… If L is as determined as he sounded during that broadcast, then we don't need to worry about getting close. Circumstances will do that for us."
A/N: This fanfic is going to have a lot of 'L's… Good gods. I love that Lelouch and C.C. assume it's Geass. XD It's cute.
Hi, I'm back! :D
Fun fact: I originally wrote Lelouch as L.L. all throughout to make the distinction that he chose that moniker after Re;surrection, but it got hell'a confusing, especially because L exists…. Trust me… Having L.L. and L in the same sentence ain't pretty.