Disclaimer: I own nothing…sadly…unfortunately.
Moka-girl: I know! It was so weird. Maybe I messed it up or something…Well, I'm glad that you could finally read it. :3
bleedingcrimson: I'm happy you liked it! I hope you like this one, too. However short it is... :D
The man who was holding her elbow was gaping at her now. She wasn't entirely sure that he was gaping at her and now at Watari and L-the former of whom had to sit down and was holding his head in his hands. She felt horrible-she wanted to go over and comfort him, to make him feel better about the fact that, even though she had faked her own suicide, it wasn't really his fault. (Although, she had often argued with Rue over the fact that it had really been their fault that the first three successors had turned out so extremely messed up.) But, her eyes had turned off of the kind old man that had taken her in. Instead, they were connected to L's eyes, which were just as wide as they had been when she had first walked in.
"And, if I don't want to call you that?" He stated, drawing himself up and acting like he was in charge.
The way that he was and a bit of his facial expressions made her recognize him instantly. He was the father of the boy she had seen…Light Yagami. That meant that the man in front of her must have been the chief of police. She wondered if he had ever gotten the call from him-the call that Naomi had wanted to make.
Her throat clenched.
"You can call me A. It's technically my name-unless you would prefer to call me Alternate?" She mocked, rolling her eyes. "If you want a name you can call me by in public-then it would be Aimi. Aimi Ryuzaki."
Chief Yagami-as she was dubbing him until she knew what he was to be called-gave her a suspicious look before looking at L, who looked even more in shock.
"You're supposed to be dead." L's voice finally rang. It was every bit as dead and as monotone as she had expected to hear. She remembered the first time she had heard it.
"You've got to be joking!" Copy threw his hands up in the air, exasperated. His red hair was hanging limply over his shoulders in his usual, favorite hairstyle. His bright blue eyes were staring at her in disbelief.
"What?" She asked, not quite sure what she had done to merit being yelled at.
"You've got to be freaking kidding me." He stated, once more.
"If you don't hurry up and make a point, I'm going to smack you." Backup rolled his eyes. "You're getting on nerves, and I was asleep, jackass."
"Oh. I didn't notice you were here, B." C said, scratching his cheek. "I'm upset at you, too!"
"Why?" Alternate pressed, annoyed. "What did we do?"
"It's not what you've done. It's what you're going to do!"
"Copy! You're not allowed to tell them anything." Duplicate appeared at the door, grabbing his roommate by the back of his shirt. "If you do, you could be punished. Roger will make sure you don't eat anything."
"No!" Copy fell down on his knees. "Not the food-he can take anything except the food!"
"I'll take away your masculinity if you don't tell me what the hell you're talking about. You barged in here for a reason; now tell me what that reason was, or you're going to regret barging into our room." B threatened, getting to his feet.
"Hey, B!" She set her paints down to go and push him back down on his bed. "Calm down. Hey, D. C, will you please tell us why you're here?"
"You get to meet L!" C spit out, almost ashamed.
"What?" Simultaneously, their mouths dropped.
"That's impossible. No one has met L." B said, slowly.
"B and I should know, guys. We've been here the longest." She shook her head
"Well, apparently he's changing the rules. He wants to meet his top two successors." Duplicate smiled, cheerfully.
"Not his top three, though!" Copy threw himself on A's bed. "God forbid he wants to meet his top three. He doesn't care much about me."
"I'm sure he'll want to meet you eventually." She tried to cheer him up. Well, it was either be nice to him and hope he got off of her neatly made bed, or it was be mean and have him mess it up even more.
"I doubt it. He's only interested in me and you, A." B smirked.
Then, there was a knock on the door. Diego jumped away from it just in time to have it open and reveal a disgruntled Roger. He glared at Copy-for they had gotten into a fight-before smiling at A. She had always been his favorite-causing the least amount of grief among the successors.
"There's someone who'd like to meet you about a case." He stated. By his smile, they could all guess where it was going.
"What's the case about?" B asked, lazily.
"I didn't ask." Roger said, the uncertainty clear in his voice.
"Well, I guess we'll find out when we get there." A said. She tried to push them out of the room. "However, I am covered in paint-probably not the best appearance to go out and greet someone who wants to see us-professionally."
He looked worried, now. "No, no. Come as you are. I'm sure he wouldn't mind either way."
The two successors shared a look.
"Alright," B shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter, then."
And, they had left C and D off in their rooms while they continued down the stairs. She kept picking at her fingers, trying to get the leftover paint off of them.
"Were you painting another mural, A?" Roger asked. He always hung up the ones she created of bugs in his office. Wammy, meanwhile, would hang others up in his own office, the dining room, and around the hall. Lastly, when anyone made a special request of them, she would make sure they hung up somewhere, too.
"No, just something for Backup and myself." She rubbed her fingers together. "I'm hanging it over my bed."
"Right-well, as soon as you finish that, I would love another bug painting."
"Of course, I'll get another frieze out for you as soon as I'm done with the case." A hummed. "Why, though, is he asking for both of us? Usually, it's only one of us-when we're both required, L usually gets involved before we can so much as look at it."
"I was wondering that, too." B chimed.
"I don't know, you'll have to ask him."
"It's also strange that he asked for us both, specifically." She continued, winking at B behind Roger's back. "They tend to simply ask for the best you can offer-in which you recruit one of us. But, to know us by name means that this is a client we've had before-where, if that were the case, you would have told us the name of said client-or this is some strange person who knows us both that has somehow managed to get under your surveillance."
"I, well…" He fell silent, despite their calculations until they reached his office, in which he opened the door and ushered them in.
"That was odd." B smirked, staring down at her. "You're Roger's favorite-he usually responds to whatever you say. I was sure he was going to cave in."
"I'm not his absolute favorite, B." She rolled her eyes, but was pleased anyway. "There is always that one guy who trumps us both. Combined."
"That wouldn't, by any chance, be me would it? No, I am 95% sure that it's me."
They both whirled around, B a bit more dignified than her own turn.
Her eyes fell upon a boy was older than them both, but not much older than B.
"I am L."
She composed herself and smiled wryly, shrugging. "Your successors have a habit of supposing to be dead." She battered her eyelashes.
He narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
"Shouldn't you know?" A countered, speedily. "Or, if you don't know, can't you figure it out?"
"Just as quick as ever, I see." He smirked.
She shrugged. "They won't let me stay out of practice."
"Who're they?" Wamm-Watari asked, his voice resigned. It seemed, even though L was ready to accept her-and, even if he wasn't, it seemed like he was going to act as if he were-Watari didn't seem even close to believing that she was there, aged past what he last saw her, and breathing.
"Well…you know, the usual people. In fact, the reason I'm here is…" She stopped herself and glanced at Chief Yagami, her eyes narrowing slightly. "confidential. If it leaves this room, we'll know. And, while I don't give a damn-sorry, Watari-they will and they will take care of it. It's nothing they haven't done before." She raised an eyebrow at L. "I'm sure you know who I'm talking about, and, if you don't, then you should."
"Duplicate is alive, obviously." He started counting off with his fingers. "The only ones you associated with on a daily basis before your…faked suicide…were B, C, and D. Backup died of a heart attack, and Copy turned into a suicide bomber."
"Or so you were lead to believe." She stated, ominously. "If I could fake my suicide so young, what makes you think 'Rue' and 'Collin' couldn't do the same thing?"
"How?" He asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Figure it out-Mr. Greatest Detective In The World. They don't want to see you, either." A sighed. "They'll be in contact with you, but it's probably best for your own mental health to have limited contacted with Rue and Collin."
"Backup and Copy." L pressed.
"If you call them that, they'll hit you. However good you may be at defending yourself, I'm sure the two of them-three if you count 'Diego'-can take you. Besides," she moved past them and slumped down on the couch, frowning at him. "You haven't chosen your next successor-which I highly encourage you do. I may reappeared, but, at the moment, I'm not crazy about assuming my old possession. Now, why don't you tell me what you know about the 'Kira' case, and we'll see if two genius' can't solve it?"
She fixed her posture and turned her frown into a smile. "Because, if you could have even believed that I was alive, you would have found me. Kira's obviously alive. We will find him. It...got personal."
AN: Plus, sorry this one is short. It was either have it be INCREDIBLY LONG or have it be short. XD I figured you guys would want this one to be long, but the next one was already long enough without having this one be super long, too. I'm also sorry it's so late. I have a knack for being late, but it was because my mom surprised me with a trip to Mexico~ (It's torture here in my aunt's house. O.O)