A/N: Wow. Not one line break/scene change in the whole damn chapter. Well then!
And the mystery continues to slowly unravel, my friends.
I would like to take this chance to whole heartedly thank each and every one of you AWESOME people for the FABULOUS reviews you continue to DAZZLE me with! You are all bloody amazing, and the only reason I keep writing is FOR YOU, the BEAUTIFUL reader! Thank YOU for reading my story! I really really appreciate it. And thank you SO BLOODY MUCH if you are gracious enough to leave me a review!
Okay people. Here we go again. And this chapter is pretty dialogue heavy. :D I like dialogue. XD
And damn. I'm excited. The plot is coming along nicely. I'm very proud of each and everyone of you that picked up on Roger's mentioning of that little thing he mentioned. XD Good job, people!
AND! THANK YOU for your opinions on OMA. I can't wait to start that one!
OKAY PEOPLE! IS ANYONE HERE CREATIVE? okay, so, y'all know this story about as well as I do, and the summery has been buggin the hell out of me. I just don't think it really conveys what the story is about as well as I like. I hate admitting that I suck at summeries, SO DON'T TELL ANYBODY!, because then people are all like, "Oh, she can't write a summery? What makes her think she can write a story? what an idiot! i'm not gonna read her stuff! bleh!" so, yeah, don't tell anybody, AND IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS/SUMMERIES/ETC, PLEASE just leave me a review or PM or something. Please. I'm desperate for a better summery, and everything I come up with stinks!
Oh, and is anyone as anxious for the update of Hacker of the Past as I am? That bit of the last chapter was HILARIOUS. Man, I can't wait for that story to be updated! :D
The Art of Drowning
It's A Bloody Conspiracy
"The beginning . . ." murmured Light. When was the beginning? Not when he found the notebook. No, L meant before that. All those years ago, in the orphanage . . .
"Yes Raito-kun," agreed L, but not without a trace of exasperation.
Light inwardly sighed. This wasn't going to be an easy story to tell. He hadn't ever talked about those months after his friend's death. He tried his best not to remember them either. He was of the mind that the past was meant to stay in the past, but that had just worked out so well, hadn't it?
He took a breath.
"It all started when my best friend went on a field trip to the British Museum," began Light, pausing as he thought back to that day so long ago. The memories were sketchy. Light had purposefully put them from his mind for so long, that it took him a moment for him to remember the exact order of events. However, the more he concentrated, the faster he began to recall.
L said nothing. He only continued to stare unblinkingly at Light, waiting for him to continue. Light met the other man's piercing gaze, and his mind momentarily froze as he found himself lost in their dark depths.
With great effort, Light broke the gaze, instead, looking down into his empty coffee cup.
"I remember when you left that morning. You were wearing my white shirt. I was smug about that. I told myself I'd rub it in your face when you got back, but . . . I just wish I had said something, had known, or even - I would have stopped you. If I had known. I would have never let you walk out that door," said Light, realizing that he was rambling just a bit. He needed to differentiate between pertinent thoughts and ones that had no business leaving his head.
L quirked his head. "You would not have let me go?"
Light looked up from his cup, his eyebrows raised. "Do you really need me to answer that?"
L said nothing. His silence encouraged Light to continue.
"There was a storm that night, and Mrs. Wallace said that the bus couldn't drive in the bad weather. It stopped at a motel. When the bus got back the next afternoon, you weren't on it. I was frantic, and none of the other kids would tell me where you were. I finally went to Mrs. Wallace's office, and I saw two policemen leaving. She was crying . . ."
L frowned, but kept quiet.
Light drew in a steadying breath.
"A week later, the police found L Lawliet's body floating in the Thames river. I -"
Light stopped as L fell sideways off his chair, having obviously lost his balance in what Light could only assume was shock. Light leaned over to look at the stunned man.
"You okay?" he asked hesitantly.
L sat up, supporting himself with his elbows, and stared at Light in shock. He seemed to be having trouble finding his next words.
"What?!" croaked L, finally.
Light smirked slightly. He enjoyed seeing the other man surprised. It was a rarity, and despite the seriousness of the conversation, Light took pleasure in L's expression.
"Yes, well, obviously that couldn't have been you," explained Light condescendingly.
"So you thought I was dead?" asked L faintly.
Light immediately sobered, all humor leaving him, as L gave him such a sad look.
"What else was I supposed to think? Mrs. Wallace went in for the identification. We had your funeral a week later. It was closed casket. Apparently the body was . . . too far gone for anything else," said Light.
L spluttered. "But that's not what happened at all!"
Light just shook his head, mild amusement creeping back. "I know that. You're sitting right in front of me. Not rotting six feet under in some run down London cemetery. Though for the past few years, that's exactly where I thought you were."
L climbed back into his seat, assuming his usual precarious position. He looked distinctly unsettled.
Neither one of them said anything for a few moments, each lost to their own thoughts. L was obviously trying to come to grips with the fact that he had been declared dead over a decade ago and had a tombstone somewhere with his name on it, and Light was trying to work himself up for explaining the rest of it all.
"How did you . . . take it?" asked L, looking at Light with an unreadable expression.
Light shrugged self-consciously, his mind flashing to his father. He had asked Soichirou the same question about L after Light's supposed death. "Not good. The body showed signs of severe trauma. Whoever that boy was, someone murdered him, but not before making his life hell first. The police -"
Light stopped, blowing out an angry breath. He could still get worked up about how well the police had handled L's case.
"They didn't even try to find the murderers. They closed your case within a week after your funeral. Nobody cared about the murdered orphan boy. There wasn't anyone to miss him. It all just made me so angry. I just had my only family ripped away from me, and those bastards couldn't even bother to investigate. I was livid. I'm still livid. The injustice of it all was unbearable."
Suddenly, Light laughed coldly, self-deprecatingly. "That's probably why it was so easy for the Death Note to influence me in the way that it did. I had some massive unresolved issues and pent up anger that had been building and building for years before I picked up that damned notebook. It wasn't that hard to get me to be a bad person."
Light rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. This conversation was already giving him a headache. L said nothing, which Light was thankful for. He couldn't continue if L started shooting off his opinions now.
"I was determined to solve the case on my own. If the police couldn't bring me justice, then I was going to find my own justice. Then maybe you would have left me alone. You haunted me every night for months, you know. I couldn't sleep. I could barely eat. Even my grades dropped, but I did get good at hacking. I taught myself after you died, and the police's system became my personal playground. But . . . there was just - no evidence - anywhere! I know now that I should have spent more time looking at the photos of the body. I saw one, once, and I was sick. The nightmares got worse after that night, and I couldn't bare to look at them again. But if only I had . . . maybe I would have been able to tell that it wasn't you . . ."Light trailed off.
If only he had looked at those damn pictures. He would have known that the boy wasn't Lawli. Light stopped himself before he could continue down that path any further. The path of what ifs and maybes was a dangerous path to walk along, and Light would not get lost in possibilities. Not when Lawli was sitting in front of him - alive.
"Seven months after I began my own fruitless investigation, a Japanese couple visited the orphanage. I didn't care much. I had more important things to worry about at the time, but when I heard someone mention that the man was some high ranking detective from Tokyo, I jumped at the chance to meet him. I figured he could offer me advice at the very least."
Light stood up, taking his empty coffee cup with him. He turned off the coffee maker before pouring the last bit of coffee into his cup. Coffee was perhaps the only thing keeping him going about now.
"They liked me. Mrs. Wallace let them take me out to dinner that night. But when we got back to the orphanage, it was on fire. The whole damn place had gone up in flames. I had nightmares about that for weeks afterwards. The Yagami's filed the necessary paperwork the next day, and by the weekend, I was on a plane to Tokyo."
"Were there any survivors?" asked L quietly. He was staring at Light, his eyes slightly narrowed in what he knew to be concentration.
Light shook his head. "Nobody that I knew. Not that I was a social butterfly or anything. I don't remember all that well, but I think it was blamed on faulty wiring. Many people died. Even bloody Walter died in that fire."
L blinked, his eyes widening slightly in understanding. "Walter? The one that used to beat us up?"
Light laughed at L's very astute description. "Yeah, that guy. He was the one who told you all those ghost stories, remember? And he got you to eat mud one time because he told you it was chocolate cake mix."
L chuckled. "I remember that. Didn't he want to be an astronaut? I remember you telling our teacher that you wanted to be a gynecologist because you refused to work in the same field as him."
"I don't think the teacher had ever been so offended in her entire life. I was being dead honest, too."
"No you weren't. You wanted to be an astrophysicist."
Light waved his hand. "Details, details. She really shouldn't have taken it the way she did."
He felt the mood change imperceptibly as L looked away. "You changed your mind. You didn't want to be an astrophysicist anymore."
"I suppose not," agreed Light slowly, knowing how loaded that statement really was.
"So what happened next?" asked L, biting his thumb. He wouldn't meet Light's gaze, and Light wasn't sure why that was so frustrating to him.
"Nothing special. I grew up. Tried tennis in middle school. Stayed at the top of my class year after year. Tried sake when I was in high school. Dated a girl. Helped Sayu in math. Found a supernatural notebook that kills people. Just, well, the usual adolescent things, I suppose."
L snorted, and Light was pleasantly surprised to see that L could still laugh at his bad jokes.
"How ever did you manage to come across something like that?" asked L.
"What? The sake or the killer notebook? Because sake is a lot easier to find that killer notebooks," smiled Light sardonically.
"The notebook," replied L, shifting forward attentively.
"Long story short, I was staring out a window. I saw something fall from the sky, and I checked it out after class. I thought it was a joke at first, but then I tried it. Then I tried it again and again and again. I don't remember how it happened, but it got to the point where I wasn't me anymore. I was Kira, and it was like Light had never existed. When Kira gave up ownership, it was like I had come back from the dead. I was me again, but I couldn't remember being Kira. That changed when I touched Higuchi's notebook. Kira took over . . ." Light trailed off, thinking about those few days after he had regained his memories.
"Something changed when you realized who I was," stated L.
"Yes. It did," agreed Light, but gave no further explanation.
"You had a rather violent reaction to my being alive," continued L, his eyes wide and unblinking.
Light nodded, but chose to change the direction of the conversation. He was uncomfortable with that particular memory. It was embarrassing, but most of all, it was a painful.
"My plan was for you to have me executed. That's why I confessed. I was scared that Kira would take over. I'm still scared that Kira will take over. Sometimes, I can feel him. I've pushed him back, but he's still in my head somewhere, just waiting for me to slip up. Kira wants you dead, and I'm afraid that if he were to ever gain control of me again, he'd kill you. That's why I wanted to be executed. I figured I had to kill myself to kill him," said Light, swallowing hard.
"So you did turn yourself in to protect me. I suspected as much, but I was hesitant to believe so," murmured L.
Light looked away, once again finding interest in the pile of dirty dishes in the sink.
"Light?"
Light jerked, unused to the man addressing him as anything but Raito-kun.
"Yeah, L?"
"I'm sorry," whispered L sadly.
"What do you have to be sorry for?" asked Light.
"I knew that when I left the orphanage that day, I wasn't coming back," said L hesitantly.
Light froze, the words barely making sense.
"You . . . knew?" breathed Light in disbelief.
L slowly nodded his head, looking at Light with barely concealed trepidation. Or maybe it was concealed well. Maybe Light could just read the other man better than most.
Light swallowed hard, but endeavored to keep himself calm. He wanted to scream. Or punch something. L left the orphanage knowing he wouldn't return? He hadn't said anything, not even goodbye? Light focused on calming himself. He didn't want things to descend into violence again. He took a steadying breath.
"Help me understand this. You knew that you weren't coming back when you left the orphanage. How?"
L shifted, and he wasn't looking at Light again. Light stopped himself from growling. Damn Lawli. Why did he always have to be so difficult.
Finally, L spoke. "Do you remember Mr. Scott?"
The question threw Light. That was a question he hadn't been expecting to hear. It took him a brief moment, but Light remembered his annoying math teacher - the one that died in the fire.
"Yes," answered Light slowly, unsure as to where L was going with that question.
"Mr. Scott was a scout for a highly selective children's home that specializes in taking in children with an intelligence level far beyond average. Do you remember the tests I took that year? After I received my scores, Mr. Scott approached me. At first, I refused his offer to place me in the home. I had no desire to go if it meant leaving you behind. However, Mr. Scott made a deal with me. If I tried out the home for a month, then he would endeavor to have you to take your tests early to see if you could join me. If you did not meet the standards, then I would have the option to return to the orphanage," explained L.
A sudden realization hit Light.
"So that's why Mr. Scott was dead set about getting me to take those tests early," he mumbled to himself.
L continued, not commenting of Light's interruption.
"I was told that all the necessary paperwork had been filed. Mrs. Wallace supposedly knew, along with the rest of the staff, and Watari fetched me from the museum before the tours started. I was told that the place I was going was top secret. I couldn't even tell you, but Mr. Scott assured me that he would explain it all to you should you excel in your tests, and if not, I was planning on going back to the orphanage anyway. You never took them, did you?" asked L, finally looking back at Light.
"No, I never did," confirmed Light, still trying to assimilate all that he had learned.
"Towards the end of my first month, I was informed that you had been adopted and was living a perfectly happy life in America, and so I decided to stay there," said L.
"What?!" exclaimed Light, the announcement completely taking him off guard.
"Yes, and I have been exchanging letters with a Light Layfield for years now," finished L, biting his thumb harshly.
Light's mind reeled, and he felt his jaw involuntarily drop. "You've been exchanging letters with someone pretending to be me? This really is a bloody conspiracy."
L nodded. "The evidence supporting that theory is particularly damning, Light-kun."
Light smiled briefly at L's new name for him. It was appropriate. A perfect mixture of who L had once known and who L had known in Japan. Light found that he liked it, but he frowned at the implications of what L had just said. There was somebody out there, somebody who knew them, that had been using both Light and L like fucking puppets since . . .
Light's elbow slipped out from where it had been supporting his chin.
L quirked his head. "Light-kun?"
But Light didn't hear him, because suddenly the puzzle pieces were falling into place.
"This home that you were taken to. It wouldn't happen to be called Whammy's, would it?" questioned Light, already knowing the answer, but needing to hear it anyway.
L blinked. "Yes, but I assumed that you already had that information. That is where you took me from, after all."
Light didn't respond, his head a whirl. Roger Ruvie. There was no more room for doubt. He had to be psycho fucker. He had to be the one at the center of this whole fucking mess. There was no other known common link shared between L and Light besides that one man, who had already proven himself to be a murdering snake.
But why him? Why L? Why had they fallen into this mess? What was Roger's goal? What was he trying to accomplish by keeping L under his thumb? By trying to kill Light? Obviously he didn't want L and Light to be together. The man had gone to great lengths to keep them apart. But why?
What was he missing?
"Light-kun?" queried L, dropping his thumb from his mouth. He looked worried.
Light realized he had been staring at the table for more than a minute, lost in his thoughts.
Suddenly, thumping footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. Light felt his mouth twitch in annoyance. The man had impeccable timing.
L went rigid when the imposing figure of Tank swept into the kitchen, and really, Light couldn't blame him. Tank posed an intimidating man.
Tank grinned upon seeing them sitting at his kitchen table.
"Asian guy! Do you want to run down to the store and pick me up some sprinkles? I got mone - oh, wait. You don't know where it is, do you? Damn. Means I'll have to go," grumbled Tank, reaching into the cabinet for something Light couldn't see.
"Ah, erm, Ryuuzaki?"
L looked at him, wide eyed and plainly nervous, but only Light could tell. To any one else, L would look completely indifferent. Light tried smiling, hoping it would comfort the other man. He failed. It came out more as a grimace than anything. He stopped trying.
"Yes?" returned L, drawing out the 'e' a bit.
"Erm, this is Tank. He's a, ah, friend of mine. Tank, this is my good friend Ryuuzaki," said Light, directing the last part to the huge man on the other side of the kitchen.
"A pleasure," said L softly, his eyes wary.
Tank threw his head back and laughed. "Any "good" friend of Asian guy's is a friend of mine! But don't worry, dude. I wouldn't make a very good backdoor buddy, so I'll just leave that to Asian guy."
Light's eyes widened. Did Tank just -
"'Backdoor buddy?'" repeated L, looking over at Light for an explanation, clearly confused.
Light cleared his throat, steadfastly ignoring L's curious gaze and hoping that his creeping blush would go unnoticed.
"Wait, what did you say your name was again?" asked Tank, turning around fully to look at both Light and L.
"Ryuuzaki," said L firmly.
"Ruhhh - what? Aw, man. Another Asian guy. Damn. What am I supposed to call you then?" asked Tank, his eyes involuntarily moving to the ceiling in thought.
"Tank -" started Light.
Tank snapped his fingers.
"I got it! Spike! Because you're hair's so spikey!" exclaimed Tank in obvious delight.
L and Light shared a look, and Light just shrugged minutely.
"You said you needed sprinkles?" asked Light, hoping to change the subject.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. See, I was talking to that geriatric fuck on the phone earlier this morning, and I suddenly had the strangest urge to try putting sprinkles in pancake batter. I was wondering if the sprinkles would melt and make little colored pancake dots when you cooked them. You know, like that cake that Pillsbury makes? Fun Fetti?" explained Tank.
Light almost laughed when L noticeably perked up at the mention of adding sprinkles to pancakes, but something else that Tank said caught his attention.
"You talked to him?" asked Light. He hoped that Tank had smoothed it over. He really didn't want psycho fucker to be sending anyone after them.
"Who? Oh, you mean Roger. Yeah, he thinks I killed you and Spike over there. Doubt he knew I was lying, but if he has his suspicions, I'm sure he'd sic that L detective on our trail. Damn. How an unpleasant old fuck like that can get such high placed friends is beyond -"
"What?!" exclaimed L, almost tumbling to the floor once again in shock, but catching himself at the last moment.
Light wanted to slap himself. How could he have forgotten that L didn't know about Roger! If L had spent a few years of his life at Whammy's, then of course he'd figure out who Tank was talking about!
"Oh, you haven't told your buddy yet, Asian guy? See, Spike, there's this evil old man named Roger who runs an orphanage for genius kids, and he knows that famous detective, L, right? But see, this Roger dude isn't such a nice guy. I can attest to that seeing as he hires me out to kill people, like Asian guy over ther -"
"TANK!" shouted Light, his horror having grown with each word that coming from the large man's mouth.
"What?" asked Tank, confused.
"Tank, you need to get sprinkles, right? Do you mind if I have some time alone with Ryuuzaki to explain everything? He's still a little shaky on the details," asked Light, hoping he didn't sound as desperate for Tank to leave as he felt.
Tank's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh. Ohhh, okay. I got you. Alone time, yeah? Okay, yeah, the store's just down the - Hey, I'll got to the one across town. Yeah, give you two some time . . . alone," said Tank, grinning like a Cheshire cat and wiggling his eyebrows crassly.
If Light hadn't been so worried about L, he would have punched the mountain of a man for giving him and L such a perverted leer.
With a nod of his head to L and a wink at Light, Tank sauntered out the front door, whistling nonchalantly. Light let out a sigh of relief when the front door slammed shut, only to tense when L stood up abruptly.
"Hey -" started Light, half way standing up incase L was going to go lock himself in the bathroom again.
"I think for this next conversation, Light-kun, I will need some more tea," said L, refusing to even so much as look at Light.
Light nodded, not saying anything, as he slowly lowered himself back into his chair. He didn't think this next conversation would be any easier than the last.
EDITED: 7-4-09
A/N: Well, there you go folks.
Another one bites the dust.
unh. unh. unh.
Another one bites the dust. YEAH! WOOT! Now that song is stuck in my head. Fuck. DX
So, you might was to say something about this chapter. You know, because you're nice and all. Hopefully. Okay, maybe not, but because I asked nicely?
OH, and, question. Why do people think I'll get offended if they tell me to "UPDATE NOW!11!1!" or something? Some authors might care, but I don't. Seriously. And EVERYONE can act a fangirlish as they damn well please too. AND you can ramble. I LIKE ramblers. And fangirls. And annoying people. And NON fangirls, ramblers, and annoying people. I'm cool you guys. You can't offend me. So, don't apologize, peoples! :D
OH! AND THANKS FOR THE NEW BELT YOU GUYS! XD