In an attempt to make it up to you, this chapter finally adds some excitement!
Review and tell me what you think. Please?
The week after the wedlock of Troy and Trisha, Sybil had become very much the same as when L had first laid eyes on her. She wore her black cap on her head, and was wearing the black t shirt over top of a gray long sleeved shirt combination that he had first seen her in. Her mood wasn't exactly dull, no one would be able to tell that something was bothering her. No one, apart from Lawliet of course.
He was watching her carefully as she kept her eyes locked on Light, every so often taking a drink out of the bottle of carbonated liquid by her hand. He didn't speak to her, he merely watched her very carefully.
Something was wrong and she refuted to not telling him. It was eating at his insides, making it difficult for himself to eat anything. It seemed that whenever she was bothered by something, whether or not he knew what it was, her unhappiness affected him in a much different way. Physically. He didn't like it at all.
Sybil had her head bowed in such a way that no one could see her eyes. Lawliet had wanted, on several occasions, to rip the hat from her head and burn it, but he had refrained from doing so. He doubted that was the right way to comfort her. Perhaps, there was actually nothing he could do this time. Perhaps, all there was to do was wait and see if she would give something up.
Highly unlikely, but nothing else came to mind at the moment. Sybil was dealing with this secret in her own depressing way, while at the same time helping him with the investigation. At the moment, that was all he could ask of her. Cheering up wasn't exactly on her to-do list.
Meanwhile, Fang hovered over the shoulder of the seemingly mopey young woman and watched her just as carefully as Lawliet.
She was watching Ryuk, not Light. Something about that troublemaker was intriguing her. Something that he obviously couldn't see. Then again, he wasn't a genius. He was a shinigami of average intelligence, which was a lot considering he had to compete with idiots like Ryuk.
The shinigami allowed his purple eyes to flicker to the twisted shinigami on the monitor just as L pressed the button to speak to Light.
"How are you doing?" Light looked up and Sybil swung her feet nervously, her shoelaces tangling themselves around the wheels of the chair.
Light looked up at the camera.
"I know I must look pretty bad in here, but this useless pride- I'll have to get rid of it." Sybil caught on immediately and ignored the fact that her shoelaces were tangled in the wheels of the chair.
Fang and the young woman watched intently as Ryuk blinked.
"Okay then. See ya later!" As surprising as it was, the shinigami straightened himself out and disappeared through the wall.
Sybil's fists clenched as Light's eyes then widened with innocence as he stared up at the camera and called out to her.
"Sybil, I know I said to not let me out of here, no matter how much I begged, but I swear that I wasn't thinking right! Get me out of here!" The crashing of Sybil's chair could be heard next and she was found standing up with her hat at her feet.
Her arms were stiff, but her breathing was heavy as she practically glared at the monitor.
Just what kind of game was this?! If she didn't know about the notebook, she would have believed this down to every sentence. Especially since Light was actually feeling scared. His memory wiped clean all because he had relinquished ownership of the Death Note he held.
"Sybil."
"Shut up, Ryuuzaki. I'm thinking." Her reply was robotic, right down to the last syllable.
Everyone in the room was watching her, as she listened and ignored Light's pleas of innocence.
"Sybil, you need to relax."
"I said, shut up! I'm trying to think!" She had whirled around and the expression in her eyes was one that no one had seen before.
Matsuda cowered behind Mogi and Aizawa blinked, but remained quite still.
Soon after, the room was deathly silent and her eyes closed before she turned back around to face the computer monitor. By now, her entire body shook in what was both fear and anger.
She had always figured it would come down to this. Light being such a coward as to actually hide the notebook after he relinquished it. That boy had a plan. One that was working to confuse everyone around her. Of course, she had the upper hand by this point, considering she knew everything that kid knew about the Death Note.
Lawliet peered up at Sybil, watching as her shaking became more violent with every passing moment.
Never had he expected her to react in such a way. He had seen her angry once, but that was nowhere near as angry as this.
He gently reached out to grab her hand, but she had pulled herself away and was speaking to Light through the microphone.
"I- I'm sorry. I can't. No criminals have died since you've been confined. It seems that you really are Kira."
"No! I must've been framed!"
"It's not possible, Light. You submitted yourself to this confinement willingly. You came to me personally. I'm sorry to say this, but you really are Kira. You are Kira." Her voice had cracked and after she had ended her short conversation, she whirled out of the room and had disappeared completely, leaving Lawliet reason to become even more concerned than he was before.
***
"Fang, we've got to find that Death Note. Light's got some sort of plan and we've got to intercept it before the killing starts all over again." Sybil whispered.
Her voice was hoarse from her recent shouting, and her attempt at not crying didn't help.
Fang sighed.
"I dunno how we're gonna manage that, Sybil."
"You're a shinigami! Shouldn't you have some sort of sense for these things or something?!"
"I'm not a metal detector."
"God damn it!" She punched the wall and ignored the pain as she fought the oncoming tears.
Fang frowned as his eyes flickered back up to the numbers above her head.
"We're just going to have to wait until the killings start again. I suggest that you move the location of the notebook, or, even better, perhaps you really should relinquish ownership of it. I could give it to your detective." Sybil flashed him a glare.
"I can't, Fang. The minute you gave me that notebook, it sealed my fate. I'm not going to give this knowledge up, especially since I'm going to die either way. And, I don't have anywhere else to put it." She heard footsteps coming down the corridor, towards her hotel room and her eyes saddened.
"And now the guilt sinks in." The shinigami murmured, just as the door opened, revealing the dark haired detective.
"I'll just disappear for awhile." Sybil glanced towards him to acknowledge his decision before she rested her back up against the wall.
L closed the door behind him and watched as she slid down the wall.
There was always some excuse for her to escape the headquarters, usually being some sort of situation involving her family of her mental stability.
"Sybil, do you mind explaining what happened?" The young woman closed her eyes tightly as she realized exactly what damage to her hand she caused.
But, she ignored the pain and looked up to her companion.
"I'm sorry. My outburst was uncalled for. I-" She paused.
She didn't want to lie to him, but it seemed that it was all she could do if she didn't want him to find out about the notebook yet.
"- I don't lie, so I can only say that I can't tell you." His eyes narrowed.
"Sybil, the information that you have may very end this case." The female detective glanced down to her injured hand and sighed.
"I- I'm sorry. B- but if I told you, it would just ruin our chances." L looked at her hand, his heart skipping a beat when he saw the blood.
He then looked towards the wall, seeing the small dent.
Lawliet knelt down beside her and gently touched it, watching as she winced slightly in pain.
"Ah."
"Sybil, I've never seen you like this. Exactly why did you punch the wall?"
"Would you have rather me punch something that could feel? Like a human being?"
"No, but you could have hit something that was less likely to break bones. Like a pillow." She allowed a tiny smile to show.
"I didn't break any bones." L frowned.
"Are you positive?"
"Yeah. I'm positive. You're looking at someone who's punched many things and has never broken a bone." His frown twitched into a smile that be couldn't helped by her sudden and strange cheerfulness.
"I see. Still, perhaps we should have Watari take a look at it."
"If- if you think it needs to be done." He gently held her hand and eyed it over before releasing a quiet sigh.
"Well, it doesn't seem broken. I suppose I could clean it for you."
"I- I think I can manage that much on my own. I've dealt with wounds that are worse than this." The detective's onyx eyes narrowed at this news.
"You've cleaned your own wounds? Exactly what type of work have you done previously where you've needed to clean your own wounds?" Sybil blinked and then sighed.
"Well, there was a case a year or so ago that required me to act the part of a high school student- let's just say I ended up with a bullet wound at the end of it all." Lawliet gripped her hand a little tighter, enough to make her let out a gasp of pain.
His eyes widened and he released her hand immediately.
"I apologize."
"It's okay." She replied quietly, causing him to refocus on her.
L noticed that Sybil's eyes were significantly dulled than they were a moment ago. He was concerned that it was because of him.
"Sybil, did I hurt you that bad?" She blinked and then shook her head.
"No. No, I'm fine. Well, apart from the aching hand, but it was hurting before. I'll be okay."
"It's bad enough that you are undergoing stress with this new- situation. However, the idea of you being in physical pain over such a thing, it pains me as well. I'm beginning to think that it may very well be easier on the both of us if you-" Sybil stood up quickly and glared down at Lawliet.
"There's no way in hell, Lawliet. I am not going to back out now. Not when this could very well be the very near end of the investigation. I'm going to see this to the end. It's my job and if I quit now, I might as well go throw myself off the top of this-" Sybil's eyes widened when she felt his arms wrapped securely around her in what was either an attempt to comfort her or shut her up.
At that very moment, she couldn't exactly tell.
She rested her head on L's shoulder as soon as she felt one of his hands rest on the back of her head in a soothing manner. She kept silent and her breathing became more relaxed.
"Then, please remain calm. I do not want to have to force you to do something you do not agree with." She didn't reply and Lawliet knew why as soon as he listened to her rhythm of breathing.
Sybil was fast asleep. It seemed that her burst of adrenaline had finally run dry.
He found himself looking up at the ceiling for a brief moment before closing his eyes.
Thank God.