CHAPTER NINE

Confinement

As soon as Elaine walked into the dark room only lit by the screen of a blonde girl bound and blindfolded, she left. It didn't sit in her stomach…it felt all too bizarre. "What's the matter, Emi?" Watari asked when she leaned against the closed doors. She took a deep breath.

"I can't watch this," she said quietly. "Watching a girl ask for death." Only seconds ago, he had to come in to prevent her from killing herself and understood her uneasiness. For a brief moment, he remembered when she was just a young orphan at his orphanage, always reading the newspaper and looking up recent events and biographies on the internet. It was like a game for her, providing suspects for the Police Force. She had done with such enthusiasm too, as if each connection was a prize.

She stood out at the Wammy's House. He remembered her very clearly but for a terrible reason…she was the only one that was really happy there. He remembered grave-faced children with minds of those decades older. They were all there for the same reason – because they were geniuses, yet she was one of the few children there who enjoyed their intelligence and didn't see it as a competition or a burden. She was innocent, bright, happy and although she was years beyond her age, she held onto that childish outlook on life that so many others lost. But nowadays, she only seemed tense.

Elaine fell, curling up and wrapping her arms around her knees. Watari sighed as he removed his gloves to hand her a cup of warm tea. "Ryuzaki knows what he is doing," he said kindly, "and I'm sure that he would appreciate your help."

She didn't respond for a long moment, simply enjoying the warmth of the beverage and he left her alone to think. After several minutes, she sighed and stood up and returned to the room tiredly. But Misa was completely different – no longer silent and depressed. She was…ignorant. "What happened?" It was as if Misa had flipped personalities.

"Mister Stalker? This is illegal – you have to stop. Okay, come on. Please?" Misa begged, breathlessly. Elaine's eyebrows pulled together.

She tried to understand the situation, but she couldn't make sense of it. The girl's tone seemed genuine, but the flip of her behaviour was too sudden to be natural. She had been silent for a long time and able to come up with a new plan...but her outburst began strange. Was it possible that she forgot that she was being the second Kira? Because she definitely had to be, at least at first. Before she passed out, she was all too suspicious and acted the way the second Kira would. With each second, Elaine tried to process everything that was going on while completely blocking out the yelling going on. And for hours, this continued.

"Isn't that what you want – isn't it? You pervert!"

Elaine blinked.

"I'm…a pervert?" L repeated and she looked at him, surprised. Despite everything, she giggled. Then her stomach growled but there was a noticeable lack of dessert in front of them. Her eyes met his black ones immediately. "Go eat," he simply said, "You're not going to miss anything." God knew that everyone in that room wanted her to leave and take a break. Dark shadows lined her vessel-cracked eyes and her hands were still shaky as she sighed and stood up in search for some food. When she returned, L was on the phone.

She was confused but there was one thing she caught on quickly. "Are you saying my son's coming here?" Soichiro asked solemnly.

"We have enough evidence and your cover is no longer necessary, I don't think it will matter if Light knows who you are," L said as he looked at Elaine who was coming into the room.

She started. "Wait, he's coming here - now?" Her question was answered when the door opened. She was still panicked. She didn't want to be exposed as…as a police. She liked having Light as a friend but when the door opened and the tall, brown-haired young man appeared, she knew it was too late.

His brown eyes looked at her first before everyone else, and they had a moment of silent communication. She opened her mouth but didn't say anything. His eyes moved past her and then at the L, who stared at a blank screen. He stopped in front of the Task force. "Ryuzaki, like I said over the phone," he looked away from Elaine and at the ground.

"I could be Kira."

xxx-xx-xxx

Twelve days later

"I feel really uncomfortable," Elaine whispered for what felt like the thousandth time. Her eyes flickered between the blonde girl who was constricted beyond legal limits, at an exhausted eighteen-year old boy, and a distraught father. Matsuda put a hand on her shoulder. "I know it's difficult but…we have to. For the case."

She glanced up at him and smiled sadly, nodding but when L turned he immediately knew that she was only putting up the façade for the remaining two officers of the task force. He could see her weariness growing. Not only had she became too close to Light, but she still felt guilt-ridden over Soichiro and just plain uncomfortable at watching a girl so close to her age being treated like that.

"The murders have stopped so we're close to completing this case," he said. "We're just waiting for a confession." He wanted to say her name – her real name – but it wasn't possible. Not when others were around. She winced. "I guess," she murmured softly.

But as the days continue and there was no change…her fatigue grew. "Lawliet," she said in a low voice now that both Matsuda and Aizawa were gone, "maybe Light is right. Maybe he was framed." His flip in behaviour was identical to Misa's – from acting the exact way a culprit may, to someone who was…well, innocent. There was no mistaking the look in his eyes when he said he wasn't Kira, and Elaine believed him.

She found it odd beyond possible understand, but she could trust him.

His behaviour didn't go by unsuspicious, of course. After weeks of growing closer to him, she immediately saw a new light to him. He seemed younger, more open and there wasn't even a second where she stopped and thought he may be Kira. And truth be told, those moments happened frequently in the past. Why was everything so confusing? It was as if everything shifted…as if Kira's power moved to another and took all memories along with it. And now…"Ryuzaki?"

"I know it's strange but –"

Two officers ran into the room, slamming the door open. "Ryuzaki, Emiko! What's going on? I just heard, two weeks' worth of criminals were just murdered all at once!"

What?

Once again, her mind was thrown into chaos.

She stood up abruptly. "I need to go on a walk."

xxx-xx-xxx

A month after, Elaine, despite her exhaustion with the entire case, was still sitting next to L. She wondered how he did it – all this work, all this thinking. There were more than several occasions when she would see L sit right in front of a screen and work case after case. His eyes would flicker through the files and an hour or so later, he would come to a conclusion and the case was solved – only for another one to replace it. And he would do that for fourteen hours straight.

She tried that once, tried devoting days into a case but she simply…couldn't. The longest she had gone was eight hours without moving from her seat, but then she fell asleep. In fact, she clearly remembered waking up complaining about her lack of dedication. She remembered asking L how he did it.

His response?

"If I sleep, more would die."

And with the new stress on this Kira case, she didn't want to rest either. She leaned on his shoulder, her eyes closed. "You're pushing them too far. The murders are continuing and that should be enough to prove that –"

"It sounds like you're just looking for any solution to end their confinement," he commented, his eyes down on the dessert in front of him, avoiding her. She was tapping her fingers against her leg impatiently. She didn't want to admit it, but Light was intelligent and she needed another asset to this case. For once, just Lawliet was not enough.

"Maybe you're stubborn," she mumbled.

At this, he looked up. "I thought you were certain that Light was Kira as well."

Pause.

"I was," she said but she sounded unsure. "But maybe…I don't know. But I don't see a point of keeping them in here," she admitted, rubbing her bare arms. There were goosebumps despite the well heated room, and it became all too clear she was getting ill. He could put up with Matsuda's complaining and Aizawa's grouchy side comments but Elaine's noticeable sunken health was something he wasn't secure with. And yet again, for her sake, he looked back at the screen and thought. He checked again on each of the suspects before speaking with Soichiro. "Mister Yagami."

The dishevelled man barely looked up. His voice was low and rough. "Yes, what is it?"

"Would you be willing to come to headquarters just once? I'd like to discuss my thoughts with you but it must be done in person." He paused, his eyes flickering over to Elaine who looked up tiredly. "However above all else, I need to talk to you as Light's father," he said calmly, his eyes not leaving the girl. She looked curious, interest.

"Alright, I'll come," he agreed. Elaine let out a breath. At last – a change in pace.

The happy times are over - sorta. Reviews would be lovely :)