I do not own Gaeta's Lament but I do love it. There are some pretty kick ass Death Note vids on youtube with the song and L though so you can go check them out ;)
The two year old little girl flew down the stairs like her life depended on reaching the bottom and in essence it did. As her short legs pumped in time with her arms she fought back the tears that threatened to blind her, but no matter how fast she ran or how many stairs she jumped, she never got closer to the front door of Wammy's House. She had to see him before he left, she had to warn him, "L!" she screamed.
Before she could take another step, she was at the bottom of the grand staircase facing a lone figure. Dressed in blue jeans and a white thermal, he had his hands buried deep in his pockets. Messy black hair fell over his black eyes which were the only spots of color on his pale face along with the bags under his eyes that chronic insomnia had caused. The figure could only be L, her mentor and best friend. Launching herself at him she wrapped her thin arms around his knees and began wailing, "Don't go, don't go, you can't go!"
L merely waited for the girl's tears to stop before extracting himself from her death grip on his legs and meeting her dark brown eyes. "I dreamed you died," the girl's soft voice filled the large foyer as if she had shouted. L showed no reaction, his face remaining an expressionless mask.
"Death is inevitable."
"But I don't want you to die!"
"It is highly unlikely…"
"No! Kira killed you! He killed you!" L became silent for a few minutes as more tears brimmed in the girl's eyes. Eventually he knelt before the distressed child and looked deep into her eyes.
"I cannot allow Kira to continue murdering people." A tiny smile tilted his lips up, a rare occurrence for the detective made even rarer by the fact that it reached his dark eyes. "Now stop crying, my successor doesn't cry." The girl's tears stopped instantly as her eyes went wide.
"I'm your successor? What about Near and Mello?"
L waved her questions aside, "Your deduction skills far surpass theirs." He pulled a grape sucker from his pocket, removed the wrapper, and handed it to her. Taking the sucker she put it in her mouth, L turned his head and looked at the door. "Do you hear them?"
"Hear what?"
"The bells." The girl strained her ears to hear the bells that so tormented her friend and was amazed to hear their distant tolling for the first time.
"I hear them," she whispered, but L didn't seem to be listening anymore. Quillsh Wammy opened the door behind them.
"Are you almost ready to go Ryusaki?" Knowing it was probably the last time she would ever see her friend, Holly wrapped her arms around L's neck.
"I love you L."
I woke with a scream lodged in the back of my throat, choking me, robbing my body of oxygen. Tears streamed down my face and into my mouth, filling it with the bitter taste of salt. Blindly I reached for my bedside table and grabbed the jar I always kept there; fishing out a grape lollipop I tore the wrapper from it and placed the sweet candy in my mouth. Sucking greedily on it I was finally able to draw air into my lungs as the comforting flavor of my favorite candy began infusing my senses and replacing the taste of my tears.
Hugging my knees to my chest I brushed at the wet tracks that ran down my face and pushed my deep purple hair behind my ears. It had been years since I had dreamed of L, the last time had been…the night he had died. I had woken up screaming at the top of my lungs and hadn't been able to stop until Roger had sedated me. No one had believed that L was actually dead until his own computer had sent the official message to Roger. I glanced at the large glowing numbers of my digital clock that bathed my room in blue light. Four thirty a.m., I had only been asleep for two hours.
Insomniac by nature I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anytime soon. Rising I grabbed my lime green bathrobe to cover my Happy Bunny pajamas and matching fuzzy slippers. Before I left my room I stuffed a handful of suckers into the pocket of the robe.
Wammy's House was unusually quiet nowadays, ever since Quillsh Wammy had died along with L. Roger wasn't fond of children, preferring instead to be surrounded by insects of various natures. Creepy. Freezing mid-step I crunched the lollipop in my mouth to pieces, mentally checking my calendar I cursed. Near and Roger were due back today from some murder case in Russia, I cringed and began walking again. This just added to my dark mood. Freakin Near, he had stolen my position as L's successor being thirteen to my six when L had died. I put another sucker in my mouth and clamped down on it tightly with my teeth.
I paused again outside the room of the youngest members of Wammy's, Chase Cameron and Jiro Hirohata. Both were nine years old and had been living here since they were babies, they showed amazing potential towards becoming world class detectives. Opening the door I snuck in and made sure both boys were sleeping soundly, pulling up blankets and re-tucking in limbs that had been thrown out carelessly. When Roger had taken over Wammy's House, he had fired most of the help staff, except for the cook, and turned away the less gifted children leaving just the two boys and myself to take care of them. I pushed Chase's hair off his forehead gently and exited the room.
Wandering towards the "play room" I looked at the pictures lining the walls of the hallway, all of great detectives that had heralded from Wammy's House. Most were in black frames, denoting the deceased nature of the person's within. As I got closer to the triple security locked doors at the end of the hallway my steps slowed, I could feel a pair of black eyes waiting for me. Reaching the end of the hallway I turned to the right where only two pictures rested on the wall, one in a black frame and one not, the dark eyes stared at my back but I did my best to focus on the two photos before me, not quite ready to meet the probing stare.
The tall, thin boy in the black frame stood with his hands on his hips, head thrown cockily back, blond bowl cut gleaming in the sunlight, arrogant smile on his face. The name Mello was inscribed on a gold name plate, only two years older than Near he was also a victim of Kira. Despite being ruled constantly by his emotions, a "flaw" I also shared, I had always liked him better than Near, we had shared a mutual hatred for him from the first. After being beaten for the position of L's successor as well, he had taken the Kira case into this own hands and had died painfully. Turning the picture next to his, I stared at the emotionless face of my arch nemesis. Taken after solving the Kira case, Near's face showed smug superiority as he stood with Roger, clutching a "Kira" doll he had made. Freak. With pale skin and dark rings under his dark eyes he looked a lot like L, except for his white hair. Albino freak. Unable to avoid him any longer, I turned and met the eyes of the greatest detective to have ever lived.
The only photo of L hung on the wall behind me. Barely thirteen in the picture he stood holding a tennis racket in one hand and a trophy in the other yet his face showed no emotion; Quillsh, or Watari, stood in the background. L's black eyes stared out of the frame in a way that dug into my soul. With his messy black hair and pale skin he looked exactly like a shorter version of the man in my dreams. I touched the gold name plate that read L Lawliet gently, "I miss you," I whispered. Turning sharply I punched in my verification code, scanned my palm and my retina, and dashed through the large doors that opened with a soft hiss.
For a minute I stood in the doorway of the "play room" and stared at the old couch, four chairs and crap load of computer equipment and monitors. The largest chair had once been L's and I could almost remember him sitting in it as he ate and drank enough cake, ice cream, and tea loaded with sugar to rot anyone's teeth. That chair was, of course, now Near's. I had Near's old chair to the right and the two to the left were for the boys.
Moving to my seat I curled up in it and took another lollipop from a jar beside my computer as I turned on all the humming and beeping machines I could. As the dark monitors began to flicker to life with news feeds from all over the world I opened my iTunes and selected Gaeta's Lament, a song I could recall L singing softly when the bells bothered him or when he was stuck on a case. The random sound of church bells intruded on the sound proofed room as if my thoughts had invited them in, the deep tolling gave me chills. Ever since that day with L I had been unable to escape their almost incessant racket.
Alone she sleeps
In the shirt of men
My three wishes
Clutched in her hand
The first that she
Be spared the pain
That comes from a
Dark and laughing rain
When she finds love
May it always be true
This I beg for
The second wish I made, too
Closing my eyes I listened to the beautiful song and imagined L's voice while the news feeds whispered in the background. When I sat like this I could almost imagine it was his voice I heard. Having trained my subconcious mind to listen to the news feeds and pick out anything interesting, I was able to relax and enjoy the music.
But wish no more
My life, you can take
To have her, please
Just one day wake
…Kira, the sucker in my mouth shattered as I bit it, I grabbed another out of reflex. Kira? My eyes roving the monitors, they locked on one that had a male newscaster with a picture of a paused interview over his left shoulder. The picture showed a female interviewer and a man behind opaque glass. Muting all the other monitors I turned up the volume on that one. "…died of a heart attack in his home shortly after performing this interview. As of now there is no connection between Mr. Matsuda and the killings at Central High School."
Kira was back? A sharp pain stabbed my abdomen, like a knife had been plunged there. Touta Matsuda was dead? I felt sick, it wasn't like I had ever talked to him but he had been a link to L and such links were few and far between. I had mourned the deaths of all the Japanese agents that had helped in the apprehension of Light Yagami.
Turning to my computer I put on some H.I.M and began hacking into government data bases on a quest to discover what I needed. Within minutes I had what I had been looking for, news and autopsy reports on the eleven people who had died in relation to Central High School as well as Touta Matsuda. Mysterious heart attacks, freak accidents, it brought me right back to the years where Light Yagami had ruled through fear, only this time the victims were innocent of any crime.
For the next hour I worked on compiling evidence, until Chase stuck his blond head into the room, "Near is back."
I jumped, "Back? Already? What time is it?"
"Five thirty. If you want to talk to him, you had better hurry. He's leaving for America to handle a new case."
Jumping up I ran out the door, ruffling Chase's hair as I passed. I met Near at the door to his room, just as he was exiting. As he looked at me I knew what he had been trying to do: sneak out without talking to me about the new Kira case. "I want that case."
"No."
"Why? Just so you can say you defeated Kira twice? Damn it Near, you know how much this means to me."
"You aren't ready."
"Screw you! I'm seventeen, older than you were when you defeated Kira and you know I would have been L's successor if he had been alive to pick." Near's face darkened, the bastard had been black balling me out of cases since he had taken over and we both knew it. I bit down on the sucker in my mouth so hard that it broke into several sharp pieces, one knicked my tongue, filling my mouth with the taste of my own blood. At this rate I'd need more by the end of the day…not an uncommon occurrence, but Roger didn't indulge my sweet tooth like Watari had. "Give me one chance to prove myself Nate," I said, using his real name, "if I mess up you can come in and save the day. Just let me do this for myself and for L."
Near was silent for a long time as he looked at my robe, Happy Bunny pajamas, and slippers. "The plane leaves in an hour, Roger…"
"Will stay here," I cut him off. "I don't need him to be my keeper, just have him arrange everything and I'll be good to go." Dashing off to my room, I pulled up short when I saw that all my things had been packed. A black tank top with Hello Kitty skull and cross bones on it, short red and black plaid skirt, combat boots, and an assortment of my favorite jewelry had been laid out on my bed. Not questioning this, I hurriedly dressed and packed what I had been wearing. Hefting the heavy bags I carried them down the stairs and left them by the door. I had just reached for the handle when I heard pounding on the staircase.
Turning I saw Chase race down the stairs and hurtle into me, wrapping his bony arms around my waist. "Holly! I don't want you to go!" My breath left me in a rush as my dream returned to me, only in a weird kind of reverse. My arms went around his thin shoulders.
"I have to go C; I can't let Kira continue killing innocent people."
"But who's going to tuck Jiro and me in if you're gone?"
Kneeling in front of him I hugged him hard, "You'll just have to be a big boy until I come back."
"But what if you never come back." A sharp pang arrowed into my chest.
"I'll be back, I promise." I pulled out my last grape sucker and handed it to Chase, Roger appeared then to load my suitcases into the waiting car. As it rolled down the long driveway I waved at Chase and Jiro, hoping I could keep my promise and return soon.
Well? Surprised? Lol, Holly is one of those characters who kind of just told me she was going to be in this story regardless of what I had planned. But what does this mean for Violet?