(A/N): To read all the chapters up to 11, search for me on deviantARTdotcom. I have the same username. :)
Chapter Seven: The Prisoner
Ever since we watched the tape, we have all been on edge; well, L and Near seemed to act the same since they didn't show much enthusiasm in anything, really. I tried to remain normal and stoic during school, and it seemed to have worked because no one asked me what the matter was. For precaution, we stayed together in pairs. Mello, Matt, and Near had to remain together, which left only me. I didn't mind so much, but what really worried me was what L told me yesterday.
"I want you to stop coming over," he had suddenly said.
Taken aback at his sudden command, I blinked twice. "Excuse me?"
L kept staring up at me as he sipped his sugar-loaded tea. "You are not an agent. There is no need for you to be here."
My jaw dropped in shock at his bluntness. Then I closed it and clenched my teeth in anger. "How can you say that? After everything I've done for you! I've been with you for weeks and you're just going to kick me out?"
"I'm doing this for your safety, Raito-kun," he said, "I'm not going to have an innocent civilian get caught up in a supernatural quarrel until I am sure it will not cause any harm to anyone."
I was so angry that I grabbed him by the front of his shirt, lifting him out of his seat. I could feel that his body was thinner than I imagined it, and he was much lighter than he looked. However, I was still mad.
"How can you say that?" I yelled in his face, "I've told you time and time again that I wanted to join, but you just keep ignoring me! If there's a series of tests or an initiation, then fine! I'll do it!"
L's demeanor didn't falter at all. He didn't even seem to care that I had his shirt in my fist in a threatening manner. "Raito-kun, I never invited you to join. You welcomed yourself."
My teeth were beginning to hurt. I looked up to this man. I had actually started to really like him, and then he does this. It hurt me in a way.
I pulled back my fist back and punched him in the cheek. I put all my anger and frustration and hurt into that punch. The force made him tumble out of his chair. It left me breathless and shaking with rage. And L only wiped his mouth where a sliver of slobber had escaped.
"Perhaps I was a bit too brash," he said, getting up into a crouch, "What I meant to say is since we don't know who we're dealing with, we don't know who or what their target is, or what they will do to obtain said target. I understand that you wish to help us, but we're not dealing with people who play by the rules. To them, everyone is a target. Who do you think they will go after if they discover you are a paranormal child who has relations to the P.I.S.? They won't go for you first. They'll go after those you care about. Misa-san, your father, your mother, your sister."
I swallowed. My family. I had forgotten about them. I wanted to help L and the others, but I also needed to stay for my family. Mello, Matt, Near, and L could protect themselves. My family could not. They were oblivious to what was going on in paranormal. They were oblivious to me being apart of the paranormal.
I cast my eyes downward. "I see…"
"Oh, and Raito-kun," I heard L say.
"Hm?" I looked up to him, to see him put his palms on the ground.
WHAM! His kick was much harder than my punch, hitting me right in the sternum. All the breath in my lungs expelled and I was falling backwards, arms out, and I landed on my back. Breathing suddenly became difficult as I gasped in mouthfuls, curling up in the fetal position and holding my aching chest. I became aware of L standing over me.
"An eye for an eye," he said. Then he stuck his hand out to assist me in standing.
I looked at him with a painful expression, however, I was not mad at him. I did hit him first; his just happened to be much more painful than mine. I took his hand and he helped me up.
"Urgh," I grumbled as I rubbed my chest through my shirt, "I think you broke something."
L cast me a blank look-over, then his fingers grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it up. I could feel blood suddenly rush in my cheeks and under my eyes because my bare chest was exposed to him. I refrained from shivering when his fingertips touched my skin where he kicked me.
"Nothing is broken," he said, "Just a bruise." His hand stayed over my sternum. Could he feel my heartbeat was slowing becoming more erratic? "Perhaps I kicked too hard. Does it still hurt?"
Numbly I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak. He removed his hand and put my shirt back down.
I swallowed and regained my composure. "How…How did you learn to do that?"
"Kick?" He looked up at me as he remained his seating on the plush chair, "I've taken a few martial arts classes at the academy."
Something told me that he wasn't giving himself enough credit. Yet, I couldn't really imagine him in a fist fight.
"I'm glad you understand." He took a sip of his tea, "However, there is a chance that they might already know about you." He set the teacup on the saucer. "So, we will be watching you to make sure that nothing happens, while we remain inconspicuous."
I nodded. "So, this is goodbye?"
"For now."
I walked towards the door and picked up my schoolbag. Then I paused and walked back to L while fishing around in my bag.
"Here," I said, jabbing a wrapped package with a bow his way, "I'm probably going to miss Near's birthday so here's his present."
L took it, gazing at me with those haunted black eyes. "Thank you, Raito-kun. I didn't even know you were aware that his birthday was approaching."
"I found out."
L nodded. "Of course. Your mind-reading abilities still amaze me. I will have to watch what I am thinking when I am around you…"
"Actually," I interrupted, "Your thoughts are the only ones that I can't hear." He blinked up at me. "I was wondering if you might know why?"
His thumb was brought to his lips in thought. "I haven't the foggiest clue. That is bizarre…"
I nodded and then turned around. Down the steps I went and out the door. I heard the familiar chime, as if it was also saying goodbye.
That had happened only yesterday, and still I was beginning to miss them. Across the school is a hotel that students would sneak off to. In my English class, I could see the whole building in my seat. Was L or somebody else watching me from one of those rooms? Or were they watching me from somewhere else? I never doubted L's words. Yet, as I translated sentences on my worksheet from Japanese to English, I still couldn't get him out of my head. It was as if L had invaded my thoughts instead of the other way around. My chest still tingled.
That morning I had come to a very serious conclusion. As soon as I had opened my eyes, the realization came to me.
I liked L. I really liked L. How bizarre it was for me, a very popular high school senior, to like someone like L. He was older than me, though I never asked by how many years. He was the leader of the P.I.S. and if I worked for them, he would be my boss. Oh, and he was a male. Now was not the time to indulge and explore in my newly discovered sexuality.
I suddenly became aware that someone was calling my name. I looked up and saw a pair of breasts in my view.
"Hello Misa," I said, "Can I help you with anything."
She had a pout on her face. "The bell rang."
I cast my eyes about the room, realizing it was empty save for Misa and myself. "Oh. I must've been daydreaming."
Misa smiled and slapped her hands on my desk. "Oh! Raito! Look what I've got for us!" She waved a pair of tickets in my face. "It's for the Romeo and Juliet play but with the Japanese culture. Let's go see it!"
"Um…" My first thought was to decline and say that I had homework, seeing as how I was in advanced classes it would be acceptable. However, spending time with Misa might take my mind off L for a while. So I smiled and nodded my head. "Sure. Why not."
She grabbed me around the shoulders and hugged me tight, screeching words of thanks.
This was almost exactly what Tonya had imagined it to be like. There were no gates or guards with guns, however, it was on an island in the middle of a large body of salt water, more salt than the Dead Sea, and twice as quickly to be excruciatingly painful and deadly. The prison was on a large island like Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay. Boats were not allowed, instead they used a cable car that only transported twice a day. One in the morning to the island, and one in the afternoon out, never at night. And they only allowed one passenger at a time, which is why Tonya was by herself.
However, it wasn't "Tonya" that the two guards holding rifles and staring ahead were accompanying. No, they only saw second year lieutenant agent Mello under the order of special agent of the paranormal enforces L to visit such a place. She showed them her credentials and papers, very grateful to Simon's counterfeiting abilities, however, they were a little skeptical on the prisoner she wished to see. However, apparently this "L" was a very infamous person with the largest Paranormal Agency in existence. Tonya felt cold feet coming on, however, it was her own duty to do this. This, or be killed. Yet, she couldn't help but feel that she was walking into her own death.
The car came down to a platform and the doors were swung open. Tonya had to once again show her credentials and authorization to gain entrance. The soldier seemed to be a higher up, perhaps a general with his more badges and the way the soldiers who accompanied her were saluting like the trained puppies they were.
"Hrm," he grumbled, rubbing his chin, "By order of L, eh?"
Tonya nodded. Her face very serious.
"May I ask why you need to see this particular prisoner? His death sentence has been set and the date is…"
"I am aware of his sentencing," Tonya interrupted, "I am not here to revoke his sentencing. I am here because his name came up in a certain case, and I have been asked to see what his input is. Nothing is going to change."
The guard nodded. "What case is it?"
"That is confidential between agents."
He cast her an annoyed look and then waved for her to follow him. She marched beside him, into the stone building and past all the guards. Inside was looked like medieval torture cellar. She had been in a normal human prison before, but she felt that she would lose her mind if she had to stay one night here. The walls were concrete and all the doors were metal and had large bolts and locks. Each guard was holding a rifle, and she assumed it was locked and loaded, ready at all times. Because to normal people, we are deadly and misbehavior meant death.
She was led to a lift and was lowered and lowered. She actually saw a few prisons, covered in shackles from head to foot and being lead with at least two soldiers.
"It is meal time," her escort told her, "The good prisoners get to eat in the cafeteria."
"Mello" nodded her head. She put a stray piece of blonde hair behind her ear, not liking hair in her face. Good prisoners? What an oxymoron.
The lift suddenly stopped. The wire cage doors opened and allowed them to pass. Tonya followed behind the general, whom she still had no idea what his name was, and they climbed more and more steps to a lower level.
The hair on her arm stood up on end. Was this guy so deadly and dangerous that he had to literally be ten twenty stories below ground? She could feel her heartbeat rise in her chest. She swallowed twice to try to control her anxiety.
Down the hallway she followed. Ahead of her, she saw the same metallic door with locks and bolts she had passed before, except, there were two guards by the door, one being female. The general approached them and she watched as there was head nodding and hand movements. The two guards' eyes flickered her way, then nodded. They unlocked each bolt and nodded her forward.
Her legs felt like jelly as Tonya walked forward, head held high like the real Mello would do. They swung the metallic door open and she stepped inside. The walls were completely white, and the floor was tile. There was no furniture except for one chair.
And he was sitting in it.
The loud clank of the metallic door closing and the sliding and clicking of locks made her turn around. They had locked her in with a maniac. She whipped her head around again to see him, realizing that he could do no harm to her at all. He could not even move. He was wrapped tightly in a straightjacket, his hands uselessly behind him. His calves were strapped down with leather straps and a large brown one around his middle and the back of the chair. His hair was black and messy, and he looked extremely thin and malnourished. Covering his bony cheeks and eyes was what looked like a black blindfold, held down to his head by another leather strap, looking like a belt; she was very grateful for not being able to see his eyes, because she had heard that one look could kill you.
How true that was.
She realized that she was shaking. All the warmth suddenly seemed to be sucked from her body, leaving her cold and fragile and unsafe. She didn't want to be alone with this man. She wanted those guards with guns to follow her inside, but they had wimped out. This serial killer psycho was strapped down to a chair, and she still feared him.
Slowly he lifted his head up to look at her with his blindfold.
"Ah," he said with a crooked smile, "It seems that a woman has graced me with her presence. To be here, you must know who I am, but may I ask who you are?"
He could tell she was really a woman? And he was so polite that it chilled her either more. He was a serial killer with powers and was sentenced to death, yet he acted as if they were sharing a cup of tea together in his home.
She licked her lips. "Yes, I…have heard of you." She spoke quietly to keep wondering ears off their conversation.
"You can speak up," he told her, "They can't hear you. I am immobile and blind, so you are in no danger." He cocked his head to the side. "So tell me, what brings you here to my cozy little cell?"
Tonya sucked in a breath of air and brought her will and dignity forward. "Yes, I work with Vanya and Simon. They have sent me here. My name is Tonya LeBarski."
He nodded, his smile more wicked than ever. "Yes, I remember them. They were my most loyal ones. It seems that they are still loyal to me to the end. Tell them that I am very grateful."
Tonya swallowed. "They…They want you to tell them yourself."
His smiled widened even more. She could see his sharp canines as he ran his pink tongue across the surface of his teeth.
"Really now?"
She swallowed.
Tonya only had five minutes to be left in there, which was too many minutes in her opinion. As soon as that door was opened, she marched out of there, not pausing when they called out Mello's name. Her ears rang of his cackle, gripping her heart and turning it to ice. He was turning her into a corpse before her death.
A hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her around, causing her to flinch. It was the general who had brought her there to that hell. Now he looked concerned.
"Are you okay, Mr. Mello?" he asked, gripping her shoulder tighter.
She quickly shook her head. "Y-Yes," she said, "Can you…direct me to the restroom?"
He lifted his hand and pointed it to the door of the men's restroom. Tonya darted to it, shutting and locking herself in. She ran to the urinal and grabbed the porcelain walls and vomited all her stomach contents and bile and fear and anxiety into it. She started dry heaving, as if trying to upchuck her organs with her last meal.
The way he constricted fear into you. The way he took dominance even when he was bound to a chair and all freedom denied. She felt as if she would never be the same again when she was in that room. Now she knew why the guards didn't follow her in there. Would bullets even kill that beast?
She shuffled to the sink of trembling legs and splashed her face with cold water. Mello looked back in her reflection, pale and shaken. She took a deep breath and calmed herself the best she could. Now she couldn't leave. She would have to obey that wicked man for the rest of her life until death took mercy on her. There was no escape because she had given him her real name. She suddenly felt like crying.
Such a horrible, horrible man that Beyond Birthday.