I don't own Death Note

Chapter 50 Counterfeit

It was done. My father had traded the notebook for Sayu. At least that was what Matt and I had gathered from the multiple microphones and computers haphazardly stacked around the room. Matt's hacking skills were impressive to say the least. We not only had audio from the man who had made the trade and from Mello and the remainder of the mafia, but from the SPK and Japanese task force as well.

The notebook was currently speeding toward a deserted location in a missile waiting for it to be retrieved. It was strange to watch something come to fruition so quickly. It left me slightly uneasy.

Too fast or too slow. Too sane or too insane. Near and Mello really were opposites. Which was why I was uneasy.

Mello had not hesitated on having the notebook tested and then destroying the man he had used. Mello had been the one to kidnap my sister. This was a detail I had ignored when I had exploded at Near. I treated Near as if he was held accountable for Mello's action for simply withholding the information from me and then faced Mello with no blame.

I was left once more with the entire moral nature of this entire case. Good or evil. Kira could not be easily broken into one of the two categories. He was a not a black or white, but a stubborn gray. The same was true for Mello and Near; thought they both seemed keen to be painted a deep black and flawless white respectively.

And if we were all so gray, where did that leave justice itself? As a ruthless divider between what truly could not be separated. Justice itself, or at least the concept we all envisioned, was not only impossible, but warped. Flawed. Imperfect. Justice was not only blind, but deaf and mute. Casting accusations in a soundless dark void like a child blindfolded and spun around pointing at random to those surrounding him.

L had been justice. L had been flawed. And imperfect. Warped. Impossible.

Selfish.

I am a selfish man, Rei.

He had said those words. He had admitted he was human. And somehow all those words connected with the word human, made him perfect.

I knew I was most likely glorifying him. I knew had he been here, he would have insisted his own despicableness did not make him perfect. No, even then he would have been perfect to me.

Maybe love and justice were on in the same that way. But rather than try to separate the flaws, it took them all with a smile.

"We'll wait up here until Mello wants us, alright?" Matt asked. "It'll be a while before he can get us down there without upsetting Rod Ross."

I simply nodded, still caught up in the thoughts spinning around in my head. Matt leaned back, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag. I wrinkled my nose at the smell, but made no comment otherwise. I kept quiet as all the transmissions died down for the time being. It seemed everyone was mourning their losses.

"L."

Near's voice came over, I found myself listening despite myself.

"Yes?"

Light's voice. I grimaced and wrapped my arms around my knees. The position was becoming more typical of me. It offered comfort and familiarity.

"He got us."

"Got you?"

Light obviously wasn't understanding.

"Yes. The majority of the SPK's members have just been killed by the notebook. L, you are the one who handed over the notebook without a fight. You and your people were totally helpless."

All previous irritation with Near melted away as he accused Light of being helpless. I knew Light well enough to know he hated being backed into a corner; and even worse was knowing he had allowed himself to being backed into a corner.

But a feeling of betrayal began to make itself known in regards to Mello. Not only had he used the notebook, but he had used it against Near. The move was low and I was reminded once more of my comparison of opposites. Near would not be able to retaliate in such a bold manner and that made him all the more dangerous.

Matt had reacted to the knowledge of the SPK deaths. He sat up quickly and made eye contact with me. I kept my expression blank, but Matt continued to look shocked at the revelation. He began muttering to himself and reached for yet another laptop and began typing rapidly.

"Are you saying if you were in command, you wouldn't have handed it over?"

Light's tone was steady, but I still could sense the anger and disbelief beneath the surface.

" No. Considering their preparations, it would have been impossible to avoid this. There is really no point in this quarrelling. I propose we work together and share the information we know so far. For starters, I should have admitted that I have a very good idea of who the culprit behind this might be. I suspect that the person who arranged the kidnapping and the trade is someone who goes by the name 'Mello.'"

Matt reacted violently at this and the speed of his typing increased. His muttering grew louder and I realized it was a train of expletives.

"'Mello?'Who is he?"

There was curiosity in Light's voice.

"I don't have his photograph and I don't know his real name. All I know about him is that 4 years ago he was living at an orphanage located in Winchester, England, known as Wammy's House. I believe Mello is playing a game with me. He wants to see which of us will be the first to take down Kira. The final challenge."

Matt relaxed at this, but continued typing. Obviously, this reluctance on Near's part placated him slightly. We both knew Near had a photograph of Mello.

The transmission then cut off.

Mello chose at this time to reemerge in Matt's tech cave, triumphantly brandishing the notebook. Matt didn't even spare him a glance, continuing whatever mission he had suddenly launched. Mello grinned victoriously and waited for either Matt or me to offer congratulations.

"You killed the SPK," I said slowly. There was nothing accusatory in my voice. It was a simple statement of fact.

"Yeah," Mello affirmed tossing the notebook to me.

I caught it and flipped through the pages, stopping when the names did. The last few names were not written in Mello's handwriting, which I had the courtesy of seeing from his own notes on the case, but there was a specification for one death. He had to shoot himself rather than suffer a heart attack.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I fucking could," he answered by means of explanation. "Give it." I threw it back and it was then passed along to Matt. Matt flipped through it furiously and then looked between the pages in the notebook and the screen of his laptop. This seemed to resolve any questions or misunderstandings he had as he shut down the laptop soon after that.

I frowned my eyebrows furrowing as a sudden idea struck me. "Where's the shinigami?" I asked.

Mello shot me a look as he sat down. "The what?"

"Shinigami," I repeated impatiently. "A god of death in English. There's one connected to every Death Note. Unless…" I paused concentrating. "Rem was attached to this notebook, but she somehow disintegrated and that was how Light was able to acquire her notebook…so once a shinigami dies the notebook doesn't have a replacement? Or maybe there will be a shinigami as Rem wasn't the original owner of the thing."

The last speculation was merely that; speculation. I had no idea whether or not the notebook had originally been Rem's, but I suspected it wasn't. Looking back on it, Rem seemed to despise Light, but was very careful not to focus on Misa at all. So perhaps Rem had been connected to Misa first and then somehow became attached to Light's notebook? It was no doubt Light's notebook, as it had the first murders…

I shook my head. It was too much theory, not enough fact. I didn't have a solid enough grasp on exactly how the notebook worked or what its relationship with the shinigami was.

"To put it simply, as far as I know about this notebook, it currently does not have a shinigami attached to it, unless it is hiding. However, in the future, a shinigami may appear. You're not the owner, right?" I asked Mello.

He looked at me blankly.

"Did you touch it first?" I reiterated. We had found out that much from Rem.

"No. Neylon was."

"He'll be the first to see it then if it ever does appear."

"Fuck," Mello swore. He stood again, swiping the notebook from Matt and leaving. He obviously was going to rethink his strategy with Ross. The door shut loudly behind him.

"Do you want to know why he really killed them?" Matt asked. I hesitated, but then nodded. "They were leaks. All except for three of them. Everyone else had been reporting to someone else Near's every move. I found out a while back and let Mells know. I let Near know too, but the kid said he already knew."

"So Near telling Light about Mello?" I began in confusion.

"Repayment," Matt said with a grin. "Mello wants Kira to know who he is. He doesn't want there to be any chance in hell Kira thinks he's working with Near. That's why Near lied about the photo; Near doesn't want Mello dead."

I took this all in.

"For supposingly hating Near, Mello works quite well with him."

Matt just laughed.

"The next step is for me to figure out just how much I can control people with this thing," Mello observed leaning back.

It had been about a month since we had retrieved the notebook. We had spent the time spying on Near and occasionally the task force when they connected with the SPK. We also had been reevaluating everything I knew about the notebook and trying to discern anything new about the murder weapon.

Both Matt and I were present now in the main meeting room of the base along with several other lackeys and Rod Ross himself. Mello had made it quite clear to everyone on pain of death that we were not to be touched in anyway and any sign of disrespect would end in a well placed bullet between the eyes.

"… the notebook just flew," Mello said in disbelief. My head jerked up and I watched as the notebook was steadily traveling through the air. The shinigami had finally appeared.

"Ha!" Ross barked out. It's a notebook that kills people. Hell, nothing surprises me anymore," he said by means of an answer.

The notebook dropped on Neylon's head. He proceeded to scream.

"AHH!" And then like any highly trained mafia agent, he started to freak out. "Boss! Who is this? The guy in the freaky costume! Who the hell is he? Who brought him in!" The remainder of the gang stared at him. "A Shinigami?" Neylon asked. Mello looked at me sharply. I nodded.
Neylon proceeded to laugh insanely which did wonders for his credibility.

Neylon was definitely seeing a shinigami. He was focused on one spot and actually holding some semblance of a conversation with it, if screaming in hysteria counted. Though I had no idea in hell how he had become attached to that notebook.

"He says you can see him if you touch the notebook! Please everyone, touch it! I swear I'm not crazy!" Neylon pleaded.

Ross glared at him. "Fine. Whatever. C'mon guys. Touch the notebook."

The notebook was passed around. Predictably, this provoked a round of gunfire as everyone shot crazily at the now visible shinigami.

It looked nothing like Rem. To me, it seemed like a mix of an owl and some sort of bug wrapped up in cloth that was vaguely reminiscent of what Arabians would wear while traveling through the desert. It's head appeared to be bandaged leading me to recall the bandages around Rem's eye and wondering if that was a norm among shinigami.

"Nice try," it said in a surprisingly whiny voice. "You humans can't kill a shinigami."

"Jack's right," Ross said, lowering his gun. That ain't no costume. That's a real live shinigami. So now, what will we do?" Everyone looked around uneasily, but also lowered their weapons.

"What's your name?" I asked.

Everyone's gaze shifted to me, but I didn't react.

"What?" it asked.

"What's your name?" I repeated. "I know you have one."

It tilted its head at me in confusion. "Do you know Ryuk?"

Ryuk must have been the name of Light's shinigami, I realized.

"No, I knew Rem."

It absorbed this for a moment. "She's a weird one," it finally said.

"Well she's dead," I replied impatiently. "Now, what is your name?"

"Sidoh." It looked uneasy.

"And you're male?" It, or rather he, nodded. "How are you attached to this notebook?"

"It's mine! Ryuk stole it from me!" he exclaimed rather pitifully.

I took all this information in. So it seemed shinigami could take each other's notebooks and become their owners. So the notebook had originally belonged to Sidoh and Ryuk had taken it, and it had wound up in Light's hands. Then either by accident or Light's own device, Rem had become attached to it.

Also, judging by Sidoh's personality, not all shinigami had the same mind set, just as humans didn't. Sidoh for the most part, seemed cooperative versus Rem's purposefully difficult attitude. That brought another matter at hand.

"Hand me the notebook," I said not taking my gaze off Sidoh who was currently eyeing one of Mello's chocolate bars and attempting to edge toward it sneakily. Ross himself placed it in my hand though he was looking at me suspiciously. Mello however seemed rather smug that I knew so much.

I flipped to the back cover where the two rules L had questioned all those years ago were. The rules Rem had assured us were real while not stating exactly what we wanted to know. I reread them once before holding it open for Sidoh to read.

"Are these two rules fake?" I asked.

Sidoh regretfully stopped his pursuit of the elusive chocolate bar to focus on what I was showing him. He seemed to squint and frown, though his facial expression was rather hard to discern due to the unfamiliar structure of his face.

"Yeah," he finally proclaimed. "But I didn't write them in."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Mello, give him a chocolate bar." Mello scowled at me, but did so anyway.

"Chocolate is so good!" Sidoh said around the bar Mello had parted with.

" Hey!" Ross yelled at Sidoh. "What about that stuff you told us? Is it true? 'If the person using the note fails to consecutively write names of people to be killed within 13 days of each other, then the user will die. If you make this notebook unusable by tearing it up or burning it, all the humans who've touched the note till then will die.' Are you saying those two rules are made-up?" Ross asked.

I frowned. I had just established that. I was briefly reminded of L having to repeat everything to the task force. I suddenly sympathized.

"Oh yeah. Those rules are definitely fake," Sidoh assured. "My guess is some Shinigami wrote those down as a joke before giving the notebook to a human."

I ignored the stupidity from the gang and instead focused on Mello. He was eating his own chocolate bar which Sidoh was gazing at longingly. Mello's eyes were narrowed and he seemed to be piecing the new information together.

"Sidoh!" he said finally in a commanding tone. "Go keep watch outside! It'll be very convenient that you can't be seen by humans! Go outside and keep watch! Got it?" Mello asked dangerously.

Sidoh seemed to wilt under his stare and nodded weakly. He shuddered and sent me a pleading look. I shrugged and Sidoh took off, skeletal wings emerging from beneath his tattered cloak surprisingly supporting him.

Mello threw a chocolate bar wrapper at my head. I raised an eyebrow at him. "You gave the last of my chocolate to the pathetic death god. You and asshat over there," Mello said gesturing to Matt, "are getting me more."

Matt and I were currently in a very crappy looking ghetto liquor store. Obviously the gun on our hips had to be concealed, though I believed that violated an American law, the outline alone kept anyone from bothering us.

Matt had quite cheerfully asked the clerk for all the chocolate he had in stock. He had stared at us in obvious disbelief until Matt slapped a wad of American money down on the counter. We then had a terrified, but eager to serve clerk who was bringing out chocolate by the boxful. The poor man probably thought it was blood money; which now that I think about it, was probably the correct assumption.

"If there's anything you want, go ahead and grab it," Matt said as he grabbed several packs of cigarettes and some alcohol as well. I shook my head. Matt shrugged and muttered, "Suit yourself."

Matt whistled to himself and stuck his hands in his pockets. His hand seemed to connect with something which he drew out. He examined it for a moment before recognizing it.

"Oh. This is for you." I took the object which seemed to be a cell phone. "It has mine, Mello and Near's numbers in it. We all have yours as well. It also has a GPS, recorder, and a tazer in it in case someone decides to whisk you away unexpectedly. It's not magnetic, and it can't be picked up bug detectors or anything like it. I'm pretty proud of what I managed to fit in it for the short amount of time I had to tinker with the thing."

"Thanks," I answered turning the phone on and pocketing it.

"No problem. You proved yourself pretty invaluable today. Rod didn't appreciate it though. Mells is bit worried you might meet some unspeakable end."

"Nice to know he cares," I said with a small laugh.

"This is all of it," the clerk said nervously, interrupting our conversation.

"Thanks a ton," Matt said with a wink. "You can keep the change."

"That was generous of you," I commented as we loaded the car with the many boxes of chocolate.

"Well, the guy has to have something to live off of while he gets a new job or at least while he has several sick days." I shot him a confused look. Matt slammed the trunk shut. "I tend to tip generously because Mells usually scares them so bad they end up quitting." Matt gestured to the store. "I have never seen the same clerk here."

I shook my head and opened the door to the little beat up car. Matt followed suit. He stared at the interior mournfully.

"This is such an ugly car," he moaned. "It's not even red! Mells promised me, hebloody promised, to get me a decent car, but I got this pile of crap." Matt glared at the air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.

I snorted. "Come on. I'm sure he'll get you a nice car eventually. This is fine. You can drive it, can't you?"

"Barely," he said darkly.

"We should go back. Mello will be wanting his chocolate."

Matt nodded and turned the ignition, peeling out rather obnoxiously to show his displeasure with the car.

We were driving for less than ten minutes before we saw the smoke. Matt paled, his knuckled whitening as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. He kept driving and pulled over before we actually reached the base in an alley.

"Stay here," he ordered hoarsely. He threw his door open and started briskly walking away. He was so distraught he didn't bother locking the door. I followed after him of course. Once he got out of the alley, he started running. I ran after him.

He stopped in stunned disbelief in front of the burning inferno that had been headquarters. Everything was on fire.

"Matt," I said softly. He ignored me and continued staring. He mouthed something wordlessly.

"Mello," he finally managed.

"Go." I shoved at him. "I'll find you later. Go!" I yelled when he stood there still immobile. "Find Mello, get somewhere safe. Go!" He nodded and ran towards the flames.

I watched as he disappeared into the burning building. I hesitated for as long as possible, until I couldn't put of any longer. I started to walk away with the intention of going back to the car knowing Matt would need it to get Mello somewhere safe.

"Matsuda! Are you all right?"

I whirled around. No. They couldn't be here. If they were here than that meant. I gazed at the fire in horror, my throat closing up. Dad. Dad would be here.

"No, I don't think so," Matsuda groaned back.

"I'm sure you live," Aizawa answered dryly.

" L! I don't see any sign of Mello!" someone else yelled, presumably into a wire of some sort. Was that Ide? I thought he had quit the case.

Against my better judgment I found myself heading toward the voices. I could hear sirens in the background. I eventually found them, their figures contrasting against the twisting red and orange flame behind them.

"Who's there?" Matsuda asked nervously pointing the gun at me. I got closer. "I'll shoot! I swear I will!" Matsuda lied. "I swear I'l-" He blinked taking me in. "Rei? Rei what are you doing here?"

"What are you going on about now?" Aizawa wearily asked.

"It's Rei! Rei's here!"

"Rei? Why is she here?"

"I don't know! She's just…"

Their voices faded away as I saw a figure emerge from the fire and rubble. He staggered, heavily limping and clutching at his chest until he collapsed just out of range of the building.

"Dad," I whispered.

~Author's Note~

I can do this. I can wrap this up in ten chapters. I swear I can!

I'm going to Anime Expo this Saturday. I'll be the Beyond Birthday with a Winry, Yuki Cross, Haruhi, and Palkia. It will be sweet.

Thanks for all the reviews!

anooooooooon like yeah: Here is moar ;3

World without L is just a word: Yes, Mello says fuck a lot. That's my head canon for him I suppose. Rei definitely has her own monster now. It's gonna eat Light alive ;3. These chapters are going to be soooo intense for me. I honestly just wanted to keep going even with this one. And L saying Yagami-kun and Amane-san? SWOON.

A fan of course: No worries!