The song featured in this chapter is called When Love Comes from Death Note the Musical. I highly recommend listening to it. I'm actually planning on singing it at my friend's wedding, it's a gorgeous song.
Also, I'd love to hear your theories on how you think Ellie can see the shinigami. I'm trying to decide if I should do the reveal soon or if I should wait until later. Review and let me know what you think.
L Lawliet's P.O.V.
Ellie seemed hesitant and flustered, but accepted nonetheless after a good nights sleep. She took several hours to call her family and tell them the news. To my inconvenience, she insisted I stay to talk to them.
"Hello, mom? Yes, I know you're still mad but I have something I need to tell you. – No, it's not about that… Well, okay it sort-of is but – Mom. Mom. Mom. – Can you stop talking for a minute? – Oh, for heaven's sake, I'm trying to tell you the real reason I dropped out. – No, it wasn't really because of a job. – Well, if you'll listen for a minute I'll tell you. – Mom…" she sighed, then just decided to blurt it out, "I'm engaged."
Ellie put the phone on speaker. There was silence for a minute. Then all of a sudden, "OH MY GOSH, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT ARE YOU REALLY!? Scott! Scott, honey, come here, your daughter has news!"
"Yes, that's why I dropped out. I'm going to get married and then live in Japan with my husband."
"I didn't even know you were dating anyone. What's his name? Is he there with you? When is the wedding?"
"Remember that guy Lawrence I told you about? I've been dating him for a while now. He's right here. We're on speaker."
All this seemed like a waste of time to me, but it was necessary to get Ellie's parents off her case so I spoke, "Hello Mrs. May. How are you?"
I spent the next half hour listening to Ellie's mother ramble on about nonsense wedding plans. Her father talked a few times, but didn't speak nearly as much as her mother. I was getting bored when they finally had to go. There was nothing productive in their chatter, it was all pointless. I preferred to only speak if something needed to be said. Most of her family took longer.
Every time they tried to convince us to meet them, she'd come up with a new excuse. We didn't have time for meetings with every member of her family.
When she at last hung up on the final person, she slumped in her chair, "That was exhausting…"
I chewed on my nail. "I agree. Your family is quite extensive."
"Yeah, well, it's a Utah thing. Everyone in my family has at least four kids because there's so much space here. I stopped counting how many cousins I have years ago. I'm the third oldest of almost two-dozen." She paused, thinking. She seemed unsure as to whether she wanted to add something. Eventually she decided to just say it, "Are you sure this is a good idea? Aren't we moving a bit… You know… Fast?" She looked at the ring on her finger.
"If you wish to call it off, then so be it. But remember, the longer we wait to go to Tokyo the more time Kira has to kill people. I doubt your family would be happy about you leaving the country without reason."
She knit her eyebrows in concern, "Yeah, I guess…"
"We don't have to actually get married if you don't want to, but I recommend that you let your family think you are." I watched her as she struggled internally. I could tell she wanted to say yes, but she was scared. That was understandable. I'd only known her for about a year. Still, this was the most beneficial plan. Her family would be off her case, and we could go to Japan without suspicion.
"No, I'm just nervous," she said, taking a deep breath, "I want to do this. I'm sure."
"Good. It would be a problem if you didn't want to. Even though I've never said so aloud, I do like you." That seemed to make her feel better and she smiled for the first time since I put the ring on her finger. I grabbed a strawberry and dropped it into my mouth.
"I like you too," she grinned. "So, when should the wedding be? I know you won't want a big public thing, so we don't need to plan for long."
I messed with my bottom lip, "If you're sure your family will insist on attending we should do so before we leave. We want to draw as little attention to ourselves when we get to Japan as possible. Holding the wedding in japan would not be ideal."
"Alright then, how about a month from now? It can be a small thing. We won't worry about a band or fancy decorations or anything. I'll get a dress and we can just get married in the grove outside. Watari can set out your favorite sweets. It'll be nice and simple."
Knowing her, she'd have preferred a huge, immaculate ball with dancing and music and theatrics. It was good she understood the urgency of the situation. The longer we spent on this, the more people Kira would kill.
I contacted Matt and Mello, informing them of our plans to lure Kira to Tokyo. He may want to take Kira down on his own, but as much as he hated to admit it, he'd need help. He couldn't see Kira like we could. I told them I'd let them touch the death note if they came to the wedding. They were the closest thing – aside from Watari – that I had to family. They grew up as orphans in Wammy's, just like I had.
Ellie's friends kept asking her if she was pregnant. She kept assuring them that no, she wasn't. "He's a businessman," she told them, "He's being called to Japan for his job soon and we wanted everyone to be able to come, that's why we're going so quickly." They all seemed to believe her. She had quite a reputation for being chaste.
The month went by quickly. I tracked Light Yagami as he followed my fake trail while Ellie made all the preparations. She made me get fitted into a tux; That was the extent of my involvement in the process.
When the day came, I got dressed and went outside. Ellie had set up several rows of chairs. There was a harp off to the side. Everything, including the surrounding trees, was covered in flowers. I spotted a long table covered in various treats. My mouth watered looking at them.
Ellie's side of the aisle was overflowing with people, whereas mine had Mr. Yagami, Matt, Mello, and Watari. Matt, surprisingly, was not smoking. I suspected that was at Ellie's request, but that didn't stop Mello from munching on a chocolate bar.
Watari ushered me to the front of the aisle where I was to wait until Ellie arrived. When her family caught their first glimpse of me they started whispering to each other. Most comments consisted of "That's him? He looks weird," "He's so pale and pasty," and, "I heard he's filthy rich." I stuffed my hands in my pockets, waiting for the main guest to arrive so we could get this whole ordeal over with.
A young girl with red hair and blue eyes about 12 years old or so sat down at the harp and began to play a nuptial song. Ellie had showed me a photo of this child a week ago; this was the older one of her two little sisters. A few women walked down the aisle all wearing the same dress. One was guiding a chicken on a leash; Strapped to its head was a cushion on which were the rings.
After a boring, but fortunately short promenade, Ellie appeared. Everyone collectively gasped. She looked even more like an angel than ever. She wore a large, expensive-looking white dress decorated with silver flowers. Attached to her arm was a man that looked a lot like her. Her father. She had obviously gotten her nose and skin tone from him.
She absorbed everything else around us, leaving only her. She had put on makeup, which for her was not normal. She walked toward me slowly until we were standing side by side. My heartrate elevated.
The ceremony was quick and to the point. A few I do's and a kiss later and that was it. Everyone on Ellie's side stood up and cheered. The four people sitting on my side clapped politely. None of them, besides maybe Matt, were enthusiastic types.
We were forced to stand in the same place for the next three hours while all my now-in-laws came to question me. I dodged their questions expertly. Ellie had warned me of their curious nature.
Ellie's youngest sister, a girl with short brown hair and freckles, threatened to murder me if I hurt her sister. It would have been more intimidating if she weren't eleven. Her mother had the most questions for me. "What do you do? – Why are you going to Tokyo? – Are your parents here, I'd love to meet them."
"I'd love to meet them too," I said, "But they're dead, so."
"Oh… I'm sorry. Excuse me," She walked away awkwardly, earning a grimace from Ellie.
I had to explain that I was an orphan on several occasions. Each time I told someone they'd get all sheepish and slink away. That was fine by me. It was a good conversation finisher. I detested small talk.
When Ellie gave me the go-ahead I dove into the desserts. I earned several odd looks as I ate slice after slice of cheesecake. Ellie helped herself to a fair amount of chocolate-covered strawberries.
Ellie gave Watari some signal and he pulled a speaker and phone out from under the table. She pulled me to an empty area. "I wanted at least one dance," she said, placing her hand on my shoulder. "When it's over we can send everyone home and go inside."
I hadn't ever danced, let alone with someone else. She caught on to my hesitation and offered a bit of instruction, "Put one hand on my waist and the other in my hand out here. Follow my lead," she whispered in my ear.
She nodded to Watari and he pressed play. I recognized this as one of the songs from the Death Note musical she had once showed me. It was a song sung by Rem about Misa Amane called When Love Comes. Ellie swayed us back and forth slowly to the music. A few times she lifted our hands up and did a turn. She was truly a stunning sight.
When the song ended, I couldn't help myself. Despite the watching crowd I leaned forward, pulling my bride into a kiss. Everyone started cheering again. They did that a lot I've noticed.
As promised, Ellie gave one final speech, then sent everyone home. Matt and Mello were the first to disappear.
Despite the tiring day, Ellie was still fired up. She had no shortage of energy as we spent the night together officially as husband and wife. She was not shy.
The next day we boarded a private plane bound for Japan. I'd purchased a building ahead of time. It was ready for when we arrived.
Ellie insisted that Yagami and Watari have their own plane. For someone who had waited so long she had a big appetite. The flight was long, but it was by no means dull. She was my first, but only because I found most people to be boring and idiotic; I'd never met anyone worth the attention.
When we landed, we met back up with Watari and Yagami and all piled into a limousine. Ellie kept a lookout for any shinigami, but didn't see any. Regardless, we didn't take our masks off until we were safe inside.
"It's so different here, but not as much as I thought it'd be," Ellie noted, watching from the window. We were at the top floor of our new skyscraper. These headquarters were not unlike the one I had in my old world.
"Have you never been to Japan before?" I asked, looking out the window and biting my thumbnail.
"No, I've never been outside of the states."
"It was necessary to come here. This is where the best place to get Kira once and for all."
"This is all so surreal… So much has happened in the past year," She frowned.
I sat on one of the armchairs and started stacking a pile of magazines one on top of the other into a tower. Now was not the time to dwell on trivial things. We needed to plan how we would get the other shinigami's death notes. There was a total of 23. That meant we needed to touch 23 notebooks before the rest of us could see everything that Ellie could see.
The question had been itching in the back of my mind from the moment she first spotted Light Yagami on the surveillance cameras. How was she able to see the shinigami without touching their notebooks?
I thought back to the dream I'd had where Ellie had hovered beside me above the shinigami realm, dressed in white and glowing like some heavenly being. Perhaps she herself was some supernatural entity. But then how did she have such a large family? If she weren't human, she couldn't be related to her family. That wasn't likely; She looked very similar to a good deal of them. No, she was definitely related to her family by blood. So how could she see Kira?
"Ellie," I said, getting her attention, "Was there ever a point where you had a dream taking place in the shinigami realm?"
She sounded surprised, "How did you know that?"
I turned in my chair, facing her, "What happened in the dream?"
She thought about it for a moment, "I saw Light standing in the middle of a circle of shinigami. The king said something about helping him with something. Then a shiny figure appeared and touched all the shinigami, leaving a dot on their foreheads. That's all I can really remember."
My eyes widened. This proves it. Someone, or something, was shaping our realities. It's likely that whoever the white figure was knows why Ellie can see things that normal people can't. If I can find a way to contact them, then maybe they can tell me more about her. That's where we have a problem.
"L? Are you okay?" She tilted her head, questioning.
I ignored her, "Were you adopted by chance?"
She raised her eyebrow, "No… Should I have been?" Didn't think so, but if she had been that would have answered some questions.
"Did you have that dream more than once," I asked.
She nodded, "Yeah, I had it three nights in a row. But why is that important?"
"Because, I had the same dream."
"I thought you might have."
Now that was curious. "Why is that?"
"The shiny person. Every now and then they appear in my sleep and talk to me. He said he showed you the same thing. I didn't think anything of it; I've always had weird dreams like that. The shiny person has been talking to me for as long as I can remember."
I narrowed my eyes. "What do they say?"
She played with her bottom lip, thinking. "Well, I think they're a he, but he's so bright I can't see his face so it's hard to tell. Sometimes he just talks to me, asking me about my day, other times he tells me stories."
"What kind of stories?"
"Parables. You know, like in scripture. They're always stories I'm already familiar with. I figured it was just my subconscious being weird; Scientists say that dreams come from unresolved things in your subconscious. They're your brain's way of processing the things that happen throughout the day. They've been a lot more frequent lately, probably due to the massive changes happening in my life. It's my mind's way of coping."
That was a valuable piece of information. Ellie is certainly a fascinating creature. If I'm not wrong – and I never am – then she has a direct line to the figure in white. "Have you ever spoken back to this person?"
She smiled, "All the time. He's really nice. Whenever I'm worried about something he gives great advice. He even told me I should marry you when you asked. I almost said no; I was more than a little surprised by the whole idea."
"I suppose I owe him my thanks." I stood up, stuffing my hands in my pockets, "I need you to do something for me."
"What's that?"
"The next time he appears in your dream, ask him how you can see the shinigami."
She frowned, turning to look back out the window, "I already did."
"What did he say?"
"He got all cryptic. He gave me some riddle. Then he just said that all would be revealed in due time. When I pressed for answers he disappeared and I woke up."
I moved close so our noses were almost touching, "What was the riddle," I questioned, my eyes narrowed.
"He said, 'when the child weeps at the strike of a bloody midnight, the guardian's memories will be unlocked. The guardian will harness their power to imprison the antichrist forever in a world of nothingness.'"
"Are you certain that was his exact wording?"
"It was the most vivid dream I ever had. I have no doubt that that's what he said. I even wrote it down somewhere in case I forgot, but I never did."
"Hm. I see. That is interesting."
"Is it?"
"Yes, it is." I went in search of something sugary while I pondered the meaning of this new bit of information. One thing was certain: Ellie was the key to everything.