This story is taking over my life! I haven't had more than a single meal a day since I started writing this and I've skipped classes more often than I care to admit. (No regrets... Except for the ones I have, but we don't talk about those.)

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I hid a secret riddle in this chapter. If you can find and solve it, I'll give you a shout-out and write a special one-shot at your request. Prize goes to the first person – if any – that figures it out. Good luck.

Soichiro Yagami's P.O.V.

Ellie handled the interrogation with impressive grace. She doesn't call herself an actress for nothing. It was unnerving how easily she could lie. She was normally such an honest and upfront person. It briefly made me wonder what else she could be lying about.

I suppose I may never know. She's a Lawliet, after all.

L was waiting for us when we got back to the tower. He was eating out of a large tub of ice cream. Ellie took the spoon he offered her and happily joined in, munching on the sugary treat as we discussed our next task.

"That was extremely useful. Well done, Ellie," He congratulated her with an oddly-affectionate smile.

She looked at Doctor Kaneko and I, "I'm not the only one who deserves recognition. They helped too," she mentioned.

"Yes, I suppose they did." He looked at us with his cold, black eyes, "Thank you for your assistance. It was greatly appreciated. We now have a great deal of important information to use when speaking with the shinigami king." He looked back to Ellie and took another bite of ice cream, "It was a clever, albeit risky decision to remove your mask and reveal your face to Mikami. It seems our training sessions are paying off."

"I don't see how," she complained, "You still win every time."

"Yes, but it's become increasingly difficult to best you. I'm sure you've noticed it takes a lot longer for us to finish a game than when we started."

I gawked. Was L saying she was a challenge for him? She was even more impressive than I thought.

Kaneko adjusted his glasses, "Mikami says he was guided here by one of god's angels of death. He must mean a shinigami."

"Yes, I came to the same conclusion," the Lawliet's said in unison. They paused to give each other a curious look, then continued eating their ice cream. Maybe they belong together after all.

"If Mikami remembers how he got here," I said, stating the obvious, "then why don't we? All I remember is waking up in Ellie's closet."

"That is an excellent question," L mused, "perhaps we came here in a different way."

"That would explain why he didn't show up in my closet," Ellie commented. "But if it wasn't the shinigami, what could have brought you here?"

"It could have been your shiny person," He said with his mouth full.

Ellie knitted her eyebrows, "Do you think that's possible?"

"There was a time when I did not believe it possible to commit murder by writing a name in a notebook," L mentioned.

"Touché."

Shiny person? That had to be code. What were they talking about? L noticed my questioning look, but didn't elaborate. I stifled my annoyance; they knew I was trustworthy, why did they keep things from me, was I not part of this operation?

Kaneko was less silent about it, "Who's the 'shiny person?' What do they have to do with Kira?"

"That is an excellent question, Doctor," L muttered, "I would like to know myself."

"Basically," Ellie explained, "He's someone that I dream about frequently. I didn't think anything of it until he showed up in one of L's dreams too, but that only happened once. Since then he hasn't reappeared to him. I see him almost every night now. It used to be less often."

"Have you tried asking who he is?" Kaneko questioned.

She gave him a sarcastic look, "Oh, gee, I sure wish I'd thought of that."

"I already asked her that same thing some time ago," L said calmly, "Apparently whenever she makes any inquiry as to his own identity he fades away and she wakes up without an answer."

I glowered, "And you didn't care to mention this earlier?"

"It was not relevant until this moment," L said in his overly-cool tone. He took another bite of ice cream. "If we did arrive here in a different way than Mikami, we can assume there are others that Kira has brought here. At this point they could be anywhere."

"L," Ellie said, getting his attention, "You got ice cream on your nose."

He reached his hand up to wipe the smudge off his face, making her laugh.

"Why don't we have the police search the city for anyone without a valid ID?" I asked, "Anyone from our world wouldn't be recognized by the system."

"Do you intend to search every person in the world," Ellie asked, "Because that's the only way we could fish them all out."

"She is correct," L confirmed, "It would be a futile effort. Not to mention it would be like announcing to Kira that we are here. As soon as he even suspects that we may be in this world he'll write our names in the death note, and we'll be dead again."

"If you die," Ellie said, "I will kill you."

"Mr. Yagami," L addressed me, "I understand you may be tired, but if it's alright with you I would like to proceed our plan to speak with the shinigami king immediately."

Nothing would make me happier. I was anxious to get out and get things done. We'd been watching and waiting for far too long in my opinion. People were dying every day. Kira was a monster and had to be taken down as soon as possible. When I nodded, L had Watari bring down a tinted helmet. He told me it had a voice scrambler on it so I wouldn't be recognized. He gave me a wallet full of cash and a large cloak to hide under. That way no one would be able to see my body type.

I called a cab and had them take me to a different part of the city. From there I got in a different cab and did the same thing. I did that three times to ensure I wasn't being followed. The last one brought me to a hotel on the opposite side of the city from the tower. L had it under surveillance, so Ellie was able to assure me that there were no shinigami there.

I slept with a scarf wrapped around my face, just to be careful. I didn't want to take any chances; Kira was still sending out 13 shinigami a day to search the city. There's no way of knowing if they'd recognize me as Light's father or not. Still, it was better not to risk it.

I woke up and immediately put the helmet on. "Hello, is anyone there," I tested, "This is Anon Terces."

An altered voice sounded in my ear, "Yes, hello Anon. Did you sleep well?"

No I had not. But it's kind of hard to sleep when you're being hunted by supernatural entities. "Well enough," I said, "Am I clear to go in?" I didn't want to waste any time. The sooner I spoke to the shinigami king the better. We needed information and we needed it now.

"Yes," the voice confirmed, "All the preparations have been made. Remember to act as if you cannot see or hear Kira. If you react to anything he does you will be telling him that you can see him, and are therefore involved with the very people that he's searching for."

"Understood," I confirmed, throwing on my cloak. A lot was riding on this. If I gave any hint whatsoever linking myself to L, then Light would immediately know. He was easily capable of figuring it all out if anything went wrong.

I left the hotel and walked down the least crowded streets toward Kira. My helmet was fitted with cameras, so Ellie was able to watch for shinigami at any angle. She was tasked with keeping me informed of any movement. So far, everything had been quiet.

"Anon, stop where you are and hide somewhere on the left side of the street."

I did as I was told. When I was out of sight I asked quietly, "What is it?"

"Hold still and don't say a word."

I waited in an uncomfortable crouch for about five minutes before I was allowed to move.

"What was that about," I asked.

"There were two shinigami sitting on the roof just above you. They were talking about Kira."

"What did they say?"

"They were complaining. They're getting bored with searching every day and don't understand why they have to help some random human that's already dead. This means we might be able to get some of the shinigami to turn against Kira. Keep this in mind when you speak with their king."

That could be helpful. If we can turn the shinigami against Kira and get his current death note, then he'd be powerless. We had a chance.

With renewed confidence, I walked swiftly to the place Kira was hiding. I didn't bother knocking. This was nothing more than a condemned building occupied by a ghost. Looking inside I saw Light sitting at a computer, writing. He was oddly dark and almost transparent, like he was part shadow. Behind him, watching, was the shinigami king.

He was huge. Much bigger than he looked on the screens, and significantly more terrifying in person. He was a lot larger than the other shinigami had been. I forced myself to walk fully inside.

"Anon, there are several shinigami sitting around the room. They're looking at you, but they're not getting up. You know who the king is."

I stood to the side of the room, a reasonable distance away. Light stared at me suspiciously. He asked who I was. I ignored him, instead facing the shinigami king.

"Shinigami," I said, greeting him.

He stared back with interest, "Hello, human. You must be the one that took my death note."

Light turned to him in surprise, "Someone stole a death note and you didn't tell me?"

We both ignored him. "Yes, I am the one who took it," I said, "and now I have some questions for you."

He grinned, "Why don't you take off that mask of yours?"

I said nothing, staring him down behind my helmet and cloak.

"Who are you, human?"

I ignored the question, "Where do the notebooks come from?"

He chuckled. It was cold and deep. "Very well, if you must know, I make them. I'm the only one who can as a matter of fact."

"Did you give one to someone here? Is that why people keep dying of heart attacks," I pretended not to know.

"That's right. Now you have to answer one of my questions." He sat on the floor casually, "How did you steal my death note? Humans can't see shinigami unless they touch a notebook beforehand, but you knew exactly where to go with that little machine of yours."

I froze. I didn't know how to answer him. Fortunately, L did. He spoke in my ear, "Tell him there are a few cameras in this world that can see them. He's not from here, and neither is Light, so it'd be a plausible theory. They can't disprove it, since they can see shinigami no matter what."

I repeated his words, "There are some special cameras here that can see you. One of them was on the drone. That's how."

"How interesting," he laughed.

"My turn," I said, "I know you've brought people here from a different dimension. How many are there, and who are they?"

"Don't answer him," Light commanded.

Apparently the shinigami king didn't take orders, because he said, "Three, if you include the one doing all the killings." He smiled, "But he may not necessarily be what you define as a person."

"You fool," Light yelled, "What have you done?"

He ignored him again, "I suppose that means it's my turn again," he grinned, "So tell me… How do you know about the alternate dimensions?"

I heard L's voice, "Don't say anything."

I stood staring at the shinigami king for a while until he spoke again, "I see. Keeping secrets, are we? Very well. Then we have nothing more to discuss." He turned away from me, ending our conversation.

L spoke again, "That's all we'll get for now. Return to the hotel and await further instructions."

Without another word I turned around to leave, returning to the hotel. Ellie says I was being followed by none other than Ryuk, so I had to sleep in my helmet.

It was the worst night's sleep I ever had.