CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"Death"

With the Kira Task Force elsewhere, Misa Amane was left alone at home in Light's apartment. After Light regained his memories when touched by the Death Note, he asked Misa to move in with him. Since then, they had shared an apartment together.

Using Light's computer network, for which Misa had the password, she managed to use Light's personal hack into police surveillance records, and view video of the slaughter of the NPA SAT and field times a couple of days ago near a rundown matinee—the cameras were part of a secret pilot project the NPA was testing—watching its fast paced minutes of horrific violence from multiple angles. Mounted lampposts had miniature cameras that caught most of the action, including Light's abduction by a small, weasely-looking man, who dragged Light, unconscious, after pistol whipping him, into the back of dark Sedan, and then drove away, leaving his dead partner to rot. Light did put up a good fight, but it all for naught.

What had her more angry was the senseless killings of the police dogs. "Oh, those poor puppies," she said sadly. "I'll make them pay for this!"

But through all the carnage, Misa did manage to satisfy her vengeance. She was able to get a close up of the man that abducted Light and saw his name above his head. Using the Death Note, on the desk next to her, she wrote the man's name down—and within forty seconds that man would be dead of a heart attack, wherever he was at the moment.

"The killing time is nigh! No one hurts my daring, Light," she said.

But she was worried. The Dark Web wasn't yielding anything to Light's possible location. There was usually some talk about criminal activity regarding the Yukaza, but everything was silent—as if it was taboo to discuss such things anymore. She often used the Dark Web to hunt down some of the most dangerous criminals that attempted to hide from the public eye.

The Yukaza used aliases to keep their real identities a secret and this frustrated Light. Crime was increasing again because of this trick and there was little either of them could do about it. She needed a face to use the Shinigami Eyes she possessed, then render a name, but she felt useless if she couldn't use them to help Light in his goal for a brand new world.

Moreover, people were going through both the public and dark webs, and erasing data, deleting social media accounts, and any pictures of themselves (if they had done anything wrong). So, she had to relay on the NPA database, but even they were hiding things. When she quickly exhausted that data, she needed to go to other resources. Her worse fear was disappointing Light.

She huffed, and groined, and vented her frustration by throwing a pillow across the room. It passed through Ryuk, the Shinigami, and hit the back wall in the apartment with a soft thud. All her efforts and she still couldn't locate Light.

"Oh Light, Oh Light, where art thou, my sweet Light?" she said, paraphrasing an old Shakespearean line.

"Have you tried calling his cell phone? Or pinging it? Or whatever you humans do these days to track yourselves?" the Shinigami suggested.

"That's the first thing I did," she said with some annoyance. "Light has a GPS tracer in his phone for emergencies such as this, but it's been turned off—or maybe he's in a dead zone?—or dismantled?—or…who knows? Knowing the Yukaza, they've probably gone underground, and the reception down there is…" Misa looked at the big, bulging eyes of Ryuk. They were like looking into two dark black holes. "Can you sense him?"

Ryuk shook his head. "It doesn't work like that. You own a Death Note and so does he, but I'm only connected to you. If the situation was reversed, then I could locate you in an instant. He had a piece of Rem's old Death Note in his watch, so unfortunately he's on his own."

Misa pouted, rotating in the chair, twirling around and around like a merry go round ride.

"Can you stop that," Ryuk said, "you're making me dizzy."

Misa stopped, but faced the Shinigami. "I hope Light is okay and the Yukaza aren't torturing him for information? It takes me back to my time being held and questioned by L. But I don't think Light is the kind of person than can be broken. He didn't break when he was held by L."

"Remember, he was only owner of the Death Note for a week after he was imprisoned before he gave it up," Ryuk said. "Then he probably spent the rest of the time whining to be released—" Ryuk chuckled as if finding the image of Light begging to be funny "—and eventually joined the Kira Task Force in a hunt down the Third Kira to clear his name." The Shinigami snickered. "That was a lark. He was only biding his time so he could once again become the Death Note's owner again, Rem's old book."

"I care about is Light. I love him so much! Can't you just sniff him out or something?"

"I'm not a dog, but…" The Shinigami put a jewelled finger to his mouth. "Okay, I'm not supposed to tell anyone about this, but there may be a way to see him, and possibly get his location. There's no guarantee it may work. Call it an experiment, you may recognize some landmark, or something—although its never been used for something like this before."

He reached into his skeleton satchel and pulled out what looked like a miniature black sphere, then he made it grow to half the size of a bowling bowl. It was jet black and very reflective.

Misa looked into it and could see herself as if looking into a mirror, her face rounded and pulled around its sides. "What is it?"

"Every Shinigami carries one of these, it helps communicate with the Shinigami World and other gods of death in the Human World if the case arises. In my world, we can look down upon the Human World with much larger versions, like watching television. It's called a Portable Orb. You could say, it's our version of a cell phone."

The Shinigami passed it to her, and Misa cupped in her hand. It wasn't very heavy, but it did have some weight to it. "Like a crystal ball, right?"

"I guess so, but you don't need incantations or special words to make it work. All a Shinigami has to do is think of someone they wish to see, or a location, and it instantly projects an image onto its surface. It kind of works like a Death Note, all you need is to envision it in your mind."

She asked to see Light, and Ryuk waved a hand over its surface. Instantly, albeit a little blurry, Light Yagami's image appeared. He was standing in a room with two other people, an older man, and a young boy. Only Light's name and lifespan was showing.

Pointing, she asked, "Who are they?"

But Ryuk didn't know.

Morph cupped his right hand on his hip, then waved his notebook around.

"You know, I could have a little fun and undo everything you've done, then see what unfolds," the Imp teased, "and who knows, things may be even more interesting with someone else in possession of your original Death Note…"

Light ground his teeth. "You can't do that!" He spit out a little. "You'll ruin everything Kira has done! This world needs a change and thanks to the Death Note, Kira has made that change. If you reverse all my work, the world will once again fall into disarray!"

Morph smirked, holding the Life Note in hand. "Don't whine, Light Yagami, it's unbecoming of you." He began to laugh like an arrogant child. "I'm kidding, of course. And besides, even if I could restore all those people you've killed back from the dead, it would be too much work. And the Life Note can only restore the life of someone who has died within a 72 hour period. There are limits to everything."

Light seemed to breath a sign of relief. That meant L was permanently dead.

"Limits and also conditions," Morphs added. "For example, your judgements can be reserved despite a name written in the Death Note. A person could, technically, remain alive even after the 40 second time limit, or a method written down of their death in the future—both of which you know. There are secrets that only some Shinigami know, but unless they are willing to reveal them, a person is limited to the rules of of the Death Note that they are aware of. But I don't have to tell you about the Butterfly Effect."

Light nodded. "The effect whereof if you quash a butterfly in the past, it can have huge repercussions in future events. If you save a person's life, then that person could grow up to become a mass murderer and kill hundreds even thousands of people. And yet, you are guilty of this, in altering the trajectory of the Death Note, whereas I picked it up."

"Very good," Morph said. "Let me ask you a question, Light Yagami. When you first encountered Ryuk, what did the Shinigami tell you? Did he tell you where you may end up after you die? No one who uses a Death Note can go to Heaven nor Hell, or as rule goes."

"That isn't important. My goal is to make the Human World a better, and safer place, with the Death Note. I've already come to terms that my very soul will be sacrificed for a great good—my morality gone."

Morph laughed. "Oh, if you only knew—but I digress." The Imp mused for a moment. "Perhaps, you'd like to have a little glimpse?"

"No," Light said flatly. "I have no interest in knowing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Light said.

"Ah…" Morph turned. "I was so engrossed in our conversion that I almost forgot about our wonderful host." Terrance Claw was still holding a gun. "But let us dispense with these annoying pleasantries. I find myself growing bored again. Terrance, shall we let Light in on the secret?"

Terrance walked past Light and came to stand next to the clandestine being. "Why not," he said. The leader of the Dragon Sect produced a wicked smile. "He's going to die anyway."

Morph inserted the Life Note into his pouch and then he walked about. Light noticed his casual demeanour, and much like a Shinigami, the Imp most likely could not be harmed by any conversional human weapon, say a bullet from a gun. Shinigami had explained it. Gods of Death could not be killed by bullets or knives, but Misa did find a way—and Rem sacrificed itself for Light, so L would not discover a false rule Light had Ryuk wrote in the Death Note that would expose him. Rem killed L for Misa and turned to dust.

The Imp stopped and looked at a framed painting displayed prominently on the wall. "I must say, I enjoy your culture," Morph said with intrigue. "You're a proud people, and yet—" he turned "—one that is easily manipulated. The moment you humans are presented with an ounce of power, you pounce on it, and use it for your own sinister purposes. Still, you're no different than any other culture in the past. Terrance and I made a pact long ago, and I've been attached to him for as long as our contract has remained. For a price, I gave him everything he desired…and his position and reputation are stemmed from my influence working from the shadows."

Morph looked at Light. "Terrance is protected by me. So, even if you had that piece of the Death Note you kept in your watch and found out Terrance's real name—which is Kenta Ikeda…" Claw's eyes widened with shock. "—you could not kill him. If you write a person's name in the Life Note, they cannot be killed by a Death Note. The Life Note was created to nullify the Death Note a long time ago because the Shinigami enjoyed going on bloody rampages to increase their lifespans. They almost eradicated your entire race. So, the Life Note was created to save humans from extinction, derived from a converted Death Note and divined with our power."

Light's eyes brightened with intrigue. "So, what happened? I've seen the Shinigami World, Ryuk took me there once—" Claw looked at Light in awe "—and there are thousands of them, and yet you say you are one of the last of your kind. Was there some sort of cosmic upheaval?"

Morph eyed Light with a kind of fascination. "You perceive things judiciously, Light Yagami, but seeing you are a detective, I would expect nothing less. Yes, and many eons ago, there was a battle between our two people, and due to an error in…judgement, my people were nearly wiped out. The Shinigami King is a vicious and uncaring demonic creature. His lust for control is unmatched. Although some of your ancient emperors and conquers come close."

"Even Kira," Claw remarked.

Light gave Claw a nasty sideways glance, but he let the contumacious remark pass.

"I've lived a very long time, and have done battle with many Shinigami over the years—they can get vicious if you eliminate their very way of life," Morph said. "Without taking human lifespans, Shinigami crystallize and die—their sole purpose is to take life. So, if they save a life, they die. It's a taboo, and the only way to kill a god of death. But you already know that."

Light nodded.

"However, the Shinigami King and his minions have become slothful, and he allows me to wander the cosmos unabated, most likely laughing at my attempts to stay alive. He doesn't even come after me anymore despite me possessing the Life Note which I could turn everything he knows and rules over upside down. But I'm no match for him anymore."

Light smirked. "Well, if Shinigami only did their job—but only kill criminals—then the Human World wouldn't need Kira, would it? I do what they won't any longer."

Morph nodded. "You have a valid point," he said. "You humans have run amok over the centuries and multiplied to the point of exhausting your planet's resources. In a positive sort of way, Kira helped the Human World." Morph smirked. "Kira, the Saviour, indeed."

For a brief moment, Morph looked up to the ceiling as if seeing something only he could see, his eyes glaring perturbed. "I hate flies on the wall," he said, and then whisked a hand. The Imp turned back to Light.

Light had no idea what that was about, but didn't care.

"So, what now?" Light said to the Yukaza leader. "Are you still going to shoot me and take Kira's power for your very own?" Light chuckled. "All you have is that measly scrap of my Death Note, you won't be able to do much with that, Claw."

"He's right, Kenta," the Imp said. "And I do believe it's time for a change."

Claw turned, and said: "But we have a pact—"

But before anything else was said, Morph plunged his entire left arm into Claw's chest and ripped out his heart. The Dragon Sect leader's body stood frozen, his mouth agape with shock. Terrance Claw, or rather Kenta Ikeda, the leader of the Dragon Sect of the Yukaza, then dropped dead to the floor. Morph held his still beating heart for a few moments longer before crushing it. Blood splattered onto Morph's angelic white tunic, but quickly sizzled and evaporated. Morph dropped the organ to the floor in a heap.

"Contract terminated," Morph said, wiping his hands of the man. "Easily done. Yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is NIGH: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.". Morph smiled. "A quote from the Biblical New Testament. Death is like a door. And you never know when it will open for you."

Light was taken aback. "I thought he was under your protection?"

"You humans are so arrogant into believing we care anything about you. As long as we get what we want, we allow you the privilege of existing. That's why, I believe, the Shinigami Ryuk hasn't killed you yet. He enjoys the entertainment you and Amane afford him. I think he can squeeze a bit more out of you before he terminates his contract with you both."

"I know that. And that's why I intend to afford him even more entertainment when Kira brings in a new world order. But eventually people will wonder what happened here."

"Let them wonder," Morph said with a smirk. The Imp stretched his arms above his head. "Oh, that felt good. It feels like a huge weight has just been lifted from my shoulders. The unfortunate thing is since I just murdered my host and I need to find a new human to a make a contract with. I'm what you call a symbiote life form, and I take small qualities from my host to—" He put a hand to his stomach, but stopped from saying anything else. "Forgot it, I doubt you'd be interested."

"You're right, I'm not," Light said flatly, looking down at Terrance Claw.

"Well, until next time we meet, Light Yagami…" And the Imp known as Morph vanished.

Light looked around after he picked up the gun still clutched in Claw's dead hand. He also took back the scrap of the Death Note and slipped it into the secret compartment of his watch. But now with Terrance Claw, who was his enemy?

Removing the safety of the gun, he left Claw's quarters, and headed out down the corridor towards an exit out of this underground facility.

"Huh?" Misa said shaking the Probable Orb in her hand. "What happened, Ryuk? That blonde haired kid appeared to look directly at us, waved his hand, and suddenly this thing went blank."

Ryuk shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "Maybe it was just a glitch. You see, it's working again."

Misa looked into it again, but only saw the older man now dead on the floor with a hole in his chest, and what looked like lots of blood, but Light and the boy were gone.

To be continued...