"Night With A Killer"
—Inspired by Death Note—
PART TWO
That night, long after Light had fallen asleep, something began to plague his dreams.
He stood in what appeared like a ghostly place, void of any structure or substance. And in every direction was seemingly nothingness. It wasn't completely dark and a light mist surrounded him in every direction. He called out, but his voice seemed to have no variance, flat without sound.
But quickly within the mist stood a dark figure hunching over like someone familiar with its hands in his pockets. "Ryuzaki?" Light called out. It lifted his right hand, and Light could have sworn it wiggled a finger at him, as if to say no. But Light knew of only one person who stood like that, that abnormally. But why was in L in his dream and why in a place like this?
Then, the figure did something strange. It pointed the same finger at him like a gun and said, "BANG!" Light felt something strike him in the chest and it launched him back and to the ground. The impact hurt, but when he examined his chest there was nothing there, no bullet wound.
The figure came to stand over him. It looked like Ryuzaki, but harbingering red eyes.
Light suddenly found he couldn't move and he stared up at this pseudo-L. And its face quickly began to melt on one side as if burned by an intense heat.
Grabbing Light, it brought him face-to-face. "Don't get burned like I did, my mild-mannered detective," he said. "And I was a fool to play his game."
"W-what do you mean?" Light said. He tried to turn away, a horrific smell of burnt flesh hit his nostrils. Light wanted to vomit. "W-who are you?"
The other threw Light back to the ground. Light winced from the impact, but then looked back up at the other. The pseudo-L stood up straight. "Believe in the possibilities, so the truth can reveal itself. There is more to life than what our eyes see." The figure's eyes glowed bright red. "The unimaginable does exist. Don't be fooled by your own blindness."
What is this cryptic nonsense? Light thought.
And then the figure began to walk away.
"Wait! I don't know what you mean!" Light called out, reaching out it the mist, even taken a few steps forward, but the other disappeared completely.
Light awoke with a start and immediately looked over at Ryuzaki, asleep under the covers. He turned back over and wiped sweat from his face. What a dream.
Who was that other L?
Light knew dreams had no reason sometimes and often eluded the dreamer the next day, but some images broke through, much like his own flashes. There was even rumours that certain people had uncanny inhuman abilities to communicate with others in their dreams. But much were the tales in manga.
Could the Kira Case, being supernatural in nature, have brought out certain "feelings" about his own reciprocity with it, conjured up in this bizarre dream of a dark version of L? And with it, a warning not to get "burned" by certain delusions or untruths. To keep an open mind.
Sherlock Holmes once said, "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."
Suddenly L muttered under his breath. "Ryuzaki—why…"
Light turned to L. What was L dreaming about? Light knew Ryuzaki was a pseudonym, but was the name a representation of something else?
"You were my friend," L muttered. "I'll never trust anyone ever again…burn in hell, you psycho!"
Burn, Light thought. The pseudo-L in his dream was burned on one side of his face. "Don't get burned like I did," Light recalled the other L said to him in the dream.
This is weird, Light thought. He had a dream about L and now L was having a dream about himself? The last thing they spoke about was Light's friendship with Demetre Draycott. L mentioned he once had a friend whom he parted ways with. Obviously not amicably. Could the conversion have triggered this dream in L?
Light remained still. Like L said to him during their conversion, sometimes what may not seem relevant at the time could very well be useful later on.
L began to thrash around a bit and the covers were pushed off his upper body, but still covered most of his lower half. Then L ceased and seemed to fall back into a calm state. Had L become angry and his dream caused his body to react, normally the body was paralyzed during sleep.
It was then Light noticed something on L's lower back, some sort of mark half covered by the sheet. Remaining still for a moment, he slowly lowered the sheet beyond the mark to reveal it fully. It was a tattoo. L wasn't the sort to have a tattoo. Light didn't know what it represented to L, but it was a small red strawberry with a green leafy top. But it wasn't bright like most tattoos people proudly displayed, it was very light, hardly noticeable. And faded.
What did it mean? Tattoos normally had deep meanings to a person.
"Birth…day," Ryuzaki suddenly muttered, then drifted off back to sleep.
Birthday? Was it L's birthday?
Light recalled earlier that night when he read L's lips while the detective was working on his computer. He mentioned the word birthday too.
He shook his head and drifted off to sleep again, storing away what he heard for later personal analysis. It was four in the morning when he awoke again and this time he needed to use the bathroom. He looked at his bed mate.
Ryuzaki was fast asleep, turned over under the covers again.
Light remembered the key to his handcuffs were in Ryuzaki's jeans back pocket. But they were draped over a chair on the other side of the bed. The chain that attached to the wall hook was long enough for him to stretch, but he would have to crawl over Ryuzaki to get them.
He didn't want to disturb L. He knew he could slip out of the handcuffs, use the bathroom, then return without notice. I can outsmart L. He suddenly paused. That's something Kira would say. He shook his head. But I'm not Kira.
He tore his mind away from the thought and then slowly and gently began to cross over the sleeping detective, giving credence to the phrase: "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie".
Light was on top of L when the detective suddenly turned and reached out his arms and wrapped his hands around Light's throat. L's eyes popped wide open, his mouth in a sneer. It was nothing like Light had seem from L before. L was acting like someone expressing pure rage. And he began to choke Light, strangling him with murderous intent. "I'll kill you, you insufferable bastard!" L jumped up and pounced on Light and kept his hands around Light's throat. "You betrayed us, everyone trusted you!"
"Ryuzaki," Light choked out. "It's me, stop it…you're hurting me!"
"You don't deserve to live! I'll kill you with my bare hands." L's grip felt like steel.
Just then, Light's survival instinct kicked in, and he brought his knees in to his chest and then pushed out with his legs, thrusting hard with his feet. L's breath left him and the detective was launched to the back of the bed, bouncing off the wall. Light coughed.
L felt his head, suddenly awake. Very alert. "Ow. Light, what's going on?""
Light coughed. "You tried to kill me in your sleep," he said, taking a deep breathes.
"I…did—what?" L was actually shocked. "I would never do such a thing."
Light breathed easier, but rubbed his throat. "Well, you did, and with intent. I don't know what you were dreaming about, but it certainly was something intense."
L looked befuddled. "What were you doing on my side of the bed? In fact, what are you doing on the bed at all? I thought you sleeping on the floor."
"I need to use the washroom and I remembered the keys to my handcuffs are in your jeans pocket. I admit, I tried to crawl over you to un-cuff myself to use the facilities without trying to disturb you, but apparently your subconscious had other ideas."
Light shared a glance with Ryuzaki for a moment, but then L reached into his jeans pocket and tossed the keys over. Light caught them and then un-cuffed himself, and bolted for the bathroom, leaving the door open. At this point, he didn't care if the detective watched him urinate. Light breathed out a sigh of relief.
When he returned after washing his hands, he found L was fully dressed.
"I'm sorry I tried to kill you, Light," Ryuzaki said. "I find it ironic that you are being accused of being a killer, while I'm the one who tried to kill you in my sleep of all things. A night with a killer, by proxy." L produced a thin smirk.
Light voluntarily handcuffed himself again. "I don't see the humour in it, Ryuzaki. What the hell were you dreaming about? Who do you think you were strangling?"
L blinked. "I don't remember," the detective said earnestly. "Did I say anything in my sleep?"
Light thought about telling Ryuzaki, but then decided against it. It would be like a criminal incriminating himself for saying the wrong thing. But Light didn't think of himself as a criminal. Still, it was best to keep certain things to himself.
"Nothing of note," Light said. "You called me an insufferable bastard while squeezing my throat. You seemed very angry, unlike anything I've seen from you before. You were expressing pure, unadulterated hate against someone. Someone from your past?"
L sighed deeply, crouching on the chair where he had draped his clothes on. He put his right thumb to his mouth, looking reflective. "Indeed. There was only one moment in my life I ever lost control, but that was a long time ago when someone I trusted betrayed me."
"On your birthday?"
L's face shot up. "What?"
Light was taken aback. "You…you muttered something about a birthday while your slept."
Light felt L's eyes pierce into him. "Birthday," he said softly, "…birthday," he repeated inwardly.
Light gulped, feeling he should have kept his mouth shut.
L looked back up. "Light, tomorrow you'll have your own room, but with the same wall hook and chain set up. Sleeping in the same room is no longer viable. Damn it, I'll have to speak to Watari about this. You mentioned your father said you occasionally talked in your sleep. Now I seem to be. Our conversion last night brought back some memories. I blame you for this, Light."
Light opened his mouth to say something, but then shut it.
"I'll review the cameras," L said seriously. "And if you're not telling me everything, then I'm going to send you back to your cell."
"Ryuzaki, I swear—"
L snorted tersely, with still a look of regret in his face.
Light smiled thinly. "Well, often, the subconscious mind wishes to convey to the conscious mind something you may have forgotten or something important you wish to recall, if you believe in dream analysis. If it is your birthday, Ryuzaki, then that's something you should celebrate. The Kira Case, be damned. Although with all the sweets you eat, everyday is your birthday."
"Please stop saying that word," L said tartly.
Light nodded. "Sure, okay," he said. "I'll forget I ever heard it."
L nodded back. "I would appreciate that, Light."
The next morning, L and Light, once again handcuffed together with a very long chain, sat at their computer workstations, situated in Main Ops. In front of them were banks of screens and laptops. But every keystroke Light typed in was record, including every website he searched. He used the computer for clues about Kira. Any little tidbit he could find on social networks, etc.
Light's father and the other task force members were seated together in a lounge area, with couches and a square table, just outside the main workstations, where they were looking at paper case files about Kira, hoping to gather some insights. Light occasionally turned around to glance at them, wishing to share in their camaraderie. But he didn't believe he should. They were working so well together, having an amateur like himself would only slow the investigation.
But Light couldn't even concentrate on his own tasks. His mind was focused on what had had happened last night. Ryuzaki was hiding something. Talking in his sleep was one thing and that mysterious tattoo was something else entirely.
L rolled over to Light in his chair. "Light, you seem distracted," he asked. "Anything I can do to help you?"
Light turned to Ryuzaki. "Nothing, Ryuzaki. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night."
"Ah," L said, as if what had taken place last night never occurred. "Then maybe a little cake will help. It's no-one's birthday, but I asked Watari to buy the most delicious cake he could find on short notice. I hope everyone like's strawberry shortcake."
Watari, the old English gentleman who helped L with all his cases, entered the area from the elevator, pushing a trolley with a two-layer cake, decorated with strawberries all around. The task force looked enamoured by the surprise.
"I want Light to have the first piece, Watari," L said. "He seems to need a mental boost."
Watari smiled behind his moustache and cut off a large piece on a plate with a fork, walking it to Light. Light took it, but he wasn't hungry. But for the sake of gratuitousness, and with L staring at him, he dug the fork into and took off a piece, and ate it. He agreed with the selection and suddenly he began to feel better, his mood lightening. Indeed, a sugar rush of sorts.
Watari gave a piece to every one of the task force, except L.
Watari reached underneath a hidden, clothed part of trolley and brought out a piece of chocolate cake with sprinkles.
"Ryuzaki, aren't you going to have some of this delicious strawberry shortcake?" Mastuda asked, eating his piece like he couldn't get enough.
L turned around, and rolled back to his station. "I have my cake, thank you." Then he began to mutter to himself, but due to Light's close proximity he could heard L. "I eat strawberries on occasion—but in fact, I loath them, I absolutely hate them like the evil I hunt," L said.
L gave Light a sideways glance as if warding him off. "Forget you heard that," he said with a look of warning.
Light looked at his piece of cake.
That made the tattoo on L lower back even more of a mystery, Light recalled. If he hated strawberries, then…why the strawberry tattoo?
There was definitely more to L than meets the eye.
And beyond anything Light had ever imagined.
END