"I have to return to America," Raye said when he walked out his bedroom after receiving a call from his boss at the FBI. Light nodded, he had expected that much. With the removal of the FBI support with the Kira investigation, they would want to bring back their agents to try and protect them. For what the FBI knew Kira was in Japan so if their agents weren't in Japan there would be no chance that their identities could be leaked and for them to get killed by Kira.
"Understandable, I expected so, will you return with him Naomi," Light asked looking over at the former FBI agent.
"No, I'm staying here. You asked us to assist you on the Kira Case and I will. The FBI only wants their agents back, they can't order those who came with their agents to return to America, they have no power over civilians. You need help and I'm going to help you. So, what's our next move" Naomi stated and Light smiled. She was definitely the right person for this.
"What would be helpful is if we knew more about the death note? Like the rules, if we knew them then we can figure out how to stop Kira or reduce the number of people he's killing" Raye suggested.
"So far all we know is that Mikami had a piece of the death note but it didn't affect his lifespan so he can't be Kira. Kira needs a name and face to kill. And when using the death note you must picture that person's face in your mind so people with the same names aren't affected. That's all about the death note we know about. We can theorise that because Kira has a Shinigami, if a death note falls into the human world then that Shinigami is stuck here but we can't know that for sure" Light said, it wasn't like he could question the Shinigami King the first time around since a lot had been happening that day.
Naomi opened her mouth and started talking but for some reason, Light couldn't hear anything she was saying, then his vision went black.
When his vision returned to him, Light was no longer in Naomi and Raye's apartment. He was back in the Shinigami Realm in front of the Shinigami King. Physically the King didn't look any different, but Light could just tell that this King wasn't the same one he met originally.
"What the… this should be impossible. I've changed the timeline; you shouldn't be able to drag me back here or at least know who I am" Light said. If he was living in the past, then shouldn't that mean the Shinigami King didn't know who Light was. Unless the King had been following him since the beginning of Kira's reign of terror but that wouldn't make sense because Light wasn't Kira so how could the Shinigami King know that Light would be killed in Kira's place before Light was even arrested.
"I'm the Shinigami King, the memories of my future can be accessed by myself in the past if I so desire. Due to our deal, you shall forever be connected to me until the day you die again. Your original timeline shall continue until you have defeated Kira, and if you don't then the original timeline will be reinstated, and all your changes shall be for nothing. Don't forget you're more susceptible to this world now being only half-living, you shall be haunted by visions of your future until you die or Kira dies" The Shinigami King said, Light didn't know why he was shocked. It was clear the last time he was here that all this was some entertainment to the king, something to pass the time but to actually hear that his potential second chance of life wasn't because he deserves it but because some godly being was bored and wanted someone to amuse him.
"Have you been watching me?" Light asked.
"Of course, I wouldn't want to miss such entertainment but nevertheless, I will diverge you. As you know - to use the death note you need to have someone name and to picture their face in your mind when writing their name. When a death note is dropped into the human world and touches its soil then the death note becomes apart of your world which binds the human and the Shinigami together until either the death note is destroyed or the human who possesses the notebook dies. The cause of death must be written within the next forty seconds of writing the person's name and the death will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds. However, the conditions of death will not be realised unless they are physically possible for the human or could be reasonably assumed to be carried out by that human" The Shinigami started listing the first few rules he could think of. Light felt sick to his stomach, he never truly realised how much power the user got when they gained ownership of the death note.
The Shinigami King continued "If one page is taken from the Death Note, or even a fragment of the page, it possesses the full power of the note. The pages of the Death Note will never run out. The owner of the death note can recognise the image and voice of the original owner – a Shinigami. A human who touches the Death Note can recognise the image and voice of its Shinigami owner, even if the human is not the owner of the note. The individuals who lose ownership of a Death Note will also lose their memories of it. However, if they gain the notebook back or another death note then their memories of the death note will return. I think that's enough about the death note to assist you. Now, are there any other questions you so desire to ask. I don't plan to make this a weekly thing after all this might have some effects on your body".
"Do you know who Kira is?" he asked, Light wasn't expecting an actual answer probably to do with some Shinigami code, but it didn't hurt to try. The King looked amused if he could be amused. Light wasn't sure what emotions the gods of death could experience he expected only grim feelings.
"No, why would I spoil that for myself. You humans like a good mystery as do I. Looking for Kira myself would just ruin the surprise later. Now Light heed these words. L is on your case already, be careful because one wrong move and you will die. Good luck" The King said and Light gulped. It looked like he would be seeing L quicker than he first realised. Maybe he could talk to Naomi later and get her opinion on how he could try and avoid L without increasing the change of him being Kira. And just like before Light stopped hearing the noises of the Shinigami Realm, then he couldn't see it. Now he thought about it, being pulled from his body was similar to how he was sent back in time the first time around and he hoped that when he woke up he didn't need to be sick because that would be embarrassing.
"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost" Light said the second he woke up. Both Naomi and Raye were knelt in front of him both extremely pale.
"You were dead Light. When you collapsed, you had no pulse" Naomi said. Light just blinked. He never expected to be pulled out of his body by the Shinigami King, but he never expected that when his consciousness left his body there wouldn't be any activity to keep it alive. Maybe that could come in handy if he ever learned how to willingly leave his body like an apparition or something similar.
"What happened? You just collapsed" Raye asked looking concerned.
"The Shinigami King pulled me to his realm, he explained a little more about the death note rules. Apparently, until Kira is defeated or I die a second time the original timeline will continue, so I'm still susceptible to both these timelines according to the Shinigami King, I'm going to be suffering from visions of my original timeline which have already started. I dreamt about my father last night, he was grieving so probably not far after my death" Light explained he had no reason to keep what he had learned from them.
"Light that's horrible. Haven't you suffered enough?" Naomi said, Light was already being forced to search for his own killer on the orders of the Shinigami King, why should he be haunted by what could have happened. She wasn't going to let Light die again, even if she died in the process, she was going to prove Light's innocence and kill the real Kira.
"Apparently not. If it's alright with you I would like to head home. I'm sure Raye needs to prepare to head back to America and I guess you would want to help him Naomi" Light said, a lot had happened the last couple of days and he really needed time to process everything before he could start looking into what they needed to do next.
"Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?" Raye asked concerned for the teenager's wellbeing, Light had suffered enough already. Much more than Raye had, and he was a goddamn FBI agent.
"No, I think I need the peace and quiet to clear my mind" Light answered.
"Alright but if anything happens message us. You're not on your own anymore Light. Remember that" Naomi said and Light nodded, he had hardly known them a few days, and yet he trusted them more than his own parents. Maybe it was because he could truly be himself around them, he didn't have to pretend to be that perfect son his parents saw or the number one student in Japan which his acquaintances and peers saw. He might be smart, but he was still a flawed human being even much so now he was practically the walking dead.
"I will" Light agreed before standing up from the sofa he was sat on and headed towards the front door. Light didn't head straight home instead he wandered around town for a few hours, if the Shinigami King was right and that he would be haunted by visions of his future then does that mean what his father had said was true, he was killed due to peer-pressure and not factual evidence which there wouldn't be because Light wasn't Kira. It just didn't make sense why would L crack and kill an innocent person without having the right evidence to prove it. Surely, they would need either a confession from Light saying he was Kira or the evidence that Light had a death note. Light was so lost in thought he didn't see the looming figure appear in front of him.
"Hyuk, I've never seen anything like you before Light-o," the figure said, Light looked up to see the Shinigami from the bus jacking – Kira's Shinigami.
"Hello Shinigami".