Death Note Fan Fiction / Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ Another Note: Kira's Ghost ❯ Lights, Camera, Ruin ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Mello strode into the safe house manor with a purpose; had anyone but he been inside to see such a presence bounding through the halls, they would have scurried for the nearest hiding hole to escape the energetic residue left behind. An anger that infects other living things upon shared location. That eruption of energy should not be passed along to those not strong enough to take it. His sharp glance into the empty passed by rooms could close a door, if the mansion was a living breathing person. Don't cast that gaze upon me, the empty spaces plead.

There he is.

"Matt?" he doesn't have to directly ask if he'd found anything, he would have told him so before he stormed the fort. "What are you doing?" That was the only real question to ask at the time. Entering the library where his partner in life and in crime is leaned over a table- well, slumped over a table would be more accurate, he shook him by the shoulder. "Matt?"

Matt's head rocked like it was attached to a spring as it rolled against his arm that's extended beneath it across the table. "I've been really distracted today." He sniffles after the reply.

Distracted? Was he serious? "By what?" voiced baffled wondering.

The techie's laptop isn't even on. Mello looked around for what could have Matt in such a state when three hours ago he was doing just fine. He leaned in to see what's presented to him in Matt's now unfurled gloved palm. A little pale orange pill. Shit. Fucking, shit! This was all Beyond's doing! Matt was doing fine. It had been years since he last shoved an opioid into his mouth. But because of that day…

Baron Samedi revealed himself to them; he knocked Matt unconscious; made a mess of Near, but worse than any of that he'd drugged the technical analyst with ecstasy. At the time he hadn't known that it was mixed with something else. Xtampza. A version of the narcotic, Oxycodone. Matt's heart could have given out; it didn't help it that he'd run off from the hospital to find L when their mentor's phone had flashed a signal. It was probably the last thing L had managed to do… The analysts nerves were frazzled and on high, he could seriously have died from the shock of it all, if he were fresh meat to the drugs. Seems like the one time being an addict ever kept a person on the planet. But it sure as shit was going to be a hindrance now.

Slapping him across the face, Mello swiped the pill from his hand; a small brawl ensued then. Matt struggled to get the pill back and Mello fought him off with affective throws of their arms into the air which knocked Matt off balance and over the table. He whined and watched as Mello shoved the pill into his mouth.

"You ass, that was mine!" He fought to get up from the table his chest and face are pressed into, he can't even free his arm that's yanked behind his back.

"Snap the fuck out of it, you twit; it was a vitamin!" shouts Mello over the bitching.

Momentarily stunned, he repeats the emotionally sobering word. "Vitamin?"

"Yes. Vitamin. It must have fallen there either by his highness or…" choked up over a fictionalized image of L flicking a vitamin across the room, that was offered to him by Watari, he recovered and decided that Light had dropped and lost one to wherever Matt had found it, in the brief hours he'd occupied the place. "Have you taken anything today that I should know about? Or are you just riding high on a memory?"

Embarrassed by his enlightenment, Matt nods and answers. "Memory."

Mello let him up, and before Matt could come to a full stand on his own he yanked him rightly into an embrace. "Damn prick… Stop this bullshit before it starts again. I need you at top game." He closed his eyes when feeling Matt's hand scratching at the back of his head seeking comfort himself from the motion; moving away he looked him in the eye and asks. "Where did you find that?"

A gloved hand points over by the bookshelf. The steadily cooling blond looked off to the location then walked over with the intention of removing the problem, but he found nothing against the bookshelf, nothing of the pill kind anyway. He lifts a droid from the floor.

"Before I find that little bear trap on the floor, I was testing out a droid." Completely sobering from his sodden mood, Matt lifts the screen on his laptop. Seeing the low battery, he locates the plug and shoves it into a socket down on the floor. "The city cameras aren't enough, sure, but they're enough to at least monitor a majority of the city. So I figure I could hook up a droid and send it around the forest area. It's bound to spot something."

Mello grinned. That's what he wants to hear. There's the top ranking, 3 initials set in every game leadership board, score holder.

"Is it working? How soon can you get it off the ground?"

"As soon as I test out its range with a 360." He heads over, pointing out the camera attached to it. "I don't want the added weight interfering, we might have to have a specialty built if this model can't handle it."

"Whatever you've gotta do, do it. I wanna know which bear is shitting too much by the end of the day." A toxin like Kira, if he is hiding in the forest, will likely infect everything around him. "I'm gonna get some food."

Matt made a sound to indicate "okay". Then he went to work.

Mello bolted down the hall to the nearest bathroom and spat out the slogging pill into the toilet flushing it. He rinsed, spit, repeated, then brushed his teeth with an individually wrapped toothbrush from the medicine cabinet. One isn't enough to become addicted, but it also isn't safe to consume regardless. Who the fuck would leave that lying there? How and when did it get there? Has Beyond snuck into the home since his first appearance? Is he planting little bombs all over the house for them? Poison chocolate products? Narcotics? Explosive toys? Or was it a leave behind from when he initially came for Light two or so months prior?

Whatever it was, he hoped that was the only one. He's also glad the tweaked out techie believed him. The plus of having perfect trust, he supposed. When a lie is necessary, it will be believed.

Swinging through the kitchen, he located some mint Oreos, he figured snacking on them would disguise the smell of toothpaste. "Here. Fuel up." He rammed a cookie into Matt's lips, parting them until he eats it.

"Tastes like shit." He mumbled as he finished what was offered. His veins drew pleasure from a different sort of addiction. Sugar. He is feeling better now that the truth has knocked him on his ear. A goddamned vitamin. He wasted hours feeling lightheaded over wanting to take a vitamin. Ha! What next? E.T. coming in for a visit? That's how unbelievably embarrassing it was. He's too sensitive to the drug. He thought that he was over it, but…

He went dark side awfully quickly. He was ready to fight for it. Kill for it. Just one last trip…

Spring 2006.

"And you're sure about this?" A man in glasses asks a young 14-year-old Matt 'Krauser'.

"Absolutely, sure, sir." Matt grinned confidently. "The cops are all at the Fountain in search of a false statue holding our shipment, it's a lock getting this stuff tonight."

The man with glasses gripped the boy's shoulder giving it a palsy shaking. "Good boy." He then pats the red hair atop the teen's head.

Tonight was the night the drug cartels get raided by the police. Matt, undercover with officer Sandival, have been working this case for half a year. It's tricky working in the cartel trade because there's a lot that can go wrong, from covers being blown to too many wrong decisions made about what drugs should pass through ignored to the absolute takedowns. The worst of cartel work is being around the narcotics. Some agents can be around the stuff and never become affected. Others tend to accidentally get involved in doing what they're dealing and that can go south very quickly. Users are no longer undercover, they become the problem- if they're lucky…

Matt didn't get to see it that way. When the warehouse was raided, any location, anarchy erupted at 100 degrees of pressure! From mock assaulting fellow officers to leading the dealers into traps when you assured them safety, the chaos was very… for lack of a better word chaotic!

But the ruin of the raid happened before the bust. He and a few flunkies were standing around making sure the guys they were hooking up with weren't double crossing them. It happens. You'll set up meetings, have plans to make trades, then the creeps will try overthrowing your whole force. And sometimes they do. It's a simple matter of mathematics, their more to your less. All the guns and determination in the world don't matter if you're out-manned, this isn't the movies.

Well, the four of them were talking and one mentioned something about the guys they're trading with having some "good shit". Ned, he even remembers the guy's name, he got him started. He asked him if he'd tried any and stupidly Matt said, "of course". He never saw the needle coming and then the next thing he knew they were in the weeds- well, the mob was, he was supposed to be secret weapon number two. He just ended up busting through a door with the boss man and shooting a cop in the forehead.

He was brought down, taken in, and shipped off to prison. Juvenile detention until he could be transferred at eighteen into criminal prison. He'd be evaluated, of course, let go. Hopefully. He was fortunate to be a part of Wammy's institute. Any normal person would automatically, no matter the age, tried as an adult. But his name was otherwise ruined for police and F.B.I work. Which was fine, considering Mello got him released the next year. He couldn't believe the things his friend was saying. L was dead. Near was given the position because L didn't yet choose. And he, Mello, was revolting. And he was bringing him along for the ride. And what a ride. Oh the dumb things they got up to. Even today. Because surely hoping to succeed in taking down reborn Kira the first, and a souped-up demi-god Beyond was as crazy as anything they've ever done- including intentionally joining the mafia.

The creaking of the hinges on the window as they're being shoved apart brought him from his thoughts, he watched as Mello held the flying device out of the window.

"Ready?"

"Yeah." He grabbed the remote and powered it up, a single nod let the ambitious blond know to release it.

The pair watched as the droid hovered before them in the entrance of the window. Now to make it fly. Matt used the remote to send it drifting over the width of the expansive acre of backyard. It was only a little sluggish but it didn't need to be a bolt of lightning, it just needs to get around with ease. Mello reached out taking it once it came back to the house.

"And now you've got our field team partner." Matt declared.

Mello felt assured by this. Now, he can get back onto the street himself and continue looking. But, he'll need to make a stop first, because his brain fuel is lacking in the home. He watched Matt going in for another cookie, parting the two ends and scraping out the cream letting it drop into the row so he could eat the cookie halves alone.

"I'll be back."

Matt nods, taking the droid into hand before it lands on the table. He has to check and make sure nothing moved out of place during its flight. It would suck to get the thing all the way out into the woods and have the camera snap off.

Mello's teal gaze raised to the dreary sky overhead; he just got done shoving the Bluetooth into his ear through the opening visor on the helmet, and is now sitting down upon the bike he straddled before grabbing the protective gear. Thankfully the helmet is large enough to comfortably wear his contact with Matt. They should really look into radio connected headgear. Surely someone makes the stuff.

'Better hurry before I get caught up in the worst of it,' thinks the newly self-instated investigator.

It's already drizzling. The wet just dusting his clothes drips heavily from each of the silver crosses decorating his belt. A cross that's decorating another's waistline. Near removed his hand from the scars on his abdomen; another waking nightmare shot him up from a less than restful sleep. He looked out the window in the door as nurses ghost by only in a shadowy silhouette, or speed by as if an apparition that doesn't want to really be seen by man's eye, but is too charged by energy to be invisible.

And there is a certain static clinging in the air. The sky cleared its grey throat in the sound of thunder, the cough a snap of lightning as its sickness spilled out above the city. Near can only speculate what other illnesses cloak the darkened streets of Guildford, Surrey.

At the BMI Mount Alvernia Hospital. Later that evening.

"I'd like to think that no news is good news, Near." Says Roger.

Roger Ruvie has assumed the identity of W. Although he's using his own monogram. 'R'. The elderly man is sharp, skilled, and just as savvy as Quillish Wammy, having had run of the institution while his partner ventured about the world with L.

Roger is returning the head of the Special Provision for Kira to his private room, after having taken him to the physical therapy wing. Near walked around for a short period of seven minutes before his legs shrank from fatigue. But the young man, determined, stood and forced himself to exhausted by walking for a full half hour. Slowly, up the hall and down the hall until he was covered in sweat and breathless. Guided into his chair, and after a short trip back, he's then helped back into bed.

"I'll send for a nurse to bathe you." The acting aid all but held his nose at a pinch. "You're covered in sweat. We can't have you taken ill at times such as these."

A thunderous boom caught the attention of the entire building's inhabitants; all eyes, even the ones that can't truly see looked towards the oversized windows for the flashes that would follow. How big will the storm be? How close is it? Those onlookers wonder. The sky lit up like a diamond catching a direct beam of sunlight. Beautiful. Blinding. Something you can't take your eyes off of… or so one would think. Because there are those out there who refuse to look at the approaching storm. It's too loud. It's too bright. Too close. Much too close to be safe, even indoors.

"You should go over some cases while you wait," Roger hands Near a tablet; the glowing screen is in the process of booting up. "It will do you some good to redirect your frustration about the Kira case. And as I said, since it's at a standstill you should focus your attention elsewhere."

"The 'Kira case' ended a long time ago. The so-called God died. Murdered by Matsuda Touta, having taken five non-critical and three fatal shots to the body." He swirls a lock of his hair around his index finger. "What we're soon to face now is anyone's guess. Light can't really stick to his old ideals, surely the new Kira must realize how improbable it is to create a world without violence by using scare tactics and death."

"Hn. Once a madman…" he let the comment end there as the rest was obvious.

"We'll have to gather a new team; I'm down to so few agents." Near mostly says to himself.

"Be that as it may, crime hasn't stopped; and waiting on this Kira, new or old, to make a move is a waste of days."

"You called?" a nurse finally arrived after having received a page from the call button. She entered the room and turned off the alert via the box.

"I'd like for you to bathe him before he rests." He stands from the chair. "Do you think you can manage that?"

The nurse schooled away her reaction of glaring at the man, and responding terse toned. "I'll be right back." Asshole. Was screamed without voicing.

Near smirked at his privately understood joke, when saying. "I assume my meals will be at the bottom of the barrel from here on."

"What do you mean?" he completely missed the insinuation.

You do not bite the hand that feeds you. Especially when it isn't even yourself who's being fed! Oh well. With any luck, Near will be back at the safe house before Roger does too much more damage.

Somewhere in Surrey.

Beyond smiled at his reflection in a long mirror placed at the end of the upstairs hall of his home. Soon, playing on every television, not only within the United Kingdom, but the entire world! Let no station be uninterrupted! From every weeping child wondering where their cartoon has gone to the adults beating off on their sofas early in the morning while the kids and the little woman are asleep, women enjoying daytime talk show drivel; all will be a witness to L's resignation and correlation with the God of the new world. Kira.

"Ahyick hyck haa haa ha.." Beyond deadpanned. "Oh right. Lawli doesn't laugh." Schooling his amusement down to a mere L smirk, he travelled downstairs where he left his protege as he's likely still sitting in shock in the office.

Who knew Kira was so sensitive? He was the one who had actually killed the bastard, and he didn't bat a lash! Alright, so he wore black for a month. But it was out of common courtesy for the dead. He's got on white now. He's got on a lot of things.

He knocked on the door with the back of his hand. "...Light?"

Light Yagami hadn't realized that his world had stopped. 'His world' because he's sure that the rest of existence is still milling about around him. The lit fire still crackling away. Dull thumping sounds from the unusual host, doing something unseen somewhere in the home. Thunder sounded, alerting an approaching storm. Grass coming up an inch or two. Life is moving on. Light's world is becoming increasingly still.

He's only ever wanted the detective out of the way when they were adversaries. When they were lovers, chained, sharing a closer more intimate space down to showering together, he thought how fantastic it would be to strangle the older man's trust that he would be safe right out of him while his back was turned.

However, somewhere along the way those dark thoughts began to dilute, like he was a drop of ink in L's water. And every difference thinned him into many shades from black: dark grey, Heather, Ash, then eventually nothing at all. He wanted L. His company. To continue along in their not-so-little game of cat and mouse. His good being seen as evil. It was a game, wasn't it; there was never a question in L's mind that he, Light, wasn't Kira. With the police stalling even a precautionary arrest, he was just playing for how the murders were done.

Now. No more games. No more fun. Just a held breath… But just then, as clear as if he'd heard his own voice in his ear.. L spoke to him from beyond the closed door.

Standing, he crossed the room. Not in any sort of hurry, he didn't want to look too eager. Just with enough speed to be there before the detective knocked again.

But, when the door swung open, it was not L there. Just Beyond. But, L… His voice was mimicked to the timbre by this enigmatic man. How was Beyond so good at this? From what L's told him they barely knew each other. But, isn't that how it goes with stalkers? They know when you've changed floss brands, while you remain in the dark to their very existence until they've made their presence known.

He's got L pegged down to the posture!

"You're staring. Have I torn my makeup?" He touched the sides of his mouth. Nope. Nothing queer. With a smile, he approached his new found ally reaching with nimble fingers out; touching Light's jaw as though it were fine glass, he asked. "Or maybe you want just want a little private time with this pretty face?"

Light shoved Beyond away, an inner growl escaped him over being laughed at.

Sobered, Beyond pouts. "He was taken rather suddenly, wasn't he? Such is life. I never saw it coming when you gave me a heart attack with that book of yours." Positioned once again pressed right up against Light, he breathed him in and said. "We've always got to lose something in order to gain something."

"Let's get this over with," Light again shoved the overly touchy Shinigami, or perhaps human, or maybe the other way around, away. "I can't dwell on the death of L. You brought me here as Kira, I intend to resume the position as God."

"That's the spirit, moonshine," he said in his own burnt rasp as he spun on his heel following his crabby guest out into the hall.

He hurried past, with one foot stretched way out in front, and once it landed he awkwardly hopped his back foot forward the distance created. "And by the way, it's never the death that's dwelled upon but the life that created the memories which can assault from the smallest reminder." He grinned. "But in your case, BIG reminders." He laughed merrily, cheekily lifting his shirt up to expose his smooth, toned flesh; he hummed the tune 'There's a place in France', while hurrying off to the designated location which they'll be filming.

Light kept his decorum about him over the fact he had been fooled when the door was closed, and he does look like L to a functioning holigraham; but one only had to look Beyond in the eye to see the truth. There's madness there.

The Shinigami pulled a circus trick by stepping up onto the footrest of a stool, impossible as it should have tipped over from the weight but he balanced easily, and soon perched stop the padded leather seat, just as L would.

Beyond smiled as he rasps out. "Ready for his close up."

The whole mood in the room shifted; he was no longer Beyond Birthday, he is L.

"Light?"

Light closed his eyes, hearing the voice so embedded into his head. His heart. Beyond was right. The memories do assault the mind. But, so too, does the emotion. And his emotions are conflicting between sadness and triumph. Care and hatred. Hatred that he'd been lied to. Made to believe this and that in some amnesiac delusion created by the detective.

For that sort of cruelty… to alter a man's mind…

'This world.. will know the true face of Justice. The true knowledge of punishment for all who oppose.'

Stepping over to the device, he turned on the camera. With his fingers, he counts down, not just to the broadcast, but to the rebirth. No going back. This world belongs to Kira. And no one can stop its taking.

'L thought he could humiliate me… well, I don't think so. He wanted to protect this world from the safety I intended to provide it.. it's going to pay in full. No more kindness. No more leniency. All who oppose Kira shall be smiled by my hand.'

Starting with the ruin of one worldly known but personally unknown detective.

Mello, after purchasing his bag of chocolate, swung by a local pub and grabbed a double beef burger and steak fries for Matt. He must be starving by now. The rain wasn't even trying to let up. Good thing he could put the food inside the compartment under the motorcycle seat. It will neither get wet nor will it get cold under there.

"Why are you running, I hate running!" Called a girl in the street noise.

Look at them all. They don't have a clue what's going on in the world. They just live, and die. And hope that anything wrong someone else will take care of. Revving the engine on the bike, Mello heads back to his 'for now' home.

Matt broke into a grin upon seeing the brown and green bag in his lover's hand. "I love you."

"I know. It gets awkward." He teased; setting the bag down on the tabletop then dropping his own dinner down after, he tore open the bag and grabbed a couple mini bars out from the assortment. The bite was perfect for a regular old storebrand of chocolate. Who says you can't find quality in simplicity?

Matt grabbed the bag of chocolates, shifting it this way and that until Mello swiped it from him adjusting it so the opening is aimed at the redhead, whose coordination seemed to have reverted to that of a 10 month old because he seemed to be struggling to find that opening.

"Chocolate comes from there," he taps the bag.

"I don't want any, I was looking for the expiration date," he snickered. Popping a french fry into his mouth he adds. "It sounds like you're chewing legos over there."

"Shut it." Though he smiled. "So, where are we with this thing?"

"Needing to get it reconfigured for weight to hold waterproof housing. That or a smaller camera,"

It crept upon the world like a storm. The darkness with long fingers thick and all encompassing ready to slam down onto the planet as if it were an Olympic gold medalist for handball. The frequencies big and small blurred with static only to return with a pale, almost ghostly figure, just barely visible in the shadows of wherever he is.

"Greetings, all. It's a pleasure to present myself to your acquaintance.." The apparition leaned forward into the overhead light. "I am L."

The collective gasp of all who are witnessing, could have robbed the oxygen level blind. The statement was then met with a collective feverish murmuring from the people. Those at home felt a sudden need to check the locks on the doors and windows of their home, they recall what happened in the beginning when 'L' introduced himself to the world in order to challenge another mythical entity known as Kira. People died. A lot of people, including the false L. Was this man, so pale, thin, and almost inhuman by the frail appearance another cast away?

Near looked on, eyes wide, growing still as a man looking too much like deceased detective spoke to the world.

"What the holy hell?! I thought L was dead?" Roger, joining the viewing on the tablet he'd handed to Near 20 minutes prior his bath, watched the familiar existence speak from the grave.

How? Who? More importantly why? Why kill L just to do this? Did this imposter want the Kira case for himself? If so, what does imitating L accomplish.

"Turn it up, I can't hear!" He commands of the youth, who shushed his words as he said them.

The imposter was talking again. "It's been a very long and tiresome case I've been going through. ...Silently I've battled Kira for two years." Every pitch, each inflection and nuance was the detective's.

Matt choked on the burger he'd been devouring; Mello came back from his snack run bringing with him dinner of the perfectly over salted, greased, and calories kind. Matt's favorite. He was about to tell him what they need to do with the droid when his laptop screen went blank. When the screen restored the image they're now seeing plays.

"During the investigation I found myself wondering, time after time, what is it that I'm fighting against? An incorrect idea of some higher power's design that we the people can get along simply by knowing it's the right thing to do… or else? Maybe I was just being stubborn to the fact that someone would even try and change the way that the world thinks from the norm."

Mello felt the nails on his fingertips as they aimed to break the skin of his palm when his bitterness clenched his hand into a fist. A fist that wants to strangle and kill the son of a bitch who's impersonating L. Touching L's reputation by saying all of this bullshit!

"I'm not just gonna kill that son of bitch, I'm gonna level the hole he's hiding in over the corpse." He declared.

Matt picked his jaw up from the floor during a nod.

"Why should violence be normal? Why should a world have to go through such flawed systems when the solution is to just be kind?"

The people on the streets and in their homes begin nodding, agreeing. Understanding what's being said. Those who supported Kira spat with laughter as they came to realize what they were listening to. What the famed detective's words were coming out as.

Others, who feared Kira and were glad when his reign of terror ceased, began to wonder why they had been so frightened? They hadn't done anything wrong. Nothing that Kira would have seen as bad, surely. No judgement behavior done, no judgement necessary.

People in the hospital began to give out little cheers as they listened to the broadcast. It turned Near's stomach; Gevanni, who joined him with his own tablet booted joined his boss to show him what he's already bearing witness, closed the door to silence the appreciative staff who don't realize that one of the very people who aimed to stop Kira then and now sat among them. This could be costly, and dangerous. If they agree with Kira and realize that Near does not, things could get ugly- and fast.

"As of today, this is my resignation to the Kira case. I don't wish to stop him anymore, but to join him in his quest for a better world. And as proof of my loyalty to Kira… for taking him from this world that has quickly, vastly, resumed its cruelty in his stalling.. I give my life before you all today. I hope that you understand, and will support not just my decision, but your own to become a part of Kira's kingdom. You will have nothing to fear from your God."

That caused a stir of change in the stubborn many who didn't want to live in fear of which was and wasn't judgement worthy behavior. Maybe they don't have anything to fear. They haven't been judged in the past when Kira had caused a great surge in the death of criminals. Maybe they were being just as stubborn as L? The detective, as famous as he is for solving all the world's cold cases time after time… If he could admit to being wrong, they don't want to pretend to be any better than someone who knows the most intimate points of such a frightening situation. This entity can kill just by knowing a name and face! He could see anyone from anywhere. They should not fear one if they'd celebrate another. One the entire world has known since the beginning of time, they've given him many names and scenarios, gender, and race. But ultimately, it's agreed a God is wonderful, good and their word must be followed. Their choices to live or die, justified.

The only difference between God and this entity is that it asks something of them. They don't decide the meaning on their own. He just asks that they be a good and kind person. Living a good existence. Why should that be hard?

"I thank you all for your consideration if not your given loyalty to Kira." L says somberly. Then with a smile, he says. "Goodbye. Enjoy your world. Embrace your piece. You've earned it."

And then, in a horrible, terrifying show of truth to his words. Right before the public he just spoke to.. Detective L, the world's greatest, died of a heart attack. And the broadcast ended. Leaving them alone to process what they've just been told. What just happened. And what now will happen. Kira's back. And he's ready to become their God absolute.

X x X

Commentary: Why so short these chapters? I guess that's just the way some stories go. No shame in it if it's good. Thank you for the read, enjoy your week.