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Fever Dreams	By : sashocirrione Category: Death Note > Yaoi-Male/Male > L/Light Views: 2733 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 29
- 30
- 31
CHAPTER 30
After Namikawa's statement, L said, "And which way would the two of you prefer? Would it be better news if I worked for Kira or for L?"
Mido replied, "We have no choice regardless. If we declared our loyalties to be with one side and then it turned out you actually work for the opposite side, we'd die or get arrested. Of course we are neutral, and yet we'll do whatever you require of us. We are not a threat."
L came closer to the pair and brought out from his backpack a lantern, turning it on with a click of a switch and placing it on the floor, brightly illuminating a small area between two rows of metal tanks. As L moved, Light was forced to follow after by his oxygen hose. L was already crouching down just across from Mido and Namikawa, his back against a large metal tank, his gloved hands sitting on top of each knee. Light sat down next to L and studied the two Yotsuba employees in the lantern light.
L said, "I do not require assistance, only an explanation. I am Ryuzaki, and my associate is Asahi."
Namikawa said, "Kira would not require an explanation, as Kira almost certainly staged this. These men are most likely working for L. After all, they hide their faces. Kira could control people to come here and do whatever it is that Kira wants, and Kira's puppets would have no need of hiding their faces."
Mido said, "Or, it could be Kira's men, testing us by pretending to be L's men."
Light said, "What makes you think Kira staged this?"
Mido said, "Both of us were tricked into coming here by fake emails, summoned to an important meeting that simply did not exist. In each case the emails appeared to be coming from our superiors, but after we arrived and were unable to find the meeting, we checked back with them. Our bosses said they'd never sent any such emails."
Namikawa added, "Then, before we could leave, the truck crashed into the lobby and we were trapped along with everyone else who had been on the upper floors at that moment."
L tapped one gloved finger at the corner of his mask, just above where his mouth would be, and said, "Yet you are here, in the basement, away from everyone else. How did that happen? Tell us the full story."
Mido said, "We were on the thirteenth floor when it happened, still talking to our bosses on our cellphones and trying to sort out the mistake. There was a very loud crash. Everyone was told to stay where they were or to go further up, away from the trouble, to not risk coming down until the police had secured the area. After a time the police decided the area was safe and started evacuating the lower floors, but then there was an explosion and after that everyone who tried to go down met with trouble and returned."
Namikawa added, "There were rumors that a gunman was on the lower floors, killing everyone, but I decided these were false as the shots would have been heard. Still, it was difficult to convince anyone that it might be a good idea to descend. There were many rumors and strange stories. Some people we talked to reported getting grabbed by something invisible and dragged up the stairs."
L said, "Who?"
Mido said, "We don't work here, we don't know the names of these people."
Mido paused and suddenly looked frightened. Was he afraid that the act of denying names to possible agents of Kira would end up killing him?
Namikawa said, "Everyone was becoming hysterical at that point, and there were some oddly-timed collapses of ceilings near us, but never above us, as if we were being driven in circles, always gradually higher. No one was injured, but most people were upset and most held that the best idea was fleeing toward the roof. That direction was never blocked off. At one point a collapse separated us from the rest and we couldn't find any way back to them or upward. We were lighting our way by the glow from our cellphone screens, so it was slow and confusing. We were only able to get to one usable stairway and we couldn't go up on it. We could only go down, and none of the doors out of the stairway would open except the basement one. The way back is now blocked by that fire. None of the other stairways are passable at this level."
L said, "Only you two were summoned? What of the other four?"
Namikawa said, "I've already checked on them. They are in their respective homes, and nothing odd has happened. I could probably get any of them on the phone again if you wish."
L said, "This almost proves that none of the Yotsuba group's survivors could be Kira. Namikawa and Mido could not be, because Kira would not take so much of a risk as to appear personally at this scene. Furthermore, the appearance of Namikawa and Mido here, far from their usual workplace, makes the other four seem so suspicious that it must be a set-up. Kira would not do something so idiotic."
Light said, "However, Kira might have thought that way already, and he could be willing to take the risk of making himself look suspicious, thinking that we would think of it as such a suicidal move that we'd dismiss the possibility."
L began getting up, as he did so saying, "Namikawa and Mido, if you do go out of sight between now and when I can get you into protective custody for further questioning, it will cause significant problems for yourselves. Please follow along. Asahi, keep an eye on them."
Namikawa watched warily, and then got up, holding his hands open and in view, as if showing how harmless he was. After a tired-sounding sigh, Mido got up as well, coughing.
Namikawa said, "Ryuzaki, do you have flashlights for us?"
L said, "No, I have extra lights but I will place them all along the route back to the stairwell, so that we can run away easily and so that we may also have a better idea if anyone is approaching from that direction."
Light moved to herd Mido and Namikawa to the front, where they could be more easily watched. L was already walking ahead and, true to his word, he set down another lantern just where the pool of light from the first one was fading.
Namikawa said, "You are going toward that sound? Aren't you afraid there might be another bomb there?"
L said, "There is a chance I will not survive this."
Mido stopped so suddenly that Namikawa ran into him.
With a hysterical tremble to his voice, Mido said, "You're... you're forcing us to come along on a suicide mission? Are the two of you insane?"
Mido turned directly to Light and said, "Asahi, please don't make us go there. We can guard the way out, or do whatever else you want."
The way Mido is eyeing our oxygen tank... he's thinking of trying to take it by force and running.
Light said, "Kira has tried to kill both of us many times. We are experienced in dealing with Kira's traps. Besides, it is clear that Kira meant for you two to be here. Don't you think that refusing to perform your role might be dangerous?"
Namikawa said, "If we're already controlled, we'll die either way, whether we try to resist our controlled actions or not. But if we are not controlled and Kira meant for us to be here under our own direction, then if we stay we might survive but if we leave we'll just be killed as punishment or controlled to return."
Mido said, "You mean, Kira wants to frame us, or for us to act as decoys to draw L's suspicions? For that purpose we're no good if we die in twenty-three days."
Namikawa was just opening his mouth to reply when L was suddenly on the floor and letting out a choking sound. For a second, Light couldn't comprehend what was happening, whether L had tripped or not, but then he could see L's arms wrapped around something invisible, L straining and straining.
Light's heart was beating fast, his mouth dry, his feet frozen in place.
Is this it? A shinigami attack?
L let out another choking sound. He was pinned as his hazardous materials suit was literally shredded off of his body. His struggles looked weak and entirely ineffective.
Then L took a huge gasping breath and said, "Help me!"
Light snapped out of the mental paralysis that had been gripping him and launched himself at where the shinigami should be, feeling silly and useless.
When he hit it, it was like tackling a marble statue. There was no give whatsoever, not the slightest reaction to his attacks, no matter how hard he hit. Unlike a statue, it was entirely invisible and it moved underneath him.
Light felt sick to his stomach as he noticed his feet were dangling off the floor. He was floating in the air to all appearances. He could hear Mido and Namikawa exclaiming excitedly behind him, and, underneath him, Light could see L continuing to lose the suit. It was being shredded into long ribbons bit by bit, even the boots and the gloves, revealing his usual outfit underneath.
Mido and Namikawa have cellphones, and they could be agents of Kira. They'll get L killed!
Light let go, slid off the monster and said, "You two, hand over your cellphones now."
They were both reaching in their pockets when Light felt himself being tackled and pinned to the floor by something huge, heavy, and hard as stone. He screamed and kicked and swore but he just couldn't get loose of the invisible weight. He could feel bony hands gripping him in various places, and sometimes things like knees, and he watched helplessly as his entire protective suit was shredded to bits, including the mask.
They've seen us! They've seen both of our faces!
Suddenly, the weight was gone, and Light was gasping, feeling violated, looking up at the three curious faces leaning over him.
L said, "Asahi, are you all right?"
Light became aware that both Mido and Namikawa were holding out cellphones in their stretched-out hands, as if to give them over.
Light said, "Ryuzaki, did you see? Did they take pictures of our faces yet? Get the cellphones and destroy them."
L said, "There is no need for that, Asahi. They haven't done anything."
Is he going to wait and see if they try to send pictures out, to let us get killed?
No, he must be sure that by now Watari will have things rigged to intercept any such messages and replace any picture of L's face with a decoy. Yes, that must be it. Trace it to the destination. I panicked too much and I didn't think fast enough. Damn that shinigami! What is it trying to do?
Namikawa said, "Now I recognize them."
Mido said, "Who are they?"
Namikawa replied, "It's the ambulance workers from when Misa Amane's manager faked his death. These are L's employees. Although, if Kira is orchestrating this incident they might be controlled by Kira, without even knowing it themselves."
Mido waved his hands and said, "It's a couple of kids! Are you sure these are the same guys?"
Namikawa said, "Yes, or at least I'm sure of Ryuzaki, because he is memorable. Asahi looks a bit more generic, so there is a possibility they could have replaced him with someone who looks similar, and I might not be able to tell the difference, after all this time."
L said, "Namikawa, it is interesting that you would remember us so well. I do have a little suspicion of you. You are intelligent enough that you have some potential as a Kira suspect."
Namikawa sniffed and then said, "I suppose that is good news, Ryuzaki, if suspicion is what keeps us alive. However, don't you want to take our phones away? I don't wish to be made too uncomfortable, or to be forced into being Kira's tool."
L waved his hand dismissively and said, "It doesn't matter. If you wish, you can have Asahi destroy them."
Light took the phones and shoved them into his pockets, reminding himself to smash them as soon as he had a chance.
L was already walking toward the jackhammer noise again, setting down small lanterns at intervals, and Light followed, herding Mido and Namikawa just in front of him. It was getting louder and more difficult to hear anything. Then a jagged block of concrete came into view, rolling along by itself. Mido jumped back with a little scream, but the concrete slowed and went around them. L's flashlight followed it as it joined a heap of concrete rubble.
Loudly, to be heard over the noise, L said, "I think there are only two of them. If one is moving blocks away from the pit and the other is using the jackhammer, then none of them are presently guarding the stairwell. However, I could be wrong and perhaps there is a third or a fourth or even more."
Namikawa said, "Two of what? That invisible thing that attacked you to destroy your suits?"
L didn't answer, but instead took a few more steps forward, his flashlight outlining a pit dug into the floor.
Over the jackhammer noise, L shouted, "Rem, we are here. What are you going to do about it?"
The sound did not stop. Light came closer, following L as he begun circling the pit and placing lanterns on the floor all around it. Light swept the bottom of the pit with his flashlight's beam, and saw a jackhammer there, standing by itself. Another chunk of concrete broke loose next to it and began rolling up the side of the pit, towards the rubble pile Light knew to be just a little distance back. When they had walked halfway around the pit they found a second pit, this one much deeper, with bare soil showing in the bottom.
L stopped as soon as he saw the other pit and said, "There are at least two dig sites. I do not think they are sure of its exact location."
Knowing Watari was listening and not wanting L to do all the work, Light said, "Look how deep it is, entirely drilled through the twenty-four-meter foundation, and yet they abandoned this one to start a new pit."
L crouched near the edge, probing into every crevice with his flashlight's beam. The pit edges were almost straight down, yet full of small furrows and broken, jagged protrusions from the way the concrete had been dug out. It was not only deeper than the new pit, but also narrower. The dirt at the very bottom had been churned, almost like plow-marks.
Suddenly L screamed and was falling into the pit... falling in slow motion. He was obviously trying to struggle but his arms were pinned to his sides as he floated slowly down.
L said, "A shinigami is pulling me into the pit. I am not hurt. I think we will all end up in this pit."
In a high-pitched, wavering voice, Mido said, "Shinigami?"
In the next instant Mido was running, following the trail of lanterns back along the route L had placed them on. The jackhammer noise stopped. Namikawa looked after Mido's disappearing form as if he were trying to decide whether he should run too.
Just then Light felt something like a giant gloved hand wrapping around the front of his face, cutting off his attempt to yell, and then something freakishly strong and large was wrapping around him and pinning his arms as well. Was it a monstrous, very long arm? Something like tightly-laced shoes pressed into the back of his neck. He could not sort out the shape of the thing that held him immobile, but he knew it was huge.
There was a whoosh of air and he felt feathers brush against his face briefly, and then he was in the air and was being handled roughly, flipped and caught as something dangled him by his ankles. He breathed slowly, trying not to scream, as he was lowered gently into the pit, head-first, resisting the impulse to grab at the walls.
There was screaming in the distance, abruptly cut off.
At last Light was within grasping distance of the bottom, and as soon as his fingers touched the dirt and he was about to relax the thing dropped him and he fell heavily onto his shoulder.
L flicked his flashlight briefly onto Light's prone form and then pointed it up again, looking upwards.
Light twisted into a sitting position and gazed up to see Mido descending, struggling in place, trying to bite but it seemed as if his mouth was full of something invisible, unable to close. His glasses were missing and his suit jacket was torn in two places. When Mido had almost reached the bottom, Namikawa became visible, floating over the edge of the pit and then descending. He didn't struggle much and seemed calmer.
As soon as Namikawa had been deposited as well, Mido stood up, brushing the dirt from his clothes, and said, "Well, what do we do now?"
Mido was looking at L, but L didn't answer. L just crouched there, staring off into space and probing at his bottom lip with the tip of a long index finger. The flashlight was hanging limply in a two-fingered grasp in his other hand.
Namikawa ran his hands along a jagged protrusion and said, "It would not be too difficult to climb this."
Light said, "If we try to climb out, won't they just push us back in? They might not be so gentle the second time."
Although, they are reluctant to hurt us, or at least they want to make us think this is true.
L still said nothing. He looked extremely blank.
Is he afraid to say anything more in front of Namikawa and Mido?
Light took the flashlight from L's unresisting hand.
Namikawa said, "Asahi, what is wrong with Ryuzaki?"
In a soft, bewildered voice, as if musing to himself, L said, "It's useless. All of this is completely pointless."
No, L is planning something. But what can we do here, without climbing out?
Mido looked at Light and said, "Asahi, tell us everything about this, now. We need to know how to get out of this alive, and what those creatures are capable of. Are they servants of Kira?"
Light said, "Anything more we tell you could compromise the investigation, risking your lives and our own."
Mido coughed several times and then said, "If your earlier theory is correct, Asahi, and we stand the best chance of surviving if we seem more like Kira suspects, then there is nothing at all to limit us from trying to extract information from the two of you. It is to our advantage to seem suspicious, so there is no reason to stop."
If it comes down to a fight, there is not much room here for L to use his swinging kicks. There is barely enough room for the four of us to stand without elbowing against each other.
Namikawa said, "Mido, don't you think it is odd that L would send the same two employees as he used more than a year ago, especially ones with appearances and behaviors that seem weird and unprofessional? If L had his choice of the best men from the FBI, CIA and who knows how many other organizations, why would he depend so much on two youngsters? Couldn't he find people with more experience?"
"Then," Mido replied, "this is a deliberate move, meant to make a statement?"
Namikawa said, "It is not an accident, it means something. Although-"
At that moment the jackhammer noise started up again and L softly said, "Move out of the way."
Light flattened himself against the wall as L began smoothing out the dirt, getting rid of the churned-up surface. L poked impatiently at Mido's and Namikawa's feet when they didn't immediately move.
L said, "This is what could save us. Get out of the way, or help me make it smooth."
Both men stepped back, onto their tip-toes, and L continued pushing the dirt into place.
In the same soft voice, L said, "Ryuk, I am sure Rem is not looking now. I think you have something to say to me, don't you?"
There was suddenly a feeling of something large in the middle, pressing everyone back against the walls of the pit. Light once again had the sensation of feathers tickling his face. Then he could see, in the center where L had made the dirt into a perfect writing surface, words were forming.
It said, "What you want is buried there."
Then an arrow formed, its point ending exactly where the jagged wall of the pit met the dirt. The next instant the invisible pressure was gone.
L read the words in a voice barely above a whisper, and then used his hands to obliterate everything.
L said, "To dig in that direction would be to approach the pit Rem is digging now, but from underneath. Is it a race to see who can reach that spot fastest? Or is it buried closer to this pit than to that one? Asahi, do you want to dig, or shall I?"
If we do find Kira's tool, if this whole thing isn't just a trick to waste our time, then it is best for L to find it, not me.
Light said, "Go ahead, Ryuzaki."
L selected a piece of broken concrete that fit in his hand well, almost like a scoop, and began digging at the spot Ryuk had indicated. Light squatted behind him and swept back the dug-up dirt as fast as L produced it, piling it behind himself.
Namikawa said, "Both of you keep saying things that are a little too obvious. You're bugged, aren't you?"
Without stopping his work, L said, "Those who are listening will not rush in to rescue the two of you, no matter the circumstances. We are bugged so that there will be a record of what happened here if we do not survive. As far as L is concerned, we are expendable. Now, please be silent and help. Mido, hold the flashlight. Namikawa, please get Asahi's pile even further out of the way and begin tamping it down so it will fit along the wall."
L was a very fast digger. Soon his body was disappearing into the hole up to his waist, and every time he wanted to retreat with the next load of dirt he had trouble wriggling backwards, so Light and the others had to pull him out. He was creating a long, narrow, shallow hole with its roof as the building's foundation, pointed directly towards what would eventually be the bottom of the second pit. He was increasingly filthy, caked with damp, clay-like soil from one end to the other.
And yet, the hole kept proceeding without any discoveries. Soon it was so long that L could disappear entirely into it, and it had to be widened a bit so that he could more easily wriggle backwards to the point where Light could snag his feet and pull him back out.
Then, just as Light was starting to loose hope of anything meaningful happening, he heard a small wordless sound of excitement, cut off abruptly. He crawled into the hole on his elbows, grasping L's feet.
L said, "Don't pull yet. I need to get it loose."
Light's heart was beating fast, but he waited patiently as the sounds of digging continued. It seemed to take forever until L said, "Pull."
And then he was pulling L out, insanely curious to see what it was L had found. L emerged from the hole looking like a long, skinny earthworm, slinky and covered in dirt, his face so smeared that only a few hints of his pale skin showed here and there, his eyes standing out starkly in his brown-coated face. At the end of his arms, as the last thing to emerge from the hole, he was dragging a cardboard box almost too large to fit through the hole's diameter. It was caked with soil and crushed almost flat.
Light felt as if he'd have a heart attack waiting for L to open the box.
Could it really be a notebook inside there? Although, even if it is a notebook, it could be merely a decoy or a trick, something meant to temporarily hold our attention until... what? What is the real trap here?
Namikawa asked, "Inside that box is Kira's source of power?"
L said, "Perhaps. If any of you try to take it, it will not go well for you."
Mido said, "I would almost suspect you of being Kira, Ryuzaki. You want to acquisition Kira's power for yourself."
L said, "Think whatever you wish. You will not like what will happen if you interfere in what is to come. It is best for you to stay out of it."
Namikawa said, "If anything, Ryuzaki is being controlled by Kira. Why would Kira risk coming here in person when he could control a victim to dig for him?"
L is taking too long, I will open that box myself.
Light hooked his fingers under a flap of the cardboard and began working the tape loose.
L spun around possessively, pulling the box away and using his body to block Light from it.
L said, "Asahi, you will not open this box."
Something about the tone of L's voice sounded very dangerous, almost unhinged.
Light said, "We need to open it quickly. These shinigami could discover it at any point and take it away from us, trying to send it back to Kira. I know you want to open it inside a forensics lab, but this could be our only chance to see the evidence. Besides, if we do escape the pit with this box, do you think the shinigami will let us just walk out carrying it? We need to discard the box and then, if whatever is inside is small enough, hide that thing under someone's clothing as we attempt to leave. Otherwise, we have no chance of actually leaving with the evidence."
L said, "That is true, still, I will be the one who opens it. Watari, be ready to break through the western wall very soon. Make sure only our crew enters and bring four body bags for myself, Asahi, Mido and Namikawa. The pit we are in is about two-thirds the distance from the stairwell to the southern wall."
Mido said, "Body bags? You are planning to kill us, aren't you? You have our faces, our names, and Kira's power will be in your hands soon unless we stop it. Since we don't know your real names, it would be less dangerous to let one of us hold on to the source of Kira's power, until we can destroy it."
L said, "The body bags are so that all of us can be smuggled out without our faces being seen by the police and others around the perimeter. Any of them could be agents of Kira, knowingly or unknowingly. I am protecting your lives and your reputations, not risking them. Remember to lie still while you are being carried out."
Then Light was holding his breath and biting his bottom lip as L plucked delicately at the box, peeling the tape back, opening the flaps, and revealing a plastic garbage bag wadded up inside. Namikawa and Mido stood there tensely, but they did nothing to stop L.
L found the opening to the bag, removed more tape, and then slid his hand inside. Suddenly, a weird expression flashed across his face and was then erased almost instantly, replaced with utter blankness.
L slowly slid out what he had and let the box and plastic bag tumble to the ground as he did so. It was a slim, ordinary-looking black notebook, except that on the cover, in English, it had "Death Note" written.
This is it then. It should be simple for L to hide that under his clothing, and if we're fast enough and smart enough, we can flee with it. Once we analyze this in a lab, it should at the very least bring us much closer to discovering who could be Kira, and perhaps even allow us to catch him. The case could be over! I could be cleared.
In a low, dangerous-sounding voice, L said, "This is how Kira removes and restores memories. I remember everything now, absolutely everything I had forgotten."
This is great. It will all end now, won't it?
L held the notebook out and said, "Asahi, if you touch the notebook I think you will remember too. Don't you want to remember?"
It felt very wrong somehow, a crushing weight of apprehension, but Light shook it off, knowing that he needed to have every possible bit of knowledge that could help to defeat Kira. He stretched out his hands and grasped the notebook.
I'm Kira. I'm Kira! I'm Kira!
Everything was suddenly flowing into his brain all at once. Light heard loud screaming and realized it was his own. He knew it all, every twist and turn, just how dangerous the situation was, exactly how much trouble he was in and how badly things had gone. What seemed like hundreds of thoughts and emotions streamed through his mind quickly. Everything in his head was vastly speeded-up, while the real world seemed slow, almost frozen in time.
L was the owner; he had touched it first, so his memories wouldn't disappear again unless the notebook were burned or voluntarily given back to a shinigami. But Light's own memories were temporary, fragile, lasting only as long as he continued to touch the death note. He gripped it tighter than ever, panting as his scream subsided.
What had happened? Ryuk must have offered to help and then tricked Rem, just so he could stir up more trouble. That had to be it. Ryuk wanted to see what would happen if L got his hands on a death note once again.
Why had Rem been so stupid? Why hadn't she just phased through the foundation, making the death note both hers and intangible as soon as she touched it? Shinigami could not see inside solid things, only inside hollow things like pipes, so perhaps it would be like trying to find a lost tennis ball at the bottom of a large pool with your eyes closed. Still, though that method was troublesome, it shouldn't take as much time as trying to dig up the death note with a jackhammer, and it wouldn't alert a whole bunch of humans that something was happening.
No, there was more to it than that. The death note needed to be lifted from the earth in order to trigger ownership. If everything above it was concrete, it couldn't be lifted free of the ground, ownership couldn't go back to Rem, and the death note would remain tangible and ownerless. It would be solidly physical, a part of the human world. So the concrete had to be moved away first.
L had ownership, but it wasn't an insurmountable situation. L's memories could be destroyed again, and even with them intact he still didn't have absolute proof, just a very strong suspicion. The situation could be solved. All that was needed was getting the death note to the nearest fire and burning it, before L threw Rem into a killing panic or said anything too incriminating for Watari to hear.
Just as Light thought he was almost prepared for the challenge of getting the death note away from L and reaching a fire without ever letting go of it for an instant, he caught the look in L's eyes and a chill ran through his body, a chill so strong he almost let go of the death note.
L was staring at him with an expression of blazing hatred.
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Fever Dreams