Ad Arcana - Death Note - R - LightxL MelloxMatt - Ch 2
Title: Ad Arcana
Author: Cassidy304 / angeltrap
Pairings: LightxL, MelloxMatt, some form of BBxL, possible others in less important roles (and revealing them would spoil the plot :D)
Rating: M
Genre: romance, mystery, drama, supernatural, slight horror... it's a long list. :'D
Warnings: Yaoi and yuri (romantic and/or sexual relationships between two men or two women), violence, blood, character death, mentioned (sexual) child abuse, hinted non-con
Summary: AU 19th century London. Murder and mayhem had always seemed to shadow their steps wherever they walked, but this time the bloody trail led a little too close to theirs.
Chapter 2
Quiet
Who killed Cock Robin?
I, said the Sparrow
with my bow and arrow
I killed Cock Robin
Finally, that chirpy little wench in her whore-red dress was disposed of.
---
“Matsuda, you are the murderer!”
“Whaaat? How did you know?” the brown-haired boy's mouth fell open. “That fast?”
Light laughed, walking to L and resting one of his arms on his friend's narrow shoulders. “I hope you're not planning on becoming a murderer, Touta! Your poker face wouldn't fool even your reflection...”
Everyone laughed as well, even Matsuda, who looked slightly confused but otherwise happy. “I don't get it, I was trying to look as innocent as possible,” he admitted.
“That exactly was your mistake,” L told him. “If you want to look innocent, you don't blink your eyes and whistle off the note.”
“And you might want to cut out the sneaky glances you kept shooting at everyone else, as well,” Light added with a smirk.
Misa, who had been the victim, giggled and got up from the floor. “Aww, it's no fun playing cross murderer with you two!” she said, pecking Matsuda on the cheek to cheer him up, even though he had just “killed” her. “You're way too smart!”
Light and L glanced at each other and grinned slightly. “So true, Misa,” they chimed, “so true!”
The door to the dark-haired boy's room opened, and Light's 8-year-old little sister peeked in. “Are you still playing murderer?” she asked.
“No, Sayu, we just finished,” L replied, smiling at the little girl.
“Aww, no fair!” The girl pouted. “I wanna play too!”
Light shook his head adamantly. “You're way too small! We'd walk right over you.”
“I could be the killer!” Sayu's eyes brightened at the idea. “Then no one could kill me!”
“But L the detective would catch you in a heartbeat and put you in prison,” Kiyomi teased the girl.
Sayu's face fell. “I don't wanna go to prison...” she murmured, deeply disturbed by this conflict.
“Absolutely no,” Light denied, looking horrified at the thought. “Besides, it's getting late already. Mogi should take you home.”
As if summoned, the man arrived, bowing and informing them that it was time for Lady Sayu to return to the Yagami Manor. One by one, the servants of the other youngsters came to tell them that their carriages were ready; the teenage nobles of London left, waving goodbye and wishing L a happy birthday one more time.
“Nooo!” Sayu cried, hanging onto Light's arm, the last to leave. “I wanna stayyyy! Mogiii, why can Light stay?”
The man smiled his rare smile. “Because Master Light asked Master Yagami's permission beforehand, Miss Sayu. Now, would you please follow me? It's well past your bedtime, if you don't mind me saying.”
“I mind!” Sayu sniffled, latching onto L's hand instead. “L, please please please let me stay too! I'll sleep on the floor! I won't eat much, and I promise I'll be good!”
Heartbreaking! L braced himself against the little girl's tears, and knelt in front of her. “Miss Sayu, the night you sleep in this castle, you'll have a whole room prepared for you, and I'll be dead before I see you sleeping on the floor. But I can't let you stay tonight, because your mother would definitely tell your maid to beat me with a broom. You must ask your parents' permission before you can stay here.”
Sayu giggled at the thought of their fat cleaner maid running after the raven-haired boy, wielding the very same broom she used to shoo the cats out of her way. “But I can sleep here some other time? Pinky promise?” she asked, holding out her little finger.
L smiled and locked his little finger with that of the girl's. “Pinky promise.”
That convinced Sayu, and she finally left with Mogi, leaving the two boys alone. It was really getting late; they should have been asleep already.
“Well,” Light laughed, stretching as he walked towards L's huge, soft bed. “That was like playing red rum with 5-year-olds.”
L chuckled as well, and went to his wardrobe to change into something more comfortable. “Indeed. And, well... don't you think we're getting a bit old to play cross murderer or even red rum?”
Light stopped in the middle of pulling his shirt on, and turned to stare at the older boy. Too old to play red rum? The thought had never entered his mind. Ever since Light's mother had caught them playing detectives almost ten years ago, inventing crimes that had even then been so clever that Sachiko Yagami had feared they might end up in real use, Light had never considered their game as something they might grow out of. Their terrified parents, shocked by the brilliant yet deadly dangerous plots their kids could come up with, had strictly told them to never play that game again; the boys had agreed, but never obeyed. From that day on, the game was called red rum instead of murder - not a very clever way to hide the fact that it was still the same, but it had seemed very secretive back then, and they never thought of changing the name.
“What do you mean?” Light asked quietly, not willing to admit how hurt he felt. So L thought their game was childish?
“I mean,” came the muffled reply from beneath the fabric as L pulled his shirt off, “aren't we old enough to make it real?” Light's eyes widened. Make the murders real? “Not the murders, idiot,” L continued, looking amused, knowing full well what his friend had just thought. “The catching the culprit part. You know we're much more intelligent than most people in this miserable place. Think about it - what would it be like to be a detective for real?”
Light hesitated. “L, you're going to be an earl, and I'll become a duke one day. How do you think we'll have time?”
L shrugged. “I don't know. I'm not planning that far - that's years ahead, anyway. I'm talking about what to do with the years before inheriting our fathers.” He sauntered over to the bed and threw himself onto the mattress. “I'm so tired of being locked into this castle, Light,” he muttered. “I want to do something that really matters. I'm full of socializing with these fools just because father hopes I will someday turn into a social success like you. We both know that's never going to happen.”
Light opened his mouth to resist, but L shook his head and smiled a little. “No, don't even start. You know as well as I do that they don't really like me, excluding a precious few of them. They are kind to me because they adore you, and of course, because my family is wealthy. They have been told to 'be nice to the Lawliet boy'. If it weren't for Light and my family, I would be mostly alone, and I can't say I would miss them much. I know it's because I'm weird and proud, so it's mostly my own fault, anyway.”
“But you can't help that you're afraid of other people,” Light added gently. “If they don't like you, they shouldn't like me either, because we're both so proud. I think it's more that they don't like being around you, because they don't know what to say to you, and that makes them feel guilty.” Light lay down next to his friend, digging something from his pocket and pressing it on L's open palm. “Hey, L. This is for you.”
L blinked, bringing the small object - a handmade wooden locket - in front of his eyes, dangling it above his head. “But you already gave me a birthday present,” he said, looking up at Light questioningly.
The younger boy shrugged. “It was from my family. This one's from me.” He reached out and opened the oval-shaped locket. Inside it, there were two Ls carved into the dark wood - for L Lawliet or for L and Light, not even Light was sure. “I know you don't wear jewelery, but I want you to keep it somewhere near anyway. It's supposed to protect you. Like a charm or something.”
L grinned wryly. “Isn't that a bit superstitious?” he teased before giving a short laughter and reaching out to place his hand on Light's shoulder. “Thank you, Light,” he said and, in a fit of gratitude, pulled the other boy closer and brushed his lips against Light's.
Light froze at the sudden contact, and L released him as quickly as he had brought him down. They stared at each other with wide eyes, Light frozen in a half-sitting position, and L with his fingertips raised to his lips, lying on the bed.
“I'm sorry,” L said hastily, “I don't know why I did that...”
His words were silenced by a pair of lips on his own. L shifted slightly in surprise, gasping into Light's mouth as his skin came into contact with the other boy's. All reasoning left his mind, and in a dazed haze he brought his hands up, burying one of them in Light's auburn locks and grasping the back of his shirt with the other.
They were clumsy; their kisses were messy and sloppy and involved a lot more teeth than they had anticipated. Their shaking hands and curious fingers seemed to meet only elbows and knees as they skimmed across their heated bodies, but there was something enticing in the way L's white skin stretched over his prominent hipbones and collarbones, something thrilling in the way Light's breath hitched when L's wrist brushed against his groin as he explored lower.
“Wh-what was that?” L gasped when Light jolted violently as he shifted again, his hips raising and momentarily touching Light's hips.
Light didn't reply, but attacked the side of his neck more feverishly than before, his hands sliding lower and lower along his body, until one of them slipped underneath his somehow opened pants. The dark-haired youth threw his head back and arched his body against the contact, his blunt nails digging into the teenager's narrow shoulders.
A sharp gasp and the shattering of porcelain teacups was all it took to break their trance. A young maid stood at the doorway, her hands still up as if holding the tray she had just dropped, staring at them in horror.
Before either of them could utter a word, she had turned on her heels and dashed off. L pushed Light off him, blushing furiously as he had to stop to take the other boy's hand out of his pants, and scrambled up, trying to dress up in haste. Light followed him as quickly as he could, re-buttoning his shirt and wriggling into his jacket; they both knew how important it was to stop the girl before she got to L's father. Lord Lawliet had never hesitated punishing his son for the slightest reasons, and this one probably counted as the primary sin in the earl's eyes.
“Light -” L's hand reached out to grasp his as they left to chase the maid. “You should leave - I'll take care of this...”
“Are you mad?” Light turned around to stare at the boy. “I'm not leaving you alone!”
“Please,” L tried the magic word, squeezing Light's hand. “I'm scared he'll be so mad he'll hit you too. I promise, I'll meet you tomorrow...”
Light grimaced, but he couldn't say no to those eyes, and, as shameful as it was, he couldn't help himself - he was deeply afraid of the man L called his father. As much as his heart ached for leaving L alone here, he knew he'd only make matters worse by being still present. Maybe the earl wouldn't even believe the maid...
“Tomorrow,” he whispered, pecked his friend on the lips and started running.
But tomorrow came and went, and there was no word from L.
By the next night, Light was so worried that he sneaked out of the Yagami Manor and went to see the boy himself. He only got to the gates when a terrified scream and the sound of shattering glass reached his ears.
He looked up, and could do nothing but watch with wide, horrified eyes, as someone fell from a broken window in the fourth floor. The body hit the ground, its arms and legs twisting into unnatural ways; its head rolled so Light could see its face, and he had to bite into his hand to not shout. It was the maid from the night before.
He felt eyes on him - not the empty eyes of the broken figure lying on the ground, but eyes with so much feeling that they burnt his skin. Slowly, Light turned to look at the window the maid had fallen from.
Behind the broken glass, someone was looking straight back at him; someone with dark, wild hair, someone with that pale, delicate body Light had held in his arms just the night before.
---
“It's not her blood.”
Light turned to look at L, who was, in turn, looking at his fingers. Apparently he had touched the painting on the wall. “What do you mean?” he asked tiredly. He had covered Misa Amane's corpse with his jacket, finding he couldn't stand looking at her. He knew his father had been planning a marriage between the two of them, and the thought had made him withdraw from this sweet, overly energetic girl who had once been his friend, forcing some distance between them. Now he felt like he had betrayed her.
“It's not warm anymore,” L replied in a low voice. “Miss Misa was in the company of others just a moment before she was murdered. She was out of my eyes for ten, maybe fifteen minutes. She must have left the company of her friends just after I left, and even then she must have been killed instantly.”
Matsuda, who had been standing next to them along with some others, looking pale but determined, stepped forward, his fists clenched as if he would have very much liked to punch the younger man. “What the hell is wrong with you, L?” he yelled, forgetting - or leaving out - the title. “How can you speak so coldly? She was your childhood friend too! How can you be so calculating and analyzing?”
Light stepped closer as well - ready to protect L or to hit him too, he didn't know. L didn't move, and didn't look back.
“Would you want her murderer to get away with this?” the dark-haired man asked quietly.
Matsuda shuddered and shook his head, suddenly looking miserable instead of hostile. “No... Of course not. I want him caught... I'll do my best to help the police.”
L glanced at him and nodded slightly. “Then please go find that wounded maid and the doctor, and ask the doctor to come here once he's done tending to her. She would appear to be our only witness, so make sure she's not left alone for a single second. The murderer might come back to finish his job.”
Matsuda swallowed and went to search for the maid; L turned back to the bloody wall, and Light joined him. L had realized that Matsuda wanted to do anything to help, but couldn't stand being in the same room with the corpse of his friend, so he had sent him to do something useful - somewhere else. Was that thoughtfulness or just practicality?
“Excuse me! Sorry! Police coming through!”
Light turned around to see two familiar faces approaching. “Mr Lester and Mr Aizawa,” he greeted them, nodding curtly. Aizawa, a good friend of his father's, nodded and smiled briefly back at him; Lester's greeting was slightly cooler.
“Young Yagami. Always where the murders happen. I should have known...”
Light regarded the man with an icy expression. “She was a friend of mine, Officer.”
“I'm very sorry,” Lester replied, more to be polite than to express any real compassion. Then he sighed and waved his hand in a slightly dismissive manner. “Very well, then. Since you have once more been present with your sharp head, please, fill me in. God knows we have solved cases with your observation skills and brains before.”
Light could feel L's eyes on his back as he coughed and started his story. “The victim is Lady Misa Amane, twenty-three years old. Seen in the company of her friends ten or fifteen minutes before being found like this. Her maid, Rem, was apparently wounded in the fight against the murderer -”
“... or the victim herself,” Lester muttered. “Everyone is a suspect until proven innocent, lad.”
Light shrugged. He had known Misa and her faithful maid servant all his life, and knew very well that nothing in this world could have turned Rem against her. “Unlikely, but possible,” he admitted. “She is being tended to by a doctor as we speak, and as far as I know, she hasn't yet uttered a word after the... event. We have requested that the doctor join us here once he's finished.”
Lester nodded while Aizawa walked slowly to the covered body of the young woman and lifted Light's jacket slightly to peek under it. The man grimaced and turned immediately away.
“Victim has been cut across the chest in the shape of an X,” he told his superior in a slightly shaky voice. “And shot with a bow; there is an arrow stuck right in the middle of the cuts.”
Lester shook his head. “Disgustingly artistic. Isn't it enough to kill a girl in one way?” He eyed the text on the wall with a frown. “Aizawa, you have kids. Isn't that a line from an old nursery rhyme?”
Aizawa looked confused, so Light opened his mouth again. “Yes, it is. It's the last line of the first stanza of The Death and Burial of Cock Robin.”
Lester's ice blue eyes were on him again. “Can you remember the first stanza right now? I'll have someone dig the whole rhyme out later, but right now I think the first one might offer us some insight.”
Light frowned. How did it go again? Sayu had sang it just today...
“Who killed Cock Robin? I, said the Sparrow,” L recited suddenly, startling him and everyone else. He had been so silent that they had almost forgotten he was still there. “With my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin.”
Aizawa eyed the raven-haired man with a puzzled expression; Lester's eyes lit up with recognition after a moment. “Well, if it isn't the new Earl Lawliet. It's a pleasure to have you back.”
“Yes, sticking my nose into your work and dragging the poor Yagami kid along into troubles,” L replied dryly, and Light chucked a little; Lester had muttered those words countless times when they had been children and had been convinced that their help was necessary for the policeman to be able to do his job properly.
The ash-blond man grunted disapprovingly, but his lips twitched slightly upwards. “Well, after your disappearance it turned out that Lord Yagami could stick his respective nose into my work quite well even without your help. And I'm smart enough to admit that it has been of help more than once... But back to the case at hand. According to this nursery rhyme, I can understand the arrow, and I can see the connection between a cock robin and Lady Amane, who, I have been told, was like a chirpy, bright-colored little bird both by nature and by appearance. But why the slashes? An arrow to the heart is enough to kill a small girl, so why cut her and go through the trouble of having to hit exactly the crossing point with the arrow?”
“The X might refer to a popular children's game called cross murderer, where drawing an imaginary X on the victim equals murder,” Light responded, feeling slightly ill at the memory of the game now in this context. “Though in the game the X is drawn on a person's back.”
Misa had been the victim last time, too... but this time, she wouldn't get up to laugh and give the murderer a kiss. Full understanding of the situation finally reached him, clenching a cold fist tightly around his heart.
Misa Amane would never get up, never laugh again... never kiss again.
“What makes you think the murderer specifically meant to hit the crossing point?” L asked curiously, tilting his head; Light closed his eyes for a moment to abandon the sorrow for now. He would mourn later, when the murderer had been caught.
Lester glanced grimly at him. “Ah, you haven't heard. I suppose you haven't been back for very long.” He flicked his fingers at Aizawa, who nodded and went to close the doors to the ballroom, where the guests were still gathered, worried and scared and slightly angered, leaving only the two policemen, Light and L in the corridor with the corpse.
“This is already common knowledge, but we don't exactly want to spread the rumor,” Lester started in a low voice. “Strange murders have been occurring lately, at an alarming pace. At first, only known criminals got killed. It's a shame to say this, but the truth is that no one really cared what happened to them, so not much was done to catch the culprit. But more and more people started to die, and eventually, the killer moved onto those labeled as decent citizens - shopkeepers, officers, servants. Lady Amane is the first noble victim, though. As we searched for a connection between the original victims, who were all criminals, and the later ones, we discovered some pretty nasty things from the so called 'good' ones' past - rapes, murders, abuse, blackmailing. Not a single one of them was what you'd call pure.”
L blinked his wide eyes. “I find it hard to believe that Miss Misa would have participated in anything illegal - at least intentionally. Yet you are clearly thinking that she was killed by the same person.”
Lester glanced down at the red dress and black shoes that peeked from under Light's jacket. “Who knows? I can't see her as a criminal either. But the way it was done bears a very clear resemblance to Kira's way. Every single one of them was murdered in a somewhat poetic way, or left in a position resembling a famous painting, or something like that. Nursery rhymes seem logical.”
“The murderer is called Kira?”
It was Light's turn to speak. “Yes. This is the most worrying part of the case. We do not know how it started, but Kira has been gaining followers as a steady flow for months. The Kira Cult was originally just small groups gathering in secret to gloat over the death of criminals, but now the situation is getting out of hand. The Cult is now a wide underground organization, almost religious in their Kira worshiping. Some apparently actually believe that this murderer is God himself; some have started 'helping' Kira by committing murders copying him. It has even been suggested that the Cult is Kira.” He shook his head and glanced at L. “They use masks in their meetings, so you can never know who is actually a Kira follower even if you catch one of them. For all you know, I could be one.”
“What an unpleasant thought,” L said.
Lester shuddered. “Well, I'll be bloody happy to get that case off my shoulders. London has requested for Deneuve's help. They say he'll arrive soon and take the reins. If his reputation is anything to go by, he'll solve the case in a matter of hours...”
Light was surprised to hear that. Deneuve was a famous French detective, quite possibly the best in the world. His age and appearance were unknown, for he was also a master of disguises - or so it was said - but the word was that he had solved numerous cases that had seemed unsolvable.
“Ah, Deneuve,” L said in a bored tone. “Another user of masks. What if he's Kira? It wouldn't be surprising for a detective to want to get rid of criminals.”
“Wouldn't that leave him unemployed?” Aizawa asked dryly.
“Yes, that's right.” L rolled his eyes. It looked incredibly strange. “The protectors of law and justice need the criminals to feed their families.”
A faint knock came from behind the closed doors of the ballroom, and after a short moment, Matsuda peeked in. “Gentlemen, Doctor Mikami is here,” he announced before letting in a very tall, dark-haired man with glasses. After that, the young nobleman disappeared, apparently to look after the wounded maid. Polite nods were exchanged, and Mikami proceeded to kneel down next to Misa's corpse and taking the jacket carefully off her. Obviously, there was nothing he could do for the girl at this point, but a medical exploration could give them a lead.
Light thought he caught a movement in the corner of his eye when the doctor entered, but when he looked at L, the man seemed as cool and unmoving as ever. The auburn-haired man frowned, trying to remember if L had known the young doctor before his disappearance, but as far as he knew, Mikami had been studying in another town back then.
“She was cut first,” the doctor confirmed quickly. “And shot afterward. The crossing point of the cuts is right in the middle of her chest, so the arrow didn't hit her heart. She died quickly, mostly due to excessive loss of blood in a short time. That's all I can say at this point.”
Lester and Aizawa nodded, and L stepped forward. “Could you possibly run some tests for the blood? We believe that the blood on the wall is not hers. It has probably been painted before she died, and it might help us if you could confirm that the blood wasn't hers.”
“'Us'?” Lester repeated, cocking a brow.
L locked his dark, half-lidded eyes with Lester's icy blue ones. “Like Mr Matsuda said, she was my childhood friend,” he drawled.
Doctor Mikami, who had momentarily frozen at L's voice, was now looking at him with an expression that could almost rival L's own in unreadability. “Certainly, Lord Lawliet. I don't have the necessary equipment with me, but if you don't mind waiting until tomorrow, I can run the tests at my laboratory tonight. Will that be soon enough?” After receiving a short nod, Mikami turned to gather examples of blood both from the wall and from Misa's wounds before getting up and dusting his black jacket. “I apologize for my unprofessional attire and lack of equipment; I was here as a guest tonight. I will naturally take examples of the maid's blood as well,” he added to L before the man could ask for it. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll retire to my office. I'll meet you gentlemen tomorrow at the police station.”
The doctor left, and Lester sighed. “Well, I suppose we'll have to start questioning everyone. Aizawa, if you'd please...”
Light and L followed the two policemen into the ballroom, and almost immediately their eyes landed on a rather annoyed redhead dragging a young unconscious girl in his arms.
“Finally!” Matt scoffed, shoving Sayu to Light, who gathered his sister into his arms in a slightly gentler manner. “She passed out right after you had run off, and no one had time to help me and I couldn't even find a place to lay her down, so I had to carry her all around!”
“Thank you for taking care of my sister,” Light said sincerely.
The boy seemed a bit startled. “Well, uh, no problem... Lord Yagami,” he added hastily as L blinked his wide eyes. “I couldn't exactly leave her alone, now could I?”
Light smiled a little, before stomping down his pride and turning to look at L. “I would like to thank you two by inviting you over for the night. Your castle is farther away, and you must be tired, since you only just returned today. I believe you haven't even settled in yet... and there seems to be much to discuss.”
L hesitated momentarily, probably thinking about the encounter on the balcony. “The police...”
“They have heard the two of us already,” Light replied impatiently. “Sayu is unconscious and your brother was seen in the company of Sir Matsuda, Lady Takada and others at the moment of Misa's death. There is nothing we can do here tonight. I know one of those carriages out there probably has all your luggage in it, and the Yagami Manor is on your way to the Lawliet Castle anyway. At least drop by for a cup of tea.”
Ah, so the raven-haired earl could still be pulled from the same strings, Light thought as L's eyes visibly brightened at the thought. Tea - with spoonfuls of sugar and preferably with something sweet to eat - was something L had always enjoyed; it was good to know that some things never changed.
“Very well,” L agreed, glancing over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Lester and Aizawa questioning and attempting to calm down the irate guests. “I believe we have the time to... drop by.”
-
1) Whyyy is L so OC?
I figured he'd be that way if his life had been like it is in this fic. Also, obviously he was a bit more emotional and expressive as a kid, and more like the L we know and love as an adult. And no, the jeans are not going to make an appearance in this fic... XD They would kinda destroy the atmosphere.
2) When L asks Mikami to check the blood, he's obviously talking about DNA tests. DNA was discovered in the late 19th century, but as far as I know, they didn't use it to catch criminals back then. I apologize for the historical error. :D Then again, some people used science for purposes like this around the late 1800's, but were often banned as witches or something like that... and L definitely strikes me as someone who would utilize every way imaginable (and have people calling him a witch XD). Originally, I had L ask for their blood types, because I thought they had been discovered earlier, but when I looked it up, I found that DNA came, in fact, before blood types... Oh well. This is exactly why I'm majoring in English and not biology or its history...