Welcome To The Family Ch 19 So Far Away
A/N: This is a Death Note fanfic. I don’t own Death Note.
***
Light looked up with a start when the large shadow fell over his work area; drawing the teen out of his single-minded focus on the exposed guts of the machine. His nimble fingers still danced, hooking together the wires and circuitry that was strewn out before him on the cold stone floor of the church bell tower. Light cursed himself-he’d been focusing on his task with such intense concentration that he hadn’t even noticed that he’d had company. Luckily it was only a Death God. The dark shade fluttered his dark wings as he lit down upon his favored perch on the railing.
“Where’ve you been?” Light muttered under his breath in his perfectly justified paranoia. He had searched his chosen hiding spot extensively for hidden cameras and listening devices from the cobweb-covered rafters to the loose cobblestones of the floors and walls, to behind the various limited benches and furnishings and even inside the damned bell but there was still a chance he might have missed one… or, perhaps worse, a certain L-lookalike who had taken to stalking him. Apparently he could never be too careful...
“Oh! Light-o! The kids were watching this cartoon about lab mice trying to take over the world! You know the short mouse kinda reminded me of you…”
The megalomaniacal teenager teen snapped with obvious irritation “That’s nice, Ryu-” He stopped himself just in time as he remembered the reason for his paranoia. Light didn’t want to admit it but Ryuk had managed to get the drop on him just now and he couldn’t exactly count on the Shinigami to warn him if he was being watched by L’s kids if the monster thought his getting caught out would be funny. Maybe it wouldn’t even be Near this time. Maybe it was Mello’s turn to leap out of the woodwork shouting “Surprise, motherfucker!”
He couldn’t afford to be slipping up. They might be children but each and every one of them was a brilliant prodigy and putting one past them was taking all of his wit, charm, and skill. Near’s stalking was the worst-it really cut down on his scheming time. Light blamed exhaustion for his near slip-up. His eyes were bleary and his fingers were numb and calloused but he was so close…
The brunette affected a cough in the hopes of verbally erasing his near slip-up while subtly making use of his peripheral vision to scan the room. Seeing no one, Light just got up with a grimace, brushing off the dust and grime from his neatly pressed khaki slacks. He wasn’t Matt-he didn’t particularly enjoy doing the dirty work or tinkering with machines but then sacrifices must be made for the good of the New World.
“I haven’t seen anyone…” Ryuk assured him. “Apple?” The creature asked with such a hopeful expression that Light just couldn’t deny him. He swiftly tossed an apple from his pack that the Shinigami caught in his big claws. While Ryuk loudly masticated behind him Light made a final connection and flipped a switch. The teen’s face split into a wicked grin when he got some rather promising static out of the speakers.
His communications array was operational.
Well it appeared to be anyway… He’d know for sure once he’d tested it out. Okay, maybe he had to tweak it a couple of more times first but that didn’t sound nearly as dramatic.
It was nothing too impressive, really, just a device to hack the global cellular network. Steali… er, borrowing, all the necessary parts and equipment from under the noses of his jailors had been the most challenging part of this endeavor.
But now who to call? His first instinct was to call his father because surely the police would be interested in an illegal imprisonment…
Shit-what did his father think of all this? Did L even tell him? He had to assume that he did. L had already told his father he was a Kira suspect. But surely his father would have objected to L’s kidnapping him unless L made an overwhelming case for it? But even… even if his father thought he was guilty Light doubted that his father would have just let him go without a fight. Of course that was assuming that L didn’t just kidnap him here. L seemed to think he was above the law-that was very irksome to Kira. In either case, until he knew his father’s thoughts on the matter he couldn’t ask him for help.
But how to gauge all the player’s opinions when he was a confined to this school, a world away? Light frowned, he wasn’t sure how long his ramshackle construction would hold up and he didn’t want to waste a call on anything frivolous if he could help it; but to get the intel he needed to call someone who was not on the taskforce but was in the know…
Of course! One shocking epiphany later Light knew exactly who to call. But then he had to work himself up into actually doing it and overcome a sudden case of nerves. What if this was already unsalvageable? What if everyone knew? What if L had outed his identity as Kira in a world-wide broadcast or something? Light didn’t know if he could stand to hear her calling him a monster…
Kira gritted his teeth and punched into the network.
“Moshi-moshi!”
Light froze, for a split-second the words caught in his throat, surprised that It actually worked and emotionally unprepared to actually hear… “Hey, Sayu…”
“Light! How’s England treating you? That’s so cool that you got selected for that study abroad program!”
Well, Light doubted that Sayu would be so carefree if she knew her brother was Kira. But that also raised more questions. It would seem that someone, most likely either L or maybe his father had fed his mother and sister a cover story for his disappearance.
This means that either dad still believes in my innocence or he just hasn’t told them…
“But I wish you’d called sooner, you jerk! It’s been what, almost a week?”
Light clenched his fists at the reminder that it had been that long already. His escape plans were coming along much too slowly for his liking. He only had another week before Kira’s absence would be noticed by the world at large.
“I’m sorry, Sayu. The teachers are really strict about phone use. And it’s been like study, study, study all the time! This is the first chance I could get away from them.”
“Oh, excuses, excuses!”
“Sayu… I’m sorry.”
“I mean, you just left! And it was all so sudden, you know? I mean last I see you is afterschool at softball practice and the next thing I hear you’ve been whisked out of the country! Were you that desperate to get away from me?”
“Of course not! Sayu… I….it’s just I don’t really have ready access to a phone or the Internet at the moment,” well other than the device he was currently using to call his sister but that was actually true for the most part. Wammy’s House had a computer lab but its use was heavily monitored. Or more specifically he was being heavily monitored. He was a prisoner here no matter how gilded the cage. Anything he did would be used against him:
“Your favorite colour is red? You must have violent tendencies and therefore be Kira!”
“Brushing your teeth every day is very Kira-like.”
“Aha! Defending yourself is totally something Kira would do!”
“Hey Light? Did you know what your last name spells backwards in English?”
One L doing it had been bad enough. Now trapped here with L’s kids Light had the dubious pleasure of hearing it in surround sound. It made Light wonder how he’d managed to maintain his sanity…
“That’s barbaric! I mean, what, are you stuck on a nature retreat or something?”
“I-” Light worried about what to tell her when he was unsure of the cover story that had been given to them but this proved unnecessary as Sayu didn’t even give him a chance to talk anyway.
“I’ll admit that at first I was a bit jealous that you got to go but now I’m glad I stayed home in Japan!”
“Yeah…” Light murmured into the microphone. He’d never admit it to anyone but he was afflicted by a sudden bout of homesickness.
“I mean I’d just die without my Ryuuga!” Sayu prattled on obliviously.
What?! No way! He’s mi- Oh. Right. That Ryuuga… Light had to laugh at himself. My sister and L-yeah. As if that would ever happen! Ryuuzaki probably wouldn’t know what to do with a girl if one fell into his lap. Ugh! Bad images!
“But seriously, you couldn’t even text? I mean, jeez, Light! If dad hadn’t said anything I’d have thought you’d run off to join a cult or something!” Light stifled another laugh. Him? Join a cult? Please! He’d only been kidnapped by L-worshippers. He wasn’t about to join any cult, not even L’s. Now leading a cult of devoted followers-that idea did have potential…
“Sayu, listen! I’d never do that to you! I didn’t know I was going either until the last possible moment-it was a surprise for me too. I’m sorry. I didn’t really want to go but they gave me little choice in the matter…”
Sayu sighed on the other end, the sound crackling harshly over the speakers. “I’m sorry too. It’s just you’re gone now and we hardly ever see dad anymore. He’s always working! Stupid Kira!”
“Er… Yeah…” Light mumbled awkwardly. “The next time you see him tell him not to overstrain himself…”
“Oh I do, but he never listens! Ever since Kira started killing those newscasters-”
“What?!”
“Wait-you mean you don’t know? Are you living under a rock? Everyone’s talking about it…”
“Well, I don’t really have access to a TV either…”
Well, Wammy’s House did indeed have a TV-it sat most imposingly in the rec room, a 72 inch plasma screen monstrosity. However, its use was primarily dominated by the younger kids during most of the day. Then Matt would take it whenever it would otherwise be free. As it turns out, stealing the remote from a bunch of little orphan kids would make even Kira feel like too much like a heel and there wasn’t a chance in Hell of wrestling it away once The Matt got into an X-Box mood.
Besides L’s kids would surely notice if he was obsessively watching news of the Kira case...
“A rock it I then!” came his sister’s sing-song voice. She was obviously pleased with herself that she knew something that her brother didn’t for once and that she could hold it over his head.
Light stifled an irritated growl. “Sayu! Please! What’s happening? Tell me!”
“Maybe I should charge you for this information seeing as you’re obviously too lazy to get it yourself…”
“Sayu…”
“Oh alright. Alright. Well.. yeah… The thing is…” Sayu sobered up immediately when she began to speak of the grim topic at hand. “The thing is Kira made like this big announcement on national TV and began killing newscasters that spoke against him. It was pretty scary.”
Light blanched at the implications. “That’s… that’s horrible!” There’s a copycat out there using my name like this… Killing innocents! This-this is unacceptable!
“I heard police officers were killed too. And... Light, I’m worried about dad.”
“I… Wait, you said Kira sent a message? What did he say?”
“Oh just that he is Kira and that he’s making a New World or some such bullshit-”
“Sayu, language!” Light scolded on reflex while inwardly he cringed. He had held hopes that one day Sayu would understand…
“Yes, mom! Do you want to hear this or not?”
“Fine! Just don’t let mom hear you using that kind of language.”
“Anyway, like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted… “
Light expelled an irritated sounding breath but otherwise refrained from comment. He leaned in close to better hear his sister talk over the crackly speakers.
“Kira sent like this grainy black and white grainy video to the news station and made them play it-it sucked, really. The quality I mean. I’ve made better videos myself…”
“Sayu.”
“Right, okay. Anyway you’d think it was a prank or something except that, you know, people actually died. He said kill anyone who gets in his way….”
Well, now at least he had an idea of what he was dealing with.
Since he didn’t send the message himself (because doing so would be utterly moronic-it was far too confrontational and would turn people against Kira) there were two possibilities. Option A was that that this was the work of someone who was trying to purposely incite the public against Kira. It might have even been a particularly well-played move by L-that could explain the silence on his end. Light almost hoped it was L partly because if it was L that meant he was still out there to annoy him and frame him for murders he hadn’t committed than he probably wasn’t in any danger of starving to death under his cake freezer. Also because option B was just so stupid. Option B was that another Shinigami brought another Death Note to the human realm that fell into the hands of a deranged Kira fanboy who also just happened to be an absolute idiot.
Of course if it was option A than that meant that Light would most definitely have to kill L because not only did he show Kira up in the public arena again but he made Light worry needlessly... not that he was worried! He’d never really been worried! Of course not! Don’t be ridiculous. He was merely expressing a perfectly legitimate concern about what his nemesis was doing.
…And he was fooling no one, not even himself.
Light stifled a panic when, for some reason, the signal began breaking up. It could’ve been any number of things-the satellite he’d hacked was moved beyond the horizon, a wire could’ve come loose, he could’ve been discovered… He’d have to swiftly bring this conversation to a close. “Okay, Sayu? Listen-you be careful, alright? Stay safe and don’t give your name out any more than you have to.”
“My name?”
“I don’t know if this is public knowledge but I overheard dad say that Kira needs a name and a face to kill. So… use an alias or nicknames whenever possible and don’t go out any more than you have to, okay Sai-chan?”
“Ugh! Oniisan! Don’t call me that!”
“But it could save your life!” Light said innocently.
“Liiiight-nii!”
The would-be God smiled indulgently at his little sister’s bratty whining.
“And watch out for weirdos, okay!”
“Egh! You’re worse than mom!”
The machine gave a dying screech over the speakers.
“Listen, I don’t know when I’ll get to call you again so until then… Sayonara, Sai-chan,” Light spoke wistfully just before the signal cut out.
Light then went to work disassembling the machine, hiding the various components in various locations behind lose cobblestones and taped under benches.
He was just packing up when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, as if he was being watched. He slowly turned around to find two abysmal black pools boring into him.
It was Near-again.
Surprise, surprise, thought Light as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
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