Archive of Our Own ^beta

Light had no idea where he was, but it felt breezy and cold, and the walls were grimy, with a concrete finish, rough to the touch. Some dirt came off on his hand and he brushed it onto his pant leg.

As he walked, dark and spooky as it was, he felt a sense of anxiety. He turned a corner, and found himself in a larger area with wall to wall hanging chains with hooks. Immediately, he thought of a slaughter house, where beef was processed, animals skinned and later send to a butcher. But the lightning was so dim, that it was very difficult to see. Then something sloshed at his feet, a liquid of some kind. Was it water? He didn't know.

He continued forward, pushing away the chains and hooks, ignoring a voice in the back of his mind to turn back, and headed onwards, towards a slit of light in the distance that shone between a set of double doors. He stopped a couple of times when he felt he was stepping on something gummy and wet, but he refused to touch his feet to see what it might be.

He heard something heavy slam down on a table and then the sound of a clever coming down and cutting into meat and bone. It sounded like someone was cutting beef into smaller pieces. And being in a slaughter house—god knows why Light was even here—it stood to reason. And he pressed an eye through the slit, but something was blocking his way, a rubber barrier.

There were windows in the doors, but up higher. His father said he hadn't had a growth spurt in a while, but his father assured him one would be coming soon if the genetics of his family had anything to say about it. Every male member of the Yagami family was tall, minus those who married into the family—his mother included.

Someone was speaking, but he could only hear a muffled voice through the thick doors, so he tried to swing one open, and pushed harder than he wanted. The doors were not locked. He knew he probably shouldn't be here, and he also wondered for a second time why he was even here at all. Oddly enough, he couldn't remember how he got here in the first place. His mind was a complete blank.

He stumbled in and saw a very large man, his back turned, wearing a white butcher's apron, cutting up some sort of meat. He was covered in blood. His hands, clothes, even his face. In a slaughter house, this was not abnormal, and Light wasn't afraid, although he was a little taken aback by the horrific sight. The table was a little high for him to see over, but when he stretched on tip toe behind the man, he gasped out loud, and loud enough for the butcher to hear him.

The man stopped what he was doing, twisted around. He grabbed Light by his shirt collar and yanked forward. The man was stoutish with thinning hair. And the man tossed Light to a back wall and demanded to know how he got here. Light said he remembered being left in another room, but he had found the door unlocked and wandered out.

The man muttered something to himself angrily, then shouted to someone out of sight. This someone else rushed into the room. It was a boy, the same age as Light.

The man cursed the boy, and said he was instructed to watch "the Yagami boy". He wasn't supposed to see any of this until it was "his turn"—whatever that meant, Light thought.

Light took in the rest to the room. There were shelves and buckets of reddish liquid, and what looked like body parts stored haphazardly within, as if just tossed around, even hanging on hooks—Light gasped again—and dissembled heads were placed on higher shelves, as if they were prized trophies. And they weren't adults!

This was not an animal slaughter house, but something else! He had seen some "restricted" films late at night in his room without his parents permission, and each time, they scared him, and he was unable to sleep that night. He even once thought a monster was under his bed, but it turned out to be an old stuff toy. When his parents found out that he had watched one of those movies, they took the television out of his room.

The other boy reached for Light, and Light bumped back into a wall to avoid the other's grasp— shocked at what he had just seen, but unable to verbalize it—and the reverberation must have caused something to rock slightly, because something fell over, an object, and it bounced when it landed, then rolled around like a toy tipsy top, eventually situating itself between Light's feet.

And when he saw the boy's head in its grotesque, discoloured state—

He screamed.

---

Light Yagami awoke with a start and fell backwards in his chair.

He hit the floor, but luckily he had the inclination to turn at the very last second and roll. Unfortunately, the chair rolled with him and became entangled underneath him, and he momentarily panicked, waving his arms and body about, as if trying to avoid something.

"No!" he screamed.

"Light!" came a voice.

Light's eyes opened wide, but he didn't immediately register where he was, but then things became clear—he in the epicentre of the Kira Task Force headquarters in L's newly constructed building in the heart of Kanto. His heart felt like was going a mile a minute and he felt sweat across his forehead under his hair. He wasn't sure what had just happened. His father helped him off the floor with a hand and it suddenly occurred to him that he, at some point, he had fallen asleep.

"Light, son—are you okay?" Soichiro asked.

Matsuda took the chair away. "If it didn't look serious, that would have been comical," he said. "What happened? Did you fall asleep at your station?"

Light felt his cheeks flush abashed. "I must have," he said. "Sorry about that. We've been working so hard to catch Kira, that I must have been worked myself to the point of exhaustion."

L took a quick scan of the chair to see if the leg had snapped or a wheel had broken away to make it happen. When nothing was found, he then returned his attention back to Light. "A sleep at your desk, such a naughty boy, Light. Tsk, tsk." L tried to make a jab, but it was too dry.

"I'm sorry, Ryuzaki," Light said, sitting back down. Light felt his lower back. "Ow."

"Looks like you were having yourself one heck of a dream, Light," he said. "I was watching you for a good three minutes. You seemed to have be in a very deep state of REM, your eyelids were fluttering, his head back, and you were muttering under your breath."

"What was I saying?" Light asked, lifting an eye brow. Putting a hand under his hair, felt the sweat, then ruffled his head slightly to dry it. He brushed back a few stray hairs that had fallen over his eyes. But he knew he was in need of a haircut.

"Your voice was so low it was almost incomprehensible, but I can read lips." L put a finger to his own lips in retrospect. "You were saying something to the tone of 'Don't, don't; what have you done? They're all—' I couldn't catch the next word. "I think it was either 'red' or 'dead'." But then you murmured something else, perhaps something you overhead. Something to the venue of… 'Asper'?"

Soichiro Yagami gasped, and it was heard by all. "Jasper! Oh my god!" Everyone turned to hm. He looked like he had just seen a ghost, his face ashen. He put a hand to his mouth in a moment of disbelief. "After all this time…"

"Chief? What's the matter?" Matsuda said, then brought a chair for his old boss to sit. But Soichiro refused to take it.

Light jumped back up and put his hands out to steady his father. Soichiro shook his head, as the colour began to fill back in his face. "Dad, what's wrong?"

"Are you okay, Mr. Yagami?" L asked. "First Light tips out his chair and now you nearly faint. I heard the flu was going around, but…Some refer to me as one of the greatest detectives in the world, but without all the pieces to a puzzle even I can't solve a case. You nearly collapsed after you heard that name. Who is this Jasper?"

Soichiro turned to Light. "Light, why did you dream about him?"

"Who, Dad? I have no idea who he is?"

"So, you don't remember what happened?"

"Dad, it was just a dream. Although, I can recall the vivid image of 'chains'."

L raised his right arm, the arm that was handcuffed and attached to a lengthy iron looped chain shared by Light, an agreement they had for Light to work with the Kira Task Force, and for L to keep an eye on him—suspected of being the notorious serial killer.

"It's funny how dreams derive," the detective said. "They can manifest our desires, or our greatest fears, into a dream-like state. They can even take something from life and exaggerate it to extraordinary, abstract proportions. I don't know what you dreamt about, Light, but what I can tell you is dreaming of 'chains' means you're feeling trapped, and it may be your mind's way of expressing your frustration about this situation." L emphasized the handcuffs.

"But I don't feel frustrated with the situation, Ryuzaki." Light looked at his own handcuff. "I actually feel reassured that you trust me to work with you on the Kira Case."

L gave him a look of disbelief. "I'm not so sure." He got back into a chair and crouched in it, and mused for a moment. He once said that if he didn't sit this way, his cognitive thinking would be reduced by roughly forty percent. "I've read a few books on dream analysis and I can give you a detail list of what 'chains' could mean for you. But I'll save that for another time. I'll give you a short explanation instead. First, let me ask you: Are you a Jungian or a Freudian? Because they both have different interpretations on dream imaginary. Or we could just jump to the standard reason: It's all your mother's fault."

Light clenched a fist. "How dare you! What does my Mother have to do with my dream?"

Soichiro Yagami shared his son's anger. "Yes, Ryuzaki! Explain yourself. That is ridiculous!"

L put up a hand. "Calm yourselves," he said. "I always find it fascinating that people are so quick to act defensively even in the face of pure logic, especially when it goes against their principles, and attacks their loved ones. The subconscious mind has a way to bring things to the surface with a sudden trigger. It can be anything from mere remembrance, or what we've seen during the day—even a taste, sound, or smell. Matsuda said he had a dream he was eating mounds of hotdogs the other day, some might say dreaming of hotdogs are repressed homoerotic feelings."

"Ryuzaki!" Matsuda protested. Mogi snickered. Matsuda turned to him with a frown.

"Like a repressed memory?" Light questioned, ignoring Matsuda's outburst. Soichiro wiped his face with a hand of sweat. Light noticed it.

"Exactly, and I know a surefire method to bring out repressed memories. Perhaps we should dwell into a little hypnotic session. It may also give promise to see if you have had any other repressed 'memories' of, say, another life—or consciousness?"

"Another life or consciousness? You still think I'm Kira? How many times do we have to go through this, Ryuzaki? I'm not Kira!"

L pouted. "So you claim, or forgotten, but that's neither here nor there now. Hypnotism isn't legal in court anyway, so even if we did awaken any old memories, it wouldn't hold salt. Regardless, we can see about this dream of yours. I can do it right now. Does anyone have a pocket watch?"

Light dropped back into his chair, upset, and crossing his arms. "I'm not letting you rummage through my head looking for things that are not there, Ryuzaki. That's invasive, even if you find something, it's almost certainly distorted, or untrue." He gave a sideways, almost embarrassed look towards his father. "And I don't tell my parents everything."

L smiled thinly. "I can attest to that. You were quite clever hiding all those dirty magazines in cut out book covers in your room. Not even Watari found them when he was installing the cameras in your home during those two weeks we were watching you. By the way, curious question: Do you prefer blondes or brunettes?" Light frowned. "Oh, let's get back to your dream. Ae chains all you remember?"

Light nodded, and he momentarily looked over at his father, who seemed to let out a sigh. Did his father know something about his dream, or was not telling him something insignificant about it that could reveal its possible origin? Even the smallest detail could help him decipher its meaning. But before he could dwell further into that thinking, L continued.

"People who blurt out names in a dream often know that person on a certain level—as to say, more than just in passing. And the memory of that lost person or knowledge of them is so traumatic that it sometimes causes a psychosomatic response like PTSD. So, to forget that person is the only way to move on, blocking out the pain of that person. Do you have no idea who this Jasper-person is, Light? Could he be an old friend from school? An important acquittance? Someone who meant something special to you at some point in your life?"

"I'm telling you, Ryuzaki, I don't know."

Soichiro Yagami sighed. "Stop it, just stop it, please. No more Ryuzaki," He took the chair Matsuda provided earlier and sat down with a tiresome drop, putting his hands to his face. "I can't handle it anymore. I knew this day would come eventually, that it would bubble up to the surface—the child psychiatrist told me so. Old memories often do without warning, and like Ryuzaki said, with triggers. I don't know what triggered it, but now that it's come to the surface, you need to know."

"Dad, what's going on? What old memories?"

Soichiro dropped his hands. "Light, you may not remember, but I do," he said with an even deeper sigh. "I think it's time I tell you something that I thought you'd forgotten, that your mother and I hoped you'd never remember, and it happened a long time ago when you were ten year's old. With this dream, you'll come to remember things that I hoped were long buried. And it is best to learn things it from me, so they're not so shocking."

The entire task force now surrounded Soichiro, even the W from Watari was now up on one of the screens, as if to say, he was listening in. Nothing within the control hub mattered at that moment, even if it did relate to Kira—data scrolled across a multitude on screens without a care.

Soichiro Yagami continued. "We took you to see a therapist, after a child psychiatrist, twice a week." Light opened his mouth to interrupt, but Soichiro put up a hand to quiet him. "And then, we stopped going, because I saw it wasn't affecting you any longer. We seemed to have delivered you from the worst of it. You went on with life, playing, and even laughing. Your Mother and I hoped you had forgotten about it, even repressed it on your own. But then, whatever the trigger was, you started having nightmares, and screaming in your sleep afterward. I don't know, and I think maybe this whole situation with Kira may have brought back those awful memories, too…the stress of it."

Light looked at his father with concern. "Dad, what have I forgotten? Please tell me."

Soichiro Yagami took a moment. He looked like he was experiencing a conflict in morality in trying to keep something very important to himself, as if he was treating it like classified information of the highest order—or a parent trying to protect his child from a horrific past.

L halted him. "I think you should tell me first, Mr. Yagami. With the Kira case, and the potential of a double-personality—" he knew Light would protest that part "—exposing information of a sensitive nature may cause unwanted consequences."

"No, Ryuzaki, I want to hear what my Dad has to say. Go on, Dad," Light insisted.

His father took another moment, then nodded. "Jasper Yuta is his full name, and he's the son of a mass murderer who kidnapped and slaughtered nearly a dozen children over a two year period, we learned—nine years ago. And if it wasn't for the NPA, and their quick response, you Light, would've been the thirteenth victim."

To be continued...

Light gasped awestricken. So many questions were already forming in his mind, and he wanted answers as quickly as possible.

He felt shocked that he had nearly been the victim of a serial killer when he was a child and never knew about it, or had he decided to forget about it because it was so traumatic? Could a person repress memory on their own?

But if he wanted to be a police officer like his father, then he had to know it. He was going to have to learn to deal with situations like this regarding other people as well. And if it was on police record, he had to know about it if he was ever questioned about it. No doubt it would go towards his psyche-test when he applied to be a police officer.

He couldn't let it faze him. It came with the profession.

"Go on, Dad," Light urged.

Mogi had went away and then come back with a glass of water. He handed to to Soichiro. Light thanked him as his father took a sip, then set it down in his lap.

Soichiro looked at Light with a degree of regret, as if he had inflicted a person injury. "You were recused by the collective efforts of the NPA, derived by clues we sifted through over several weeks. I was personally involved, but as I was too close to the case, being your father, I could not be team leader. My only regret is we did not get to him soon. After Jasper Yuta's father was captured, the media's nicknamed him: 'The Child Butcher of Japan'. The media headlines gave the NPA the highest praise, which, incidentally, granted me the promotion to Deputy Chief."

Light leaned back in his chair. "This is upsetting, that I had no knowledge of this until now, but seeing how disturbing it may have been for you, you were right not to tell me, Dad."

"You were taken from our townhouse and missing for three days. We got a clue that you may have been spotted in the warehouse district by a homeless man who just happened to hear a radio bulletin on a newscast the night before. He said he had seen a child of your description walking with an older, heavy-set man, in the area days before." Soichiro seemed to breath a sense of relief relaying this story, as if a heavy weight was lifting from his shoulders, and even wiped a tear from his eye. "When you were rescued, your mother and I made a decision to move away from the after I received my promotion, and we moved into a more spacious townhouse with my new salary. Over time, we hoped to put that horrific incident behind us."

L mused for a moment, in his crouched position in the chair, then he rotated it to a computer keypad and began to type. He pressed a button and information, a dossier, came up on the larger monitor for all to view. The the task force observed the profile of Yoma Yuta, Jasper's father. "As L, I have access to information no one else does," Ryuzaki said. "According to this, after Jasper's father was captured and sentenced, he was taken a maximum security institution. He was charged with a long list of offensives, including child trafficking.

"His son, Jasper Yuta is an American born citizen on his mother's side and Japanese on his father's side. He moved to Japan with his father, leaving his mother, and after there were several instances involving domestic impropriety. Other issues documented include: sexual harassment against other women and even child abuse by the father. In additional to physical violence, the father was arrested for other offences. Oddly enough Yoma Yuta was never charged with anything. But the American justice system does work differently. When I worked in Los Angeles on the BB Murder Case, I had to jump through so much red tape to even get a warrant. I almost didn't get the case solved, and if it wasn't for the efforts of…" He waved a hand through the air to dismiss it. "Suffice to say, Yoma Yuta slipped through the justice system and was allowed to reside in Japan. Jasper Yuta was only seven years old when he and his father immigrated to Japan."

"Wow," Light said. L looked at him. "Sorry, I sped-read through the dossier. I was reading the list of charges on Jasper Yuta. He's basically a carbon copy of his father. His rap sheet is a mile long filled with offences that include inside more than one mental institution for the criminally insane; attacking other residents, highly aggressive behaviour, obsessive compulsive disorder, and even physical, even sexual assault. He's been in several mental institutions for child and young offenders. The most recent one is here in Japan. He speaks four different languages, including Japanese, English, French, and Russian. Self-taught."

L nodded. "Come to think of it, I think I remember this case. I was much younger at the time, before I was known as the world's greatest detective." L smirked smugly. "I also believe he's the same age as you, Light—nineteen?"

Light frowned. "And he's in that institution with our tax money." He snorted disgruntled. "We pay for these criminals to spend the rest of their lives in prisons erstwhile that money could be spent better fixing infrastructure, or improving hospitals or schools, senior health care, even helping the infirm. It's not fair. Some people should just be—"

"Executed, like say, by Kira? And be done with them?"

Light folded his arms defensively. "That's not what I meant, Ryuzaki."

"But that's what you were thinking, weren't you? And some people may agree with you. But that's not how the justice system works. Kira is an abnormality. And we still don't know how he kills. But Kira obviously isn't omnipresent or he would've already known about Jasper Yuta and had him killed so he would no longer be a threat to the public. Jasper Yuta according to his profile is unredeemable. I'm surprised at you, Light. You're normally more collective then this."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Ryuzaki," Light said. "And people like Jasper Yuta should never see the light of day."

L looked at him curiously. "Is this a personal view?"

"After what I've learned, yes." Light clenched a fist. "But, to remind you yet again, Ryuzaki, I am not Kira! And stop looking at me as if looks could kill. I'm not the Second Kira either."

L waved a hand, as if to prevent an ensuring argument. "Okay, getting back to Jasper Yuta." He pointed to something on the large monitor, after he scrolled down a couple of pages in the dossier. "It says here in this line—I can speed-read, too, Light—though not clarified, and yet after what we just heard from Mr. Yagami, this could refer to you, Light: 'Incident involved with an unnamed underaged boy—13 years of age—not related to father'. Mr. Yagami, can you clarify this for us? If possible?"

Soichiro gasped. "Oh, I almost forgot about this," he said. "The second incident with Jasper."

Light's brow rose. "Second?"

"When Jasper's father was fist apprehended, Jasper was sent to a child institution for troubled youths because he was only ten years old," Soichiro began, recalling the information mentally, but it could probably be found in Yuta's profile down the list. "Then when Jasper was twelve, he was transferred to a youth offenders mental institution, with higher security, because he showed signs of instability and psychotic behaviour like his father, and he kept attacking the orderlies. When he was thirteen, he escaped one night and came after Light, blaming Light for his father's incarceration. He broke into our home—how he knew where we lived after we moved even I don't know—and got into Light's room as everyone slept, and held a kitchen knife to Light's throat, and threatened to kill him if Light didn't repent for his sins."

Light was dumbfounded and he involuntarily put a hand to his throat.

Soichiro continued. "Kira appeared on the scene two years ago and we learned Yoma Yuta took his own life in his cell during one of Kira's mass killing sprees. Kira's MO is a heart attack, but we do know that Kira conducted tests to see if a person can be controlled before they died. The NPA suspected at the time that Yoma Yuta may have been controlled and hung himself at Kira's behest. The minute I saw his name on the list of criminals Kira killed, I tried to kept closer tabs on his son. Luckily, Jasper Yuta is safely locked up."

"Ah yes, it does say that Jasper's father did kill himself in the file further down the page," L verified. "And it's a classic case of deflection by Jasper Yuta, blaming someone else for what happened to another just because they were involved. Go on."

"I don't remember any of this, Dad," Light said shocked.

Siochiro said, "He held a knife to your throat, son—and Jasper shouted for you to repent for your sins, and that's when we, your mother and I, entered and saw the scene hearing the screams—but it was you, Light, that won the day." Light blinked surprised, intrigued. "Remember those martial arts classes I had you take, and claimed it was training in preparation for police foundation courses?" Light nodded. "Well, they were actually self-defence courses, just in case, heaven forbid what happened did happen, and Jasper came after you. Long story short, you used what you learned and incapacitated him. However, he managed to get one blow in—a kick—before I pounced on him, and you bumped your head on your bed post which later we learned caused short term memory loss. You forgot all about the incident completely."

"That would explain things," Light said, nodding. He folded his hands in front of his face, reflective.

"I was hoping the memory loss would be permanent." His father signed. "But now, with this dream, and with what I just told you. Are you angry with me, son?"

Light spread his arms apart. "Why, Dad? Because you tried to protect me?" He shook his head, lowering his arms. "You did what any parent would have done." Soichiro smiled. "If I did remember, it would have haunted me for the rest of my life, and maybe, I wouldn't be the person I am today."

L mused curiously. "The person you are today, that's an interesting thing to say. Oddly enough, past experiences do forge a person's future psyche, whether they realize it or not. I'm not saying one way or the other, but this may have something to do with your embattlement with criminal justice and why you are so hellbent on—dare I say it—catching Kira, or—"

Light gave him a nasty look. "Finish that thought, Ryuzaki, and I'll punch you!"

"Okay," L ceased. "Let me put it another way. When you first came to the task force, before we jailed you for fifty days, you said something about the possibility of suffering from a form of dissociative personality disorder, or a multiple personality, when it came to being Kira." He put up a hand up to halt Light from interrupting when he saw it coming. "Let me finish," he said, then continued. "Putting that into context, there is something to be said about projecting your need for justice in another form, as a different person, not unlike your own. However, most people who suffer from DPD, are not cognitive of their different personalities. Therefore, we have to conclude, and this is the part I don't like, because you claim you don't remember doing anything regarding Kira's acts, that you, Light are not Kira. If you were knowledgable of the murders, I think masking Kira's true personality would be difficult—and you show no signs of psychopathic behaviour; some OCD—" —L's brow rose, Light frowned— "but no psychopathic tendencies."

Light nodded. "Logic cannot lie," he said.

"Anyway, I agree with you about Kira, to a certain extent. But people can lie. If Kira's powers can be transferred somehow, and all memories erased, and to acquire later after things have calmed down, then this could explain why your memories are gone regarding Kira's killings."

Light gave Ryuzaki another nasty look. "Do you want that punch in the mouth, Ryuzaki? Because I swear…"

"It's too bad you refuse to be hypnotized, it would clear so many things."

Light jumped out of his chair, but his father caught him in time before he reached L. He struggled against his father's grip, but eventually Light relented and then dropped back into his chair, huffed, crossed his arms, and rotated his chair back to a desk laptop.

"You need to control that temper, Light," L said. "One day it will be your undoing."

"I don't need to be psychoanalyzed by you, Ryuzaki," Light replied curtly. "Let's just get back to the Kira Case and worry about Jasper Yuta later. His file says he's locked up in a maximum security institution. So, there's no sense in worrying about him. Let him rot. I, frankly, don't give a damn about him. What I want most is to clear my name."

"And let's all pray for that, Light," L said. "Because you'd make a great detective someday."

To be continued…

Two male orderlies in white short-sleeve shirts, pants, and sneakers, escorted the nineteen year old to the therapist office. The "resident" was wearing a strait jacket that secured his arms within. The teen was fidgeting within and it hadn't been the first time he had fitted with one.

The journey down the sickening disinfectant drenched hallway was enough to make the teen sick. Everything was just so clean, including the lies told to the doctors—about any beatings and abuse by the orderlies on the patients in the institution. And when asked about any bruises, the residents were ordered to lie, too scared to get a more severe beating later on.

Compared to the two accompanying him, the teen looked malnourished and unhealthy, skinny. The two men were large, but not too hefty to be fat—but they did fill out the clothes they wore.

One orderly pushed the teen forward and the teen stumbled a few steps. It was widely known, and there had been several complaints by the institution's residents—although none of them got past administration—and that these two orderlies were the worse. This was but one institution for the criminal and mentally insane for young adults, built and tucked away from the general public—this one in Japan. Few knew about it, and others didn't want to anyone to know.

Several lowly media stories had been done on this particular institution, and every report gave it a warming glow, saying that the residents were treated with respect and humane. Some would disagree, namely a choice few of the residents that the two particular orderlies targeted. But when a reporter came to interview the staff, these "troublesome residents" were locked away.

That included Jasper Yuta, son of Yoma Yuta, also known as "The Child Butcher of Japan". And he had a reputation for being the most troublesome. He had a nickname among the residents: "Straight-Jacket Yuta", which he took in stride, but they would never say it to his face. He had the record of being wrapped in a jacket the most at the institution and sent to isolation more times than even Jasper could remember. Someone once made the mistake of calling him "Straight-Jacket Yuta" to his face, and the next thing the resident knew, he woke up in the infirmary with three broken ribs, a broken nose, and two blackened eyes.

The other residents respected or rather feared him, obeying him without question, and giving him whatever he wanted. Except for the staff and especially these two orderlies.

The therapists office was a spacious room and furnished with soft, big furniture, and was everything was secured down. It was also policy to never bring in anything that could be used as a weapon by a resident and to lock up all personal items before a session began.

Jasper came to this room once a week to speak with therapist as part of his rehabilitation—and he laughed at the very thought of—although most saw him as irredeemable, even his records noted this. But for the sake of his rights, he was afforded these sessions, if only it gave Jasper one hour a week out of his room.

He had been coming here for four years straight, ever since he was transferred from an another institution, and one before that. Since his arrival, he was watched like a hawk. And even though it was illegal, every resident in this institution had a GPS pellet surgically implanted under their skin, and if it was forcibly removed, the dye would leak into their bloodstream and poison them. Jasper had learned this first hand. And for security purposes, each resident was also fitted with a shock collar that would electrocute them like a dog if they left a certain boundary. The orderlies liked to shock Jasper at will with a control box they kept on them.

Jasper vowed one day he would get his revenge.

Of course, if anyone knew about either item, human rights groups would be in an uproar. So, it was kept under wraps, in conjunction with Japanese judiciary bodies, controversial as it was.

The therapist stood in the middle of the room next to a one-seater chair, which sat next to a light blue, large, but soft couch. He wasn't a particularly tall man, but he had a presence about him that made him look both educated and confident—with many years of experience. But he was not Japanese, he was American. It was also policy in this institution to pair residents with therapists who not only spoke their language fluently, but who also compared to them nationally. Apparently, it made the residents feel more comfortable, albeit the racial undertones of the practice. However, it worked. And avoided any conniptions by the residents. And since Jasper was American born, they aligned him with an American therapist, who spoke English.

Jasper straightened himself to his full height and glanced back at the two orderlies, gazing at them with a smug look. This was the only place where he was the boss in this institution, and where the orderlies would not get their way—not in front of the therapist. Oh, he could rat them out—tell the therapist what has been happening here, but then there would be an internal investigation, and it could take weeks for any results. And in the meantime, he would probably suffer a horrible accident. And besides, he knew the therapist was in on all of it. These sessions were just for show, the entire room wired for sound with cameras.

The middle-aged, fair-skinned, therapist sat down in a one-seater blue fabric chair—everything in the room were "happy" colours, the furniture blue, the walls a canary yellow—with a note pad in hand, and he adjusted his round glasses on his face. He had a colonial beard and Jasper thought of him similar to Colonel Sanders, the Kentucky Fried Chicken ikon.

"Please gentlemen, there's no need for that jacket any further," Dr. Aton Jeffries said to the two American orderlies. "In here, I prefer to talk with my patients with openness." The orderlies protested, knowing how "difficult" and dangerous Jasper could be.

Jasper Yuta smirked. In Japan, Americans were both loved and hated at the same time, but they made the best enforcers for authority, because they not only looked meaner, but it only added to their dislike of their differences. Both men frowned, and then returned a nasty stare to the teen. Yuta knew he would get a beating for his smirk later and they'd blame him for misbehaving. But Jasper took for what it was at the moment. He had survived a lot of severe beatings from these two.

"Idiots like you two need to respect their intelligential betters," Jasper said.

"See, he's being contentious again," one said. It was the orderly known as Joseph.

Jasper's brow arched. "Impressive, you actually do have a brain. Contentious is a big word for an moron like you. At least your boyfriend has enough brains to stay silent here. As it is said, better to think you're are a fool than open your mouth and dismiss all doubt."

The "boyfriend", or other orderly—called Eugene—went to backslap Jasper.

"Ok, that's enough," the therapist said. "I've read your file, Jasper, and it does say you have a very high IQ, but to belittle others is beyond some, don't you agree?"

"I get bored easily, doc, and there are only so many crossword puzzles and sudoko a person can do," he said snidely, as the orderlies roughly began unstrapping the straight jacket form him, and then twirled Jasper around to yank it off him. Jasper pushed Joseph. Joseph grabbed Jasper by his white undershirt. "Go ahead, big guy," he taunted. "I dare ya! But one day, you'll be begging me for mercy."

"Like your boyfriend begs you every night. So what's the 'secret word' tonight, eh?"

Eugene growled angrily. "Shut you, you little shit!" He then shoved Jasper back.

"Doc, if Jasper makes any trouble, let us know immediately," Joseph said.

"I will, but I very much doubt he will with the surveillance in the room," Dr. Jeffries said, reminding Jasper.

Jasper mocked Joseph and Eugene with a phantom kiss. He enjoyed ticking them off. It was fun, despite the beatings he got whenever afterward. But he came to expect a beating from either one of them whenever no one was watching whether or not Jasper misbehaved. They were both sadistic.

The two men left and locked the door behind them. Jasper snickered softly to himself, and then straightened, reverting his demeanour accordingly, and turned back to the therapist.

"I'm glad you let cooler heads prevail," the therapist said calmly.

"Intelligence can be the difference between life and death," Jasper said coolly.

The therapist nodded and then wrote something down on his note pad.

Jasper took a brief glance around the room, looking at the position of the cameras. There were four, one in each corner of the room with audio. He knew the CCTV was capturing everything.

"Come Jasper, have a seat. Let's have a conversion," he said, gesturing to the couch. "I'm eager to begin this session. I heard you had some excitement this week. Administration said you were watching television on Tuesday and suddenly you became violent for some reason. Care to tell me about it? What on television made you upset? I know the news is very disheartening these days, but the residents are not allowed to watch any programs of that sort. However, you did manage to access a channel. You are a clever person, Jasper. So, what did you see?"

"Nothing that you need to concern yourself with, doc," Jasper said superciliously. Jasper cocked his head slightly. "There's something different about you today."

The therapist smirked. "I thought you'd notice," he said. "You have a keen eye."

Dr. Jeffries brushed back his hair. He had had not had a haircut in months and it was getting very long, but the staff would not allow him to tie it up with anything for fear of it being used against them.

Jasper remained standing, folding his arms. "I don't like change," he said.

"Sometimes a little change is its own therapy, Jasper," Jeffries said. "Please, sit."

Jasper nodded, accepting the therapist's answer. "Wise words, doc," he said, then took a seat on the couch, next to the one-seater. The therapist crossed a leg over a knee, Jasper mimicked the action. Jeffries put the notepad in his lap and clasped his hands. Jasper did the same. The therapist dropped his leg and then crossed the other one over the knee. Jasper did the same.

"Are we going to continue playing these silly games every time we meet, Jasper?"

Jasper smirked playfully. "Just having a little fun, doc," he said. "But if you prefer I get serious…" Jasper dropped his legs, put his hands into his lap, and produced a pout. "Is that better? The typical miserable patient…" he said, speaking slowly with a sarcastic tone. But then he burst out laughing. "Sorry, but I'm not the sort of person to act dreary. Maybe it's my bipolar disorder."

Dr. Jeffries went back to crossing one leg comfortably over a knee. It was clear a sign that he was relaxed. "Your offences are lengthy, including multiple assault charges on other residents, attacks on staff members, and one account of sexual deviancy with another resident in the communal showers—who had just been transferred to this institution just last year."

Jasper frowned, his mood suddenly changed. "And why are you bringing this up now? And besides, whether he told it differently, it was consensual. This is a male only institution and they don't allow conjugal visits. I needed release from the stress of this place. I had to get my rocks polished somehow and he gave me the opportunity. I didn't mind he was a guy. A little change is its own therapy, right?"

Jasper smiled largely. Dr. Jeffries frowned. It seemed the therapist didn't like have his own words thrown back at him. "Please refrain from using pejorative slang, it's insulting to the victim. So, you decided to rape a fellow resident because you felt frustrated?" Jeffries paused for a moment. "It says in your file that you are straight, but you decided to have a homoerotic experience with another resident in the shower. You made him bleed and he attempted suicide twice."

"Three times, actually," Jasper said with a wolfish grin.

"Twice," the doctor corrected. "The third time he succeeded."

To be continued…

The therapist shook his head and wrote down something onto his notepad.

Jasper found it amusing that the doctor found his response so callous. It seemed to be a long note. "Ever heard of short-form, doc? It would cut down on the hand cramps," he said.

The therapist eyed him, but put down the pen after seemingly to dot a period, it reminded Jasper of a knife stab. And suddenly he had a flashback of his father stabbing meat. They were in a small, out of the way room, and his father was working, stabbing at something on a higher table. Jasper was only nine or ten at the time of this memory…

"Jasper…" the voice of his father resounded in his ears, the memory appeared to visualize in his mind, like he was right there, "go check on him. After this one, we'll lay low for a while."

Jasper obeyed his father's order and went to check on the young boy they had most recently kidnapped, the boy was locked in a small broom closest. He had an usual name, written in Japanese kanji like "god" or "moon". Jasper thought that was cool. But when he opened the door, the boy looked nothing special cowering in the back, dark corner. Jasper stood at the open door, and the boy just looked up at him with tears in his eyes.

"Please, I want to go home," the boy pleaded.

"No," Jasper flatly said. "Father says you're next." He then closed the door.

His father had collected the boy from his home while Jasper waited in the car. His father told him to remain in the car and he didn't dare refute him or Jasper knew he would get punished, another beating. So, when the boy was brought to the car, his mouth covered, he was put in the back trunk, and they drove away—to the warehouse.

The vivid imagery he had of the interior was that of a slaughter house with hanging chains and hooks for meat, but there were no animals. The place had been abandoned some time ago, located near a wharf. The floor was slimy and wet.

He also remembered when he closed the door on the boy, he had neglected to lock it, so naturally, the boy found his way out, and began wandering around for a way out, but ending up finding his way to his father's work area.

And he recalled his father calling, shouting for him, and then finding "he" had escaped his locked room.

It wasn't long afterward, the police swarmed the building, and arrested his father, and Jasper, and stuck to his claim that his father, when questioned, was being framed for crimes Jasper claimed he never saw. He hadn't seen anything the police or anyone else claimed his father did, or believed it—at the time.

"Now, getting back to what happened last Tuesday…" Dr. Aton Jeffries voice broke Jasper out his reverie, "…after you watched the news program. What did you see?"

"Oh, the news…" Jasper folded his arms defiantly. "Nothing, doc."

With a frustrated snort, Jeffries said, "Very well, let's move on." He reached underneath the chair and then brought out what looked to be a sketch book.

And immediately Jasper's jaw tightened, his arms unfolded. He stiffened. "Where did you get that?"

"From your room. I was given permission to borrow it for the session."

"That's an invasion of my privacy! What's in there is for my eyes alone!"

"I've already taken a look through it, Jasper." Jeffries flipped through the sketch book. "You're a very good artist. And with little or no training on depth of the humanly form, your sketches are quite remarkable." He stopped on one page, turned it over, and then asked, "Who is this?"

Jasper's lip jilted slightly and he eyed the therapist with an intense stare.

Jeffries didn't seem fazed. The page was open to the sketch of a young boy with shaggy hair, shaded in pencil. When Jasper behaved, he was afforded certain privileges, including drawing materials. Jasper enjoyed sketching. It was the one thing that kept him calm. Of course, those two orderlies often razed Jasper, and that caused a disturbance that often voided his privileges, so he couldn't draw as much as he would have liked, but when he did, he draw a lot.

But he was surprised the therapist had zoned in on this drawing in particular despite all the other drawings in the sketch book of landscapes, scenery, and generic doodles.

"You took something that didn't belong to you, doctor," Jasper said hotly, purposely using the full title of his profession instead of abbreviating it. "That is rude."

"So is not answering my question, Jasper. Is this someone you once knew?"

"You've read my file. You tell me."

Jasper eyed the therapist with a cold stare, but then drifted his gaze to the sketch. A fist clenched at his side. Jasper knew who the boy was, and considered him his mortal enemy. And it was a picture of the last time he'd seen him—six years ago.

"Very well," the therapist said, and then flipped through the sketch book some more. He flipped through so quickly that Jasper felt like the therapist was mocking each sketch with every turnover. He came to another one of his best sketches, Jasper thought, and the therapist turned it over. "Again, who is this boy? I want to hear his name from you." It sounded more like an order than a request.

"Do you think I am a pedophile, doctor? Just because I like to draw little, teenage boys?"

"I never said that. In fact, the coordinator here has informed me of exactly who this may be."

"Then why ask me a rhetorical question, doctor? I pegged you as an intelligent man, but right now, you've lost several points of respect." Jasper's lip curled up.

Jeffries paused, then closed the sketch book. "Have you been taking your medicine, Jasper?"

Jasper leaned his head back and let out a sigh, then he looked up at the ceiling. When he first arrived, he felt calm. Now, he felt his blood boiling after seeing his sketch book stolen from his room. "I grow tired of this session, doctor. And I grow tired of you."

"Is that a threat?"

"Take it however you want," Jasper said as calmly as he could.

He once again looked at the cameras throughout the room. He looked at one just above the door. And he noticed something odd, the green light at the bottom of the camera wasn't lit. Neither were any of the others, when he casually looked.

Were the cameras not working today? And then he recalled something he heard a few days back, that the CCTV would be under-going maintenance sometime today—Jasper wasn't supposed to hear that and he had forgotten about it until this moment. But whether or not the cameras were working, there was a hidden "panic button" under the therapist's chair. He smiled to himself, his mood brightening, and looked back at the therapist.

The therapist seemed to be staring at him, as if judging his body language. "I do take my meds, doc, and I'm always watched when I do, but they tastes like garbage. It turns my stomach."

"Your situation is unique, Jasper. Your medicines are specialized to combat each symptom of your 'sickness'. Your file says you take five different medicines a day and one of them is to control rage. You tried to kill this little boy six years ago, didn't you? After you cleverly escaped another institution. You're highly gifted, so you were able to by-pass the building's security systems. You tried to take revenge for your father's incarceration, didn't you?"

Jasper clenched his teeth inside a close mouth. The therapist was trying his patience.

"It was a case of mistaken identity, the police arrested the wrong person—for the record. My father didn't do anything they claim, and is certainly not 'The Child Butcher of Japan'. That 'nom de guerre' belongs to someone else, a killer who is still out there. And perhaps the police have it wrong and Kira has been working in the shadows for much longer than anyone realizes."

"Ah," Jeffries said with a breath, "now the truth of what you saw on television comes to light. Something about 'Kira'. Oh yes, I forgot. Supposedly, Kira killed your father in his jail cell some time ago. Do you want revenge on Kira for, assuming it is true, for killing your father?"

Jasper refused to fall for such an obvious ploy.

This was a classic question. It was also a way for him to reveal how he truly felt, true Freudian pop-psychiatry—the ID and Ego identification of wild passions and the demands for satisfaction vs the superego's crushing, authoritarian wants. But yes, he did blame Kira for killing his father, and wanted revenge. Family was family, after all.

After a few tense moments, Jeffries said, "Okay, let's put that aside. Tell me, what sort of man was your father? When you were with him, what kind of person was he to you? Granted, personal and objective perceptions often clash. Was he a loving father?"

Jasper snorted a laugh despite himself. "If you call a man who beat me almost on a daily bases, a loving father…but he was my father, and I obeyed him, even if that meant—"

He glared at the therapist and felt his emotions suddenly turn as cold as ice.

The therapist's eyes grew wide with the sudden affront.

Jasper stood up. "This session of over, doctor. I don't want to talk to you anymore. And return my sketch book, now." He snapped his fingers, but when the therapist seemingly refused. Jasper repeated, with more authority, "Now!"

Jasper went for it, and the therapist went for the panic button under the chair, but Jasper was too quick, and instead, he snatched the pen the doctor wrote with, and plunged it deep into the therapist's throat, clamping a hand down over the man's mouth so he couldn't cry out, even if he could with all the blood gushing out of the side of his neck. Jasper had hit his right carotid artery. Blood spattered Jasper's face, as he felt the man struggle, the therapist's strength quickly leaving him, as Jasper pressed harder, keeping the therapist from leaving the chair.

The doctor began to slouch, the fight leaving him, as the last vestiges of life left him, but his eyes remained open and wide, and Jasper knew the last thing the therapy would see would be his patient, with a wolfish grin, leaning over him basking in his last moments—a devil.

Finally, when the man was dead, Jasper grabbed his sketchbook. "I told you it was mine, doc," he said to the dead man. Momentarily putting it aside, its cover marked with crimson, Jasper moved fast. When he realized the cameras were not working, a plan formed, and now he put it into motion.

He rummaged through the doctor's jacket and found his cell phone.

"Tsk, tsk, doctor…you made two critical mistakes today. First was bringing a pen into our session instead of recorder to later transcribe our session, and second—this…" Jasper opened the flip phone. "And it doesn't even have a password. You've made this far too easy."

Using the SMS service, he quickly forwarded a short message to a number he had memorized. He just hoped the number was still active since the last time he used it six years ago. In fact, the person at the other end of the number had actually helped him escape his last institution back then, using cunning and tactfulness—whereas he aided Jasper in going after his target—Light Yagami. Little did he know, the last time they had encountered one another, Yagami had picked up a few new tricks, namely a couple of martial arts moves. And yet, so did Jasper.

Jasper looked back at the doctor. "Oh, and doctor, I remember everything. Who my father was, and what he did. Spending time in this place gave me perspective. And people like you are just too stupid to see true genius. What our family does, we do very well…it's sort of our modus operandi…or you could call it our murder operandi." He chuckled at his own joke. "Like father, like son…"

Visiting the internet on the phone, he typed in a name, and curiously enough, the very first search cited was of the person he was looking for. There was an up-to-date picture, very similar to that that was in his sketch book but older, and attached to a sports article. Light Yagami had won the Japan Junior Tennis Championship. Jasper was impressed.

He searched further, and found more up-to-date information on him—when he had graduated at the top of his class in high school, Valedictorian, in fact, and was one of two students who recited the Welcome Speech at Toho University, written in someone's personal blog who was attending the same university.

In the same blog, in a later entry, it also said that Light Yagami had been absent lately, and had been for weeks, without explanation, and people wondered why.

The information on the internet was astounding since the last time he visited it, and so easily accessible. He wasn't allowed to use a computer at the institution for fear that he might make contact with some of his old friends.

With more in-depth searching, he also learned that when he typed in Yagami, he found that Light's father was the former Chief Superintendent at the NPA—the National Police Force. But had resigned from the position. No reason given. Jasper also knew Soichiro Yagami was the man who had shot his father when he tried to resist, shooting his father in the leg.

Siochiro Yagami then turned his gun on Jasper, a child at the time, telling Jasper to freeze or die. Jasper later learned that it was from a tip from an unknown source that lead the police to their hideaway.

When Jasper looked further down the search engine list, other searches popped up connected to the letters NPA, and they referred to the notorious mass murderer Kira. Kira murdered criminals, and so far, he had had killed hundreds—by heart attacks. There was no where they could hide, according the information he read—nothing was off limits. Including his father, Yoma Yuta—whom Kira killed in his jail cell, hung from a bed sheet.

There was no doubt that Kira had murdered his father, albeit by supernatural means. If that was even conceivable.

He looked at the dead therapist, and after taking his wallet, and stealing any money and credit cards he had, and said, "To answer your question, doctor. I love my father. And I always will."

He looked at the clock on the wall, there was still forty-five minutes left in his therapy session.

He put his escape plan into action, one that he had been planning for quite sometime, waiting for the perfect opportunity. He had spent weeks getting more familiar with the institution layout, memorizing things like locations, patrols and checkpoints. It wasn't Fort Knox, but it was designed that keycards and fobs were needed to move through doors, and he had secretly stolen both. However, they would no doubt be deactivated by now after they were seen missing, so he would have to steal more.

He had a brilliant idea. He put an ear to the door of the room, and listened, then opened the door slightly, peaking through the crack. He had been surprised the door had not been locked. At the main reception desk, a woman who looked like she may have once had a film career in pornography—she was hot—picked up the phone when it rang twice. Jasper listened in.

She recited the name of the institution, and then finished with: "How may I help you? I'm sorry, sir. But patient information cannot be released to unauthorized persons over the phone. It's against policy. Are you a family member?…You're police?"

Just then, a large male orderly—Joseph—was walking down the hall, and then stopped at the desk. He noticed she was having some difficulty and asked what was wrong.

She covered the receiver with a hand, then said that a gruff sounding man was asking about a resident, but she couldn't give him any information as it was against policy. "He claims to be a policeman." Joseph's eyes seemed to open wider.

"Oh, him…Tell him everything is fine, and the resident is locked up tight. No worries." The receptionist paused. The orderly asked for the phone. "You wouldn't know him, as you're only filling in for the normal receptionist who is on vacation. This is a weekly call. I'll talk to him." He took the call. He recited his name, and then said, "Mr. Yagami, glad to hear from you again…Yes, Jasper Yuta is perfectly fine…Yes…He's currently in a therapy session at the moment…Yes…I can assure you, you have nothing to worry about…Yes, I'm glad to dissuade your worries. Thank you for your call."

With assurances made, the call ended on a positive note.

Joseph handed back the receiver to the receptionist, filled her in, and then began flirting with her, who seemed welcome to his advances.

To be continued...

Light Yagami lay in bed with his right arm resting under his head on a pillow. He stared up at the ceiling of his private, and yet not-so-private-room, with its many cameras inside.

There were at least a dozen cameras in the single bedroom alone. Then there were more in the bathroom, and other residing areas. Everywhere Watari could think of to put one, a camera was there. When he wasn't locked up to Ryuzaki with a long chain while they were in the epicentre of the Kira Task Force, Light was here, alone, and watched. Despite released from his cell, locked inside for fifty days, he still felt like prisoner, now of different sort. And yet, he agreed to the terms.

The headquarters of the Kira Task Force looked like an average building in the Kanto business core with its high-rise glass exterior, built with private funds—or so Ryuzaki said.

From the outside, there was nothing extraordinary about it. But on the inside, it housed a massive complex of rooms, with furnished residential suites, a library, sophisticated computer servers, a gaming suite with all the ware, and a large kitchen, and communal eating area. The building also had an exercise gym, and a small fully furnished entertainment room, a private theatre with rows of seats, and there was even a "panic room"—a place where a person could "hide" for whatever the reason.

Light was offered the privilege to use everything as long as he was watched, but chained to Ryuzaki like some caged animal. And at first, the sleeping arrangements were a bit tenuous, but Light eventually got his own room after all the cameras were installed. He was chained to Ryuzaki when he was let out. Every morning, Ryuzaki would personally release him, attach himself to Light, and the day would start with them connected, Light never leaving L's sight.

All Light wanted to do was find Kira and clear his name, the temporary indignity was worth it.

If L was right, then Kira's powers bordered on the supernatural and could be transferred from person to person, and thus Kira's true identity was forever undetectable. Where did Kira come from? And why did Kira have such an infinitesimal sense of justice against evil? And yet, he murdered twelve innocent FBI agents because he didn't want to get caught? Is Kira actually good or bad? And did his plight began with pureness in his heart, but end up turning dark?

Light wondered this and other questions about the Kira Case. He had been up since 4am, laying in bed. According to his watch now, it was just after 6am.

There was debate on whether Kira was evil or just determined—online debate.

L and the rest of the task force were staunch in their belief that Kira was pure evil, but Light wasn't so sure. And he pondered whether what Kira was doing was actually making the world safer and free of crime. The world was a rotten place. With Kira, it was becoming better. And he thought some of the things he thought aligned with Kira's philosophy. It was scary.

Yet, he kept those opinions to himself.

He wondered if he had the same power, what would he do? Would he act the same way as Kira? He knew some criminals were better off dead, so they wouldn't re-offend. Some were even irredeemable, like Jasper Yuta, and yet Kira had left them alone. But then, there were some people were just caught in horrible situations and then imprisoned with minor offences, or were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Did Kira know the difference, or did Kira kill indiscriminately? Kira was a flurry of contradictions.

There were reports that some criminals had gone underground and were now using aliases to hide themselves. This made it nearly impossible for Kira to kill them. And more and more, criminal profiles and their real names were disappearing from the web, as if they were erasing themselves. One moment, he would be researching criminal profiles on the web, as if a way to connect to Kira, and then the next, an error came up, as if the file had been suddenly deleted—even from the Dark Web with expert prowess.

Fourteen criminals were murdered just last week, one per day.

L had no idea how Kira was doing it, but he still kept theorizing this was all a masquerade by the "real" Kira to keep hidden in the shadows until the heat died down, and this was possibly one of his "lackeys" keeping up appearances.

Light didn't buy that, because if it were true true, then L's original hunch that Light was Kira would be highly plausible, but Light knew without a shadow of doubt he was not Kira!

Kira's recent killings were prominent business men, and Light wondered if Kira had found a new niche—that Kira was now selling his services to the highest bidder. But he hadn't brought it to anyone's attention yet. This wasn't Kira's modus operandi. Why would Kira suddenly start murdering businessmen? The original Kira, and even the Second Kira, had vastly different goals. If so, was there another Kira—one with a different agenda?

Ryuzaki theorized there was originally one Kira, then a Second Kira branched onto the scene, but neither Light or Misa remembered any of the crimes they were supposedly accused of, as if their memories were completely erased of all occurrences.

Now Light was helping L to catch Kira.

This case had so many bizarre facets and even Light was losing track of things, and he had an eddietic memory—or he thought he did. He felt lost right now, and he didn't know what to do, and it brought him a sense of trepidation. What if they never found Kira, would he be chained to Ryuzaki for the rest of his life?

And something else nagged at Light's mind, and he found himself switching from the Kira Case to Jasper Yuta.

Who are you? Why can't I remember you? And why won't Dad let me see the case files?

He thought long and hard, but couldn't come up with anything—his memories of the incidents with Jasper Yuta seemingly empty. And it felt like what his father had told him, those experiences, had belonged to something else.

And yet, there was that strange dream.

Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote Sherlock Holmes, said: "When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

He didn't want to think of it, but maybe Ryuzaki was correct in suggesting hypnotism, and that his memories of that time should come to the surface, even if forced. If they didn't resurface, it would bother him until they did and he wouldn't be able to concentrate on the Kira Case.

Perhaps that's why he felt restless? And hIs subconscious was working in the background trying to piece together everything like a jigsaw puzzle.

No, he should let these memories re-surface on their own. But he still couldn't believe that something like that had happened to him without remembering it.

"Forget about it," he told himself, turning over on his side, closing his eyes. "Just get some sleep. All will be revealed in time. Just let it come naturally."

---

In the epicentre, L sat crouched on a chair alone, and watched Light close his eyes and doze off—even this early in the morning. L had been up all night.

He didn't consider what he was doing voyeurism, instead he was watching Light for any reaction at all. Light knew he was being watched, but he didn't appear nervous by the fact. But what was making him restless? Was his mind racing about what he heard from his father about Jasper Yuta? It would be a shock to anyone.

Dawn was breaking, and the task force members would be rolling in soon, but despite his "all-nighter", L still had no new information to share. He had reviewed Light's computer work, what sites he visited, and all his research—in the hopes of finding Kira. And yet, there were no new need leads. There weren't even any connections to any of Kira's recent victims that he could see—despite Kira's newest victims where in the business sector.

He had never faced a case like this before and perhaps things were clouding his judgement. And he wished he could "call a fiend" to help. And he meant, fiend—not friend. Someone from his past that had connections to the occult, a criminal he had put away after a lengthy case. The BB Murder Case.

He shook his head, shoving that idea away. He licked his left index finger after finishing off a chocolate sundae. No wonder he was up all night with all the sugar he ate.

He went back and reviewed Jasper Yuta's profile and the case files of Yoma Yuta. The case itself was horrific, and a dozen young children had been butchered by a sadistic maniac derived from a mental illness. The only constellation for the parents of the children who had been killed was that the killer had been brought to justice. But it was still unknown the true reason for why Yoma Yuta did what he did to those children. And there was no way to dwell into the mind of this serial killer, because another serial killer had killed him with extreme prejudice.

"Damn you, Kira…"

Criminals were sentenced to jail to pay for their crimes, but Kira killed them instead. Some criminals got off on technicalities, and if their names were misspelled, for example, or the justice system couldn't convict a person based on a lack of evidence, or someone lied, and yet only a few slipped passed Kira's judgement, Kira spared them—for whatever reason.

L theorized Kira's power could be transferred from person to person. But from what he could gather, Light Yagami nor Misa Amane were participating in anything untold regarding these new batch of killings. Both claimed they had no knowledge of what came before, or anything of Kira's movements. However, with the mention of the word Shinigami by the Second Kira in a television broadcast, it did implore the possibility of something other-worldly taking place.

"Kira scares me…" L heard the quiet, sweet voice of Watari from a speaker box—what was he doing up at this early hour? "I don't like this case one bit." His face suddenly blinked on screen in front of L, large and in living colour. Every time L saw the old octogenarian, he felt at ease.

L smiled. "Neither do I, Watari," L returned softly.

"I have put in previsions just in case of an unfavourable outcome," Watari then said. "Although, I hope this case is solved without any unforeseen casualties." L didn't need it said. "You have solved every case put before you, L, but this has been one of the most bizarre ones."

"I agree, but I truly believe I have been right all along," L said, turning to look at Light Yagami on screen. He had just turned off over after a couple of hours of restlessness. The audio on the room indicated that Light had finally fallen asleep. He would not wake him for a couple of hours, if it could be helped. "But truthfully, I have no idea how prosecute this case even if we did find Kira."

"You could do the same for B." Watari's voice was sombre. L understood the man's sadness. The details of the L.A. BB Murder Case must way heavily on the old man's soul. The past always had a way of coming back to haunt a person if it wasn't properly dealt with. Your predecessor betraying the very fabric of everything you hold dear was enough to cause extreme doubt in ever trusting anyone ever again.

L was silent. If it was up to him, he would have put this case to bed long ago.

L was positive that he had captured Kira when he first incarcerated Light Yagami—the evidence was solid—but then Kira slipped through his fingers with a sudden amnesia excuse. It had been a ploy at first, L knew, a way for the heat to die down for Kira. Light had all his facilities. But then something happened, and Light did, in fact, loose his memories. L saw a difference in Light's body language, his facial expressions, and his tone. Had Kira been controlling Light?

Earlier, he had suggested hypnotism. It wasn't out of the blue. Some people thought the act of hypnotizing someone was something only a magician did and it was to play to the audience, but there was an art to it. Hypnotism was a legitimate medical practise with a high success rate when done properly. And, if indeed, someone out there was "brainwashing" people into doing unspeakable acts, driving them to kill in bizarre ways, then there may not be a supernatural method to Kira after all, but one whereas it was all done through medical means—like the old Victorian case of Jack The Ripper.

So, were Light Yagami and Misa Amane really not conscious of these acts of Kira?

But there was the mention of Shinigami in one of the Second Kira's broadcasts, a god of death. When L first took on the case, no such thing occurred to him—although the L.A. BB Murder Case came very close. That case, however, dealt many with another methods of trickery, such as a Locked Room mystery—how a person was killed within a locked room. Still, something about how Kira killed now and details of that other case struck similar cords.

"I don't think you have 'the Eyes", the Second Kira had mentioned. A mention to see a person's name while looking at their face to kill them? Why would Kira need either? If Kira was a god, a simple snap of a finger would be all it would take. No, there was something beyond reason happening here, and L was damn sure to get to the bottom of it.

L tilted his head a little. "BB," he muttered to himself quietly. "Should I really contact you and ask you for advise on this case?"

"I wouldn't recommend it, L," came Watari's voice, with a stern, parental tone. "I know what you're thinking, and if you know what it would mean."

L nodded. It would give BB the victory he sought when they battled in Los Angeles. "I completely understand, Watari, and your advise is always welcome. But I had already decided not to."

Light had turned over, and was now muttering something in his sleep. "Don't, don't. What have you done? They're…only kids…like me!"

Was Light's subconscious recalling the "Jasper Yuta" dream again? By way of dream analysis, it was a way for the brain to bring to the surface something it wanted the conscious mind to know, or to be re-awakened within. And now that Light's father had told him what had happened, perhaps Light's brain wanted the rest to broach its way to the surface further.

But why now? Could it be as simple as working on the Kira Case that triggered this old memory? As his Soichiro Yagami inferred?

Watari said, "You know, Light Yagami reminds me of—"

Suddenly, Light Yagami bolted upright in his bed and screamed as if he just had a horrific nightmare. L had to put his hands to ears because the volume had been turned up.

L jumped out his chair and quickly took the elevator down one floor to the residential complex, and as he ran down the hallway, he knocked heavily on Soichiro Yagami's sleeping quarters door near his son's, saying, "Mr. Yagami, your son needs you!"

The door to Soichiro Yagami's door whipped open, as L made his way down the corridor to Light's room. "Ryuzaki, what is it?"

L used his key card to open Light's secured room and glanced back at Soichiro Yagami as he entered, but didn't say anything. He disappeared into Light's room.

Sitting over the edge of the bed, Light was breathing heavy with his arms to his chest as if he was having a heart attack. He looked up as L burst into the room. L figured it was more of a panic attack from the nightmare. It must have been bad. Light's hair was saturated with sweat and messed around, and he looked ashen like he had seen a ghost.

"Ryuzaki?" Light looked surprised.

"Light, are you okay?" L asked. "That must have been some nightmare."

Soichiro Yagami rushed into the room wearing a housecoat, adjusting his glasses. "Light, what's the matter?" He sat down next to his son on the bed and Light suddenly leaned in and pressed his head against his father's chest, and hugged his father, like a scared child. "Light…"

"It was him, Dad…"

This was uncharacteristic of Light, he actually looked physically shaken. And the mental trauma was very real, L saw.

"I recall everything, Dad," Light said, his body literally shaking. "All of it! Jasper and his father. Oh, Dad…it was horrible. Jasper's father was going to cut me into pieces like those other kids. He was holding the meat clever, when you burst in. You shot Yoma Yuta in the leg. Jasper was going to attack you, but you stopped him dead in his tracks."

L momentarily saw Light as a little boy cradled in his father's hands after he had just seen something horrific, needing the security of a parent. Even though Light was nineteen now, memory had no barrier, and often, fear was the most profound emotion humanity could experience resulting in PTSD. Light Yagami, at present, was shell-shocked. And Light silently crying in his father's arms. He didn't blame Light. All those memories flooding back would be intense.

Soichiro Yagami put a hand to his son's head and cradled him in his arms. "It's okay, Light. Everything is fine now. I'm here."

L was a little taken aback. This was actual raw emotion from Light that he thought he'd never see. This was not typical from the person whom he thought was Kira. Kira was a psychopath, he would never get scared like this. Perhaps, he may have been wrong about Light Yagami. Many people had opinions about criminals, but Light Yagami was expressing a completely different personality than the serial killer L had been hunting. If this was Light playacting, then he was an extremely good actor.

Soichiro Yagami looked up at L. "Do you see now, Ryuzaki? You're wrong about my son."

L opened his mouth to say something when his phone rang. He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled it out, holding it to his ear with two fingers, thumb and fore finger, like it were made of glass. He answered: "Yes?"

It was Watari. His voice could be heard in the silence. "Ryuzaki, you wished to be informed if there was any change in the current situation regarding Jasper Yuta…" L's eyes widened with surprise. L snapped a look at Soichiro Yagami. "Mr. Yagami—terrible news! Jasper Yuta has just escaped!"

To be continued…

Times had changed since the last time he was on his own, free from the walls of an institution. The World of Kira, as some called it, was a much different place from what he remembered.

People walked the streets unmolested and unafraid of criminals, knowing that if something untold happened to them, they would report it on the internet for Kira to enact justice. Except when the victim was murdered and they couldn't tell the tale of their molestation. Crimes happened, but rarely these days.

And this is how Jasper Yuta was able to solve his dilemma of being undetected when he broke out of the mental institution that kept him prisoner—stealing an unsuspecting man's identity, money, and cell phone, so the phone could not be tracked by those who had the ability. He crushed the therapist's phone under foot.

He then recalled how previous events unfolded.

After he had murdered the therapist with his own pen, Jasper collected items that he would need to make his escape. Then, knowing the signal to alert the desk, he first retrieved the pen from Dr. Wallace's throat—sarcastically thanking him for his help—and then flicked a switch on the wall that extinguished a light above the door outside indicating the session was over.

When an orderly opened the door, Jasper stepped back, and allowed the orderly to enter. There was just the one—Eugene. Joseph, was no doubt, still flirting with the receptionist at the main desk. Once Eugene entered, Jasper then shut the door quickly, and stabbed the man fast and furiously, like he did the doctor, in the throat with the pen, so he couldn't call out. The man died almost instantaneously.

Jasper stole what he needed from Eugene, a new keycard and fob, and last but not least, found an illegal pocket knife that the orderly had in his pants pocket.

He had used it on Jasper more than once for intimidation. Jasper then braved the hurt and cut out the GPS pellet that was implanted in his left forearm that this institution implored to keep track of the residents and pushed it down Eugene's throat as a final insult. He also cut off the throat shock collar and threw it down. He was no dog.

He stepped out casually from the therapist's office, ever watched, smiled at the one of the female nurses that walked by—he had cleaned himself up before hand—and then headed down the hall, now wearing Eugene's clothes. He looked like a young orderly. No one stopped him.

Until he ran into another orderly whom Jasper was familiar with. The orderly eyed him suspiciously, as Jasper walked by him. But didn't stop him. The orderly obviously had other matters to content with, and didn't bat an eye on Jasper, believing he was just another orderly—or helper, dressed in the proper clothing.

Jasper went to his room.

Once inside, Jasper quickly collected what he needed—what was necessary, but travelling light—dressed causally, and then left his room again by way of a near-by stairway using the dead orderly's keycard and fob to exit the institution without being apprehended, quickly walking out to freedom.

He then broke into a car, hot-wired it, and drove out of the parking lot, all the while thanking his dear-departed father for the skill-sets to allow him to set himself free.

---

Eight hours later, Jasper Yuta found himself in the not-so-best-part of town. But even in this new world of Kira, there were still places like this sortie hotel, where for enough money, you could get anything your heart desired, even welcome company. And after what he had stolen from the man he left dead in a back alley, he could afford to, with both gold and platinum charge cards, with virtually unlimited spending limits. He knew his good fortunate would not last long, so he took what he could before it ended.

Rich bastard, he thought. But now I'm all the richer for it.

He lay in a hotel bed, sheets half-off, next to his sleeping company: a beautiful, and very willing, Japanese young prostitute, who had no reservations in engaging in every act he inclined. It had been some time since, not counting the time in the shower, he had been with another person. Some people thought sex was sex, but they were wrong. It wasn't with whom you did it with, it was all about the quality. And with this female prostitute, it confirmed he enjoyed women even more.

He scrolled through the new phone. He sent a new message to his contact from it explaining the new number to reach him. There were several return messages. Obviously, the person got them. Jasper smiled. He told the person to meet him here, giving him the address.

Putting down the phone, he gave a slight glance to his company, then shuffled out of the bed, and walked to the window, bare. The day was just beginning and the sun crept over the horizon.

The prostitute moaned sheepishly, as he quickly got dressed in new clothes, grey slacks and a white shirt, that he had stolen from the man he had robbed and killed. Once the institution noticed he was missing, his attire would no doubt be marked. The clothes fit well, a little baggy, but he would get better clothes later and more to his personality. He liked black.

He readied himself for the things that were yet to come—namely his revenge on everyone who ruined his life. Light Yagami being his number one target.

A rapping came at the door, and he opened it.

On the other end, older than the last he remembered, stood his contact from the phone. He smiled a boyish grin, casting a quick glance over tinted sunglasses. His hair had a streak of white from front to back like a skunk—that was new, Jasper thought—and his clothes were dark, as if he liked to stay in the shadows. He had also put on a little muscle, but his faith in Christ still shone brightly with a crucifix dangling on a chocker chain. His friend was a firm believer in a god that oversaw Heaven and earth, who punished the wicked and spiteful. But in this new era of Kira, Jasper wondered if his faith in that god was still relevant anymore.

"Matt, good to see you again," Jasper said, with a hug. "It's been a while."

Matt put a finger to his lips. "Don't use my real name, J. You've been away too long. This is the new age of Kira we live in. Those of us who live underground have adopted a new system of identification and have tried to erase our past lives, so Kira can't kill us. No one knows how Kira kills, but it's some supernatural thing. Call me Tristan now."

Jasper gave a smirk. "Are you and 'Isolde' still together? Or did that fizzle out, my Celtic friend?" He chucked. The names made reference to the 12th century medieval chivalric romance tale about young, illicit love.

Tristan gave him an incredulous smirk. "Very funny," he said dryly. "No, she's waiting for us. It was best that only one of us came to collect you; Galileo's waiting there, too." Jasper expressed a little confusion. He took a moment to think, but then smiled when he recalled yet another one of his friends. "Did you have fun on your first day of freedom?" Tristan looked at the bed and at the beautiful whore half exposed sleeping on the bed. "Ah, she's a looker. Get what you needed?"

"And more," Jasper said. "Are the police looking for me?"

Tristan nodded. "We better get going," he said.

"She can identify me."

"Yeah," Tristan said, his tone dejected, "too bad. But I came prepared."

He removed his sunglasses, and sticking one end into his shirt, he took out a thin pair of latex gloves from a pocket. With a gloved hand, he then took out a syringe, flicked off the cap, and pulled back the depressor.

Tristan went to the bed, slapped his free hand to her face—which woke her—and plunged the sharp needle deep into her chest, depressing it. Her eyes widened with shock, she then began to convulse and jerk, finally her head went limp. He replaced the cap and inserted the capped syringe back into his pocket.

Jasper was shocked. Her eyes, nose, and mouth began to bleed—she had died instantly. He snapped a look at Tristan.

"Galileo can explain it better," Tristan said. "But it's the medical equivalent of a heart attack and similar to air decompression. When she's looked at by a coroner, it'll be blamed on Kira. I pumped air into her heart, basically blowing her arteries. Like a heart attack."

Jasper was a little taken aback by the gruesomeness of the murder. It was a horrible and cruel way to die, but he knew no traces that he had been here had to remain. When they were leaving, anyone else who had seen him was eliminated in a similar fashion, taken aside and killed. Tristan was thorough in every detail, and each death would be attributed to Kira when investigated because they corresponded to his killing methods. They left through a back way.

Jasper got into a sidecar of a black motorcycle that was parked, and put a helmet on. Tristan put on a helmet, revved up the bike, and then pulled out into the street.

Within fifteen minutes, they parked behind an average looking eatery called "The Angel D". Tristan explained it was a play on words: The Angel of Death (Kira) Cafe, a humorous tribute to the god of death. The name was not to praise Kira yet to mock him, but it did serve devilishly good food, and other services, which catered to the best the underworld had to offer. Despite Kira's presence, the underworld still thrived deep in the bowels of Japan's underbelly.

Everyone engaged in criminal activity had to have an alias nowadays. Those who failed to go underground, or chose not to expunge their records was targeted by Kira and later died—especially those already in prison.

Kira targeted prisoners all around the world—eliminating the worse the world had conjured. Then Kira went level-by-level, killing lesser criminals.

The media was all over the killings, and their rantings boomed when Kira made a high profile killing. There were even cults who worshipped Kira, and TV shows—even one called Kira's Kingdom—begging Kira to continue to cleanse the world of all evil. Tristan got Jasper caught up-to-date on what was happening with Kira as they partook in the cafe.

Tristan waved at a man behind the counter serving a customer as they entered.

Jasper looked around and everyone looked normal and went about their lives, despite Jasper's picture flashing on a television screen up in the corner, shown on a local news station, chronicling his escape from an institution for the mentally insane.

Jasper frowned, taking offence to that profiling. He was not insane.

This place seemed to cater to people who wanted to hide from authority. And the man Tristan waved at, obviously familiar with Tristan, let him and Jasper, waltz right into the back area, without stopping them.

Jasper followed Tristan down a nondescript hallway, and then to a door that looked like a large freezer. Tristan put a hand on the handle, twisted it down, and pulled back on the seemingly heavy door, but behind it wasn't frozen food—there was a secret, spiral staircase. Jasper was impressed.

"After you, my good man," Tristan said jokingly, and after Jasper got ahead of him, Tristan shut the door behind them, locked it, and suddenly a burst of illumination flooded Jasper's eyes, revealing the bedrock carved staircase, and it went deep down.

Tristan politely pushed ahead and lead the way.

Jasper was immediately reminded of Dante's Inferno, where the protagonist entered the bowels of Hell, and went through its many stages of horror. But after the initial shock of the staircase, it then switched to metal, and followed a more downward path with metallic steps to another door and a computer, alphanumeric keypad.

Tristan stopped short of entering a code.

He then gestured to Jasper. Jasper blinked confused.

Tristan smiled, then said: "You're an intelligent guy, J. I changed it just before I went to get you. Made it fun just for you. I'll give you a hint: It's a name from your favourite movie—six digits."

Jasper's eyes narrowed. He cocked his head and thought.

Rocky, the all American classic, was his favourite movie, and the most famous name, other than the namesake, spoken, had six digits—Adrian.

Tristan smiled after Jasper said the word. He pressed in 237426, each number corresponding to a letter of a digital pad. The door hissed and unlocked, then a hidden panel opened in the door and a handle appeared. Tristan twisted it down, opening the mysterious door.

"Welcome to Sanctuary City, J," Tristan said, and beckoned Jasper through. "Where life flows freely without the fear of Kira, and where people from every walk of life enjoy themselves, even cops, to partake in what was once free to enjoy on the surface world."

As soon as Tristan opened the door, Jasper could detect the sounds, sights, and smells of a bustling underworld city metropolis, and it was set up much like a bazar with vendors as far as the eye could see, peddling their wares and services at wholesale, and ironically, criminally-low prices.

Jasper stopped and looked around in awe before following Tristan.

As they walked through the crowded underground vended streets, Jasper was impressed by its energy. Brightly lit, people offered everything from food to designer clothes to high-grade weapons. There seemed to be an underline respect among people, a criminal-code, that kept things civil. Of course, there was also security provided by the Yukaza, by way of "Suits", to make people behave. They didn't disguise themselves and stood out in the open, wearing ear-pieces and tinted glasses.

Tristan explained that this was but one entry point into this subterranean world, and there were three others in different parts of Japan, each were closely guarded secrets. It snaked on for kilometres, with different sections and different interests. And if any Kira spies were discovered, they were summarily dealt with with extreme prejudice and never seen again.

Waiting for them next to a fried chicken vendor was a nerdy-sort of looking male with brown hair and octagonal glasses. In his hand was a non-descriptive paper container containing fried chicken chucks. He ate one with a toothpick and then smiled a full mouthy grin when he saw them both. Galileo had obviously been waiting for them. Jasper had been described as having a high IQ, but his old friend from childhood surpassed him by leap and bounds. There was no problem he couldn't solve. No wonder he took a name after the Italian astronomer who saw life beyond the stars. He looked like the average science nerd at every high school. He was also a mutt, like Jasper, and was half-Japanese, half-Italian.

Tristan and Galileo shook hands, but when he saw Jasper, Galileo embraced and hugged Jasper like a long lost brother. Jasper let him do it, although he didn't like being touched. But his old friend was different.

"I missed you, Jasper. It's been so long! When they took you away, I cried. The last I heard from you was six years ago when you broke out of that other place." He meant the institution for troubled teens, but he didn't say it. "I wanted to see you, but they refused visitors."

Galileo only reached up to Jasper's chin, but he had a big heart. Jasper padded his old friend on the head as if he was younger brother, and smiled at Tristan, happy to be reunited with his two closest friends. When the hug was broken, Jasper shared a smile with Galileo.

"I missed you, too…" He wanted to say his friend's real name, but caught himself just before, saying instead: "Galileo."

Galileo gave him a crooked smirk and adjusted his glasses. "Yeah, it sounds a bit weird to have to use aliases now," Galileo said. "But with Kira, we no longer have a choice. For many, and from a theological point of view, Kira has basically stripped the world of its identity, and replaced it with an inferior carbon copy filled with paper straws and unhappy unicorns. But like this, we don't have to worry being identified and killed by that supernatural, omnipresent narcissist."

Jasper smiled. His friend was never one to hold back. "Right. So, for now on call me J. It works." Both Tristan and Galileo nodded.

After another hour of wandering around at Galileo's behest, getting breakfast, and watching Galileo buy things of interest and of want, bootleg anime being a top seller—Jasper even bought new clothing for himself, stylish black attire with sneakers to match.

Jasper noticed that Galileo was carrying a satchel bag over his shoulder when they moved into a less crowded area. It must likely held necessary equipment he often carried around.

He followed Galileo and Tristan down a long corridor, where there was a hand print reader and an optical retinal scanner, that Galileo unlocked on the side of a door.

When Jasper heard a click, Galileo said, "Welcome to my humble hideaway. Mind the cats, but they keep the rodents out, and down here, they are a godsend."

Galileo opened the door to the foray and it was like walking into regal apartment with luxurious furniture, wall-to-wall art, and even statues of greek-deco design. The rotunda was stunning. The apartment had two levels, designed with a metal majestic, twisting staircase, leading up to a second level, with shelves of books, more wall art, and what appeared to be a set of double doors. Galileo reset the door alarm system as Jasper followed Tristan up the staircase.

"And this is just the foray," Galileo said. "Wait to see the rest of the place. All designed by me."

Galileo gave Jasper a tour. And Galileo wasn't kidding about the cats, there were at least a dozen wandering felines in the place.

"Everything is paid for from favours I do for my benefactors," Galileo said, "namely the Japanese mafia. I hack governmental systems and databases, police servers, and other law enforcement websites, so they can keep one-step ahead of them. And they pay very well."

Jasper didn't doubt it.

Through a centre hallway on the second level were three large suites with on-suite bathrooms and they were fully decorated like they belong to royalty. And there was even a large private study, reserved for Galileo's work. The study was filled wall-to-wall with computers, servers, and other tech, and a large climbing cat house, where an older cat slept. Galileo had been a cat person for as long as Jasper knew him. He said they helped him to do the "Devil's work". The cat, seemingly, the guardian to the underworld in ancient Egyptian lore.

Sitting at his desk in front of an open laptop sat Tristan's girlfriend Isolde.

She was more beautiful than Jasper remembered her. In fact, she was gorgeous. She had grown up and filled out in every way. She had long, flowing brown hair that cascaded down to her shoulders. And he actually felt his temperature rise a degree thinking of her in seedy way. Tristan was three-quarters English, but he looked more or less like a Westerner, and Isolde was fully Canadian, but she came to live in Japan when she was a young girl. Her parents dying when she was ten.

This quartet they had, they were truly an eclectic bunch of misfits.

Galileo gave her a stern look, storming over. "I've told how you many times, Isolde, this is my private place!" he said. "I don't want you fooling around with my things! Everything in here is very sensitive and processed at optimum efficiency for my clients."

Isolde glared at Galileo, which stopped him in his tracks. She slammed a hand on Galileo's desk in a fit of anger. And yes, Jasper also remembered she had a bit of a temper. She hated people telling her what to do. It stemmed from an over-zealous father.

She slammed the laptop shut and stood up. Galileo took a step back and gulped nervously.

Suddenly, all anger left her when she saw Jasper, and her eyes widened with sheer happiness. She pushed back Galileo, and rushed over, wrapping her arms around him, hugging him tight. Jasper gasped out a breath. He also recalled she had the strength of a mule.

She let go, and apologized. "You need to get stronger, you feel like a twig," she said.

Jasper smiled. "It comes from eating horrible food, and they wouldn't let me have a drop of chocolate milk," Jasper said. "I was surprised not one vendor had it out there."

"Well, the fridge is stocked with it, buddy," Tristan said. "I know it's your favourite."

Jasper smiled. "Thanks, can't wait. I'm glad things haven't changed between you two. You make a great couple."

Tristan and Isolde had been together since they were kids and lovers just the same. They didn't care about stigmas. Tristan had been living on the streets since he was nine after child services came for him, arresting his parents for child abuse. He ran away and made a living as a runner for drug dealers, meeting Isolde at one of his client locations—falling head-over-heels in love.

Both had known Jasper on their own as kids, but all eventually became good friends.

Galileo was similar. Brilliantly gifted at a young age, he decided to offer his computer expertise to people in need for his special skills. Galileo was instrumental in helping Jasper break out of the youth mental institution when he was thirteen, but he'd known Galileo for longer, living next door to him in the same building complex. Jasper would often go over and play the latest downloaded video games when his father out on business. With everything Galileo knew and who he knew, he had become a millionaire at a young age.

With everyone assembled, Galileo plopped down his bag on the desk and unzipped it. He took out four small cases and placed them side by side. "Now that we're all here, time to get things started," he said. Isolde and Tristan stood next to Galileo.

Jasper was the only one out of the loop. "What's going on?"

Galileo handed each Tristan and Isolde a box, which they opened. Galileo opened his own. They were cell phones, each different colour, but of the same android model. Isolde had white, Tristan had black, Galileo had gold, and the other one was for Jasper. Galileo handed it to Jasper, who then took it, opened it, to reveal a silver android phone.

Jasper looked at it confused. "New phones, okay…"

Galileo looked at everyone in turn. "The instructions are in the box," Galileo began. "You can each play with your device at your leisure, adding your own personal touches, including a password. Each phone has been programmed with the same apps."

Jasper double-tapped the main screen of his device. A special "App" was on the main screen and was very distinctive from the other Apps with a curative M at its centre.

Jasper said, "What's this app for?"

"It's so you can speak with Him," Galileo said.

"Him?" Jasper questioned. "Him...who?"

Just then, his phone sounded, and the special App filled the screen with the curative M.

Jasper looked at the others before answering it. He put the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Greetings, Jasper Yuta," came a young, sounding voice, but with a hint of sophistication to it. "I'm happy to finally finally speak with you. I've heard so many good things about you. And it will be my pleasure to work with you…"

To be continued...

"Who the hell is this?" Jasper demanded abruptly.

There was a moment of silence, then the voice said: "Now, that isn't very nice, but knowing what I know about you, it's not to be unexpected, since you just broke out of an mental institution, and you're bound to be frustrated, even suspicious of pretty much everything. Please put me on speaker phone. I wish to speak with everyone. They all know who I am."

He looked up at the others, they didn't say a word. Then he selected the speaker phone option. "You're on speaker phone, now just whoever you are," Jasper said.

"Tristan, Isolde, Galileo—can you each hear me?" the voice asked.

"Yes, we can," Tristan answered. "We're all here. We haven't spoken to him about you yet."

"About what?" Jasper demanded. "What the hell is going on? I don't like surprises!"

"Please settle down, Jasper Yuta," said the voice, "or shall I call you J? Everyone else has a pseudonym to avoid detection from Kira. So, let that be your name—are we all in agreement?" The trio agreed. Jasper breathed out. There was no possible way this person would know to call him 'J'. It was only recently agreed upon between himself and Tristan a little while ago. "There are no listening devices or cameras about, J. Let me explain further."

Jasper's eyes widened. His mind was just read.

Suddenly, a white light appeared near the doorway of Galileo's study, and an image began to form a person—a young boy, just over four feet tall and thirteen years old in appearance. He had blond hair and fair skin tone. He wore ancient Romanic clothes with a white tunic, including sandals and leg wrappings. With it, a black belt was wrapped around his waist with what looked like a book pouch and a white book. He also wore white fingerless gloves. To finish off the ensemble, the supernatural being wore a black collar wrapped around his neck with a dangling crucifix. The only thing he was missing were wings if he was attempting to mimic an angel.

Jasper dropped the phone in shock. He never believed in ghosts, or the supernatural, but one such thing was standing before here now. "What the fuck!"

"You humans have such a limited vocabulary," the young ghost boy said. "It's a vulgar term, please refrain from using it in my presence when another word cannot be found to convey expression."

Jasper frowned, suddenly gaining courage, picking up the phone. This ghost sounded just like the therapist he killed, so condescending and trite. He didn't like it. "I can use any word I chose," he rebuked. "Who—or what the fuck—are you?"

Tristan stepped forward, hands up in capitulation. "Jasper, easy man, it's okay," he said. "There's things that need to be explained. Let me introduce Morph—he's not what you would call a Shinigami, but he's kind of like one. He's not a ghost, either. He came to us offering his services. And we all agreed to the terms."

Jasper's eyes widened. "A Shinigami? You mean a god of death? What terms?"

"In exchange for my protection they have become my hosts," Morph explained. "Like most Shinigami, I need a host to remain in the corporal realm. Other godly beings chose forms taken from the minds of their host's imagination. I know of one such ghastly being who looks much like a walking skeleton and one who has all the appearance of a clown. I have taken this form to appear non-threatening. Although, I kind of like it the most—so innocent in its appearance." Morph smiled boyishly.

Jasper reached behind his back, suddenly pulling out a gun. One he had snatched from a vendor when making his way through Sanctuary City, and it was fully loaded. "I take it then, if you're a Shinigami, and you can't die?"

Morph cocked his head. "That's correct," he said, sounding perturbed. "But if you must prove your theory, then shoot me."

Tristan tried to stop him, but Jasper fired his gun anyway. But the moment the bullet reached Morph, it stopped and hovered in mid-air. Morph plucked it from the air and then swallowed it, as if to prove a point. It fell through him, his body turning transparent, and dropped to the floor. Jasper stood shocked. Tristan pushed the gun down.

"Easy, dude. Chill out," Tristan said. "He's on the level."

"You see, I cannot die," Morph said.

Jasper softly pushed Tristan away. He returned the gun to his pants behind his back. It had all the feeling of surreality, that he was conversing with a ghost. But with the advent of Kira in the world, somehow, it didn't seem all that far-fetched—creatures like Morph existed, and were now walking with humans.

"So, what are you, Morph? Where did you come from? Are you and Kira the same?"

Morph laughed. "Never were two beings different in so many ways," he said. "I come from a world beyond this one. Suffice it to say, I am but one of the last of my kind. I work much like Kira, and I have a notebook." He took out the white book from his side pouch. "Unlike Kira, I don't kill people, but I could—when it is necessary. I, instead, bring them back to life—with stipulations. And as long as your name is written in my 'Life Note', you are under my divine protection. So, if Kira decides to kill you, his powers will not work on you."

"Does this mean Kira uses some sort of 'Death Note' to kill people by writing down their names in it?" Jasper laughed. "Oh, my, god! This is unbelievable! What kind of crazy place is this? The doctors at the institution must've given me an overdose of something, I must be trippin'. I've had some weird dreams in there, especially when I was in isolation, but this one takes the cake." Jasper folded his arms as if doing so would erect some sort of barrier.

Tristan tried to calm him. "Hey J, I know. It sounded crazy to me, too. Until he proved it to me. Give Morph a chance."

Suddenly, the gun that was tucked in Jasper's pants emerged, floated through the air, and went into Morph's hands. Jasper's arms dropped, shocked.

The gun was pointed at Traistan. Tristan nodded, knowing what Morph had in mind. Jasper protested, but Morph fired, the bullet penetrated Tristan's chest, and he gasped, and jerked back, falling to the floor. Blood flowed from the wound.

Neither Isolde or Galileo reacted.

"You son-of-a bitch!" Jasper said, and he ran to his friend and knelt down, he ripped open his shirt. Blood oozed from the bullet wound and flowed outward onto his skin. "Tristan, stay with me, man! Don't die!"

"Give it a moment," Morph said. "He is under my divine protection. He has made a pact with me, like the others. He cannot die, not if I wish it."

Seconds passed, then Tristan gasped, and inhaled deeply. His immediately reaction was to pat his chest where the bullet had entered. The stain of blood covered his chest and shirt, but when he lifted his hand, also covered with blood, he fingered the bullet between forefinger and thumb, and the wound in his chest began to seal. The blood remained.

"Damn, this was one of my favourite shirts, too," Tristan said. Jasper looked down, mouth agape. "You look shocked, buddy. Give us a kiss and make it all better," he said jokingly, smiling.

"Jesus Christ!" Jasper voiced, pushing away. He fell on his butt. "Is this for real? I'm not dreaming?" Tristan got to his feet. Isolde gave him a cloth to wipe away the blood from his chest. She didn't appear shocked in the slightest. Morph had just shot her boyfriend at point blank range and she reacted as if it was nothing.

Morph handed the gun to Tristan. Tristan said, "See, J. Morph could shoot anyone one of us in the same manner and the same thing would happen. Well, any of us three. If I shot you like that, you'd be dead—you haven't agreed to the terms yet."

Tristan suddenly pointed the gun at Jasper. "Hey, that's not funny, Matt," he said, using his friends real name. Tristan smirked, then lowered the gun. He then extended a hand and pulled Jasper to his feet. Jasper took a couple of steps back from the collective.

"You okay, J? You look like you just saw a ghost," Tristan said with a smirk.

Jasper frowned. "I need a minute to process this." But he didn't need a full minute. "Okay," he said, turning to Morph. "What is it that you want from me?"

"Want and need are two entirely different things. What I want is for you accept that I exist and what I need is for you become another anchor for me to remain in this realm. The more anchors I have, the stronger I am." Morph showed Jasper his Life Note with each one of his friend's names written in it—their real and full names. "Accept my offer, and you will be protected by me from harm."

"What's the catch? You protect us. But what do you get? Other than our anchorage to this realm, there has to be more to it?"

"Well, yes. I get a piece of your soul—your essence, to add to my own. A very small piece. Call it sustenance for my survival." Morph then produced a smile. "In further exchange, I'll also help you get your revenge upon a certain someone, the very boy who ruined your life—and who caused the death of your father."

This immediately grabbed Jasper's attention and his face darkened. "Light Yagami didn't kill my father, but he was instrumental in putting him away. Kira is the one who later killed him. My father committed suicide in his cell, he hanged himself."

Morph chuckled to himself as if what Jasper had said was humorous. "Would it be a shock to tell you that Kira isn't the godly being that everyone pegs him out to be? What if I were to say, he's human just like you?" Jasper looked at the others, and they nodded in turn as if to confirm Morph's statement. Jasper looked back. "How?" Morph said, as if plunking the question from Jasper's mind. "As I said, Kira uses a Death Note to make his killings. But the Death Note belongs to a Shinigami—Ryuk, is his name. As for Kira, let's just say, the person who helped put you in a mental institution and supernatural being known as Kira are one and same."

Jasper's eyes widened with a sudden realization. And he swore again.

---

During a round table discussion, the Kira Task Force gathered in the lounge area just off the computer epicentre to discuss the Jasper Yuta situation early the next morning. Light had settled down and was more composed now after his nightmare. But learning of Yuta's escape from the mental institution, had not made things easier. It was six years ago all over again.

And yet, Light was older and more mature, with more experience under his belt.

But L wasn't with them, Light noticed, choosing instead to sit by himself at a far computer station conducting his own research. He said since it has nothing to do with the Kira Case, he didn't want anything to do with it. It was mere distraction from their main goal: to catch Kira.

Light was given some reprieve from being chained up and was allowed to sit free with the rest of the task force on the couch, but he was watched, and Watari, who was in another room, was keeping a very close eye on every move Light made. But Light had no intention of doing anything that would undermine the cause. He wanted to catch Kira. But right now, and since the Kira Case was at a standstill, learning the whereabouts of Jasper Yuta was his top priority.

Soichiro Yagami smiled, and said, "I'm glad that L took the handcuffs off you, son. It's a sign that he is beginning to believe in you're innocence."

"It's a step in the right direction," Light replied, "but I'm not out of the woods yet. At the earliest opportunity, or if I misbehave, Ryuzaki will slap the cuffs on mye again, or worse, throw me back in the jail cell. But I don't plan on giving him a reason to do so."

Soichiro Yagami had some papers in his hand, and then said, "I still have friends at the NPA, and they've informed me that an APB, an All-Points Bulletin, is out for Jasper Yuta. Investigators have reviewed video footage inside the mental institution and they are intrigued how he was able to sneak past everyone after murdering a therapist, and an orderly, to then steal a car, and leave the property unnoticed. An interview with an orderly, Joseph, working there, gave little detail on how Jasper fled. He was equally surprised."

"And he is currently under suspension for neglect of duty in flirting with the female desk clerk that surveillance observed at the time, which is against the rules of the institution," Mogi stated, reading from a sheet of paper. "Apparently, Jasper Yuta walked right passed him dressed in the dead orderly's uniform. Only one person, apparently, saw Yuta as he made his escape. But he was new, and didn't recognize him until after the fact. We have his name, too."

"Any ideas on where Jasper may be hiding?" Matsuda wondered, holding a computer tablet in hand. "From what we know, the police have already visited all his old haunting spots: where he lived, the old slaughter house his father was arrested in, other places of note in the reports, but each time they have come up empty. They also have little on locating known associates from Jasper's past. There's nothing new for us to truly look at."

"Its safe to say, you don't need to look for him. He'll find you." This came from Ryuzaki. The task force members looked at him, his back was turned to him as he crouched on a chair looking at a computer laptop screen. Obviously he was listening to the conversion. He swung around. "Revenge is a funny thing. It drives people is ways you can't image. It's almost OCD in nature. Take Kira, for instance…"

"We get it, Ryuzaki," Light said. "But we're discussing Jasper Yuta at the moment, not Kira."

L frowned momentarily, pouting. "Yes, well, I wanted to make a point. Kira kills with a child-like sense of justice, or so he did. This new Kira—is another creature all together, killing people in business."

Light gasped. He hadn't discussed his secret findings with L about Kira's possible dealings within the business world, but it looked like L found a connection his own. He'd have tor revisit it later.

"Events in a person's past drive them to do crazy things in the future," Ryuzaki continued, "building a hidden network within the psyche that the conscious mind is unaware. Kira thinks the world is a rotten place, but is that reason enough to kill hundreds of people? If you ask a psychopath, then yes—that would be his answer. He would see the world with a much different perspective." Ryuzaki smirked thin. "Concepts of right and wrong are swayed and distorted."

"Well, that's pretty much a given, Ryuzaki," Light said.

"In the case of Jasper Yuta, it's almost a foregone conclusion that he will seek revenge upon you, Light, for your role helping the police incarcerate him, and in the death of his father, and he won't differentiate between you and Kira's judgement upon his father. The two will coincide, melding you both as one. It's a classic class of Associative Disorder. This not only puts you in danger, but also makes you a liability."

Light opened his mouth to say something, but his father spoke up first. "That's not fair, Ryuzaki," he said. "And when it comes to Light's safety, he'll be fine right here. Jasper Yuta has no idea that he is working with us."

"Ah, yes, but…what about your family? In this technological age, it's not hard to find out information on anyone these days." Ryuzaki put a finger to his lips, and mused. "If at all possible, I would suggest your family have a police detail or at the very least surveillance by the police just in case Jasper Yuta tries anything. Although, with social media accounts, I would wager, he already knows where you live. And he may wish to kidnap them to use as a bargaining chip, so be prepared for the eventuality."

"Could a police surveillance be done, Dad?" Light asked.

Soichiro picked up his cell. "I'll call in a few favours, tell them what's going on," he said.

"If I were in charge of this case—and if I had full autonomy of the investigation, which I don't—I wouldn't rely solely on one piece of information regarding Jasper Yuta," L said. "There are often things that are omitted in police reports for security reasons. But the public has a right to know about things under the guise of public safety, so I would venture speaking to the staff at the mental institution further to get a more in-depth analysis of its day-to-day operations and how Jasper faired over the last couple of years—but that's just me."

Light's brow rose. "That sounds good," he said. "Speaking with people who have been interacting with Jasper, I think, is the best way to get to know him, as he is today, and what his next move could be, and where he might strike. He's bound to have allies, people who are willing to help him. But I doubt the police would allow us to do that." Light then ruffled through some papers that were on the table in front of him on the couch where he sat. "I seem to recall the last time he broke out of an institution that there was talk of an accomplice, an old friend."

Light found what he looking for, and read a paragraph that described video footage of a dark stranger captured outside the institution for young adults. When Jasper escaped, at age thirteen, it was in the middle of the night. As described, Jasper and the mysterious ally were of the same height and build, possibly a teenager of the same age.

Soichiro Yagami spoke up. "Leave it to me," he said. "I've been making weekly calls to the institution, saying it's for police business, keeping tabs on Jasper's daily affairs, speaking with some of the staff—for your sake, Light. I wanted to make sure Jasper stayed there and you remained safe. Just yesterday, I spoke to an orderly who told me Jasper was in a therapy session. Unfortunately, it was also the day he escaped."

"Just recently, police found a man with a broken neck, half-naked, and stuffed in a dumpster in a back alley in a rough part of town, with all his personal affects stolen," Ryuzaki reported, turning in his chair, bringing up the media news report on the large screen. "It was briefly in the news. They tracked use of his credit cards to a hotel, where they found them thrown, discarded, and a dead prostitute, injected with air into her heart to made to look like a heart attack. I asked for the forensics report because it looked like Kira killing. They also found two more people dead by the same method. Kira is being blamed for them all. But, seeing I have connections, I know the real details that the media are omitting or embellishing on—more victims of Kira's judgement. It's certain Jasper Yuta has accomplices."

Light smiled. "So, you are investigating this case with us," he said.

Ryuzaku turned. "Trust me, it's mere coincidence the two are related," the detective said, with a tilt of his head. But for a split second, it appeared L smiled for a very brief moment.

To be continued…

He couldn't believe it, his friends Isolde and Tristan were parents to a three and half year old boy named Braydon.

After he was introduced to Morph, and a deity at odds with Kira after further things were explained, he was introduced to his friend's son, who had been sleeping until recently in Tristan and Isolde's bedroom. They lived in Galileo's lavish apartment with him.

Galileo was busy in his study working on a project for one of his clients, while the three of them were now in an furnished entertainment room.

Braydon was sitting on a carpeted floor, colouring a picture and watching cartoons.

Isolde thought Braydon was too young to watch any of Galileo's anime, since they mostly consisted of characters in sword play or supernatural undertakings, with partial nudity, and adult themes, so standard cartoons were the norm—old 1960s American style ones.

Jasper sat on a couch, with a tall, half drunk glass of chocolate milk on a table next to him. He didn't ask for it, but he got a bendy-straw with the drink. Braydon asked for one with his chocolate milk, so Jasper got one, too. But he didn't mind. And Tristan was not kidding when he said the fridge was stocked with chocolate milk. Jasper actually laughed when he saw it.

Braydon was using crayons to colour in a picture of a fire truck and he was using more than just red. Jasper was busy with his own project, sketching in a new book, since he had left his old sketch book at the institution and wanted to begin a new one.

Tristan offered to go out and buy things Jasper needed. But what Jasper asked for in the way of equipment couldn't be found in the underground city dwelling of vendors of Sanctuary City, so Tristan had to go topside. He got everything from a local arts shop.

Isolde had been at her personal laptop on a social network page when Jasper began his sketch, when she ventured over. She stood over him and glanced down at the beautiful sketch in pencil of a handsome young man, Jasper's age. It was not a self-portrait, but it was obviously someone Jasper knew from the intense detail. From his perspective, Jasper drew the unknown teen with a dark and mysterious expression.

She leaned in further. "Interesting form—Expressionism, is it?" Jasper nodded, fully engrossed in his sketch. "Is that Light Yagami?" Jasper nodded again. He had shown everyone Light Yagami's picture from the internet.

Jasper saw Braydon get to his feet out of the corner of his eye, wobble a little, and then make his way over to the couch. He quickly turned the page of his sketch book to a more appropriate drawing that was kid friendly. He had prepared one just in case.

"Hi, little man," Jasper said in a friendly tone. "Have you finished colouring?"

Braydon smiled and nodded. "Mommy said you're good at drawing, I wanted to see yours." Jasper smiled, and then showed Braydon a picture of an anime character—one he knew from his own childhood: a samurai. He had sketched it in pencil. "That's good! I wish I could draw like you."

Jasper ruffled Braydon's angel-blonde hair. "I'm sure you'll be an excellent artist one day. You already show promise."

Braydon smiled and ran back to his picture, plopped back down, and started colouring more. Jasper and Isolde shared a smile.

Just then, Tristan peaked his head into the room, looked around, not to disturb his son, and gave a cock of his head for Jasper to join him out in the hall. Jasper gave his sketch book to Isolde who remained in the room while he went outside. Outside, Tristan, who had been elsewhere doing something, after he picked up Jasper's art supplies, gave him a folded piece of paper.

Morph appeared spontaneously.

Jasper gave a jerk of surprise, but he was starting to become accustomed to the young Imp's sudden appearances out of nowhere like a phantasm and it didn't bother him much now. In truth, Morph was thousands of years old, but he looked he thirteen.

"We found Light Yagami," Tristan said proudly. Jasper opened the paper, there was an address on it. "It took some digging, but I managed to call in some favours and found out Yagami is hold up in a business building that's secretly the Kira Task Force HQ here in Japan, in the Kanto Region. And get this, he's apparently helping L—the detective asked to hunt down Kira."

Jasper gave him a strange look. "Wait—what? But I thought Light Yagami was Kira?"

"Hmph," Morph expressed. "Unless he's lost the power and his memories have been erased?" Before Jasper asked him to explain, Morph continued. "You see, when I person picks up a Death Note and uses it, they obtain the power of a god of death. Once a name is written down, that person has forty-seconds left to live, unless the method of their death is manipulated to occur…I'll explain that later. If a person loses the power, and loses possession of a Death Note, then their memories are erased of its existence, too, along with the god of death, and all killings they've committed. If Light Yagami is not in possession of a Death Note at the moment, then someone else has stepped in under the guise of Kira. I don't know who, yet. I'll have to find out. But that should be easy enough." Morph paused. "Or maybe, he's purposely given up the Death Note to avoid getting caught? Perhaps L has gotten too close? If so, then he would retrieve it at a later date when things cool down." Morph smiled admirably. "If that's the case, then Light Yagami is a crafty one, and he should not be underestimated."

Jasper mused. "So, he's helping L look for Kira unaware that he was once Kira? His memories erased of all events?" Morph nodded. "Light will have no memory of murdering my father, either." He slammed the wall with the side of his fist. "He thinks he can get away with it just because he can't remember? No, I won't let him off that easy. I know the truth now. And before I kill him, I'll make him remember what he did. And beg for mercy!"

"The only way for that to happen is if Light Yagami touches a Death Note," Morph said. "And even so, if he's not in possession of it, and let's go, all his memories will be lost again. Unless a person is the owner of a Death Note, they don't retain the memories."

Jasper smiled a sinister grin. "Then we'll just have to get the Death Note back from this other Kira. I'll kill its current possessor and then make Light Yagami touch it and make him its new owner. Then I'll face Kira head on. I accepted your offer, Morph, so now he can't kill me. But I can kill Light Yagami. After that, I'll become the possessor of a Death Note. And oh, the things that I can do with power like that!"

---

Despite countless resources at their deposal, and in collaboration with the NPA in regard to the Jasper Yuta case, Jasper remained elusive. He appeared to go underground the moment he escaped from the mental institution, after a spree of murder and thievery.

There was only one conclusion, as far as L was concerned, Jasper had help.

Street surveillance cameras captured something of interest: one of Jasper's past known associates, coming out from an arts shop, carrying supplies. Matsuda had learned about this video from a contact in the NPA while investigating. And from what was learned with Soichiro Yagami's digging for information at the institution, Jasper Yuta liked to sketch.

L reviewed the surveillance video and printed out a picture of the young male. Now he had a recent picture of one of Jasper's friends, referring to him at first as "skunk-head", because of the way he dyed his hair with a streak of white centred within black. Then he obtained a first name: Matt, to go with person.

And things had taken a little twist. Just recently, artist renderings of Light had been popping up on the internet in known Kira forums, but with no description or reason. Posters wondered who the person in the rendering was. They critiqued the drawings as being very life like, with good form, but no one could provide a name until Light himself visited a forum and was shocked to see his picture in several threads. But L wondered why Light's picture were even in these forums, unless Jasper Yuta wanted Light to be killed by Kira? But from what the task force knew, Kira needed a name and face to kill and an artist rendering provided neither. It was a taunt. Did Jasper Yuta know Light was working with the Kira Task Force? But how? It seemed he underestimated how resourceful Jasper Yuta was.

But now L could track who was posting them. It was Jasper Yuta, because the renderings matched that were found in Jasper's sketch book left at the mental institution.

Unfortunately, the IP/DNS origin was masked with expertise, bouncing spastically. No service provider could tell the task force nor the NPA, where it came from, either, and not even Light with his computer skills could find out. Light was bothered by it.

They printed out each drawing and spread out half a dozen on the table in front of them in the lounge area just off the epicentre.

Light leaned back in his seat and gazed at one of the drawings. It was a rendering of him from a real picture someone posted online of him from the Toho University Entrance Ceremony. The likeness was so good, an amazing form of Expressionism. However, the eyes seemed stared back him with a spookiness.

"This is bad," Matsuda said. "It looks like Jasper's out for blood, taunting Light online."

"He must've known you'd eventually look at popular Kira website forums, Light," Ryuzaki said, "like every one is these days. These forums are all the rage right now. I have to admit, the drawings are quite good. Jasper Yuta has talent."

"Nice to hear you complement a killer," Light said snidely.

L gave him a stare, crouched on his chair. "You know that's not what I meant," he replied.

"So, what do we do now?" Soichiro spoke up, stepping in before an argument could break out. He knew Light and Ryuzaki had strong differences of opinions and they had come swinging out with fists when things heated up before. "There's chatter about the drawings online. We should go over the surveillance video of Jasper's friend from street cameras, maybe there's a clue."

Matsuda perked up. "That's right," he said. "Just like that time you found the envelope missing at the subway station when we were watching the death of Ray Penber, Ryuzaki. We went over that video more than a dozen times, but only you found it."

"Who?" Light said.

"He's the FBI agent who…" Matsuda began, but then L shook his head stopping him.

"I've already been over it several times," L then said about the "Matt" video. "Other than Jasper's past associate in the video, there's nothing more of value. And he disappears soon afterwards, off camera. The police are checking the area, but so far, they haven't found anything. Recent data has concluded that there is an underground community where crime is rampant, this coming from a spy for the NPA. So far, no access to the community has been located. But like I said before, and apparently I was right—Jasper is coming after you, Light. It's classic psychopathic behaviour. A person like Jasper feels they must taunt their victims first."

"Why would Jasper come after me?" Light said. "Revenge is one thing, but I don't take him as someone who would risk his own life just to take mine. He doesn't strike me as that kind of person. He's smarter than that."

Ryuzaki's phone beeped. It was Watari. After hearing what he had to say, Ryuzaki went to the main computer station and pressed a button. On the large computer screen, in the foray to the building, stood three individuals—one of whom was Jasper Yuta. One of the others was the same person who had been captured on surveillance video coming out from an art shop buying supplies, Matt.

The third individual with the glasses was unknown.

"I don't believe it!" Soichiro said with utmost shock, each member following L. "Jasper Yuta can't be this bold? And why the hell would he come here? We should call the police."

L put up a hand. "No, we can handle this ourselves," he said. "We don't want to give our headquarters away to outsiders, although if they located it, it may not be a secret anymore." Communication with Watari was on an open comm channel now. L said, "Watari, you know what to do. Allow the building's defences to occupy them until we're ready to welcome them properly." Watari said Yes. "This is obviously a direct challenge," L added. "How he found us is…how he found Light…is interesting."

L then turned, and said: "Light, when I looked on the forum where these pictures were found, I saw that someone had posted a request, asking about the artist. You used a pseudonym, but obviously, someone tracked the IP address, and I assume it was one of them. You were careless, and you unsuspectingly gave our location away. You fell for Jasper's trap. You compromised us. I said earlier that you were a liability."

"I'm sorry, Ryuzaki," Light said regretfully, "but I just wanted to know where they originated from, and by whom?"

L waved a hand to dismiss the mistake. "The damage is done," he said.

"But why would they come here?" Matsuda asked. "It's dumb."

L eyed the trio on the screen. "I guess we'll find out," he contemplated. "But it may not be as dumb as we think."

To be continued...

Galileo viewed the schematics of the building on his tablet, installed with his own brand of sophisticated software. It was easy enough to find and download the plans to the building, they were filed with city building management services, anything this big had to be approved by someone.

With everything he did for the Japanese mafia, a building like this was child's play. However, when he looked through satellite plans, the building plans were very different within the interior from that with the city, there were hidden features and rooms, that were not part of the original design, updating the plans in realtime on his tablet.

Morph had informed them that it was best to leave the other "Kira" business alone at present or risk inserting an unnecessary element into the picture. Jasper wanted the Death Note, but taking it from the current Kira would prove counter-productive and Morph had a better idea. A Shinigami was attached to the other Kira at the moment and the less contact with it would prove warranted.

Jasper heeded to Morph's discretion. Morph informed them of something else he had in mind that everyone agreed upon. Jasper thought it was quite brilliant. Challenge the Kira Task Force directly. It was bold, but it would prove beneficial in order to get to "Kira", and use the task force members has hostages to bring the real "Kira" out in the open.

Since L wanted Kira. Why not give the detective exactly what he wanted?

That was why they were here—at the Kira Task Force headquarters that was masked as an enterprise business building in the heart of downtown Kanto. It was listed as an import/export firm that dealt with mainly overseas clients, some of the largest in Europe and China, according the Business Bureau.

Everything Galileo found out was easily obtained, but fake, set up within a dummy corporation and affiliated with some unknown numbered businesses—some business calling itself W and Co.

The lobby of the building was lavish with a white marble floor. A large mural hung on the left wall, while a widescreen TV, on low sound, showcasing the enterprise's business profile and its workings in a thoughtful presentation, hung on the right.

Further on, centred, and in front of two elevators, was a round reception desk with a security guard sitting present. In Japanese style, the guard sat straight-backed with his eyes focused ahead, hands folded in front on the desk, wearing a pristine dark blue uniform and hat.

The trio approached the reception desk, earpieces wrapped around their ears for continuous communication between them.

Galileo shook his head and laughed short, then he pressed something on his tablet, and the holographic-type projected security guard disappeared. The projection beam was somewhere underneath the desk.

Tristan made an impressive grunt. "Very life like," he said.

Galileo agreed. "I was intrigued when I first hacked into the system. But now that I've by-passed the building's firewalls and got into its mainframe, I can see a five year old could hack this place. It was so easy for someone with my skill. I can control everything within this building now: security, elevators, lights, and…doors." He locked the front entrance.

Tristan looked up at a CCTV camera and gave it a middle finger.

Jasper then pushed Tristan's hand down. "Don't make any hostile gestures, Tristan," he said. "I don't wish to antagonize anyone just yet."

"We just broke into the building, J," Tristan voiced with condensation. "I think we're already on their naughty list."

Jasper looked at Galileo, who nodded. "All set, I'm in complete control now," he confirmed.

Things had been pre-arranged before they entered the building, however. Despite the security checks, it was a breeze to get through them. Galileo touched his tablet and the surveillance camera became Jasper's own personal live-time camera with audio.

"You truly are a genius, Galileo," Jasper remarked, and Galileo smiled, adjusting his glasses humbly. Jasper looked up at the camera. "Greetings Kira Task Force, and yes, I know who you are, and the real purpose of this building. A wondrous piece of engineering and technology, but with my friend here, it's nothing but a plaything. I wish to speak to the detective known as L. I believe he'll want to hear what I have to say, and partake in the information that I possess. Passing it along to you on the internet would be so impersonal. I prefer the direct approach."

Moments passed, no response.

Jasper looked at Galileo. "They have the opportunity to respond through the building's intercom," he said, glancing at his tablet. "Everything is active in that respect."

"I expected this," Jasper said. "They need an incentive to talk." Jasper touched his earpiece. "Isolde, please be so inclined as to give them an example that we mean business…"

"No problem," came a voice over each of their earpieces.

---

The members of the Kira Task Force watched the large screen of the trio that the CCTV captured in real time. On another smaller screen of a laptop, Jasper's face was enlarged, and he was grinning as he gazed directly into the lens of the camera. A coy smile on his face.

L mused. "Tristan, Isolde, Galileo…" he said. "And, of course, Jasper Yuta."

Suddenly, there was a series of explosions, and shakings, that rocked the epicentre, and some of the members had to brace themselves. They sounded so close, and they felt like they had taken place just outside the room, almost like they were under attack—like an assault team had penetrated the upper parts of the building unbeknownst to everyone.

Watari's voice came over an open frequency. "Ryuzaki!" his voice was a little too elevated than L liked, which indicated anxiety.

He explained that the Northside of the building had just been hit with explosive devices. The rooms above and below the epicentre and its floors were targeted and destroyed with devices designed to enter through the exterior walls, similar to cop-killer bullets that could penetrate through kevlar vests, from a high-powered rifle. He was unsure of the origin, but asserted they came from somewhere from an adjacent building. The Residency Floor had been hit.

Then a few more explosions were heard in a similar fashion, more in the distance.

"They seem to have in-depth knowledge of the building," L asserted.

"That's an understatement," Light said. After the first series of explosions hit, he had lost his balance and fell on his butt. Now he was on his feet. "And it wouldn't take much for an outsider to acquire the plans from the city."

On the main and laptop screens, Jasper spoke again, after the second series of detonations. "I hope I have made my intentions clear?" he said with a small smirk. "All lines of communication to the outside are nullified, so the police will not be coming to your rescue. However, as the explosions are concentrated within the building's deep interior, unless someone actually phones out—which you can't—no one from street level will know what is happening. I will instruct the attacks to continue unless you acquiesce to my demands."

L's eyes narrowed and he grunted under his breath. "This is quite annoying," he said quietly. His hand moved to the speaker microphone button in front of him and he pressed to answer. It had a built in device that would mask his real voice. He chose to respond, not to acquiesce, but for curiosity sake. "And what are your demands, Jasper Yuta and company?"

Jasper Yuta appeared pleased. "Ah, so you know who I am. Good, then introductions can be dispensed with. I'm sure, you being the detective that you are, you're already familiar with my history—the media have been quite open with it in recent days. But you probably have a more embodied understanding of me, proactively seeking information from the mental institution, and having the police ask around my old neighbourhood haunts. Yes, I've been watching you, investigating you, too, much like you've been pursuing me—despite you mainly focused on catching Kira."

L didn't respond. But he was beginning to develop a more hardened mental profile of Jasper Yuta and he didn't like where this was going. Jasper wasn't a psychopath, but he was sociopathic. Often a person with the latter could be more dangerous that a serial killer like Kira. And Jasper Yuta knew exactly what he was doing. He and Kira were similar, gathered from police profiles, but unlike Kira, Jasper Yuta was breed to think a certain way. Kira, on the other hand, appeared to have just had his power drop in his lap.

L gave Light a momentary glance, who looked at him with a worried look, then turned back to the screen. "Go on," L said.

Jasper continued, "We are in complete control of this building, and before entering, incendiary devices were planted around the exterior, each with enough high-yield C4 to bring everything down like a controlled explosion—not unlike what happened on that fateful day in America."

L swallowed. The events of that day, what happened in New York City, when America was attacked by terrorist forces, where over three-thousand innocent lives were lost, was still fresh in people's minds. Like in Japan, with Hiroshima—never to be forgotten.

L silenced the communication line.

"Where the hell did he get this much firepower?" Soichiro Yagami wondered.

"From an underground market, presumingly," Light said. "There are rumours that there's a large community selling all kinds of illegal contraband and weapons under the city. The police have not been able to find a way in. They call it Sanctuary City. I've come across mentions of it in forums. Similar to what criminals are doing with their profiles: creating aliases, so Kira can't kill them. It's become a problem for law enforcement and is supposedly well protected by the mafia."

"If they control the building, they could be telling the truth," Matsuda said. "Let's go down there and show him our strength!" Everyone looked at Matsuda as he reached into his jacket pocket and came up empty. "Oh yeah, we're no longer cops," he said with an embarrassed smile. "Citizens can't carry guns according to Japanese law. I forgot."

Light grumbled angrily. "That's what really pisses me off," he said. "I know we don't live in what American's used to call the Wild West, where gunslingers rule the roost, but why is it only the bad guys get to usurp the law, while others fall victim to its bureaucracy? Sometimes it may be faster and safer to just take out the bad guys before they do any further damage."

L gave Light a sideways glance. "Like Kira?"

Light cast his eyes aside, suddenly embarrassed by his outburst.

"Light, societies have laws for a reason," L said. "They are to protect their citizenry. Without order, there is chaos—although morality mainly fuel the working laws. Kira is an entity of his own making. If you wish to become a police officer like your father, then you're going to have to lose the bravado and take a smarter, calmer approach to situations. Use logic, not emotion."

"I understand that, Ryuzaki, but—"

"My patience is growing thin, L," Jasper voice boomed from the speakers. "Give me your answer. Adhere to my demands." He paused. "And give me Light Yagami! I know he is with you, working on the Kira Case. It didn't take much effort to learn this. I want him! For the sake of thousands of other lives, one in exchange for the rest. Give me Light Yagami, and in exchange, I will tell you the identity of Kira."

Soichiro Yagami gasped, then anger flowed across the older man's face. But L waved him off.

L pressed the button on his microphone to answer, there was no point in denying Light was with them. Jasper had already did his homework. "I'm afraid I can't do that," he said.

Jasper was seen to sneer. "I want him now! You're no doubt aware of our history. He has most likely told you about our encounters. Unless…" Jasper looked to give pause. "Unless, he hasn't told you? Kept it from you? And in that case, allow me to give you some history."

L replied, "There's no need. I know everything: from your 'humble' beginnings, to your escape from the institution recently. I even know that you once tried to kill Light in his own home after escaping from a mental institution at age thirteen."

Jasper laughed. "Yes, and that was mainly thanks to Galileo's efforts," he said, he looked back at his friend with the glasses. "It's so hard to find good friends these days. True friends stick with you even in hard times." Galileo smirked. Jasper turned back to the camera.

L now knew who the shadowy help was in the video from way back when, who helped him escape the institution at thirteen. Even back then, Jasper had strong allies.

"Don't be so quick to protect Light Yagami," Jasper said sternly. "He's not as innocent as you may think. You have him there under suspicion of knowing of, or abiding Kira, like Misa Amane, the movie actress. But we both know there is more to the story."

L slammed the control box on the microphone silent with a quick finger.

He snapped his head to Light, who had a wide-eyed look of shock and befuddlement.

"How the hell does he know that?" Light said.

L then looked at each task force member in turn. "I don't believe any of you would leak information, but somehow Jasper knows that Light has been detained under suspicion of being Kira. He may not know the full story, he may be assuming things, but he is asserting all the correct information."

Soichiro spoke up. "Some of my contacts in the NPA have become aware people are selling piecemeal information about the Kira Case to those who are willing to pay handsomely and this information is getting back to the Japanese mafia," he said. "One officer has already been suspended for it and two more are under suspicion. If Jasper is that well connected, he may very know everything about us!"

"And Kira talk-shows have been offering rewards for information," Light chimed in. "There are 'Shadows of Kira' everywhere, they say; spies, willing to pay good money for descent information to relay back to Kira to enact his judgments. The NPA have warned them that doing this could get someone innocent killed. Misinformation has a way of killing a person's reputation on social media, too, accusing them of guilt before the truth comes out. It's already caused one person to take their own life."

"You seem very well informed, Light," L said with a harden stare. "When were you going to tell the rest of the task force about this?"

Light looked embarrassed.

L sighed heavily, calming himself.

L pressed the button of the microphone speaker after turning back. "Then you are misinformed," L said, in response to Jasper's accusation. "Light Yagami is a…good person" —he gave Light a thin smile— "and he'll be an excellent detective one day. I would be pleased to welcome him fully within this task force once…"

Jasper Yuta laughed, as if finding L's words very amusing. In fact, he laughed a bit too much for L's liking. What did he find funny?

"Then, you're not the great detective people peg you out to be," Jasper said. "Surrender Light Yagami to me, or I'll have my people on the outside begin targeting people at random on the street. You have no option but to give me what I want. Moreover, allow me to provide you with yet another example of our influence of power. Do it, Galileo!"

Suddenly, the lights went out in epicentre. And everything went completely dark.

To be continued...

Five lights brightened the darkness of the epicentre, each one coming from a Task Force member's cell phone. But, as Jasper Yuta had said, there was no cell reception for them to call out. And not only that, but each one of their phones were blocked from the established building network, even the emergency option—which L thought wasn't possible.

Jasper and his gang had thought about everything thoroughly before making their assault on the building. And now L had to make a decision: Give Light to Jasper, or risk innocent people's lives, threatened by Jasper, with random snipper killings on the street.

Logically, one life was not worth a thousand. But the minute he took the Kira Case and learned about the possible existence of Shinigami, fact, as he knew it, was dissuaded from plausibility.

L took in two factors: Fact and Plausibility and wagered them against the other.

Fact: Light was indirectly responsible for Jasper Yuta and his father in being incarcerated.

Plausibility: Light was Kira.

Fact: Light couldn't remember anything regarding Kira's crimes.

Plausibility: Jasper Yuta claimed to know the identity of Kira.

If Jasper had this knowledge, he could save thousands of potential lives, which, the courts, may then, absolve him of past crimes, and issue him a pardon. He would be a hero. The police would ask where he came about this information before going after Kira, so they didn't accuse any innocent man. Through his contacts, Jasper Yuta could easily provide that information.

So, coming here, was not such a dumb idea as Matsuda thought. It was quite brilliant.

But that's if Jasper had the information L needed to close the Kira Case? Or maybe he just wanted to manipulate things and throw hypothetical facts at L for Jasper to get his hands on Light? But how did Jasper know that both Light and Misa Amane were under suspicion regarding Kira's crimes? That was not given out to the public. Unless, it was police leak—within the task force itself.

For some reason, L didn't think so, and as he stared at the illuminance of his cell phone lost in thought, he seriously thought about handing over Light to Jasper to apprehend the Third Kira, he dubbed him. If L knew how Kira killed, then he could backtrack Kira's crimes, and prove his original hypothesis: that Light Yagami was indeed Kira and that he willfully murdering people.

However Kira was doing it, and now playing the part of a by-stander wrapped up in this serial murder investigation, while secretly biding his time to eliminate everyone, trying to prove his innocence at the same time, was the true mark of a psychopath.

L's mind went around in circles. He seriously didn't know what to think anymore. He had never dealt with anything like the Kira Case before and Jasper Yuta was nothing like the Los Angeles BB Murder Case murderer either. This was more simple. Jasper Yuta wanted revenge, he didn't want to take on L. Jasper Yuta was vastly intelligent and had friends the help him, while the BB murderer played it alone. As they say, there is strength in numbers.

He saw some light underneath a door near an adjacent hallway. The door would be electronically locked, but now he knew that the epicentre was the sole target of the blackout. It was an intimidation factor to say: We are in complete control and there's not a damn thing you can do about it!

But where was Watari? He was supposed to be in the other operations room, monitoring everything. Perhaps he had been locked out as well and was now blind and trapped in the room?

Suddenly a text popped up on L's phone. He wondered how they got his private number? But then he thought, did he really have to ask if they hacked the building? Getting a private phone number would be easy for them.

It said: Ready to Bargain?

Matsuda just happened to be standing next to him when the lights went out, and saw the message. "This guy really means business, doesn't he?"

L groaned annoyed, not with Matsuda but with the situation. "Yes, he does," he said. "And I don't like feeling powerless." He didn't answer the text.

Just then, the sound of gas began to sift into the room through the ventilation system, and he began to hear the others suddenly drop to the floor. It was a defence mechanism, a combination of carisoprodol and cyclobenzaprine with minute traces of chloroform (knock out gas), that L had wanted installed just in case he needed it. Now, he wish he hadn't suggested it.

He dropped. And the last thing he saw was his phone and a text message that read: Too slow, L…

---

When each of them began to awaken, L found himself one of the first to emerge from a forceable induced slumber, an unknown time period had passed, but L figured it had only been roughly thirty minutes, for that was the time reference of the gas effect.

They were all in the epicentre handcuffed with their hands behind their back with the lights back on. And all four of their captors were present, including—L figured her name was from a previous mention—a young woman with the alias: Isolde.

As his mind was coming out of the fog of unconsciousness, L recalled the names of those that penetrated the Kira Task Force building with such ease: J, Tristan, Isolde, and Galileo—all pseudonyms to hide from Kira. Two based on literally characters and one based off the Italian astronomer, and J short for Jasper. L chose his moniker for the same reason, but it was not based on the word Law—it was the initial of his last name.

The quartet of criminals stood over the Kira Task Force members like gods over men each wielding a gun. Isolde was holding a rifle. She, no doubt, was the one who fired the explosive devices through the exterior windows from a building across the street.

L looked around, then noticed one of their number was missing. Siochiro Yagami was just coming to and had not noticed yet.

"Where's Light?" L demanded. "What have you done with him?"

Jasper crouched down in front of him, gun in hand. "Well, the great detective known as L," he said, with smirk. "The others I know from their profiles. You, I have no dossier on. So, logic dictates you are he that no one sees. The one that hides in the shadows. A pleasure to finally meet you. Oddly enough, you look very similar to what I imagined you to be—a subdued raccoon; arrogance aside."

L frowned. It wasn't the first time someone had said that to him. He knew he often had bags under his eyes from a lack of sleep and raccoons were known to be nocturnal animals.

"Name calling, how trite," L said flatly.

Jasper laughed. "Well, you have my respect," he said, standing up. "As for Light Yagami, he's fine for now. We put him somewhere I can speak with him in private. But, when I get through with him. Light Yagami will never be the same again!"

"Are you going to kill my son?" Soichiro asked.

Jasper Yuta only smiled a wolfish grin. "Maybe…" as all he said, and proceeded to the elevator.

---

Light awoke groggy. He felt disconnected and confused as he turned on his right side.

He was laying on the floor in the small entertainment suite, basically a video room, where he and Misa once watched a black and white movie together to research for one of her roles. She said that her director said she needed to review how the characters reacted during a certain scene, because in her movie script, she and her co-star were to act the same way. But throughout the movie, she kept getting a little too close for comfort as they sat on the two-seater, love couch, and he couldn't enjoy it.

The room in question was three floors down from the epicentre—but why was he here? And how did he get here?

The last thing he remembered was he and the rest of the task force members were in the dark after Jasper had cut the power. Then, he felt sleepy, and collapsed to the floor. Knock out gas through the ventilation system, he wagered.

He tried to sit up. Then found his arms were handcuffed behind his back. He struggled against the cuffs, but to no avail.

The door opened, and he craned his head slightly, rotating his body over on his left side.

Jasper and one other male came in—Galileo, Light thought his name was. The one who had been holding the tablet, and who had disabled the entire building's systems. They both had guns. Galileo carried his tablet.

Jasper approached, and then crouched down in front of Light. His cocked his head and pointed the gun at Light's face. Light looked at it, then at Jasper.

Jasper used the barrel to scratch an itch on his right temple, then said, "Hello Light, long time no see. How have you been? It's been much, much too long, since we last met."

"Jasper! What's the meaning of this?"

"Don't be so dense. This is history repeating itself. Moving away from your old neighbourhood was useless. I know exactly where your family is. You can't hide from the internet."

Jasper stood up, and then Galileo stepped forward.

Galileo had reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box that looked like an old metal cigarette case and opened it for Jasper. Inside was a small torn piece of scrap paper settled on a blanket of soft cloth. Next to it was a pair of metal tweezers.

Jasper picked up the scrap of paper with the tweezers, then showed it to Light. "None of us have touched this, we were told not to for our own sake," he said. "However, if you touch it, weird things will happen. And I'm excited to know what things."

Light eyed it. "What is it? Looks like a simple torn piece of paper?"

"Oh, but this is special paper that someone gave me just for you." Jasper gave Light a moment to examine it up close from his laying position, turning it back and forth with the tweezers. There was no writing on it. "Now, here's what's going to happen. You will grip this in a hand when I place it there, and keep holding it. If you don't, then I'll shoot you. Then, I'll shoot your father, along with the rest of the Kira Task Force members in the main operations centre, then, I'll go after your mother and sister, until the entire Yagami family are nothing but a memory."

Light struggled against his handcuffs. "Let me go! If you want a fight, I'll give you one!" Jasper kicked Light with a foot in the stomach to settle him. Light clinched and coughed. "What's on that scrap of paper, poison? Do you plan on making me die slowly and painfully? Look, your father kidnapped me, I'm a victim. Look deep inside yourself, what you're doing is wrong."

This triggered laughter, then Jasper said, "For six years, I dreamt of the moment where I would face you again and get my revenge for what you did. And now, I find out you had an even bigger role in events than I surmised, or so I'm told."

"You're speaking in riddles. I have no idea what you're talking about?"

"Of course you don't, but you soon will. And this is what this scrap piece of paper is supposed to do—the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle. And once I put it into place, then the whole picture will emerge clear as day. And I'll confirm it. Once you're enlightened, only then will I kill you. I want you to be fully aware of your crimes as I put a bullet through your forehead."

Light shrugged. "I still don't know what you're talking about and how will a piece of paper do that? Your father is dead. He hung himself in his cell. Kira killed him. You should be angry with him, not me. I've done nothing to you to warrant such hatred. You're sick in the head, Jasper. Just surrender and we can get you the help you need."

Jasper frowned and slapped Light across the face with the back of his head. "You insult me!"

Light shrugged as Jasper grabbed him, twisted him around, his back to him, and took a hand. He dropped the scrap of paper into Light's had and squeezed it shut tight.

Jasper put his mouth to Light's right ear and said almost in a whisper. "Remember, Yagami…remember it all! I want to look into the eyes of the killer who murdered my father. I want to talk with him. I know about the Death Note and I know you are Kira!"

"No, I'm not—"

Then it happened like a series of lightning strikes inside his brain, the moment the scrap of paper fully touched Light's skin, his hand clutched tightly around it—all the memories of the Death Note suddenly flooded back.

The memories stabbed his mind like pricks of light to his eyes, stinging them, hurting, while filling in gaps of his memory like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

They floated to his consciousness and his ever willful thoughts.

Indeed, the scrap of the Death Note was the missing piece to the puzzle.

He was back!

Within moments, he felt like his mind had been shattered like broken glass, then re-forged into something stronger and more viable.

Everything he once knew to be true was quickly replaced with a new truth and something he truly believed in. Something that had once been lost, but now rediscovered after a suitable absence—

Just like he had planned.

All the written names, all the deaths, all the encounters, even Ray Penber, the deaths of the FBI agents, moments with L, events with Misa Amane, and the moment he relinquished the Death Note ownership to Ryuk after he had ben captured by L, sitting in that cell.

Everything came back to him.

Light let out a loud audible, elongated gasp.

Seconds later, a new person emerged.

It had been as easy as turning on a light switch. And Light gripped the scrap of the Death Note tightly in his hand without Jasper's help. He'd never let it go.

It began with a small muffled chuckle, then Light laughed out loud.

To Jasper, it must have sounded like Light had gone insane. While, in truth, the real reason was beyond his comprehension.

As Light turned, and looked at Jasper, the son of the killer who nearly took Light's life almost ten years earlier, Jasper was seen taking an involuntary step back like he had just looked upon the devil himself.

Light smiled sinisterly. "Hello Jasper…"

"Light…" Jasper said breathlessly.

"Indeed, it has been a very long time in seeing you," Light said. His mind finally clear, no longer blanketed with a fog of amnesia. "I wish to thank you, and I owe you a debt of gratitude for releasing me from my self-imposed prison. Now, I think it's time we had a little chat, and perhaps, it's time for you to beg for mercy," —Light Yagami smiled abnormally devilishly— "and bargain for your own lives."

To be continued…

Jasper took another step back, it was almost involuntarily, on an unconscious level.

Something about Light emanated an aura of pure evil. Jasper didn't know how he felt it, but it seemed that it flowed off Light like waves of heat. And as Light looked at him, Jasper thought the devil was staring back at him—with eyes as crimson as fire.

Once upon a time, his mother, said: "Don't look directly into a demon's eye or he will ensnare you. But Jasper had, and he tried to quickly looked away. But had it been too late? Light Yagami let out a throaty chuckle.

"What's wrong, Jasper…" Light Yagami spoke with a whispery taunt. "Can't look me in the eye?"

Galileo's hand trembled with the tablet, the other hand gripped his gun tightly, almost to the point of his hand turning white. Jasper saw this and felt his friend was sensing the evil in the room, too. "Um, J—" Jasper looked at him. "What do you think he means by a 'self-imposed prison'? We should kill him, now!"

But Jasper was more concerned with the possible evil that he had unleashed, not responding. He turned back. He had already looked the Devil in the eyes, there was no more turning back. He had to face it.

Light snapped a look at Galileo. Galileo gasped, dropping the tablet as if the monster had caused him to do so. The screen of the device cracked.

"How obtuse, I wasn't speaking to you, worm," he said, as if to reprimand a lesser. "You've done your job, now you can leave us. This is a moment to be shared by myself and Jasper, alone!"

"I—I…" Galileo said, his voice shaky.

Jasper calmed him. "He stays here," he said to Yagami. "I never expected the Death Note to work so well. When I was told it restores all the memories back to a user even without ownership, I had my doubts. I mean, how could such a thing exist? But it appears like everything is true. And Light Yagami is…Kira!"

Light sat up straight and crossed his legs. "That is true. But how do you know about the Death Note? Did Ryuk tell you? Or are you the new Death Note's owner Rem has chosen to enact Kira's justice?" Light shook his head. "No, the timing's off. You didn't escape the mental institution until after my surrogate began killing with the Death Note. Then how did you get a piece of it? Only a few know where I buried my original Death Note for later use."

"Jasper, this guy's really creeping me out," Galileo said. "His entire personality has changed. Let's just kill him, and get the hell out of here! This was a bad idea."

Jasper put up his hand to halt Galileo. "Shut up, Galileo. We're here, and we're going to finish it."

Light smiled in bale amusement. "Executing me will be folly, for my justice is warranted all around the world. My ideals hold self-evident to what people have been longing for, a long time coming. Crime has run rampant in the world, it's rotten to its core. I was given a gift, and I vow to use it to its fullest. Be careful, I now possess a scrap of a Death Note, albeit not my own, but that doesn't matter, and once I learn your name, your name will be written down for your impertinence. Whereas the Shinigami who owns this scrap of paper, within a stated time, must come to my side as per the rules of the Death Note."

Jasper had had enough. He mustered his courage and pistol-whipped Light. "You arrogant son-of-a-bitch! Is this what the Death Note does to people who use it? Are you possessed by the spirit of a Shinigami?"

Light turned his head, the hit from the gun didn't faze him. But his left eye twitched. Jasper's eyes narrowed. He had hit Light hard, but he must be filled with so much adrenaline that he can't feel harm. This was insane. He had to get that piece of the Death Note back. He proved his point, that Light Yagami was Kira. Whether he was killed in this state or his amnesiac state was a moot point now.

"Everything I did was of my own free will," Light Yagami responded. "I had to, it needed to be done! Ryuk dropped his Death Note in the Human World and I picked it up. Once I learned it was real and not just a prank, the reign of Kira began. I started killing criminals by the hundreds, but then those fools of the task force got involved. But nothing will stop me, neither you, neither L, or the task force. I will cleanse this world of all evil, and invoke to my grand agenda!" Light Yagami smirked evilly.

Jasper reached for Light Yagami, but his enemy skit away on his hand and feet backwards like some sort of demonic centipede. He was not going to give up the piece of the Death Note.

Light then looked at Galileo, and Jasper saw this, as if the devil in Yagami had just marked him. "I won't forget again! I purposely allowed myself to be captured by the task force. I then relinquished ownership of the Death Note when L was getting too close. I set things up beforehand, so I could later retrieve the Death Note and regain my memories while pretending to befriend L and work on the Kira Case, knowing that the notebook will be passed on to another. The issue with that was, I would have to kill the current owner of the Death Note to retain ownership. If I let go of this scrap of the Death Note now, then my memories disappear. You released me from my self-imposed prison, and for that, I thank you once again."

"Yes, we know this rule," Jasper said. "But when I gave you that scrap, I didn't know you'd be such an asshole. I should've killed you six years earlier when I had the chance!"

"Who told you about the Death Note and how did you get this piece? I'm curious to know."

"We'll keep that to ourselves right now."

"Now whose the arrogant one?"

Jasper shoved Light back with a foot. Light fell back, but he kept a firm grip on the Death Note. Light laughed, amused, as he rolled back up.

"I don't care if we're protected from the Death Note," Galileo said. "If Light Yagami is Kira, and he's truly this demented, best eliminate him now! You never told me he was this delusional."

"He never was…" Jasper started.

Galileo pointed his gun at Light, but Jasper pushed it down. "No! He's to stay alive for now. He's different from what I thought Kira would be—and the opposite than what Yagami was before the Death Note—but Light Yagami isn't a threat to us the way he is now."

Light cocked his head in a curious manner. "You said you are protected from the Death Note? How? As long as you envision a person's face in your mind and write down their real name, properly spelled, then that person will die in forty-seconds, even if you manipulate a person's actions before death, their end fate is enviable. And once I'm free, your fate will be thus."

"Shut your mouth!" Galileo shouted. He pushed Jasper aside and fired his gun. But the shot soared past Light's left ear. Jasper slammed Galileo's arm down, the gun dropped to the floor.

"Don't be frightened, Galileo," Light said calmly. "Tell you what, I'll welcome you in kinship to Kira's brand new world. Swear alliance to Kira and kill Jasper Yuta and you'll be spared. You'll be rewarded for your loyalty with riches beyond the plains of averse."

Jasper gave Light an uneasy look, then eyed Galileo. "Don't be swayed by the devil's words," he said. Jasper padded his friend on the shoulder to calm him. He picked up the gun and placed it in his friend's hand. "Watch him, Ichi," he accidentally said. "I mean, Galileo." The situation had unnerved him a little and Jasper had said his friend's real name. "I'm leaving for a moment, but no shooting."

Galileo grabbed Jasper's arm, afraid. "You're going to leave me in here alone with him?"

He removed his friend's hand from his arm, and said, "Light Yagami isn't a threat. As long as you watch him, everything will be okay. But I am seriously thinking about bringing up his execution."

"Don't leave, Jasper, our reunion has just begun," Light said, laughing.

Jasper looked at Light still sitting on the floor. Light Yagami acted as if he hadn't a care in the world and he was in charge. The bones of his victims obviously meant nothing to his sick and sinister agenda. And yet, Light Yagami acted if he was in complete control of everything despite his situation.

What have I done? Jasper thought.

Jasper left, closing the door. He was a little apprehensive about leaving his friend inside with a crazed lunatic, but it was a good thing Galileo had a gun. Although, with Light still handcuffed, he doubted Galileo would need it.

---

The moment Jasper left the room and shut the door, he called out for Morph, but the ghost boy seemed to anticipate his summons, and appeared spontaneously, startling Jasper a moment.

"You jumped, why?" Morph asked. "My sudden appearances should be common to you by now."

"The situation is a little disturbing at the moment, something unexpected happened," Jasper said. He tucked the gun he held in the front of his pants. "We did what you said, we gave Yagami the scrap of the Death Note you gave us, but…"

"You found out about Light Yagami's true nature, didn't you?" Morph said.

Jasper nodded. "What happened to him? He's not the same person I thought I knew. Is that who—or what—Kira really is? Is Light Yagami possessed by a devil?"

Morph laughed. "Devils come in all shapes. The Death Note changes the user in profound ways over time, and it enhances a person's most enticing desires. Light Yagami's goal was to follow in his father's footsteps and be a police officer, to punish criminals. Then he picked up the Death Note. He may have had a noble goal at first, but then things exploded out of control when he began killing innocent people, those who came after him. But Light Yagami, well, let's just say, a person's past often comes back to haunt them, and they attempt to rectify certain mistakes, things that hurt them, so others don't suffer the same fate. Case in point." Morphed pointed at Jasper.

"Light Yagami's desire is to create a brand new world where people can feel safe, but now the world is ruled by fear. People walk on eggshells. And Kira became a god in the minds of the world—omnipresent and omnipotent. He also became something you may fear in your worse nightmares, a devilish figure that spies on you in the shadows. And yet, there are no rules in how to use the Death Note. There is a price, however. And no, the Shinigami don't devour a person's soul. A person who uses a Death Note can neither go to Heaven nor Hell for eternality."

"Does that mean his soul can never rest? Stuck in limbo?"

"Whatever your thoughts are on an afterlife, where a person goes after death, are yours. Humanity has several thoughts, different cultures have separate theories based on their histories. Your friend Tristan is Christian, so his ideas on death and incarnation would be based on the Bible. Then there is Islamic, Buddhist, Judaism, Indigenous, and so on. They all have different views, like the ancient religions of the past. Regardless, Light Yagami does not fall in with any of them. And I don't believe he could be called Atheist. From what I've observed, he's purely scientific, so—agnostic."

Jasper agreed.

"The hell Light Yagami will experience will be far worse that any imagined in religious lore," Morph said. "And there is no leniency for those who have used a Death Note, no one will be absolved." He took at his book in its side pouch. "This is why the Life Note was created, to counter-act the atrocities that the Death Note inflicts. At one point, Shinigami slaughtered thousands of humans and creatures alike to renew their life span. Eventually, they became lazy, and now, they don't bother to kill unless it's absolutely necessary. My people fought the Shinigami, but the Shinigami King mounted a massive counter-offence that nearly wiped out 'The Brigade of Life'. I saved all I could…" He put a hand to chest. "We are a legion of one, and I am but the last of my kind, per se. That's why it is imperative that I survive, and anchor myself to others in order to continue to exist, feeding my people with soul-food."

Jasper nodded, but he felt distracted. He looked at the entertainment suite door where Galileo was holding Light, then turned back. "Light Yagami is Kira, but if he let's go of the scrap of paper from a Death Note, he looses all his memories of it, including the killings, events, and everything else—correct?"

"Yes, but you know this," Morph said suspiciously, tilting his head slightly. "Are you having second thoughts? I think it's a little late for that. I thought you wanted to murder Light Yagami fully conscious of his thoughts with the Death Note? He murdered your father, and before that, he helped put him and you away. Believe me when I say, whether he is conscious of his actions or not, the judgment will be finite and unforgiving. Light Yagami is a condemned human."

Jasper understood. Light Yagami was pure evil and he would be punished. And yet, he wondered, what would be his fate when it came for his time to die? Would that be punishment enough?

He looked at Morph. It still seemed strange to him that there was a creature in the universe such as him. But was Morph a wolf in sheep's clothing? When Jasper signed his name to the Life Note under the impression that it would save him from Kira's judgement, had he been tricked? Was writing your own name in a supernatural "Notebook" the same as using it? Had he signed his own death warrant?

After further discussion that ultimately lead to the same conclusion Jasper had concocted before entering the business, Morph disappeared, and Jasper returned to the room. When he entered, however, Galileo was nowhere to be seen. In fact, Light Yagami was not in the same place Jasper had last seen him, either.

He found Light Yagami standing near the far wall with his back turned to the door. And there was something else. His arms were no longer handcuffed behind his back. His arms were in front.

Jasper grabbed the gun he had tucked in the front of his pants, snapped his arm up, and cocked it. "Where's Galileo? What the hell have you done with him?" Jasper looked around. He couldn't see his friend anywhere. It was like he had completely vanished. He couldn't explain it, but he felt a heavy aura in the room, a dark and sinister feeling. "Turn around, Yagami! Slowly!"

Light did so, and when he had faced front, he was smirking. The left side of his face had a mark with blood dripping down. If Jasper didn't know any better, he'd say a bullet had grazed Light's face. Light's wrists were still handcuffed. Jasper wasn't sure how he did it, but he must have contorted his body in a way to bring them out in front.

"What's the matter, Jasper? You look like you've seen a ghost?" Light tilted his head slightly with a ghastly smile, the corners of his mouth reach farther than any normal mouth should.

"Shut up! What did you do with Galileo?"

Yagami stood unfettered by the situation and unafraid that a gun was pointed straight at him.

Light Yagami was Kira, but he was also human. There was no way that he just made Galileo just disappear, he didn't have such that power. Although, Jasper didn't know as much about the Death Note as Light Yagami did.

The only thing that was publicized was that Kira could kill by a heart attack without being seen. Did the Death Note also give its possessor other god-like abilities? Had he indeed been tricked into restoring Light Yagami's memories? Was Morph and Kira in some sort of partnership?

Suddenly, Light Yagami broke the chain to his handcuffs with super-human strength, and rushed towards Jasper, arms extended, hands bent into claws, with saliva dripping from his mouth—like he was some rabid animal.

Jasper fired, but Yagami shifted his weight and the bullet missed. He fired again, but Yagami ducked underneath the trajectory, and quickly came around Jasper, slipped his arms around Jasper's head, and squeezed an arm around Jasper's neck in an arm choke. The hand with the scrap of the Death Note clutched tightly in other hand.

Jasper lifted his gun and fired at Yagami's head, but the shot missed. Yagami laughed and acted like some sort of possessed demonic creature.

Was this the real Kira? Or had Morph lied to him?

Jasper dropped the gun and tried to pulled Yagami off him, but to no avail.

"Do you understand now, Jasper?" Light Yagami said close to Jasper's ear. He could feel Light's breath on his neck. "I am Kira. I may hide in the shadows, but when my back's to the wall, I'm not a weakling. My father is a former police detective and I've watched him for years hone his skills and tried to emulate him. I've even trained with him and some of his colleagues, from time to time. I took martial arts classes when I was a kid. I admire my father for his dedication. But like the other task force members, he is a fool. And Kira is unstoppable."

"You're insane!" Jasper said breathlessly.

"Your father murdered innocent children and you willfully participated, that's like the pot calling the kettle black." Light jerked Jasper to the side, shifting their position towards the couch. Then forcefully walked him forward. Light was slightly taller, but he wasn't any stronger looking than Jasper. And yet, Jasper felt completely powerless against Light's superhuman strength. "Look! Your friend failed to see the reality of the situation and paid the ultimate price."

Jasper's eyes widened when he saw Galileo's body stuffed behind the couch, partially covered with cushions. His eyes bulged wide open, his throat ripped and torn with what looked like by a chain—from the handcuffs.

Jasper couldn't see him before, but now from here, he saw the horror of his friend's demise, in his eyes. He had left his friend alone with a serial killer. He hadn't heard a sound when he was out in the hall talking with Morph, and he had only been there a few minutes.

Light had killed Galileo silently and quickly.

Light chuckled. "The tables have turned, Jasper," he said. "Once I eliminate you, I'll return to the task force, kill your friends, and then kill L, and murder the rest of the team in glorious fashion. My plan was risky, I relinquished the Death Note so I wouldn't get caught, but I never thought it would work out so well. I believe it's called synchronicity: when two meaningful coincidences meet with no relation to the other. Karl Jung coined the phrase. I had no way of knowing how my memories would return, but you did the work for me. Ironic, wouldn't you say? You wished to kill me, but now your death is certain as a result of your actions."

Jasper struggled against Light's grip. "You fucking bastard! Let me go!"

"Oh no, not until you tell me where this piece of the Death Note came from? Are you in league with the other Kira? The one Rem chose to make my judgements in my absence?"

"I don't know who that is!"

"It doesn't matter. I'll find this other Kira and kill him. I still remember where I buried my Death Note. So, once I retrieve it, the one true Kira's judgements will ensue again." Light kept a tight grip. "But allow me to reveal one thing to you, Jasper. What I went through when I was a kid with you and your father had a profound influence on who I am today. In retrospect, I would say, you are the main driving force in me to kill criminals, to make them pay for their crimes. I had amnesia, a repressed memory regarding our original encounter, but something in my mind continued to press me to hate people like you. But my studies kept me busy. When you took me hostage three years later, I briefly remembered the butchery of your father and what he almost did to me, but then the amnesia returned. Until a dream triggered the events just recently."

"A dream…?"

"I originally thought the only way for me to help people affected by crime was to follow in my father footsteps into the NPA, but I soon came to realize that the court systems were too regulated towards the human rights of criminals, and victims were left to rot. Now with the Death Note, the police are no longer needed. Kira will cleanse the world of crime and make it safe again for good and honest, hard-working people. Sacrifices must be made, of course, and Kira needs to do more. It's not enough, though! And all criminals will be wiped out! You and your band, included."

Jasper struggled still.

"Now it's about that time. Time for you to die, Jasper Yuta. But I wanted you to know certain things before I killed you, that you are the true reason for Kira's existence. And thanks to the Death Note, people like you will all die horribly like the vermin you are! I know about the existence of Sanctuary City, and once I find it, I'll go through it en masse, learning names, and killing everyone. I'll kill Tristan and Isolde, too. No one will be able to hide from me. A world free of crime is attainable. Kira will reign supreme, and I'll be the god of a new world!"

"No…"

Jasper felt like he was fading, but he quickly mustered the rest of his strength, and dropped to one knee, forcing Light off balance. Light fell forward with Jasper, and Jasper used the momentum to throw Light off him and to the floor. Light rolled, but he quickly steadied himself, and crouched.

Jasper coughed and gasped for breath once he was free. He got back to his feet and stepped away from Light, rubbing his throat.

Light grinned and leapt at him again. Jasper saw the gun he dropped and went for it, getting to it before Light got to him, and fired, penetrating Light's right thigh.

Light cried out. He clapped a hand to his leg, the pain evident with a cringed look. Light grit his teeth, but then stood up straight, and smiled, with an expression that could only be like insanity. And Light came at him again, the injury unfazed him, as if he felt no more pain, and somehow with super-human strength, he overcame it.

Jasper fired again, this time striking Light in the upper left arm. Light recoiled, but again, he seemed unfazed, and grinned innately back. It was like trying to take down a wild beast. But he didn't give Light the opportunity to come at him again and fired off another shot at the same arm.

This time, the shot rang true, and Light's hand opened up, and the scrap of the Death Note fell free. And it was like Light had just been electrocuted, his body shocked, stood frozen on the spot, his mouth agape. And when he no longer held the Death Note scrap, it no longer fed his insatiable frenzy. His eyes fluttered and he dropped to his knees, and collapsed to the floor, fell face first with a heavy thud, seemingly unconscious.

Jasper stood frozen to the spot, breathing heavy, his gun pointed at Light.

For a few moments, he didn't move. "You insane bastard," Jasper said, a little out of breath, and even shocked. "I should kill you right here!"

"I wouldn't do that," Morph's voice suddenly rang out, and the Imp appeared. The piece of the Death Note lay on the floor next to Light, and Morph picked it up. "This is an extremely value item, I wouldn't want it to get lost." He took out the Life Note, opened it, and placed the scrap of the Death Note inside, shut it, and then placed the book back into his pouch.

"W-what happened to him?" Jasper demanded.

"Well, with a degree of certainty—Light Yagami went insane." Morph smiled broadly. "He touched a piece of the Death Note. But it isn't from just any normal Death Note, it's a piece I ripped out of the Shinigami King's personal notebook during a close battle we had. It must have been too much for Light Yagami, possessed with so much evil and hatred, and it overtook Yagami completely, super-imposing the King's own will over Yagami's personality."

"But he admitted, he was Kira," Jasper said. "And he said I'm to blame for everything?"

Morph shrugged. "Like I said, the past has a major role in the psyche of an adult. If your encounters were that influential, then this little enterprise was unwarranted. Once he gets his true memories back, you're as good as dead."

Japser looked at Morph. "B-but I'm protected, you said so!"

Morph pointed at Galileo. "So was your friend, and look at what happened to him. You may be protected from the Death Note, but other than that, you can still die from other means."

"You son-of-a-bitch! You lied to us!"

Morph raised a finger of warning. "I didn't lie, you just misunderstood the method," he said, with a smirk, the Imp then vanished like a ghost in the night.

Jasper swore. He took one last look at his friend Galileo near the couch, then at Light Yagami unconscious on the floor, and then left ran out of the room, wanting nothing more to do with the situation.

To be continued...

The moment Jasper Yuta left, Morph re-appeared inside the small entertainment suite.

Galileo was dead, killed by Light Yagami's own hands, and Light Yagami, himself, was laying unconscious on the floor with three bullet wounds to his body, none of them fatal. They all managed to avoid major arteries.

He placed his hands on his hips, laughed, then said, "Tsk, tsk…all this for revenge. Won't the human race ever learn?" He smirked. "Thankfully," —he pat his stomach— "they never do."

He had promised to protect Jasper and his friends from harm, but he said nothing about plain old murder by another human. The Life Note only protected a person from harm brought about by the Death Note. He omitted that basic fact. Like the Death Note, there were rules, and he had no obligation to explain them to those who agreed to the terms of a contract.

He crouched down by Light and then lifted his head by his hair. Light moaned. "Pathetic fool," Morph said. "Once you got a taste of power, you did anything to keep it—chained like an animal to its influence." Light Yagami opened one eye. Later, all this would like a dream, or even a repressed memory—minus his injuries, of course, blamed on Jasper in an attempt to kill Light, unsuccessfully.

Morph dropped Light back down and Yagami remained there. He stood up.

"When someone uses a Death Note, they are possessed by a Shinigami, but they are not controlled by them. Influenced by its power, yes, but not controlled as if possessed by a demonic entity. What you did was of your own free will, Light Yagami—killing under the moniker of Kira—and you freely admitted to this. So, I pity you. This will not be the last incident in your life that will be marked with tragedy. I foresee that our paths will cross again in the future. But for now, you will not remember this encounter between us. It's best this way."

Morph went to Galileo and stood over him. He saw his real name elevated above his head, but his lifespan was at zero. If he had never met Light Yagami, however, Morph felt Galileo would have presumingly lived for a lot longer. He died at nineteen. However, unlike Shinigami, despite acting like one, Light Yagami's lifespan will not increase with this killing.

Light Yagami had murdered the teen in a vicious struggle, strangling him with his handcuffs, the marks on Galileo's throat were deep and harsh. Yagami showed no mercy, no remorse—Morph saw it all, through a viewfinder in Galileo's mind. Even after death, the human mind still retained electricity to keep it alive for a short time. But his lifespan energy was gone.

Morph frowned. "Wasteful," he said. "I could have used this human's energy." He pushed Galileo aside, like he was garbage. He turned back to Light Yagami. "I could devour your life energy now, Light Yagami, however it's best to cultivate it further." His eyes glowered golden.

Morph titled his head. "Strange, I've never seen this before…"

Light Yagami's lifespan was elevated above his head, but there was something strange about it—split into two branches, as if there was two different possibilities his life could venture on. One where he continued along his path using the Death Note and one where he never touched it again. And the latter path had a much lengthier time reference. No matter, Yagami had made his choice in life.

He took out the Life Note and sifted through its pages. Galileo was dead, so he crossed his name off with a pen that accompanied the book. Then he came across Jasper Yuta's name. He thought about it, but then crossed his name out along with his friends, with the stroke of the pen, too, breaking their contracts. He didn't need them anymore.

"After what they've all experienced here, they'll be too frightened to do anything of the like for me again," Morph said. "So, let them once again be at the mercy of Kira."

He then vanished, leaving Light Yagami unconscious on the floor.

---

Jasper Yuta ran down the hall after exiting the elevator, gun in hand, and burst into the Kira operations centre, and where Tristan and Isolde were still guarding the other prisoners. When he stopped. Catching his breath, he then said: "Let's go, we're done here," he said quickly.

He checked his gun, the magazine was empty, so he tossed it away. He'd get another one.

"Where's my son?" Siochiro Yagami demanded. "What have you done with him?"

"Did you kill him, Jasper?" Tristan wondered.

Jasper looked at Light's father, at the angry stare, one of hatred and disdain, and that of pre-emptive revenge, and then looked to Tristan. He felt disturbed by the events that transpired in the small entertainment suite and he wanted to get out of the building as soon as possible.

"And's where's Galileo?" Tristan asked. "You both left here together."

"Kira got Galileo," he said, not revealing what he learned or confirming Yagami was indeed Kira.

Tristan swore, throwing a fist and knocking a computer laptop to the floor that was on a long work area bench. "That son-of-a-bitch! The little shit lied to us! He said we would be protected!"

"What have you done with my son?" Soichiro Yagami reiterated. He went to get up from the floor, but Jasper shoved him down with a foot.

"Chief! Are you okay?" Matsuda asked.

"Yes…"

"I'd suggest you take care, Soichiro Yagami," Jasper said. He looked at each one of the Kira Task Force members in turn, including L. He pointed directly at Soichiro Yagami. "Your son is still alive, but I shot him three times. He's going to need medical attention." Light's father swore. "He deserved it and more. Your son is…" Jasper stopped himself. "No, I already got my revenge." No matter what happens now, I know the the Yagami Family is cursed forever. Jasper looked at L. "Take care of yourself, L," he said, almost like a warning.

L's eyes widened. And then with a tilt of his head, he said, "Indeed," as if Jasper's words conveyed not just a warning but confirmed something else as well.

"I swear it, Jasper Yuta, I won't rest until you're behind bars to pay for your crimes! I'll make it my mission to hunt you down!" Soichiro Yagami said.

Jasper laughed short, but he didn't feel jubilant. "Brave words, Yagami, and understandable. Light is your son, after all." He shut his eyes for a moment and clenched a fist as if to summon courage. He then opened his eyes and looked straight back at Soichiro Yagami. "But take heed, sir. There are greater forces at work here than you will ever know. And we humans are mere puppets to their whims of the gods."

Soichiro Yagami looked confused.

L said, "And what do you mean by that?"

Jasper looked at L, still handcuffed. It was good he had not made any trouble.

They shared a lengthy stare before Jasper said, "Continue with your work, L. Kira must be caught. The world is too fragile for his tyranny. Kira is an abomination to the world. His form of justice is pure evil. And I admit now evil comes in many forms."

L nodded in agreement. "Is that an apology, Jasper Yuta, perhaps an admission of guilt? Time to end this, Jasper," he then said. "While it was under different circumstances, a bargain is a bargain. You had your way with Light Yagami. And if he dies, I'll make it my mission to hunt you down to the ends of the earth. But if Light is still alive, we need to help him."

"So cold and calculating," Jasper said to L. "You never handed Light over to me, I took him. So, Kira's real identity remains with me." Besides, he wanted Light to suffer. Even if Light did regain his memories back again in the future, spending life in jail would serve no purpose. There was another person out there with Kira's power right now. L needed to capture him.

Without the Death Note, Light was no threat.

He took out the key to everyone's handcuffs from his pants pocket and then tossed it haphazardly to the other end of the room, to the lounge area. Jasper knew L would no doubt be watching its flight path and would retrieve it later when they had departed.

Jasper turned back, said to L: "Before we go, allow me to give you one important piece of advice, L. You've done some excellent work in hunting down Kira. But you need to step up your efforts. Kira needs to be caught. 'Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer'." L nodded. "My recommendation to you is to keep your allies even closer. In fact, chain them up on a short leash if you have to. And never take your eyes off him, I mean, them."

L cocked an eyebrow with intrigue.

Jasper sighed. "I may be a criminal, L, but I'm not completely chained to my convictions."

"What are you trying to tell me, Jasper?" L asked.

Jasper smiled thinly.

Suddenly, Jasper gasped, and he clutched his chest, and grit his teeth, in agony. With his mouth agape, he dropped to his knees. "F—! Damn it!…You son-of-a bitch! You betrayed…me!"

"JASPER!" L shouted.

Jasper Yuta gasped, and then looked to his friends, as each then were experiencing the same agony, clutching their own chests…

Struck by a heart attack.

---

Light Yagami awoke in god-awful pain, but he couldn't remember why he was laying on the floor in the small entertainment suite, and how he had become been shot three times—twice in the left arm and once in the right leg. His clothes were covered in blood.

Suddenly, an image of Jasper Yuta pointing a gun at him came to mind, and then quickly vanished as if it was a dream.

He groaned and looked around. Then crawled to the couch and used his strength to haul himself onto one knee, his good leg. Then he saw the body of Galileo—Jasper's tech-savvy friend, his eyes wide and bulging, and his neck bruised and ripped, partially under some pillows. It appeared he had been murdered. But why would Jasper murder his friend?

Light raised himself to his feet.

He picked up the tablet Galileo had brought with him, the screen was crackled, but it was still functional. Jasper had been left behind. Light could use it to unlock all the building security systems. Light thought it odd. If Jasper and the others were going to escape, wouldn't they need it? Unless it was left in haste and forgotten, or further more, no longer needed?

He looked at the tablet and switched on the screen with a finger tap. It asked for a password. He would need to run it through a Decrypter program, but that wouldn't be difficult.

Galileo's gun was also laying near by. Average citizenry were not supposed to carry or use guns in Japan, but with Jasper and his friends possibly still in the building, he needed protection. He picked it up. He checked the magazine and saw it was minus two bullets. He looked at his left arm, dangling at his side. Had Galileo shot him? Light quickly looked around and saw two bullet holes in a wall. Something had happened apart from Jasper shooting him.

Light untied Galileo's tie that was underneath his shirt vest, he was impeccably dressed—he obviously liked to feel important—and used it as a tourniquet for around his right thigh to stop the bleeding. Extraction of the bullet would have to wait. In fact, he was told a person should not remove a bullet or risk the case of more bleeding as the bullet acted like a stopper. However, he saw that all his wounds were not serious or life threatening.

His left arm looked worse than it was. One bullet was stuck in his bicep while another was jammed just on the cusp of his shoulder. He was lucky neither one hit an artery. He didn't want to touch them for fear that he may end up bleeding unnecessarily which could cause him to faint due to excess blood loss. For the most part, they had stopped bleeding. So, he left them alone.

If he was going to be a cop, then he would have to get used to getting shot at, and even shot. This was an introduction to his father's world. But he still had no reservations in being a cop. In fact, this only reinforced his want to follow in his father's footsteps. To catch the bad guys and to save innocent lives. For some reason, the incident with Jasper Yuta was more incentive to do so.

He made his way to the door with the tablet in hand, the gun tucked into the front of his trousers. His left arm dangled at his side immobile and his right thigh hurt badly, but it was still useful to walk on.

Venturing out in the hallway, he first looked both ways, saw it was empty, and then made his way to the elevator down the hall, and then three floors up to the floor where the epicentre was located. The moment the elevator dinged, he hide behind the wall, then peaked out, gun in hand, but saw no one was in sight. He had the tablet stuffed down the front of his pants.

Separated from the others, L, his father, and the rest of the task force, would still be held hostage here. So, he cautiously ventured forward.

He saw three dead bodies on the floor, one of whom was Jasper Yuta. The others were Tristan and Isolde. All three were seen clutching their chests.

Had Kira killed them with heart attacks? No doubt the media had gotten all their profiles by now and were broadcasting them over the airwaves. Either it was a dirty cop who sold the information to a Kira affiliate, or Kira did some research, and found out their real names, and murdered them himself.

So, it was finally over.

Luckily, all the task force members were alive.

He literally began dragging his right leg as he made his way over, everyone still handcuffed.

"Light!" his father called out.

"Dad! Is everyone okay?"

"Yes, Jasper said he shot you. Are you okay?"

"I'll survive…"

"Light, over here!" L said, crouching on the couch. His hands digging into the cushions behind him. "Jasper threw the key to our handcuffs somewhere here, but I can't get it."

Light went over and searched through the cushions, found it, and then unlocked L's handcuffs. L thanked Light, told him what had happened with Jasper and the others—all of them suddenly died from heart attacks—then went about freeing everyone else, locking their handcuffs.

Light sat down, exhaustion from his injuries and events finally taking over.

His father rushed over. "We should contact medical services immediately," he said.

"I agree," L said, "but not from here. We don't want anyone else knowing this is the Kira Task Force headquarters. Or we'll have a repeat incident." L quickly told Light about the explosive device—possibly rockets—Jasper and company launched at the building from the exterior and that they destroyed a good portion of the Residential Level, amongst other places and floors. "We're going to have to assess the damage and block those floors off until things are repaired, new living quarters will be re-assigned." Everyone agreed.

Light handed L the tablet. "Galileo is dead, I found his body in the small entertainment room," he said. "He looks like he's been choked to death. It's a gruesome sight."

"I'll go take a look," Mogi offered, and then left.

L tapped the tablet surface. A password would be needed to bring the main security systems of the building back on line. Light said he'd be able to unlock the systems when able.

Watari came with a first aid kit, able to leave his own operations room elsewhere, able to override the controls, and began tending to Light's wounds. He couldn't do much about the bullets, but he could help with a cut on his cheek that Light was just suddenly made aware of.

Light's adrenaline began to wear off, remembering vaguely that he had been pistol-whipped, and someone shot near his face in haste—the wounds superficial.

Light unbuttoned and gently removed his shirt down his shoulder, wearing a white undershirt underneath, so eying his wounds would be easier for Watari. Watari then placed Light's left arm it in a sling to take the pressure off. Light thanked him.

"I believe a know a good decrypt program to unlock the tablet, Ryuzaki," Light said. Afterwards, we're going to have to go through the security protocols of the entire building and enhance the firewalls. We should also speak with the city and get the specs to this building out of the public domain."

L quietly removed the gun that was laying on the couch next to Light. Light saw him, but said nothing. It was now evidence.

"Light, your handcuffs…how did you break the chain like that?" Matsuda wondered.

Light looked at his wrists for the first time since regaining consciousness. "I…I don't know." L looked at them, too. Light extended his hands out, open palmed. "Ryuzaki, can you…"

L mused. "Odd. When Jasper's party first handcuffed us, I tried to brake free of them, but they were incredibly strong. There is a trick to getting out of handcuffs, but these are not your standard type. It would take a person with super-human abilities to brake them in this fashion. The chain appears to have been just pulled apart, as if with a massive yank."

"I'm…" Light began. Then cringed because of his shoulder. "Maybe they were shot through during the scuffle with Jasper? He had a gun. The gun I brought back as protection belonged to Galileo. But I don't remember much of anything. I must have hit my head at some point?" Light saw the glance between L and Watari, but brushed it off. "Jasper separated me from the rest of you for a reason. He shot me three times. I thought I was going to die. I'm still curious why I'm still alive. I wonder if Jasper killed Galileo?"

L lifted Light's right hand. "There's blood on these handcuff chains…"

Light pulled back his hand. "Probably mine, I am bleeding a lot. My clothes are saturated. Jasper said Kira killed Galileo?"

"Ryuzaki, please stop interrogating my son," Soichiro Yagami said. "He's just gone through a lot. Give him some space."

L stepped back. "Very well, but we'll discuss more of this later, in depth." L unlocked Light's cuffs from his wrists. Light looked at L curiously, as L held them close to his face. L looked at Light through one of the cuffs, and said, "Evidence, of course."

To be continued...

After everything had unfolded and things settled down, and with the media attributing Jasper Yuta and his cohorts deaths to Kira, relayed by the NPA through L's directive through a press release, rebuilding commenced in certain areas of the Kira Task Force Headquarters building secretly.

Reconstruction of events during their hostage takeover played out to a certain degree, but all that that transpired in the small entertainment suite was a dead issue. Light didn't remember much of what happened.

It had been a week since things ended, and in that time Light had had surgery on his arm and leg to remove the bullets through a private doctor L knew.

Now the task force was once again discussing the Kira Case with new vigour.

Misa was out on another movie shoot as everyone was gathered in the epicentre, lounge area. Misa wanted to stay, but L told her Light would be fine. But during the entire week of Light's initial recovery, she was was all over Light, waiting on him hand and foot, and even offered to do him "special favours" to make him feel better.

Light declined most of her advances, but allowed Misa to help with things that made it difficult for him to normally do, and was very supportive in every way possible.

Light, however, was back to being handcuffed with a lengthy chain to L.

Even after everything that had transpired, Jasper Yuta's last words still haunted L. And what really happened between Jasper and Light in the small entertainment suite?

Even Galileo's—Ichi Levin, was his real name—death was still unexplained.

But L had a theory. At certain times, a person could do extraordinary things like overcome an attacker, while then forgetting it ever happened, despite the evidence. There was little evidence to go on except Light's handcuffs, which had Galileo's blood and samples of skin. Had Light choked the teen to death in a feat of strength and then repressed it? There were no working cameras in the room, so no one could prove it. Galileo's gun was also examined, and it was determined that the two bullets found in the wall in the small entertainment suite came from his gun.

The physical evidence was filed away for later examination.

Charging Light with murder here would serve the task force no worthwhile purpose, especially when L was trying to prove Light was Kira. It was would also be counterproductive to the overall case. It would also draw attention to the Third Kira, as L called him.

L still needed Light. He would keep his eyes on him.

It was learned that Tristan and Isolde—both their real full names were discovered in police records with pictures, and no doubt how the Third Kira got access to them—had a young son, who was being babysat by a friend at the time of the incident that lead to their deaths. He was later placed in foster care, which upset L. Yet another orphan made by the parents mistakes.

L was orphaned at a young age, but he was lucky he had Watari to help him get through the really tough times.

Despite the tragic outcome, and as far as the Kira Case was concerned, at least only the Kira Task Force knew L's real identity now. With the death of Jasper Yuta and his friends, who had discovered what he really looked like, he was, for the most part, safe.

Regarding safety, however, after his return from the hospital, Light kept pressing for L to allow the task force members to carry weapons to protect themselves if anything like the Jasper Yuta affair happened again.

L said no.

"Non-lethal tasers?" Light said, during a roundtable. They were supposed to be talking about Kira, but Light kept getting off topic. L figured he was still in shock about what had happened and wished to carry a weapon to make him feel safer. "Anything!"

"No," L repeated sternly.

"I feel completely defenceless!" Light said in a huff. His arm was in a sling after his surgery and he had a leg wrapping around his right thigh under his pants, but other than those two places, apart from the quickly fading scar on his cheek, he was none the worse.

"That's how we all feel against Kira, Light," L retorted. "I was wrong last week when I said Light would be safe with three former police officers with him. And I was a little shocked and perturbed that despite this building being one of the most sophisticated ever built, and with some of the most up-to-date tech in the world, an AOS—Autonomous Operations System—that controls this building, was so easily hacked by a teenager with a simple computer tablet." L sounded miffed. "Protocols are being implemented to prevent that from ever happening again with multiple firewalls and dualistic systems working simultaneously, and on independent servers, as per Light's suggestion. One will kick in if the other AOS ever has a similar issue. Watari is taking care of the details."

Light was about to say something, but L got the jump first. "However, as Light feels…vulnerable. I will offer a concession." Light thanked him. Watari stepped forward with a small metal case, then opened it. "It's called a billy club. It's non-lethal, light-weight, and it can be carried almost anywhere, derivative of London, England, mid-1800s. I've even instructed Watari to attach a clip for your belt."

Soichiro Yagami put a hand to his face to hide a smile, as Light picked up the small, black club, about eight inches in length, and made of cheap children's plastic. Light tapped it on the table they all sat around on couches and it made a hollow sound.

Mogi turned to snicker. Matsuda just burst out laughing.

"Not funny, L," Light said seriously. "This isn't funny in the slightest. I'm completely insulted!" He slammed it to the table angrily.

"Relax, son," his father said calmingly. "L is just joking."

"Well, I'm not amused!" Light said, wincing from the pain of his injuries.

"Perhaps you should take up martial arts again. I remember you once mentioned you took classes when you were a kid just after the first incident with Jasper Yuta and his father when you were ten years old. Or, I can begin a Tai Chi starters class in the morning? It does wonders for the mind, body and soul. It may also stymie some of that pent-up anger you seem to have. Or…and I say this from experience…you could acquiesce to Misa's offer to relax you. You're at an age now where certain 'exercises' are very beneficial for a young man's health."

"Ryuzaki!" Light said, eyes wide.

L shrugged. "Just a suggestion," he said.

"But L is right, Light," Matsuda said. "You need to learn to relax more."

Light lifted his right arm showcasing the hand-cuff and lengthy chain, the other end was attached to L. "How can I relax when I'm still under the suspicion of being a mass serial killer?" he said. "I am not Kira!"

"So you say," L said. "So, once again, we are back to where we began. The Jasper Yuta Case is closed. Time to get back to the Kira Case. Does anyone have anything to report?"

Light slammed an open palm to the table in frustration. It started everyone.

L looked at Light. Light stared back at him with an angry glare.

"I don't like that look in your eyes, Light," L said.

"And I don't like being ignored!"

L tilted his head. "Very well, let's all stop and listen to what Light has to say," he said.

Light opened his mouth to say something, looked around at the rest of the task force, and then shut up. If it didn't have anything to do with the Kira Case, it was irrelevant.

The discussion with the Kira Case continued.

END...