Jane Grey

Chapter 5: The Sick Bed

In the aftermath of Raye's death, my health fluctuated and plummeted with no explanation other than a combination of trauma and premature introduction to society again. Nonetheless, I reassured L and Watari that I could push through it, often taking breaks where fatigue overtook motivation. As far as I was allowed to enquire, L had planned to let a select few of the task force see his face and work with him on a more personal level, quite a high honour for the infamous detective. I couldn't help but feel a little snubbed though, after all I was out here doing field work and putting my life on the line while these random police people just had to sign up to actually get an audience with the high and mighty detective himself. But I shouldn't think like that, Watari told me one morning when getting out of bed proved to be too difficult of a task for my fragile body to handle. This wasn't anything new, my illness, even as a child I often missed school because my body felt too painful to move or all forms of energy just drained out of me from the moment I opened my eyes.

L and Watari were incredibly understanding though, they never pushed me where my body physically couldn't handle it, though I would always push myself further until I would collapse in the car on the way home. So here I was, in bed in some comfy sweats, drinking tea through a straw whilst waiting for Watari to return through the doors after the task force was to meet with L. I could hear their muffled voices deliberating the case, though I couldn't discern anything important. Times like this, I felt so useless. Though as I sit here now in my own present day in a similar situation of being too fatigued to move from my space without collapsing in exhaustion, I realise that it didn't inhibit me as much as I thought, though it was a nuisance to my own cause I will admit. Suddenly the door did click open, and in came Watari sidling through trying to hide me as much as possible from the task force. If I could recall correctly, Light's father was amongst the men in the task force and so in that regard I could understand L's hesitance to reveal me quite yet.

"How are you feeling, my dear?

"Like a bus got hijacked and ran me over," I joked, I could tell he wanted to laugh in return. He sat by my feet and checked my temperature. The poor man was always so worried when I got like this, checking my temperature, giving me painkillers, so on so forth. Bless his soul. Still, my temperature remained unchanged from the last time he checked.

"What are they like? Will they help our cause?" I asked.

"They have agreed. And they certainly are a bunch,"

"It's okay, its just you and me, you can call them weird" He chuckled softly and took my tea from me. "I wouldn't say weird, more so enthusiastic."

There was another knock on the door, to which Watari answered by opening the door what felt like a fraction of an inch. Small whispers between the man and my boss were indiscernible once again, but given the look of approval Watari gave me it was safe to assume at the time that he wanted me to introduce myself once my health was in proper order.

It wasn't for another three days that I felt remotely well enough to even stand without swaying with nausea, though it was sufficient enough and I was tired (no pun intended) of sitting around in bed waiting to rot away forever. I was concerned about the creature that I had seen both in the café and in the bus as I hadn't seen it in a while, but there wasn't much I could do about it without looking crazier than people already think I am. Dressed formally, I made my way down to the lobby and eventually out into the open world again, declaring to Watari that I was going for a walk to get some fresh air finally. I walked for about an hour until I grew ever so slightly dizzy, and by that time I had come across the police station that the new Task Force had come from. Coming out from there was a woman, Naomi Misora if I recall correctly from Raye's photos that he had shown me, and also Light. Swallowing my pride, I tried to stumble away from them but they spotted me before anything. If I was anyone else, they would be coming to help an ill citizen, however both of them knew me in some shape or form so I can assume it was mostly curiosity.

"Are you okay, Jane?" Light had asked, catching me before I could fall. Naomi pressed her hand to my forehead, and sat in front of me at the side of the road. Passers-by asked if everything was okay, to which I shakily reassured them that i was okay and that there was no need to call an ambulance.
"Jane Grey, right? My fiancé told me about you"

"You're Naomi, right?" She nodded in response. Light looked between us confused, handing me a bottle of water.

"You guys know each other?" We both hummed in agreement.

"My sister used to live with her," The very mention of my sister caused her to freeze, as if to ask how I knew that. But I said nothing further regarding it.

I could tell Light wanted to press me more on my identity, but I forced myself to stand up and brush myself off. Naomi offered to walk me back to my hotel, sensing my unease around Light but assuming a completely different reason. When we reached the entrance to the lobby, Naomi inquired within

"You're Harper Moreaux's sister?"

"Mhm, I know all about you two. I worked with Raye week or so ago as well."
"Do you know what happened to him?"
"I'm afraid I can't give any details, sorry,"

"It's alright...
You look quite young, are you sure you should be working in a force like this?" I laughed and shook my head "Absolutely not, but I owe my boss one for saving my life." She smiled at me and analysed my face for similarities between me and Harper; She couldn't find much outside of our eyes and face structure. We separated off, and I found myself faced with the door of L's room, not my own. It was time to finally make a semi-public introduction as Queen Jane Grey, heir to Lower Lords.