Jane Grey

Chapter 42: Luck and Success

I felt anxiety bubbling up in my chest, this was the first time I was interacting with potentially such a big crowd for the first time since my kidnapping. But as L's new representative, not that faker of a boyfriend Light is trying to be, I have a reputation to uphold. So I took a deep breath, pressed a kiss to my cufflinks and knocked on the door. A tall man answered the door, taking a moment to examine my appearance and assessing who I may be;

"L?"
"Roger," I nodded, holding out my gloved hand for him to shake. He had a firm grip, remarking the suit as tailored exactly like Gramps. All of a sudden there was a loud crash behind him and a flurry of voices and small children running around him. So my prediction was right, an orphanage indeed. Some of the calls I could decipher were kids being kids, just reminded me of what I lost of my life... Roger looked a little exasperated at the sudden influx of noise, but leant me a hand (which stopped me from fiddling with the hem of my sleeve) and directed me inside to a more calm and quiet area in which a trio of boys were stood, presumably the successors given how isolated they were from the other kids. I took a moment to assess them just as they were me; clearly very influenced by L given that one of them was dressed and stood like him, the others were more critical in their individuality but nonetheless clearly influenced.

"Boys, this is L," he was interrupted before he could finish introducing me by a blonde boy,
"L's not a woman though,"
"AS I was saying. This is Jane L. Grey. She's stepping in for L until a successor is determined,"
"Its nice to meet you," my voice wavered, but nonetheless still determined to make a sensible impression. I held my hand out, but none of them shook it so I swallowed my pride and folded my arms instead. The silence was killing me inside, I was overthinking everything - how could I not? I had only just barely managed to pull myself out of my own head and yet everything was going wrong already. I turned to Roger and asked if I could go freshen up and take my meds, so he directed me to the nearest bathroom and I collapsed against the door as soon as I shut it. In my head I was just hoping that I wasn't destroying everything Lawliet had built up purely because I can't even make a damn conversation with some kids.

"What the hell did he even see in me that would be successful...He should've just left me to rot in that cellar and saved himself the trouble,"
"Now don't think like that dear, did you really think that you'd recover as quickly as you did without some repercussions?" Great, now I was hallucinating Gramps, telling of how much I needed his comfort now. Coming to, I saw that nobody was there and yet I could hear him in my head as if he was right next to me "If we thought you wasn't worth it, then why would we have spent all that time in making sure you'd be prepared for success?" I sighed deeply, dry swallowing my pills and his voice slowly fading away. Dragging my body off of the floor, I touched up my hair, smoothed out any wrinkles, and made my way back to the successors.

I made sure to carry myself with confidence, no matter how fake, I had to prove that I got that scholarship to To-Oh for a reason. I had to prove that I was worth every second that L and Watari invested into me and my recovery. I stood before them, hair no longer with fly-aways and my shoulders relaxed "I wish to work with you all in order to bring Kira to justice. Whilst I have the means to do it myself, I require an outside set of eyes to make it a reality," I stated, my voice oozing authority. The smallest kid seemed to take the most interest in what I had to say, the brunet beside him looked about ready to leave but was hesitant, and the blond looked interested but bored at the same time (somehow).

"I have a set of terms for you. We work in our own ways, but never omit information from each other. We theorise, we have the same tools. We must work together. Do you accept these terms?"
There was a pregnant pause of consideration, but then again these boys barely uttered a word to me since I got here. I felt my confidence dissipating with each passing moment, but tried my best not to let it falter. The brunet was the first to step forward and offer his hand in acceptance, "Mail Jeevas, aka Matt. Nice to meet you 'L'" he gave me a cheeky grin. Then came the smallest of them all, a white haired boy who took on the posture and clothing style of the man I missed most.

"Nate River, but refer to me as Near," I nodded, shaking his hand. The blond was more hesitant to accept, but eventually came around. I learned his name to be Mihael, commonly known as Mello. That was easy enough to remember, Mello, Matt, and Near. I stayed for dinner, but opted to eat in my room for the first night - I was graciously given a spare room to sleep in, it was quite bare and barely even looked lived in but it was more than enough for me. The tie was the most difficult to take off, Light tied it was too tight...I felt constricted, like being bound to a chair...In a cellar...For ten months at a time.

"Get out of your head Jane," L spoke in my head, "You're the furthest thing from being back there, get out of your head." Even whilst in my head, I felt my tie loosen and by the time I came to it was in my hand instead. My brain was using death as a coping mechanism to be a functioning human again, so perhaps I wasn't sleeping all that time? Like something or someone had taken control of my body for the time that I was checked out, that'd explain how I managed to go so long the way that I did.

Determined to make a good impression the next day, I stayed up all night looking at the files I had brought with me from my late highschool days; I reviewed the patterns of Kira, the methods, the best way to reintroduce shinigami's without sounding completely insane, as well as how Harper's case ties in with this.

Kira's powers are often given to people with unrecognised ambition to do the impossible for what they've lost of lacked; Light wanted me back so he had drive to kill, Misa's parents were murdered and taken advantage of so she had drive to kill, Higuchi had unrecognised talent and ambition which is enough to make any power hungry man driven to kill. Whoever had this death note now alongside potentially Misa once more must have something or someone they'd kill for so when I see the boys in the morning we have to start profiling. Biting my nail, the dots started to form, and yet the thread had yet to take to them. The links are there but I just can't connect them. Thats why I have the successors.