Kira Arisen (Death Note Alternate End)

Fate's Flame

*Ten Years Ago*

I sat on the wooden floor, my thin legs crossed as my own fingernails pinch my knees.
She didn't let me sleep today.
A tied up paper bag to my left signified how much I owned: next to nothing. A change of clothes. Some chalk. A marker.
The children below still made their clamorous noise, and the smell of food made my stomach growl with longing. I wouldn't be here tomorrow.
And with the way this city is, how long can I last for the rest of my days after?
England weather is sometimes cold, rainy, and tends to never be the forgiving of sorts. Even if I could avoid being drenched every hour, where would I sleep?
And food. I was hungry now, and I knew Mrs. McBrigg would not let me eat dinner with the others...not after I was accused of attacking Wendy like that.
I haven't seen the locks of red hair since. Wether she would tell the truth one day or not is a mystery to me; she was always quiet, and in this situation, she will most likely remain that way.
Plus, with Travis most likely holding her lie to her head, she won't even think about uncovering what really happened.
I tuck my knees to my chest, my fingernails still pinched in my skin, keeping myself awake.
I had no maze board to distract myself with anymore, but what stupid a distraction!
"Why am I even here...?" I drop my head into my knees and stare at the dark planks of wood that I sit on, "Do I just exist...to be sad? Why do I have to be this way?" I sniffle and raise my head.
Someone was at the door.
I blinked away the tears from my eyes and saw Travis. He snickered before running down the hall, most likely scurrying off to his meaningless rant about me.
Then it hit me.
"Stupid..." I growl, "Just...stupid, meaningless people..." I clench my hands into my knees, "They don't know what it means to be worth something...they don't know anything but what's in their stupid brains!" I snap my teeth together, testing my legs and standing up, exhaling harshly.
"I'm in pain for nothing because of them." I shake my head, "Maybe if it were for some worthy cause, but pain is wasted on this?" I pick up my bag.
Maybe I was ready to leave.
I step down the stairs as they creak under me. The clatter of the dining room to the left of me continues until I come within sight, and the noise of the boys and girls in the room dims slightly when they see me, a vagabond, a bad specimen of this orphanage, come down uninvited.
The room becomes even quieter as I pass the tables one by one, finally passing Travis' table.
I don't look at him.
I walk up to the man serving the meals. His eyebrows raise, but then with a white smile he hands me a tray.
"No use you goin' hungry, boy." He laughs a little, before staring hard at the other kids, "What? He's a human, and gotta eat like you. Continue as you did!" He waves his hand as he turns back to his skillet, and the clamor roars again.
I look down at my tray, the tin plate with the sections of beans, a bread roll, and some meat I can't distinguish laid atop. I am grateful but cautious as I meander to the back of the room, a small table next to the storage room of the orphanage. I scoop the beans with the roll and begin to eat.
I can feel Travis' glare rest on my head, but I don't look up as I continue to eat; the most meaningful things first, meat, then beans, careful to not eat to quickly-
A hand slams on the table, making me jump. Travis is there, but no one is with him. No one seems to have noticed.
"...What?" I glance up at him. I'm tired...both ways, but mostly of him.
"What's with your attitude?" He demands, leaning, "Last time I checked, you were some crap of a kid that no one knew existed." He thumbs his nose up, and I sigh.
"Please don't get that close to me." I scoot back, "People might start assuming things."
His hand grips my tray and pulls back. The beans slosh, the roll tumbles, and the meat scatters off the plate as it falls off the left side of the table as what would have been my meal, falls to the floor.
"Say something like that again and I'll drag you out of here myself." Travis' hands are both on the table, his flaring eyes boring into mine. I look up from my seat, my bloodshot eyes raising up to his.
"I..." Gripping the table hard, I feel my fingers dig into the harsh wood, "I'd like to see you try."
I said the words slowly, as if tasting them, my weary eyes staring at him, as if expecting nothing.
Travis flinches as if suddenly attacked by a swarm of diving bees. With his eyes wild, he vaults forward on the table and pushes into me, his shoes planted firmly on the wooden tabletop where my tray once sat.
I tumble back, the force of his hands pressing on my chest so hard that I roll almost. I stop only when I have hit the storage room door, it's frail, poorly structured frame jarring slightly.
"I'm going to kick your sorry mouth for every word you just said to me." Travis snarls with no precaution, "And just watch the teachers not care, because they won't. But you knew that right?"
I lean against the door frame, my hands at my side. When I look up at him, I don't respond.
What good will it do me anyway? My blank, nearly soulless stare wavers at him, and he kicks the door frame hard, trying to startle me.
"Say something you piece of crap!" He barks, "Say more words so I can kick you more!"
I don't flinch.
"Fine!" He yells, and rears his foot back. I close my eyes, not moving.
I feel his the rubber toe of his shoe slam up against my mouth, the force bashing my lip and pressing against my top teeth. I hear a scattered response of winces and cheers as I fall in a heap next to the door, covering my face out of instinct.
"No you don't!" He barks. My hands scramble up to the door handle of the storage room as he kicks again. His shoe lands on my left temple, and for a moment, I can't focus.
I swing the door open hard, rolling out of it's way.
It slammed into Travis, knocking him a good foot from me.
I managed to stand and stumble into the storage room, shutting the door behind me.
"Get out of there!" Travis roars as I lock the door behind me, "I swear I will-"
"Shut up." I snap, loud enough for him to hear me. I press a hand to my lip, which is bleeding profusely.
"What?!" He roars.
"You...you heard me." I say, my mouth hurting tremendously. He responds with some other curse, but I don't pay attention.
A flicker in the corner caught my attention too quickly.
I walk to the corner of the room, brushing my way past cobwebs with a wince. Finally, I make it to the back of the room with no trouble and spy the object that flickered with reflected light.
It was a lighter.
I bend down and scoop it up ever so gently, as if it were some precious gem.
I look to the door that Travis is slamming on. Was this why I existed? To...eliminate the people that make this world a terrible place?
This lighter...I could take down the place that made my life worthless. Some call this place great because it takes children off the streets, but then what? They just tear and bite amongst themselves in here, becoming more like animals than children.
Maybe that's why I'm even considering...burning this place, this whole place to the ground.
I was taught...told that I as a single person can't change the world, but with this lighter, I can do everything I ever would have done.
If fate smiles upon this place, people like Wendy will escape unharmed.
If it doesn't...then I suppose she can...
The door slams open so harshly that I scream and flounder back. Travis stands in the light that pours in from the outside.
"Come on out, Lucky Luke." He sneers.
I crouch in my place in the darkness, my eyes blinking blearily as he steps around the storage room. The...wooden storage room.
I grip the lighter tight and stare at it. Why did fate do this to me? Why do I have to be the one to make this decision?! People like me...
I stare at the lighter.

*Present Day*

I wake up, but I don't move. I feel cold sweat on my back, my eyelids so heavy that they feel snapped shut permanently.
I feel someone's presence in the room even though my eyes are closed. A couple of steps later, and I know it's Rook.
I manage to open my eyes, the vision I have blurry and unfocused. I feel...awful.
"Hey." Rook says, "It's a little after five. Q says we need to get going."
I stare up at her for a moment, nodding. What would she have done in that position, with the lighter just on her fingertips...?
I scoff at myself for even asking the question. No doubt, she would have done the righteous thing, even with the whole world hating her.
She turns her back and begins to walk out. I stand to follow, but like a paralytic, all feeling loses itself in my legs. I fall to the floor, not without a gasp, but certainly not with that much surprise.
Rook is startled though.
She asks if I'm okay, and I tell her I'm fine, as my eyes skirt the carpet, almost feeling the lighter in my hands, the wood below my crumbled form.
My jaw sets as my thoughts echo my actions: what I did that day is something I'll regret over and over.
With Rook's hand, I stand, and we walk out of the room.
I try to leave my thoughts impinged within the carpet, but they follow my shadow like a ghost.

*Light Yagami*

The screen was unchangingly similar to the small television set Light had used to kill criminals when he was being watched through cameras over six years ago.
But this screen didn't broadcast the criminals Light had yet to judge, but instead presented a live feed of a train station just near the Kanto region border.
That, and seven others.
Light sat back in his seat, his fingers entwined and pressed to his lips. Any moment now, she would be there.
"A sheep in wolfs clothing, right?" Ryuk never surprised Light anymore with his silent presence behind his shoulder. In all honestly, the Shinigami wished he could just see that slack jawed scream Light had done upon their first meeting.
But no, Light, in his opinion, was becoming so...boring.
"That's exactly what it will be, Ryuk." Light doesn't look from the screens, the light from each reflecting off of his focused eyes, "Orpheria is known as 'The Oracle' among her peers and Wammy's, so no one is going to be surprised that she escaped." Light tilts his head just slightly, "And unlike Misa, I know Orpheria will have a convincing story planned for why she is late." He smiles, "The computer disconnected? Or perhaps she was interrogated by me personally and managed to sneak her way out? Her teary presentation will blind her bleeding heart of a brother." Light closes his eyes.
"Then, she will do exactly as I told her."
Ryuk sighed, positively lulled to absolute null.
"And if she doesn't? What if that hypnotism click you have over her wears off?"
Light scoffs lightly, as if that were not a possibility.
"Ryuk, by now you should get that I've read the Death Note rules back to back..." He places his hands behind his head, leaning.
"The laws I've made as god of this world will take care of her if she so much as breathes a word of mutiny."