//------------------------------// // The Note Deal // Story: Death Note: Alight Equestria // by DeviousNights //------------------------------// Ryuuk arrived at a world completely devoid of color, besides his own glowing red eyes. Everything was surrounding by a dark and depressing aura, and the human bones that littered the area did nothing to help its disturbing vibe. A slow moan could be heard emanating from the background, as if the wind was whistling through the skulls of humans. The whistling added to the already ominous environment, lowering the atmosphere to an even more depressing tone. Ryuuk had two cloaked bodies on each of his shoulders, held tightly. With those bodies in his possession, he began to navigate through the unhappy dimension, flying around dead trees and broken infrastructure. The moan seemed to get louder as Ryuuk arrived at a large barren clearing with a hoard of cloaked figures gathered in the middle. In the back of the clearing was a large chair made completely of human skulls and other human bones, all compiled together to form a large piece of furniture, by which a large shadowy figure was sitting atop. The figure's crown glistened, and seemed completely out of place as it was the only thing other than the deep red glow of the Shinigami's eyes, that provided even a hint of color in the world. The Shinigami himself was simple enough, he wa nothing more than human skeleton cloaked in a deep blue coat, with the aforementioned crown lying atop his head. The cloaked figures in the middle of the clearing one by one began to turn their heads towards the king figure, and began to get onto one knee and lower their heads solemnly as if in deep prayer or mourning. If this entire atmosphere reminding him of anything that he experienced in Equestria, that would be Rarity's funeral. It was as if the very life had been sucked out of every single pony in attendance. Even Nightmare Moonlit himself seemed a tad bit off in that regard. The entirety of the atmosphere was devoid of any sort of positive emotions, and all that remained was a very deep negative connotation that lingered in the air. He was a Shinigami however, he was used to this sort of atmosphere, being surrounded by death and destruction was his life. however, the day of Rarity's funeral was a lot more than he would have expected. The negative emotions were far stronger than any other he could have ever experienced elsewhere. It was as if a world figure had died and the entire world was in mourning. Even the weather itself seemed to be mourning as if a tribute to Rarity that day. Ryuuk shook his head quickly. He wasn't sure what exactly brought that entire thought of that ordeal into his mind, but it was the last thing that needed to be on his mind if he were to face the Shinigami King. It was rumored that the Shinigami King could sense even the most miniscule bit of weakness inside of one's soul. Though he was just a soul. As Ryuuk approached the Shinigami King, setting the two bodies in front of his throne as he stepped down from the air. Ryuuk allowed a knee to hit the ground as he got into a position somewhat reminiscent of a bowing stance. The king himself took very long to respond to ryuuk, more than likely because of all the years that he had spent there, rumour had it that he was there for tens of thousands of years, and he never once moved from his skull chair to do anything. "Ryuuk, are these the prepared sacrifices?" The Shinigami King asked, ominously raising his skeletal digit to point at the two bodies that Ryuuk had previously laid before him. The Shinigami king's voice sounded raspy and distorted, as if he was speaking through some sort of voice converted like "L" had used in the Human World. However, Ryuuk knew this was no mere voice converter, and what he was hearing was the very voice of the 'God' of the Shinigami World. He was like the Light/Nightmare Moonlit of the Shinigami Realm. Ryuuk nodded silently, as he began to rise from the ground, now looking at the Shinigami King directly. The king had shifted his head to look back at Ryuuk, moving one of his skeleton fingers in a circular motion, as if waiting on a response. The Shinigami King then nodded back, a dark energy then enveloping the two bodies, bringing them up to great heights. They then disappeared, as if into nonexistence, before a small, gray notebook replaced the missing bodies, which then fell directly into the open hands of the Shinigami King. "And that is the notebook received in exchange right?" Ryuuk asked, beginning to hover, but then noticing that the Shinigami King had raised his hand in a motion signaling for Ryuuk to stop. In response, Ryuuk landed back onto the ground area in front of the throne, his wings folding back inwards. He returned to his bowing position before looking up to see that the Shinigami King had seemed to doze off. His head had tilted slightly to the side and his crown began to hang off a bit as his body made slow, but sure movements until Ryuuk actually noticed that he had went to sleep on him. Ryuuk seemed a bit agitated in that regard. "Hey...sir?" Ryuuk asked calmly, unsure of how to address the Shinigami King,He had only spoken to him a single other time, and during that time it was not even required that he use any sort of mannerisms. After what seemed like an eternity to Ryuuk, the Shinigami King's mouth began to slowly move before hoarse words began to flow from his mouth. "The Universe of the Ponies. The two sacrifices, an adult Alicorn and a filly, have met the conditions as they would be in the human realm, which would be an adult and a baby. This notebook, is an exact copy minus the names written inside of it of one Sycamore Gavin's notebook. As such, since that notebook is one of the Special Ones, this one shall have all of the power that that notebook brings along with it. This will be dropped into the Griffon Kingdom, as it was written in one Nightmare Moonlit's notebook. Are these conditions correct Ryuuk?" The Shinigami King questioned, the notebook now levitating into midair. ~ The Attorney-General stepped up to Colonel Heaveswood, a solemn look sullen across his face as he shook his head. He made his eyes meet Colonel Heaveswood as he opened his mouth to speak words that he knew the soon to be retired police commissioner would not want to hear. Everything seemed to slow down for the split seconds that it would take for his mouth to allow the sullen words to escape, and hang in the air like articles of clothing on an old clothesline. "While i do appreciate the service that you have provided us in attempting to capture Kira, even heroes must retire eventually. I do think that this should be the end of the road for you. Allowing you to continue, you'll only be hurting yourself even more for no more of a reason than to protect your own pride." Lawrence finished, a serious look sprawled across his face. It was clear this was not any sort of bad joke, as much as Colonel Heaveswood would have hoped that it was. The room temperature seemed to drop ten degrees, as the air around it seemed to chill, creating goosebumps on the Colonel. "It isn't even my pride! That monster does not need to roam free as a bird!" Colonel Heaveswood rebutted with a hoarse voice. His entire presence was a shadow of its former self. He was wrapped in bandages, almost head to toe, in fact, and he could barely open his right eye, as one of the heart attacks left some of his nerves damaged. It was clear that Colonel Heaveswood had been through some tough times after the continuous heart attacks. His mental state right now, even, could be considered questionable, as he never was known to blow up on short notice as he did just now. It could be either that or he has grown so attached to the case to the point that he could be considered obsessed with it. "You fail to understand the severity of this situation. My obligation to all of you police ponies everywhere is to make sure that your safety comes first. If even for a moment i can suspect that you would be put into a terrible situation that could result in your deaths then I am obligated as the Attorney General to withdraw you from the situation, which is the power i am executing right now. Trust me, it is nothing personal, but some things have to be done, especially when lives are at stake. Tell me, if that last heart attack finished the job, what would your children do?" Attorney General Sawyer asked, bringing up a very tense subject between the two. He knew that if anything was more important to the old Colonel rather than the Kira case, it was the lives of his two fillies, which he cherished more than anything after the entirety of his family had left him, whether it be in death or figuratively. "Look sir, if I were to just let Kira roam free even the lives of my own children would be at stake! No matter who you are, if we have a maniac out there killing ponies with whatever sort of device or notebook, or whatever you want to call it, everyone, and i mean that in the most literal sense, Everyone, is in trouble, not just the ones of commit crimes. What if Kira suddenly changes his viewpoint, and suddenly starts considering petty theft a crime worthy of death? Or maybe we are going to wait until this pony decides that something as simple as stepping outside of your house is worthy of death?! The longer we sit around the more severe this situation shall become! And that has nothing to do with me, it is just simple fact! All of this time we are wasting right now deciding whether or not I should be relieved of duty, we could be trying to cooperate with each other to capture this maniac." Colonel Heaveswood exclaimed, not even allowing his mouth breaks in between words. his words reverberated through the room, and they truly showed how serious he was, and how much pride he had as an officer in the police force. This was not something he could just allow to slide by. "My number one priority right now is your safety Colonel Heaveswood. We will catch Kira. Have you forgotten about the rest of your team?" Lawrence asked, as he began to turn from Heaveswood and look outside. The weather had changed somewhat drastically, as it had now began to unleash some snow flurries. Lawrence had to wonder about that, as he had not read anything about any sort of snow in the weather column. The flurries scattered about, some managing to slap themselves onto the edge of his large, room sized window. It was honestly, in his opinion, sort of pathetic. But maybe it was just his pessimistic view of non material things that made him think that sort of way. In any other situation this would be a beautiful display of what nature could surprise you with. "They need my help. There is a reason I was appointed police commissioner. It was because of my ability to lead my ponies to victory. Its on my Cutie Mark for the love of God! Please. Just allow me to catch Kira. My last act as the Interpol Commissioner." Colonel Heaveswood had stooped to a bowing state, and his eyes were clenched behind the large task glasses that he wore. He had broken out into a noticeable nervous sweat, and he began trembling. Were all of his efforts but for naught? Sycamore gavin stepped into the view of Colonel Heaveswood, standing next to the Attorney General, visually indicating that he was on the Attorney General's side on this situation. He cracked his neck, then opening his mouth to begin speaking. It was a long wait, as Sycamore had to think of a good way to put what he was about to say. They were given strict orders, but even so this was still to be considered a very delicate situation, especially with a pony this dedicated to the case. His emotions were very obviously unstable at the moment, and it was a given that he had no intention on giving up. "There are some thing you just have to let go Colonel Heaveswood. Trust us, we will capture Kira, if it's the last thing we do. He has hurt many people, and that is a crime that cannot just be excused in my eyes. You have to have some sort of faith in your fellow ponies, thinking that we won't be able to handle the case without you is not exactly showing your confidence you have in us." The new king stated, trying to be as blunt, but fair, as possible. he kept his voice steady as possible, but it became hard for him not to laugh, as he could not stand people acting so pathetic. To be reduced to beg to keep a position was downright ungrateful. The look on the colonel's face showed complete defeat, his eyes had closed even tighter and his head began to hang lower than usual, slight breathing difficulties audible from his mouth. his trembling began to worsen as he slammed his front hoof into the ground, feeling defeated in every sense of the word. He felt disgusted with himself. His body had deteriorated itself to the point that not even the Equestrian Interpol, the syndicate that he had dedicated most of his middle aged life to, had wanted nothing to do with him, even after everything that he had done to help them in the past. He felt useless. "As much as I would like to grant you permission to finish this case-" "Allow me to interrupt." Vivant said, arising from her chair and using her hoof to swipe the hair that hang over her face. "I do believe the Colonel should be given a chance in this regard. Surely this last task would not prove of too much trouble for the two of you to allow him to do. Just consider it, if you both just allowed him to walk out of this door, and suddenly the God up above decides to take him away, then what? All of his work, his dreams, everything will go straight down the gutter and you both know that. This has been made personal to the Colonel. If you fire him now and Kira is never caught then really there's no one else to blame here. The entire case would be put under scrutiny with his passing an-" Sycamore raised his hoof dangerously close to her face. "We get it. I understand your concern,but-" The fourth interruption in a row then occurred, this once coming from a ringing phone in the pocket of the Attorney General himself. The Attorney General excused himself to a corner in the room as Sycamore and Vivant began bickering concerning how dangerously close the former came to hitting the latter, before Lawrence, trotted over at a high speed, wrapping his hoof around Sycamore's front hoof and basically dragging him outside. He turned a corner, then letting go of the now irritated king of Equestria, allowing him to catch his footing before moving the phone closer to their ears. "What the hell Lawrence?" Sycamore asked before Lawrence pressed a button allowing the cell phone to speak louder. The voice that travelled from the phone was very familiar to the both of them: a very panicked, angry, even, Nightmare Moonlit. A slight rumble was present in the background, and it was clear that the weather was more unstable at the COK hideout, than it was up at the Attorney Generals office. "The entire place just, y'know, exploded! Everyone but myself, Starshooter, Dahlia, and two other COK members are still alive!" Nightmare screamed, a lot of emotions present in his voice, most of which we unaccounted for especially considering the type of pony Nightmare usually was. It took a lot for something to discomfort him enough to change how he responded to certain situations, so the two knew that this had to be the real deal. "The hell? Is that General Moonlit? An explosion? What?" Sycamore asked, motioning for Lawrence to bring the phone closer to him so that he could hear more. Lawrence scooted himself a bit closer to Sycamore, bringing the phone up to both of their ears, in an attempt to make hearing easier. "God, your at the COK base correct?" Sycamore asked, moving his muzzle closer to the phone to make absolute sure that Nightmare could hear him. Over the line, Nightmare could be heard shuffling through some thick shrubbage and the light tapping of hooves could be heard slapping themselves against the ground. The voices of the others of the Moonlit clan could be heard moaning in discomfort as well, indicating they may have started going through some sharp foliage. "Of course, we had to do the Note Deal remember?" Nightmare reminded them as he mumbled a moan of discomfort. "Hm. That's interesting." Sycamore mumbled, almost seeming like he didn't care much for the situation at hand, causing Nightmare to let out an annoyed grunt. "You don't get it yet do you? This was an assassination attempt! And they've claimed the lives of the COK."