At a Standstill

Es appeared in a familiar silver-themed room identical to the office he had left behind for Near in the partitioned-off area in his mirror realm.

At his will, his surroundings shifted without any forewarning.

The layout of a studio apartment was immediately replaced by an empty chamber with pristine white walls, a single silver-white capsule quite resembling a coffin placed in the middle. It was a massive hall, large enough to suffice as a ballroom. With only one item in this room which had a transparent crystal floor and silver ceiling, it seemed exceedingly desolate.

The distance was not a problem. Though it seemed to be a hundred metres away from Es' position, he reached the unusual capsule with but a thought. It was unclear whether Es had moved over or if the object had been transported in front of him. The monotonous white of the room could not be any more unfavourable for an accurate estimation of length to be made.

He gently laid one hand on the silvery surface.

Upon closer inspection, one could tell that it was made of the same glassy crystalline material as the ground upon which the coffin-like receptacle stood.

Within the white capsule with the silvery glass-like top slept an unmoving young man. He did not breathe and no pulse would be detected if he had been connected to a heart monitor. Even so, if anyone else witnessed this scene, they would never believe it has been nearly two months since he last drew breath. By all common sense in this world, this man was already dead.

"L," Es murmured lowly.

There was nothing except gentle affection in his expression as he roved his sight over the still features on the slumbering young man's face.

It was unsure when it happened, but the unearthly crystal cover had vanished under Es' palm.

It slipped through the still air, landing lightly over L's left breast.

There was no heartbeat -- this was to be expected.

Es shut his eyes briefly, his pale golden eyelashes brushing over his cheeks as azure eyes were briefly concealed from view. As they opened, their true visage was exposed. Opaque silver filled the clear blue irises, an intricate continuously swirling pattern forming a circle along the edge of the silver. Reflective yet impervious, the detached tranquillity overwhelmed the sensitive azure.

He would not hide from L anymore.

Es leaned down, pressing his forehead lightly against the black-haired male's own.

When he spoke, his breath ghosted over the other's lips.

"It's time to wake up," Es whispered tenderly.

The effect was instantaneous.

The scarlet name and numbers poised over L's head returned to life, the halted progress of the countdown towards the young man's death smoothly resuming without ostentation.

Es was still -- as if he had been awaiting this all along.

The former detective's breathing resumed naturally, warm exhalation mingling with the cooler expired breath from the blond whose head was bent over his. Besides this and the strong beat of the black-haired young man's heart within his ribcage, there was no other indication that he was alive. Even so, Es knew that his closest friend was awake.

Es slowly withdrew his touch, his too-cold hand gradually retreating from the growing heat of the other male's chest while his back straightened to resume his usual flawless posture.

"Welcome back, L."

It was an emotional greeting, though the words on their own appeared neutral.

That short statement roused the one called L, his eyelids fluttering open as his slate-grey eyes swiftly met the pair trained on himself.

Bright and full of life, these eyes were not at all like those of a man who was asleep for a month.

They also showed no surprise at the mirror-like orbs which were Es' eyes.

"You're safe," L asserted, relief evident in his expressive gaze.

Es sighed, both helplessly amused and hopelessly fond of his endeared mortal friend.

"I am immortal," he reminded, knowing it was futile in assuaging the other's worries.

L nodded, acquiescing, "Even if I died, you would live on."

The blond's smile vanished, the temperature in the room seeming to lower significantly.

"You are not to speak of your own demise," Es hissed, closing his eyes in an attempt to relax.

L weakened, propping himself upright with one arm and reaching out his other hand to Es' face.

Gently caressing the other's cheek, L promised, "I am alive and will fight to remain so. I would never leave you on purpose. You know that."

The tension within Es slackened, the blond seeming to deflate from the dread which lingered from the idea of having to see L slip from his grasp right before his eyes. Watari's departure had affected him greatly and, though he did not show it to others, he had been traumatised by that experience. He had tried and failed to resurrect his father and knew better than to reattempt an impossible feat, but sentiment got the better of him. Es was incapable of preventing himself from repeatedly endeavouring to bring Watari back to life and restore the man's lost time.

As he predicted, he was completely unsuccessful.

This caused growing anxiety to blossom within Es.

Although rationality told him that it was impracticable for anyone to discover L's true name, the fear stubbornly refused to be suppressed.

"Kira is dead. At least, he will be in twenty-three days," Es remembered to share, sounding quite breathless -- which was entirely due to his mood since respiration was redundant to him.

L hummed noncommittally -- he was more concerned about his friend right now than Kira.

It was not that the matter of Yagami Light never crossed his mind. L just could not bring himself to care about the rest of humanity when his best friend was on the verge of a panic attack next to him. If Kira took over and eradicated all individuals amidst the population that he considered evil then so be it, but he could not bear to see Es suffer without trying to do anything about it.

Es appeared to have collected himself by the time he opened his eyes once more.

"Right now, I want to see my mother for the last time before embarking on a journey to find that mask," Es disclosed uprightly.

L replied approvingly, "You are kind to part from your loved one properly. I will commence my own investigation on the location of the mask beforehand then. I already have the rough sketch that you gave me the other time."

Es chuckled, though it sounded wholly unpretentious.

"What are you saying, L? I want you to meet her too. How can I allow you to run off on your own without waiting for me?" Es chided, though the playful note betrayed its lighthearted nature.

L pointed at himself and echoed dumbly, "Me? You want me to meet her too?"

The blond's broad grin was an answer in itself.

"You must come with me. My mother would absolutely adore you," Es said happily.

💣

It took Naruto a day to tidy up loose ends and organise his blood clone network to function well even after they lost their core. He also arranged a system allowing his blood clones to effectively replace stillborn fetuses after their supposed deaths. They would integrate with this world, with a pseudo reincarnation process governing them. In this manner, they may continue to serve this world as the extension of S after Es was gone.

During this time, L struggled to neaten himself up in preparation to meet Aria Lynn Ebon.

Es might have told him his mother was open-minded and cared little about appearance but L could not help but be nervous anyway. He would not allow himself to be separated from Es even if the other's only living relation did not approve of their friendship, yet he was still shy and apprehensive about the upcoming meeting. He had never been good with people -- such a thing was Es' job. L's sole greatest asset was his brain and he did not have anything else to brag about, as he had dryly informed Es before. His deductive skill was not going to be useful when it came to "meeting the parents".

That was what Cairn called it, at least.

"Shall we?" Es' voice carried across the room.

L shrugged on a proper-looking overcoat and buckled down his snow boots.

He rarely ventured through the streets of London during winter, but Aria Ebon currently resided in a studio apartment in London.

The grey icy sludge that remained from the recent snowfall did not allow him to wear his typical footwear of sneakers without socks.

"I'm ready," L responded, a slight tremor in his voice.

Es entered the bedroom, swatting aside Cairn who stood in front of the door.

"Let's go," Es resolved, motioning a mirror over.

The two former greatest detectives in this world thus stepped right into Charing Cross Station via the surface of a polished glass display window. No one gave them a second look, an unseen force working behind the scenes to prevent humans from noticing their sudden appearance. L might have asked about how this worked if he had not been busy trying to straighten his bundle of nerves.

Es bought a box of assorted Krispy Kreme doughnuts from the store near the entrance of the station, grabbing a Cookies and Cream one for himself.

While munching on doughnuts, they soon arrived at Aria's flat along Craven Street. Finding their way to the correct apartment building took some time -- neither of them knew much of Charing Cross beyond its name, geography and history. Even this only applied for Es. L was clueless about this area since he had never taken a case located around here before.

Es gave up after they spent an hour roaming around -- they ended up in Victoria Embankment Gardens -- and cheated by calling one of his clones to chauffeur them to the correct place.

It was after a bit of a wild adventure that Es and L, at last, reached Es' mother's residence.

Es only started delaying when they reached the front door.

He could not think of anything he could say to his mother when he finally saw her after years of being apart. He wanted to tell her everything he had been up to lately and confess to having her fate sealed by writing her name in the killing notebook. He wanted to apologise for failing when it came to his father, to say that he should have done something -- anything -- to try to save that group of FBI agents from Kira. He should not have leaned on his powers, counting on his godlike abilities to resurrect the dead -- something he later discovered to be but a vain hope.

Es had yet to find it in himself to structure a proper greeting for his mother when L once again took the initiative and rang the doorbell.

Therefore, when the door swung open to expose the tired face of a middle-aged woman with faint laugh lines already forming on her beautiful face and obsidian hair as sleek as it had been in her youth, Es floundered as he stared at his second adoptive mother with a blank expression.

"Hello, mother. It's been a long time. I am sorry for not visiting before but..." the blond could not continue his clumsy speech.

Es found himself squeezed tightly in Aria's suffocating embrace.

"You're back, Siri," she sobbed. "It's all good as long as you're safe. It worried me -- us -- when it came out that you were pursuing Kira. Your father wouldn't have blamed you. We knew what he was doing was probably tantamount to suicide but I think Vince hoped that his sacrifice will aid your chase after the mastermind. If you're here, Kira must have been caught and Vince would've been glad if he knew that."

Whatever excuses and answers that Sirius Es Ebon was formulating in his mind were stuck in his throat as he was silenced by the sincerity in his mother's tone.

There was nothing he could say.

His mother always knew him best.

Notwithstanding his secrets, Aria understood him as a person -- sometimes better than he knew himself.

"I'm back, mother. Sorry for not being able to reunite with all three of us," Es said meekly.

Aria finally pulled away, releasing him from the hug, and probed her son with her sharp gaze.

She only took her eyes off him when she observed that he was impeccable, as always, belatedly regarding the black-haired grey-eyed young man next to Es.

She stepped aside to let the two men in, welcoming generously, "Please do come in. The place might be small but it is my home now."

Es and L allowed themselves to be ushered into the apartment.

"So you are L," Aria only vocalised when the door was shut, a keen edge belying her honeyed voice.

"He's my friend," Es defended, protectively positioning L behind his back.

Aria's lips quirked upwards, her calculative look dissipating as she lightly patted L's shoulder.

"I know," Aria assured him, "and I thank you for taking care of Siri all this time."

L coughed, scratching his head as he replied, "I'm the one who should be glad for Es' care."

To his surprise, Aria only nodded cooperatively, easily giving way.

"You are a delightful child," she murmured wistfully.

"Es is good to me," L corrected.

"He is," she remarked. "He has held you in high regard since before he opted to undertake the same profession as you. I suspect that Siri only chose to become a detective because of you, L."

L was stunned.

This was the first time he was hearing that he was Es' motivation.

His cheeks coloured, and L stuttered out, "I-I'm honoured."

Es rolled his eyes. "I would have picked whatever struck my fancy."

Cairn winked suggestively from the other side of the television's reflective plane.

Es pointedly ignored the kitsune's antics.

"My condolences. It's a pity that the world has lost Dr Wammy," Aria said, candid.

L inclined his head, returning slowly, "He knew it might come to this. His... Our legacy lives on."

Aria turned to face Es.

He smiled down at her, ensuring softly, "You don't have to worry anymore, mother."

"So you're retiring...?" she confirmed lowly. "That's also good. Then, if you're here, I'd suppose you mean for this to be farewell?"

Es looked away guiltily.

He never wanted to say it outright. His mother's perceptiveness had destroyed his original plan. She saw right through him -- she knew since he brought it up that he would be leaving for good this time.

"I'm grateful for your care for me all these years. I knew I wasn't related to you by blood. I may not be able to be with you until the end but I'll try to come back to visit..." Es began to ramble, tentatively perceiving Aria's expression for any changes.

"Oh, Siri," Aria sighed, squishing the blond's cheeks between her hands.

Es was thus forced to look straight into his mother's azure eyes, so similar to his own while his dōjutsu was deactivated.

"You're going on another adventure in a place where I cannot follow, aren't you?" Aria inquired, her eyes glowing with motherly love.

Es did not know whether to be relieved that his mother did not accuse him of abandoning her or discouraged by how his mother treated his departure as something inevitable at this point.

"I'll always be watching over you, mother," he affirmed, delicately.

Aria agreed in acceptance, "I know. Even when I cannot see you, you'll still be there to shield me from harm. I've realised it since your father passed on."

Es stiffened slightly, mildly intimidated by his mother's intuition.

It was scary how she had caught on so quickly to his actions. He had no way to keep anything from her. She sometimes seemed to have an inkling about the power hidden in his eyes. Aria's instinctive presentiment sometimes felt stronger than his own ability to see anything reflected by a mirror.

"We'll be traversing to another world," Es divulged, impulsively.

"Then have fun. L, sweetheart, I'll have to count on you to keep Siri from harm's way!" Aria said brightly.

Es saw the sorrow and longing beneath her merry veneer and felt a pang of heartache.

"You should find enjoyment in life too, mother," he pleaded, gripping his mother's frail shoulders.

Aria was too skinny.

She clearly did not take Vince's end as well as she wanted him to believe.

Aria melted and promised, "I'll try my best. I will take care of myself so you don't have to bother yourself with fretting over me so you must be sure to do the same, alright?"

"Of course," Es vowed gravely.

She shifted her sight upon L, who automatically comforted, "I'll make sure he does not neglect himself, ma'am."

Aria tittered, "You're such a darling, L. Please do feel free to just call me 'mother'."

Es did not feel like anything was strange about this but Cairn choking while he rolled around on the floor in the mirror dimension in laughter made him second-guess himself.

"If you don't treasure L properly, I'll make sure to track you down wherever you are and whack you on the head," she threatened her son good-naturedly.

Es believed that she would find a way to follow up on her promise.

"You don't have to. He's my friend and my precious companion," Es apprised, earnestly.

Aria gave them a knowing look which neither could identify the purpose behind.

Cairn's cackling became more hysterical.

Es' eye twitched.

"Before we part, would you stay for tea?"

Aria drew Es' attention away from the snickering kitsune with her kind invitation.

Es could not reject her -- he never was able to.

"With pleasure, mother," they chorused.

Neither showed any indication that they noticed the dampness of Aria's eyes or that they heard the slight shaking of her shoulders.

Es and L left with a simple parting of, "Goodbye."

When they were back in Es' mirror dimension, L remarked, "Your mother is an astonishingly strong woman."

"She's the strongest character I know."

In the rush of emotions from his last contact with Aria, Es disremembered what he wanted to confront Cairn about.

💣

A week after Es and L divided forces to track down the elusive Shinigami Mask, L literally ran into Es within the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

It was in the pyramid designated to Khafre, the fourth of the eight kings of the fourth dynasty, which stood in the middle of the three that they crossed paths and, in the absolute darkness of a concealed chamber buried below the stone structure reachable by hidden passageways that were accessible through mechanisms which were far ahead of those times. It would have been an incredible archaeological discovery for anyone else who unearthed it but neither of the two ex-detectives bothered with this. However advanced the technology exhibited with the creation of this place, it did not concern Es or L. It might overturn all known historical facts and cause all historians to rethink their prior knowledge of Ancient Egypt but these young men were entirely nonchalant to this matter.

Es had arrived before L.

He had been studying a wall of elaborate limestone carvings featuring Old Egyptian hieroglyphs Es could somewhat comprehend -- it detailed the feats of a Pharoah during his life and included clues that could be found by piecing together patterns which described how a compartment sealed in the wall could be unlocked. He did not dare to open it by force -- its age made him fear that the contents might be destroyed if he was negligent. Es was more well-learned in Ancient Egypt's hieratic script than hieroglyphic -- the cursive everyday writings of the people survived in larger samples. It was a chore for him to interpret the meaning of the carvings.

L came shortly after. Just as Es finished, L tumbled through a shaft and crashed into the blond.

Es was knocked off his feet and into a decorated sarcophagus that he had yet to get around to analysing.

"L?" he groaned in discomfort.

The bejewelled vessel was a terribly unpleasant thing to be pressed face-first against.

The sparkly stones jabbing into his forehead and abdomen was one thing but the smell was so unbearable that Es almost retched.

L could only cough and choke, trying to unclog his throat from the dust that he had kicked up in his unceremonious entrance.

Saving both of them from the struggle of remaining in the underground tomb for even a second longer, Es entered his mirror realm with a frazzled L in tow.

As soon as they crossed into Es' territory, L's breathing eased and he could open his eyes again -- even if it would have been useless before due to the lack of light in that underground cavern.

"How did you end up there?" Es queried, bemused.

"I lost my footing and fell through a gap somewhere while I was passing through Khufu's tomb," he explained miserably.

Es could not help but chortle at L's expense.

"You're luckier than I thought," Es commented. "You found a shortcut so easily while I laboured three days to travel through a labyrinth to get there."

"That was...?" L probed, his curiosity piqued.

"A subterranean labyrinthian pyramid predating the three aboveground. I suspect that the ones above might have intentionally linked those buildings to this one during their construction. By my estimations, the crypt that I found -- which you stumbled upon -- is located directly beneath the Sphinx. This pyramid might have been buried a hundred metres under the desert's plains in those days," Es revealed absentmindedly.

In reality, Es did not find any clues leading to the Pyramids of Giza or the underground pyramid sunken in the desert.

This was just the last promising place that his clones did not search yet.

"You should stay here. That place is not humanly possible to search and my instincts forbid me from using flashlights to illuminate it," Es advised his friend.

"I don't mind. I didn't think the mask would be there either," L replied evenly.

Es raised an eyebrow.

"I was in Cairo because I found a false lead and decided to visit Giza to see one of the Ancient Seven Wonders of the World," L said honestly.

"I doubt the mask would be there too but I sense that there is something important about that place. You can consider it a personal affair," Es stated, slightly abashed for choosing to handle a private matter when his friend was working hard to find the Shinigami Mask in his stead.

"Don't worry. I don't mind..." L assured, shifting the topic, "I remember you mentioned landing in England when you crossed over?"

"Yes, my guess is that I was in South West England. One of the areas in the UK which receive the most precipitation. I remember a townscape, though. It was neither a rural county nor an urban city. Had it been the former, I would not have panicked as much and I can imagine that I would have learned that I can control the tangibility of my physical body like Cairn a lot sooner if it was the latter," Es recounted with some embarrassment.

L concluded swiftly, "Somerset?"

Es agreed, "That was my hypothesis."

"Could you send me there?" L asked.

"Cairn will lead you," Es responded.

The redhead was summoned with but a thought and dropped on the ground before L.

"Somerset, UK," was all Es told the kitsune before he slipped back out of his dimension to that chamber he had just vacated.

If not for the fact that it was where he entered the mirror dimension from, Es would not be able to return there so easily. Even if there were actual mirrors there, they were no longer shiny due to the wearing of time. As for other shiny surfaces, the lack of lighting ensured that they would produce no reflections. As such, he cannot peer into that place from within his personal realm.

Es returned his focus to the sealed nook in the wall.

He had already figured out the technicals behind the arrangement of the complex lock system.

He rehearsed it once in his mind before starting to move the dials according to the solution that he had found to the puzzle, unfurling the layers of metal slips to form the double spiral to match the Fibonacci Sequence of a sunflower. The fifty-five curved slips had to be adjusted until thirty-four spirals were anticlockwise and twenty-one were clockwise. It was difficult even after it was solved as it precision required for the task was very high. Moreover, the breadth of the odd tool was insufficient for the fifty-five layers to be stacked on top of each other normally so the angle of inclination, positioning et cetera had to be factored in as well. Even if he knew that he made a mistake, there was no way to reset to the beginning -- he had to manually undo it step by step to reach the point of the error to fix it. On top of that, each of the eleven dials controlled a different number of the metal filaments and each of the slips varied in their extent of motion even if they were on the same dial. He admired the security features -- he did not think he could have thought of a better lock himself.

This might have been the most challenging logic puzzle that Es had ever encountered.

He needed to do that just to access the key in the middle -- the metal slips were thin enough to slice off one's flesh easily and made of titanium -- after which he had to rearrange the blade-like strips to reveal the keyhole.

The panel popped open when the key was turned, revealing a mechanism that functioned like modern doorknobs. When turned, the entire wall could be slid to the right. There were smooth metal ball bearings at the base of the secret door, allowing the limestone-encased wall to slide across with minimal noise.

He stepped into the antechamber without missing a beat, bypassing ornamental pieces lining the sides to reach a shelf lined with tubes painstakingly arranged. They were unlabelled, each metalwork a masterpiece that would have been coveted by men whether in past or present. It was with great craftsmanship that each of the cylindrical containers was sculpted, each with a slight variation in its style which betrayed the fact that they did not have the same creator. The platinum filigree wrapped snugly around the golden casings which contained papyrus scrolls so perfectly preserved it was as if the centuries that passed in the outside world could never reach them. There was no sign of decay in the papyri.

Es ignored the insignia which oddly resembled the pattern of his dōjutsu on the beautiful metal lid of the container, popping it open to reveal the scroll protected within.

He gingerly eased the roll of papyrus from its holder, unfurling the sheet to check its contents.

Es stiffened and almost dropped the expensive item he held, unable to believe that this was not an optical illusion. He must have been deceived somehow -- it could only be fantasy. He shut his eyes, neglecting to breathe in his alarm. His mind crashed, unable to even begin to ponder over this discovery.

"It can't be..." he told himself, staunchly refusing to look at the unrolled papyrus.

He set aside the scroll on a faraway crystal stand -- which he suspected might have been carved from a whole chunk of blue diamond.

Trying to bring himself back to reality -- he even forgot to emulate a human heartbeat, Es went for another scroll. This one had gems encrusting the casing and had a distinctly different design from the other one he had picked. He removed the cover, once again pretending not to see that insignia on the lid, and extracted the scroll from the casing. He was less confident in peeking at the text on the sheet...

He threw aside the papyrus, not daring another glimpse at it.

It must have been a coincidence, Es told himself while opening the third scroll.

Es almost spat out blood when he processed the hieratic lines.

He could not fool himself any further, not with such overwhelming evidence. He hastily stuffed the papyrus papers back into their containers and placed them back on the shelf with all of the others. He did not want to aggravate himself by looking at another of those incomprehensible scrolls. It was nonsensical, yet they were real. Now it made sense why some part of him was so drawn to this place.

This was no tomb.

This place he was drawn to seemed to be...

He instinctively pushed a nearby tapestry aside to reveal a dragon-engraved golden pin.

Es pushed the pin into an unnoticeable gap in the base of a nearby jadeite vase, causing a small drawer that appeared to be part of the design of the sculpture to pop out. He removed from the drawer a palm-sized lavender jadeite pendant that possessed a coldness that should not have been possible for a mineral that was placed in such an environment. Unbothered by the biting chill of the icy stone, he strode back into the dusty chamber that he just left.

The only difference was that the room was now illuminated by the luminescence of phosphors.

The architect who presided over the construction of the chamber had the luminescent material arranged across the ceiling, imitating the constellations. Sunlight had been guided from above, channelled past tonnes of sand via platinum mirrors through a path tiled by limestone, shining on the phosphors and causing them to generate their own light. The ceiling was obsidian, which made the glowing phosphors particularly apparent.

If it was anyone else, they might not have noticed that the largest, brightest "star" was a hole in the black volcanic glass which allowed sunlight to filter into the room.

Es forehead creased.

There were actually photosensors here that detected electromagnetic wavelengths beyond that of the selected phosphors on the ceiling?

That was definitely ahead of the technology available to mankind even now.

His vision followed the path of the sole beam of sunlight to the sarcophagus in the middle of the room that he had crashed into before. The polished mask which disguised the receptacle as one of the vessels which functioned as the final resting place of the Egyptian Pharaohs of past could be seen strewn to the side, knocked off its perch by Es' previous untimely fall caused by L's ugly landing.

Es placed the lavender pendant on the groove that was set aglow by sunlight. Upon retrieving the displaced mask, he restored it to the stone vessel. He then took a step back so, if anything went awry, he would be able to get away in time.

The vague clicking sound of something unlatching was heard.

He slowly lifted the lid, blanched when he saw the enshrined figure, then almost slammed the stone slab back down.

Grabbing the lavender jadeite pendant that he never once looked closely at to allow the locking mechanism to activate, Es turned tail and fled back to his mirror dimension.

He curled up on the floor, feeling his entire worldview collapse around him.

"How...?" he mumbled to himself under his breath.

He did not understand.

He never...

Es shut his eyes, turning off his Kagami no Me.

"No..." he chanted to himself resolutely, "I am not from this world... I am-"

The name was stuck in his throat, impossible to speak aloud.

He clutched at his head, despair pervading his eyes.

💣

L appeared before Es right when he managed to bury his despondency deep in his heart.

"I found it," L said simply.

Es spun around in shock, feeling awfully blind without his dōjtsu activated.

Sensing his abnormal status, L asked in concern, "Are you alright?"

Es' eyes flickered before reverting to calmness.

"I'm better now," Es assured.

He was always pacified by L's unique presence.

When L held out the recovered Shinigami Mask, Es felt his suppressed desperation surge as if threatening to overwhelm him. As the feasibility of returning loomed, nostalgic homesickness and irrational apprehension due to the potentiality of failure rose within him. Simultaneously, a strong desire to go back to his original world -- the place he truly belonged in -- that he had not known he harboured permeated through his being.

It was with such a mental state that Es brushed the tips of his fingers over the Shinigami Mask.

Unanticipatedly, the mask did not dissolve into dazzling radiance as Es remembered.

He did not know when it happened, but they were deposited right from the mirror dimension and dropped in the middle of the desert as the mask morphed into a different one that would cover only half of one's face. It was difficult to discern what shape it had taken as they tried to pry their fingers from the article. It was so black that it seemed to suck the light from all around them, a bizarre gravitational force bringing nearby sentient lifeforms towards it. Es distractedly found himself wondering if this would be recorded in history as the first episode of a miniature black hole on Earth by humans who will witness the devastation about to ensue. It might just cause an early apocalypse for the human world.

Just like that, they were all dragged from this world by the attraction of the momentarily inky black mask.

💣

When he opened his eyes once more, it was in a world that felt both familiar and foreign to him.

It was not that Es no longer considered his birth name his own.

He had simply felt somewhat... detached from it during his stay in the world where shinigami roamed. There, his very existence had been tied to the name which he had been granted by his human parents. The same couple later raised him as their own, treating him as a son although they had no blood association. Over time, he grew to feel as though he belonged in that world as well. His name, Sirius Es Ebon linked him to the world itself through an inexplicable bond he did not fully grasp.

In that world, it was challenging simply to think of himself by his original name.

He never alienated his former self intentionally -- there was a mystical repulsive force that did not allow him to regard himself as a stranger to the world despite his status as an outsider.

The baffling pressure vanished with his return to the shinobi world.

Thus, nothing stopped him from revealing truthfully, "I'm Kagami Naruto." No one would know how much relief he felt as he spoke those simple words. "I hail from an ancient bloodline, the Kagami clan." He reactivated his dōjutsu. "In this world, I was raised as the eldest child of the Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and the Uzushio Princess who is his wife, Uzumaki Kushina. This world has an internal force comprising spiritual and physical energies, widely known as chakra. This energy enables humans to produce supernatural feats such as performing attacks that hold power from the elements. Cairn's original name is Kurama and he is a special lifeform known as a bijū, a chakra beast. I am the receptacle for Kurama's chakra, a jinchūriki. Law and order here are more primaeval than what you know. The only shared rule is the survival of the fittest. The killing of a fellow human being is a trivial matter here."

He summarised only the most important points.

Es or Naruto knew that L would be able to check on reading materials on the geography and history of the world in due time.

It was then that he noticed something.

Although the ambient nature chakra felt hazily familiar, his surroundings were that of a barren field. The area of desolation was vaguely circular, extending from the epicentre where there was a deep crater. He did not recognise this view as anywhere he could have visited during his short life in the shinobi world.

He absently glanced at L's name and lifespan by force of habit, only to freeze when he registered what he had witnessed.

Below the L Lawliet that he had grown used to seeing, the ominous countdown to L's death was missing.

It was different from when he had stalled the progress of the other's lifespan for fifty-six days by ceasing the flow of time around L.

Only the clarity of the black-haired male's name comforted Naruto. L was alive. Unlike when his time was paused, L's awareness was intact despite the disappearance of his mortal lifespan. He had been certain that humans and shinigami alike were beings that require life force to survive. Was he wrong in this assumption?

"L?" Naruto called out, shakily.

"Es," L responded automatically before pondering for a moment. He then asked, "Would you prefer if I called you Naruto?"

Naruto was involuntarily soothed by L's characteristic behaviour.

"Call me whatever you want," Naruto told him -- he did not dare to lay bare the fact that he liked how the monosyllabic name sounded when L uttered it.

L giggled childishly and repeated his usual address of the blond, "Es."

Naruto hummed in acknowledgement.

In this world, L was the only one who would call him that.

Knowing that somehow caused a fluffy feeling to swell in his chest.

With a thought, an ornate full-length mirror was constructed before his eyes.

He peered at it, about to cross into his personal dimension when he was startled by the fact that two names now floated over his head.

Sirius Es Ebon was still there but now there was a Kagami Naruto beneath it.

L, also scrutinising the silver construction, discerned a peculiar detail when he saw his reflection through the glass.

"So this is the Eyes of the Shinigami? I see my name but not my lifespan, huh?" L mused, mulling over the knowledge he already had regarding this ability.

Naruto gnawed on his lower lip in agitation.

He did not know why that was either -- L's lifespan had disappeared.

L experimentally turned to stare at Naruto intently, then shook his head in confusion.

"I don't see your name," L said truthfully.

"Shinigami Eyes will not see my information unless I permit them to see it. That was how I allowed Kira II to see only my name and made Rem think that she saw my lifespan," explained Naruto.

In the beginning, he covered up his abnormality with illusions. However, he quickly found that he could do the same as long as he wished for it to be so without expending any effort to create realistic illusory images. It was more efficient to rely on this method than weaving complex and undetectable mirages every time.

L nodded in recognition.

"I can see the lifespan of Shinigami just as easily as they view those of humans," he continued, waiting for L's reaction.

The black-haired male just blinked.

Naruto sighed, admitting, "I don't see your lifespan, L."

L gaped in shock.

"I know only one other person whose lifespan I cannot see and that is Cairn or Kurama. He was never human, to begin with, and he does not have a finite life force like humans do. He can feel empowered when he absorbs the life force of humans using the Death Note but it would not do anything to prolong his life. Death has no meaning to his race," Naruto divulged further.

L sat on the dirt in his usual position, thinking solemnly.

"Does this mean I no longer have a lifespan, like Cairn? Maybe you just cannot see how much is left now. Rather than me being immortal, I find it more likely that something has happened for your vision to be impeded... Actually, that's dubious too. You were practically omnipotent when we were in the previous world," L muttered, his brows furrowed in bewilderment.

He could not deduce what might have caused this change.

"I want to look for my friends and brother. It has been a long time... I owe them an explanation," Naruto spoke up, ending L's rant, as he scratched at his cheek in embarrassment.

He was reluctant to contact his two contractors through their bond, and he did not dare put off his reunion with his older brother Deidara.

L responded by straightening up and shoving his hands into his pockets.

He stiffened, abruptly, snatching his right hand back out as though scalded.

Naruto tilted his head to the side in puzzlement.

"A... notebook," L explained haltingly, drawing it from the surprisingly deep pocket of his jeans.

He held it up for Naruto to see between his index and thumb fingers.

The blond found an idea emerging in his subconscious.

"May I?" he queried, gesturing one hand at the notebook in L's cautious grip.

L gingerly placed it in Naruto's hand, not even questioning the other's intentions.

Naruto carefully received the thin paperback, examining the white bands spanning the front of its cover. The binding was jet black, appearing glossy despite its papery texture, contrasting starkly against the snow-white paper enclosed within. Every sheet had identical equally-spaced narrow black lines of ink, the standard notebook dimensions of 8.7 millimetres between the horizontal lines. Although the pages seemed thoroughly bleached compared to normal paper, it did not take long for him to identify the mysterious item as the object that he had seen a lot of in past months.

The exterior made it rather obvious -- those white lines of varying thickness and spacing were essentially a barcode that was lengthened vertically. It was not hard for him to decode it with his mental capability. Simply put, it could be read as Death Cahier. It was slightly less succinct than the label on Ryūk's spare but it carried the message more appropriately. Moreover, its meaning was closer to its purpose than Ryuk's. While a note refers to a brief record of points or ideas that are written down to aid memory, a cahier refers to some leaves of a book bound together -- a notebook. It was only the Japanese who used the term "note" as if it meant "notebook", like how the British referred to the books they jotted things down in as "jotters".

Other than that, an indescribable sixth sense told him this was indeed the same as those killing notebooks that were almost as common as cabbages to Naruto these days.

Instinct told him that this particular object should be carefully guarded.

"It's a Death Note," Naruto exposed unhesitatingly, squinting slightly as he looked at L, "and it is yours."

He remembered Ryūk's words.

Shinigami who resemble humans are superior shinigami.

Cairn, who has no lifespan, was called a superior shinigami as well.

"I suppose you're a shinigami. A superior one," Naruto voiced the conclusion of his logic.

L seemed floored by this statement, his eyes widening so far it seemed they might just roll out of their sockets.

He soon recovered, uttering a plain, "Oh."

Naruto was not bothered by the shallow response.

"Come..." he spoke, only to trail off as he noticed the kitsune and cat that he had skipped over in his cursory surveyance of their surroundings.

Kurama laid flat on the ground in a heap of golden tails and human-like limbs while Noel was still in a state of unconsciousness.

Naruto ascertained that they must have been knocked out during their journey through worlds. It was just that L and himself stirred before the other two, almost at the same time. He could not fathom why they had been expelled from his mirrors -- nothing should have been able to usurp his absolute authority over his space.

He did not dwell over this for long.

He dropped the slumbering kitsune and feline into a mirror and motioned for L to follow.

"Would you wait in my dimension for a bit? I have to pay a visit to my brother to confirm our exact situation," Naruto said, compunctiously, once they were in his dimension.

He felt contrite for having to leave L alone in his mirror realm for however short a duration -- he was in a new world which Naruto had yanked him into without intimation -- but he felt strange about where he might have taken them. This world was, without a doubt, the one in which he was born. The energy in the air was the same, as was the feel of the Kyūbi's chakra sealed in his abdomen.

To be exact, he wondered how long he might have been away.

If his connection to his friends was restricted during his absence, the decades Naruto had spent in the Shinigami World would have been deducted from their lifespans and he feared they would no longer be alive when he searched for them.

"Go," L urged, banishing Naruto's disquiet. "I will await your return."

Naruto nodded and rushed towards the corridor which had been blocked all these years.

The passageway was open, inviting him into his brother's mirrors as it used to back before he left.

The past they shared seemed so close now -- as if it had only just passed.

Naruto broke into a sprint.

He did not notice it but his wistful yearning for the past caused him to revert to a childlike form. It made it seem as if time truly did stop. It was like he had never left and his adventures in that world never happened. Naruto was unaware of this -- he never wished that he did not leave his homeworld. Meeting L was worth it, but he could only lament the time he lost with the ones he cherished here.

He burst through the archway into Deidara's realm.

He saw those three -- his only regret during his days in the Shinigami World.

And Naruto tried to do an emergency brake too late.

He rammed straight into the boy on the other side, borne of the same colour palette as himself.

"Naruto...?" Deidara exclaimed with a jolt.

Naruto shook his head slightly, feeling disoriented as he finally registered his diminished height.

To anyone else, this scene would be...

"Hey," Naruto demanded urgently, grabbing the collar of the redheaded boy who had narrowly escaped Deidara's fate. "Tell me. What is the year now?"

Gaara could not speak before Yagura interjected, "The seventieth year of the Elemental Era. The date is March thirtieth."

All remained at a standstill, Naruto realised.

Everything was the same as when he had left.

Despite those twenty years in which he resided in another world, not even one day had passed here.

Everything remained just as he had left them.