I do not own any of the characters from Death Note.

August 15, 2011

Innocent Sinner

She could hear the silence in the screaming. The voices echoed so loudly that anything important fell on deaf ears.

"This is so awesome!" she cheered. Her unlucky companion rolled his eyes. "Green Day, ugh," he looked around. The teenage girl jumped up and down and cheered her head off before she felt the stinging sensation on the back of her neck.

"Mello," she blacked out. Mello made haste to catch his collapsing acquaintance. He called for back-up with his wrist talky and began carrying her towards the closest exit. L and Near met him shortly.

"What's the situation?" Near asked. Just after looking at her L demanded, "we need to get her back to Wammy's house."

Four men were following them. Watari pulled up in front of them. They jumped in the limousine and Watari stepped on it.

"She's going to be so pissed when she wakes up." L checked her over. "I feel as though her life is more important than a Green Day concert." Near sat by the furthest window.

"What happened?"

"From the looks of things it seems she was tranquilized," L said, looking at the red mark on the side of her neck.

"Who would be after a 19 year old orphaned girl?" Mello scoffed.

"Who knows? She's not much of a talker at Wammy's house," L thought aloud.

"You've talked to her the most," Near commented. "She's never talked to you about personal matters? Not even once?"

"Enough," L stated. "Maybe it wasn't meant for her. Right now, her health is more important. Getting her back to Wammy's House is more important.

The car remained silent the entire time it made its journey home; even then none of the boys spoke to each other. L carried Athena to her bedroom and left her to her forced slumber.

A few hours later, when she finally woke, she felt the effects of the tranquilizer wear off completely. She sat up to observe the room she was in; she was relieved to find it was her own.

"Oh no, the others," she whispered. After whipping back the sheets she rushed to the hallways. "Mello, Near, L!" she shouted. Other members of the household looked at her funny. "Please be," she paused as she walked into their usual study. "All right," she finished when her eyes landed on them. They all sat gathered around a table. They saw her, but without a word she turned and left. L was the only one to go after her.

"Athena, wait!" he called.

"I don't have time, L," she kept walking.

"I want to speak with you."

"I'm leaving Wammy's House," she informed as she made it back to her bedroom.

"Absolutely not," he shoved her lightly into the wall. He pinned her there. "You listen to me," he looked down at her. "These people after you cannot get you here. You're well protected. I'll take it upon myself to keep you safe and help arrest your attackers."

"You can't. You're leaving for American grounds in two days. Who knows how long this will take."

"I'll give that case to Mello and Near."

"You don't know anything about me. How can you know I don't deserve-"

"You've been here since you were seven years old. What could you possibly have done?"

"Things you can't even imagine…" she whispered and let her thoughts wonder back to past events.

Athena sat in the middle of the room with each of her shoulders against one of her parents. Ropes bound them to their chairs. "Mommy, what's going on? I'm scared," she whimpered. Four men in the room laughed at her.

"What do you want with us?" Her father spoke up. One of the men punched him in the face.

"No, stop it!" Athena's mother screamed.

"Shut up, bitch!" Another man slapped her. Athena began to cry as two of the men untied her mother and dragged her into a side room.

"Mommy!" she screamed.

"Shelia!"

"Roy!" her parents shouted. The door to the side room slammed shut as her father was struck in the face again.

"No! Stop it! Stop it!" the small girl screeched at the top of her lungs. Her mother's screams of agony could be heard a mile away; to Athena it was an endless echo. A few minutes later her mother's half naked body was tossed back into the room, hitting the hardwood floor.

"No! Mommy!" Athena cried weakly in a daring, victorious, attempt to free herself from her bounds. She had almost made it to her mother when a gun was fired. Blood drops landed on the little girls face and arms. She watched her mom's body shake as blood began to pool around her on the floor. At a standstill she heard another shot fired, and from where she was, she knew it was the end of her father as well. She was so numb that tears wouldn't be shed again for a long, long time.

"Come on, kid," one of the men drew closer to her. She'd seen so much in a matter of minutes. Now, it was her turn. Live or die. She chose to live. With courage she didn't know she possessed, she pulled a gun from the approaching man's hoister; shot him, and turned to the other three. One by one she killed them.

With one round left she paused to examine the room. She searched the nearby boxes. Some of them contained cans of gasoline while others had sticks of dynamite. She used the gasoline to blanket the inside of the building. With the gun barrel close to the floor, she used her last shot as an igniter. Flames engulfed every inch of the place, including the bodies of her parents. Without sparing another glance, she walked away from the small structure; a bag of dynamite in hand.

People were running around everywhere outside. They looked like soldiers, but she didn't care who they were. They were part of the drug trade organization. Dozens of little sheds, similar to the one she had previously been trapped in, lined the main warehouse. As stealthy as she could, she snuck into one of the other smaller buildings. Inside were more weapons and ammunition. Her knowledge of weapons was limited, so instead of looking for guns and bullets, she went for the time bombs. After picking one up she dropped the bad of dynamite.

"Sets like an alarm clock," she examined the device. She took a few of them and snuck back outside. Men were dousing the fire she'd started earlier.

"Where is the bad man?" Quietly, she crept around until she found a window that showed a vast portion of the inside of the main building. That's where she found him. It was difficult to be absolutely positive, but from where she was, it looked like him. He was shouting at his men. "That has to be him," she whispered. She pressed a few buttons on three of the time bombs before throwing them into the building.

She ran at this point; like a bat out of hell, away from the compound. When the building blew, she wasn't far enough away. The heat and force of the explosion pushed her body into the ground. Flames licked at her back and pain overran her small form. As she lied in a crumpled heap of bruised, bleeding flesh she thought, "at least I died after my revenge." She shivered; her fingers clenching. "Mommy. Daddy…" she whispered, blacking out.

A few hours later a boy calling for his dog was nearly drowned out by the sound of fire trucks and a crowd of people who had gathered to see the fire.

"Narin!" he shouted. "Narin! Come here boy!" The dog barked, but didn't wait up for the boy. "Narin!" he huffed, stopping next to the dog. "What's that boy? He crouched down. He gasped. "Watari! Come quickly!"

An older man was by the boy in an instant. "Oh my," he examined the girl. "She needs medical help," the young man shook his elders arm. "Definitely, come on," Watari picked her up gently. Athena was rushed to the hospital. Regardless of Watari's inability to answer any of the background information, they treated her. A large percent of her back was burned as well as a considerable amount of hair. Bruises and lacerations littered her body in various places. The doctor says she will make a full recovery.

"What will happen to the pretty girl, Watari?"

"Well, L, no one has responded to the missing child article, so we can put her into foster care."

"At Wammy's House?" he smiled hopefully. "L, you know that Wammy's House is for-"

"Please, Watari?" The old man had to smile at him. "Why don't you go see her? The doctor said she should be able to leave soon." L jumped at the chance to see her. It had been four days. As soon as he walked into the room he ran to her bedside. He must've waited for an hour before she began to stir. Her eyes slowly opened; for the first time L had seen, and a loud groan emitted from her.

"Hi there," the boy said. The little girl blinked at him. "My name is," he hesitated, "my name is, L." Familiar white walls greeted her as she looked around. This wasn't the first time she'd woken. In fact, she'd awoken a few times while the young boy had come to see her; he was always sleeping.

"Why are you here?" she spoke quietly. It was L's turn to be puzzled. "I found you. Well, I mean, Narin, my dog, found you. You were hurt very badly."

"The building is gone?" she questioned. L looked intrigued.

"Many deceased bodies were found at the fire. I'm glad yours is not one of them." Athena didn't know how to respond to that, so instead she sat up with her legs crossed and hands resting in her lap. L sat on the edge of her bed. She examined herself silently and thoroughly. Most of her bruises were vanishing and the lacerations seem to be healing quite quickly, but she and L both knew him that the scar tissue on her back would never go away.

"Girl whose name I do not know, would you like a piece of candy?" he offered her a gold wrapped caramel. Slowly she reached for it, her hesitant hands not agreeing with her eyes, when she finally took it from him, she blushed.

"My name is Athena."

Athena was brought back to the real world when L shook her shoulders. "Are you okay?" he'd asked.

"Yeah," she whispered.

"You were seven years old. Thirteen years have gone by and you've never breathed a word to me about where you came from. You don't have to tell me, but you also do not have to leave Wammy's House."

"I'm sorry, L. I can't risk putting the children, all of you in danger. There are too many unknown factors," she tried to change the subject.

"She's right, L. She can't stay," Watari said sadly from the doorway. L's face contorted into a few different expressions before he moved away from Athena. "Pack your things then. You're coming to America with me."

"What?"

"Just do as I say. I don't want to further upset you." Both L and Watari left her alone to prepare.

Slowly she sank to the floor. He was always there. It was beyond comprehension to her. For whatever reason, he always came to her aid; even if she didn't want his help. She sighed and began the task of rummaging through her clothes, thinking about the past as she did so.

When she first came to Wammy's House she didn't speak to anyone if she didn't have too. L had tried to get her to open up to him, but the occasion for having a conversation with him was always a slim window. L was two years older than she, so of course they attended the same school for a while, until high school. Being at Wammy's House meant you had to be extremely smart or gifted. She was neither, in her opinion, but she never let herself dwell on the matter. Both she and L were investigators, however, their areas of expertise were different. L was good at the whole game. She, on the other hand, specialized in photographic imaging.

She knew that L was more than capable of handling himself and although she didn't want to handle the situation alone, she just didn't want anyone else getting hurt because of her; especially her friends at Wammy's House.

Would they find her in the United States? She highly doubted it. L would protect her as best he could. The question that puzzled her though was: "Who is after me exactly?"

Well, there's chapter one! I'm doing this one in chapters because I'd like to see more reviews, hopefully. They're very much appreciated. XD Let me know what you think!

Thanks!

Forever Fearless.